“Mama Always Said Life Was Like a Box of Chocolates. You Never Know What You’re Gonna Get.”—Forrest Gump People are like that, too. You never know what people are going to do or say. Perhaps that was the inspiration for The 2022 Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest. Choose a category and Just Write! People are . . . Funny Amazing Changers Unreasonable Unpredictable World These are the categories for The 2022 Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest. Write your story and submit your writing.
Delicate as a Hummingbird’s Heart
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. Delicate as a Hummingbird’s Heart By Noah Davis This past Saturday, the fire burning on the north side of the river jumped a ridge and lit another hillside of drought-stricken timber, sending a plume so high that the air turned red with the seared skin of Douglas fir and larch. At 5:30 that evening, in the diner booth across from my father and me, a young man and woman, both with shiny, smooth cheeks, sat drinking their waters in small swallows. He wore a collared, white button down with jeans and scrubbed cowboy boots. Her skirt was blue, like glacial streams, and her straight hair was the color of stacked wheat shafts when the sunlight isn’t choked with smoke. His bangs were still wet from the shower, comb marks straight as irrigation ditches. She ran her…
Let me take this off your plate . . . Prompt #647
Someone said this to me recently: “Let me take this off your plate.” Sounds like a good writing prompt . . . so here we are. Just Write! “Let me take this off your plate.” #iamwriting #iamawriter #justwrite
Crafting Short Fiction
“If I had more time, I’d write a shorter story.”— Mark Twain Today’s Guest Blogger, Guy Biederman, talks about crafting short fiction. I’ve always been intrigued by the challenge of creating something small that has big power. Giacometti said he wanted to make a sculpture the size of a matchbox, but so dense no one could lift it. The first micro story I remember reading was “Coup de Grace” by Ambrose Bierce, with a gotcha ending. O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi used” a similar technique. I was astonished by the wallop a short piece could pack. As a young writer, I cut my teeth on Raymond Carver’s work. Carver’s stories weren’t always short, but they were spare and vivid, conveyed feeling, empathy and understanding, and explained very little. I didn’t know what he was doing or how he did it. I only knew that reading his work was like…
Reverberations
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. Reverberations By Brenda Bellinger I suppose another title for this post could be “Echoes.” Some are gentle, quiet, reminiscent of the fading ring of a bell. Others are loud, persistent—drumbeats, almost—like the hourly news headlines of the brutal slaughters in Ukraine, occasionally punctuated by stories of defiance, strength and resilience. It’s Monday morning, the day before I’ll upload this post. I’m sitting at the dining room table in the family home that will soon be listed for sale, waiting for the painter and landscaper to arrive. Traffic noise is more noticeable now in the hollow silence of this near-empty space. All but a handful of the original furnishings are gone, replaced with artsy pieces and decor selected by our real estate agent to stage the home. Gone is the Tuscan-inspired color scheme that ran throughout the…
University Presses
“The backbone of many university presses’ trade programs is probably familiar: local and regional history, cookbooks, photography books, and other sorts of consumer-friendly titles with an obvious connection to the area or university. But many also offer a home for books that are niche, experimental, challenging in various ways, and/or just kind of weird.” —Adam Rosen, Why You Should Consider a University Press for Your Book, Jane Friedman’s Blog, April 5, 2022 A few university presses Fourteen Hills, The San Francisco State University Review The Green Hills Literary Lantern, Truman State University Bayou Magazine, University of New Orleans
I wish I would have . . . Prompt #646
I wish I would have . . . I wish I would not have . . . #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
I am not That Girl
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. When I heard “I am not That Girl” by Ariel LaChelle, I knew I wanted it on the Sparks page of my blog. It’s longer that what is usually posted here. It’s so amazing, I could not resist. You can read it and watch Ariel perform “I am not That Girl” in her own strong and melodic voice. I am not That Girl By Ariel LaChelle Even though the term “That Girl” Was created by black girls, I don’t fit the requirements Automatically, Because I am a Fat Girl. And ‘cause I have tight curls That become more angry If I dip my scalp in the water, Then let my hair air dry And don’t try To keep it in order. No styling, No stretching, No products, No dye, But I feel like I might If…
I’ve lied about . . . Prompt #645
Write about something you have lied about.
Pull
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. Pull By Guy Biederman Writing backwards, I row toward home. Note from Marlene: Your turn. Write a story in six words. Guy Biederman teaches short fiction and is the author of five collections of short work, including Nova Nights (Nomadic Press,), Edible Grace (KYSO Flash Press), and Soundings and Fathoms, stories (Finishing Line Press). His work has appeared in many journals including Carve, Flashback Fiction, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Bull, great weather for Media, Riddled with Arrows, The Disappointed Housewife, and Exposition Review, where he was twice a Flash 405 winner. Guy’s stories, prose, and poems have also won a Publisher’s Choice Award, an Editor’s choice Award, and been nominated for the Best of the Net. Born in the Chihuahuan Desert near the Mexican border, Guy grew up on a Sting-Ray in Ventura, learned to write in the…