Five years ago, I created this column to research and discuss failure and success as a writer—a column without delusions or lies that presented strategies for working in an unfair business. It was meant for me and writers like me who were still swinging after fifteen years, nowhere near the bright lights but refusing to […]
On the morning of the last day of the faith, you bring me a bowl of fresh milk and a flower from your garden. Its petals are pristine, even though you had to carry it all the way up to the temple in the pocket of your apron. Every step is a battle now, despite […]
Hers are small, hidden magics. Subtle. Deniable. Here and now, she is Elda, a weaver, her shuttle carving magic across the warp and back again, weaving protection into the cloth. She sets her loom outside her cottage, shaded from the summer sun. The scent of flowers is heavy in the air. When she looks up, […]
Vadis reaches for the ray of light stabbing through the single hole left in the shutters, but her mother grabs her, drags her away from the beam. “Why, mama?” whines Vadis. “I want to see the sun.” Her mother holds her, squishing her with work-hardened arms. Mother’s arms have gotten thinner since father went away, […]
A Study in Contrasts — “Hoarders” and “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” I became interested in Marie Kondo some time ago. I bought her book (which I never completely read), watched her television show, and have Kon-Mari-ed my house a couple of times in a desire to purge the excess of our lives from our […]