Jack Kerouac famously said “be in love with your life. Every minute of it.” Certainly as writers, we try to embrace this notion. The creating, the expressing, the transformation of thought to word, the sharing of what we do with…
Guest Post: The Quarrel by Debra Young
It never fails. I sit down to write and the blue screen of death flares up in my head, the gears grind to a halt and it’s quiet up there, but for the voice, irritable and argumentative. What? You want…
Guest Post: MFA Myopia: The Pain is in the Details by Elizabeth Mastrangelo
I’ve always had trouble stepping back and seeing the big picture. “Well, no wonder you’re struggling,” my tenth-grade U.S. History teacher said when we met about my failing grade. “You’ve underlined every single sentence in this textbook. You don’t know…
A Conversation with Tobi Alfier
An interview by Alicia Cole. Tobi Alfier is a multiple Pushcart nominated poet and Best of the Net nominee whose poems have appeared in The Chaffin Journal, Chiron Review, Gargoyle, Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Los Angeles Review, Spoon River Poetry…
Where Have All the Letters Gone? by Diana Raab
My platform as a writer began more than five decades ago with a Khalil Gibran journal and by writing letters to my parents from summer sleep away camp. Although my first letter included only five words, “I hate camp, Love,…
Guest Post: Impeaching White Jesus: Recreating Poetry in Nigerian Literature by Shoola Oyindamola
In poetry and literature, I am most critical of the languages, styles, and techniques that many upcoming Nigerian writers employ these days. Because some of these writers do not have concrete foundation in poetry written by their own ancestors, it…
Plot: How to Drive Your Story with Impossible Situations by Betty Krasnik
In order to write a good plot, you need to take big risks. Often times when we write, we fall into the usual patterns of building suspense. We are not being unique in our choices, because in that moment, we…
Guest Post: Dishwater and Death: The Writer’s Promise by Willow Becker
I’ve been a hobby writer since I was 5 years old. It was never a goal to make writing my living. I wanted to be an actress, an FBI agent, a witch. Writing is something I picked up along the…
A Conversation with C.S.E. Cooney
An interview by Alicia Cole. C. S. E. Cooney (csecooney.com/@csecooney) is an audiobook narrator, singer/songwriter, and author of World Fantasy Award Winner Bone Swans: Stories (Mythic Delirium 2015). Her work includes the Dark Breakers series, Jack o’ the Hills, The Witch…
Guest Post: Why poets write stage plays by Doug Van Hooser
The most obvious reason would be because I went to a play the other night and there were only eight people in the audience. The capacity of the theater is between forty and fifty depending on the size of the…
Guest Post: Stained by Jordan Abbruzzese
“Oh God. Do I have brown all over the back of my pants?” I spun around clumsily, my supervisor’s eyes wide. I had just torn into some chocolate from the jar at reception’s desk and dropped some on my new…
A Conversation with Lisa Aldridge
An interview by Alicia Cole. Lisa Aldridge lives in the magical Ozarks. She is the author of The Dangerous Impressions Series (NA, Suspense/Romance). Her forthcoming works include: The Ring O’ Callum Brodgar (Melange Books, 2017), Fiery Impressions, Be a Grass…