Oftentimes, people picture the modern poet as an outspoken individual. This individual shares even her early scraps. I, however, differ from this image. Throughout college, I dreaded the workshop circle. While I like the concept of collaboration, I struggle to…
A Conversation with Jen Knox
An interview by Alicia Cole. Jen Knox is a writing coach and the Writers in Communities program director at Gemini Ink. Her short fiction and nonfiction appear in over seventy publications, including The Adirondack Review, the inaugural issue of Black…
Guest Post: Laryngitis by Diana Conces
Laryngitis is, of course, a temporary loss of voice. You try to speak, and what comes out is this awkward, hollow hiss, like a particularly disgruntled ghost dragging a rusty pitchfork across a chalkboard, and then everyone around you puts…
Guest Post: Pull That Trigger (and I Don’t Mean Guns) by Tobi Alfier
In the old days (think Centennial by James Michener), I was afraid of nothing and no one. I flew hot air balloons, jumped out of airplanes, was kicked awake by the police while sleeping on a pier in Monte Carlo,…
The Fierce and Fragile Journey of Sidestepping Landmines by Catherine Adel West
With every word I write, I try to sidestep a landmine. Avoid disaster. Writing my first novel, I was hoping to find some blueprint on how to vividly dissect and then construct the complex and celebrated distinctions of black women….
Guest Post: Lying in Poetry, or Hey! Guess What I Dreamed Of by Babette Cieskowski
It started and ended with dolphins. As a child, when asked by my mother what I dreamed about the night before, I would lie and say I had the most spectacular, mythical adventure doing something relating to dolphins. At ten…
Guest Post: Storytelling: What a Beautiful Word by Mathieu Cailler
The only job I ever had in which no bellyaching existed was when I was nine, and I’d ride my bike around town, knocking on doors, asking neighbors if they needed any work done in their homes. (I watched a…
Guest Post: The Tiny Writing Lifestyle by Diane D. Gillette
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of tiny houses. Tiny is the current craze in the housing industry which means there are a plethora of tiny house TV shows to feed my obsession — which is anything but tiny!…
Guest Post: Inner Structures by Seth Jani
At twenty-eight I have quietly, and without much explaining, maneuvered my life into a position where I can easily focus on writing. This means I currently work a slightly-better than minimum-wage service industry job with limited hours and as few…
Guest Post: Creating a Handmade Life by Shavawn M. Berry
When I finished my Master’s degree eighteen years ago, I had this Virginia Woolf-ish daydream of living in a cottage overlooking the sea – windows open to the salty air – companionship and solitude in perfect measure. I dreamed of…
Guest Post: A Life in Poetry Ain’t for Sissies by Peter Serchuk
Now into my sixth decade of life and my fourth decade as a serious writer of poems, I can say without hesitation that my life in poetry remains the most exhilarating, depressing, titillating, frustrating, constructive, destructive, enlightening, and numbing experience…
Guest Post: Revision: Knowing When to Swing the Darlings-Axe by Allie Gove
One of the first things that really struck me to hear from a writing teacher was this: “there is no good writing, only good re-writing.” As a first semester student in my first Intro to Creative Writing class (because yes,…