Maria knew she wasn't supposed to wander the neighborhood, but one bright and sunny spring day, while she was playing in the playhouse in her backyard, she heard a tiny "meow" mewl from the back alleyway. She thrust her head through the open playhouse window to look. On the other side of the chain link … Continue reading When She Wasn’t Looking
Author: Katie Baker
Positive Rejection
As my writing work load has slowly been growing, I have been getting more rejection letters, and it is my natural reaction to feel defeated by these rejection letters. I'm sure some of you who come to this blog are writers yourself, and therefore you understand that unique stabbing in your heart when you read, … Continue reading Positive Rejection
The Whisperers
The office whisperers. They hunch in their cubicle, head to head, lips moving, eyes darting toward whomever walks past. A feather of sound floats up from their nimbus, “She—” “I know—” and then sinks down again into the vacuum of words spoken but not heard. The office whisperers are the spine tinglers. The tension pluckers. … Continue reading The Whisperers
Book Review: The Sun Also Rises
By Ernest Hemingway 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This novel drew me in--- as most Hemingway stories do--- with its prose. I love how bare bones it is. He uses as few words as possible to convey his scenes and descriptions, and something about the LACK of floweriness makes it masterful. The story follows Jake Barnes and Lady Brett … Continue reading Book Review: The Sun Also Rises
Sisterhood in Snapshot
When my sisters and I get together, it can be a bit bewildering. We will sit around and everyone will speak at once and LOUDLY— and heaven help whoever the non-sister is sitting in our midst. “What’s that one movie?... Oh… We should watch it with him sometime—” my older sister says of her boyfriend. … Continue reading Sisterhood in Snapshot
These Things Don’t Help
Airports are so anonymous. People crisscrossing everywhere from all over the globe in this one miniature city in this sprawling campus. Somewhere among this mill of ants are the hundred or so people you’ll spend eight— ten— twelve hours of your life with, but for now they’re grabbing an eighteen dollar burger at the burger … Continue reading These Things Don’t Help
Book Review: The Rise of the New Puritans
by Noah Rothman 🌟🌟🌟 & 1/2 This book has been on my TBR for a while, and I just haven't been sure I was really in the mood to read it. I knew it would be far more centered on current events and politics than I usually go for, but the premise was something that … Continue reading Book Review: The Rise of the New Puritans
Drop That Bar
Lower your standards. I mean it. Lower your standards. What’s wrong with being a hard-working, obscure writer? There are a lot of hard-working writers who have amazing bodies of work and hold their heads high every day. What makes you need to be the great American novelist… or nothing else? Here’s the problem with you. … Continue reading Drop That Bar
Circuitry
"Come on. It'll only take a minute," he says. I follow him into the night. The darkness is gray with shadow. We walk through the lawn, and my feet slip against my Flip-flops, wet with dew. He opens the garage door, bends down to plug in the lights. A sudden brilliant fluorescence. I follow him … Continue reading Circuitry
Book Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 by Tom Wolfe The story follows the downfall of a Wall Street bond salesman--- a Master of the Universe (his words, not mine)--- who accidentally hits and fatally injures a young man one night while lost in the Bronx. What follows is a story of fate, power, manipulation, and deception. When I started the … Continue reading Book Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities
Seeking Prose 