Last January
I staggered and collapsed.

I landed flat on my back,
snapping my scapula.

But I can't be that mad.

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Ella the Wonder Dog
2003 - 2018
In Memoriam

Ella's calendars have been an annual tradition for many, many years. Even though she's gone now, and sorely missed, the tradition continues with a collection of photos drawn from throughout her life.

In honor of Ella's memory, the new calendar is sold at cost, with no markup.

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I'll be one of more than 150 scheduled performers at the 25th Annual Alternative New Year's Day Spoken Word/​Performance Extravaganza, which takes place on January 1, 2019, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church in Greenwich Village. This year's theme is "Before the Dawn."

(Note: My 3-minute slot on the program will take place at some point between 7 and 9 pm.)

The Alternative, which is free to the public, features poets, prose writers, monologists, musicians, dancers and other performers in an eight-hour showcase that ranges from some of New York's most seasoned talents to emerging stars. The lineup evolves each year to keep the event fresh and democratic. The audience is encouraged to donate paperback books to Books Through Bars, for people incarcerated in prison, and canned or boxed food or drink for City Harvest, which provides for the hungry in New York.

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A reader writes to ask:

I want to submit a novel manuscript to a small press in the US and their guidelines say "indented, not tabbed."

What's the difference? Usually I just hit the tab key once. Should I be doing something else?

I have Word Starter 2010, and I can't see any distinction between "indent" and "tab."

How do I make sure I'm indenting and not tabbing? If I'm tabbing, how do I change it to indent?

This is an excellent question, and I'm sure the cause of much confusion among word-processing novices. There is in fact a distinction between tabbing and indenting—or rather, it might be more accurate to say that tabbing is only one way to indent a paragraph. I will try to explain a method for indenting paragraphs that makes your document more portable* and easier for your publisher to use.

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