What I love about writing--- You can let yourself slip into any setting--- any story. You can close your eyes on a summer day and transport yourself to a platinum-colored winter night where the velvet dark huddles beneath the fir trees. You can slip from the fog and rain of the northeast to the cicada-filled, … Continue reading Good Writing, Hard Discipline
Author: Katie Baker
The Depths of Procrastination
I walk out to my kitchen. The cold floor tiles numb my bare feet, but I stand at the sink for a moment. I’m avoiding things. A pile of things. I reach over for my stainless steel french press. The plunger makes a metallic zing when I remove it from the carafe. Oh, yes, I’m … Continue reading The Depths of Procrastination
Remembering Summer Sunshine
Great gulps of laughter roll across the yard. They crack among the croquet balls and mallets. Whoops punctuate successful strikes. The sun slips down across the brim of the hill and a nectarine light fills the valley--- all warmth and sweet citrus summertime. It casts the players' shadows long at their feet yet leaves their … Continue reading Remembering Summer Sunshine
Our Maine Adventure
One of our first adventures was going to Maine with my boyfriend's sister. We had been dating about four months at that point and the invitation came at the last minute. Although we had tickets to go to Little Women in Ithaca for that same week, we chose a week of Acadia over a night … Continue reading Our Maine Adventure
Talking to Yourself
How do you keep someone from becoming a ghost? Write things down. Make the memories more concrete. Life is transient in more ways than we imagine. You take things for granted. You imagine certain people and things as part of your life forever. However we don't realize we are creatures who live with an ever-present … Continue reading Talking to Yourself
The Slipperiness of Time
Memories are like ghosts, really. You go about your day just as you always do--- wash the dishes, straighten the couch, make coffee, drive to work. And just when you think everything is normal, you walk through some gossamer thread like a spider's web across your path. Suddenly you're not walking up the stairs to … Continue reading The Slipperiness of Time
Road trip Happenstance
In Pottsville PA, we find a town that has been poured into the narrow crevice between two hills. The road snakes at the bottom of this crevice among houses stacked three stories high and sitting hip to hip. The front porches look like balconies as they rise above concrete walls rimming the sidewalks. Store fronts … Continue reading Road trip Happenstance
Review: The Professor’s House
By Willa Cather ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I did not want this book to end. After the last book I read, it felt like I got this one finished in an afternoon. The story follows Professor St. Peter and his friendship with the mysterious Tom Outland. The story plays out on a few different levels. The professor is … Continue reading Review: The Professor’s House
Electric Blue Anxiety
When I get overwhelmed by life--- even the happy things!--- there comes a point in my creative process where the electric snapping of ideas dwindles to a soft glow. I've curated prompts for when these moments come, but occasionally the bits of dialogue or the opening lines just sort of swim in front of my … Continue reading Electric Blue Anxiety
The Nature of a Healthy Life
Now is the time of change--- hibernation. The trees shed their clothes and settle down to sleep, and perhaps their roots stir with thoughts and dreams of what's to come. They look forward to that quiet time--- the dormancy above which nature's harshness will blast--- they look forward to that time of rest and storing … Continue reading The Nature of a Healthy Life
Seeking Prose 