Balance

Late night, long day, one after the other, until I’m sure I’m going to drop from lack of the basics to keep this aging body going; I’d grazed my way through too sweet and too salty snacks at the various exhibits, and gotten the bargain basement liquid refreshments that were typical to these professional conferences and their bleary evening parties, but what served me in my twenties is unsustainable for a woman in her sixties. Continue reading

Mag? Yeah, No

Bunch of carrots

Carrots. Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons

(The prompt was “robotic writer,” the experience all-too-familiar as we send out our work to editors and publishers. Read on…)

Dear [editor],

Please consider my work, [insert story title], for publication in your esteemed [media type], [publication name]. At [number] words, this [genre] story about [catchy character name], a [adjective][character trope], is an excellent fit for your upcoming [special focus] issue. I am an avid reader of [publication name]!  Continue reading

Dear John

fountain pen

“What instrument shall I use, and what medium to convey my deepest and most honest wishes?”  Annalisa, one hand holding her elbow, the other holding her chin, scanned the open drawer filled with seven different kinds of pens (one with eight different nibs for calligraphy), a half dozen different colored inks, brushes of many sizes and an uncounted number of acrylic paints (some rolled tight into tiny secret snails of color, others fat and shiny like a slug that didn’t give a shit), a box of 50-count soft pastels (none broken, but all tested and of different lengths…a lovely diversity), and no markers of any kind as she detested them. Continue reading

I Got Life

Steaming coffee mugPre-COVID, we met, early Saturdays, in the Midtown Market. Few stirred: lady mall cop, staff from the attached hospital, lone coffee shop doing brisk business, shops from around the world setting up. We were inspired by Heaven’s scents.  Continue reading