Tim and I auditioned an actress for the role of Olivia yesterday. She was good--I thought--passionate--but a little young for the part. It's audio, so looks won't matter, but Tim said there's an accent thing. He said accents drift, over time, a Boston accent in 2008 doesn't sound like a Boston Accent in 1908 or one in 1808--and there are micro-changes that occur every decade.

I feel like it's more a question of inflection--younger people tend to end sentences on a more rising note, as if asking if the listener really understands them. This young woman had a deep enough voice, so it wasn't like she sounded like a little girl or anything. And she was smart, and likeable, and related well to the character's struggles.

I'd be okay to go with her, but there are also possibilities for other actresses. Carla would be great, if she has time, which is a big if, and there's also my friend Diana, who is the right age, and teaches drama and voice in Spokane, and loves the play. The only drawback to Diana is that she lives in Spokane and we'd need time for rehearsals.

We have a couple of possibilities for Jack--one Jewish guy with a slight NY accent, whose voice I like very much. It's important to me that the actor playing Jack sound Jewish and lawyerly, but subtly so--there are a lot of tiny things in timbre and inflection that inform that without going into a full Fiddler on the Roof impression.

I got a note back from The Sun, rejecting all the poems I sent them, but saying that three of them came close, so it's back to the revision board again. I hadn't been satisfied with the way those particular poems ended anyway. Sometimes I have the body of a poem and then it takes years--literally--for me to find the right ending.

I read the latest Poets & Writers and was knocked out by the poem of Jorie Graham's that was in there--alright, she is a genius, I admit it, even if I can't understand half of her work. Also, they advertized this cool new thing called a NEMO or something--a portable word-processing machine, like a laptop, but lighter and sturdier, capable of running for 700 hours on a couple of triple A batteries, with no Internet distractions!