Finding Your Own Voice in Writing

On a dark desert highway. Actually, it was bright. The bus had dropped Tim, Craig and me off in what appeared to be the middle of the...

Bear sauntered to her Favorite Place for breakfast. Of all the properties on the hillside, this five-acre lot was relatively flat, with...

Entering the last weekend of a two-week, three-state journey along the east coast, I was starting to regret my decision to take the staff...

I'm looking out the window, waiting for my nephew and his wife to arrive with their daughters. The girls are one and three years old. The...

I’m staring at the challenge at the bottom of the menu. It is carefully printed in gold, boldfaced, and italicized. It’s staring at me. I...

Reed peaked between the green shrub leaves of his favorite hiding spot. He had taken it upon himself to observe all the new arrivals set...

“What? What?” Ginny flailed as she tried to wake from a blissful, deep sleep. “We talked about this last night,” she heard her brother...

Bronkh! What was that?!! Woke me out of a sound sleep it did. Wonder what it is? Brunkh! There it is again. Where is my #1 person? I...

Each month in class we write a prompt paragraph of 100 words or less. A prompt paragraph is a suggested topic for the writer to take any...

On the way home, I had stopped at the clinic, picked up my MRI films, and was now sitting at the dining room table staring at them. It...

Yesterday after class, when the bell rang and we all got up to leave, Ms. Clara called me out in front of everyone. “Will you stay for a...

I have been adventurous ever since I was a little kitten. That caused me some pain in the beginning. One day I went on a little walk and...

The Nazis are coming! Henk DeGoede’s mother received the dreaded call from a friend in town, and she immediately alerted her two elder...

Chicago, early May, 1903 Joe walked to the bicycle assembly shop on South Clinton Street slower than usual. The news that he would give...

I was up all night. I was thinking about bullshit and was depressed about everything going on in my life right now. Like dealing with the...

With the addition of my new nemesis, multiple sclerosis (MS), I had seen the gradual subtraction of various interests and pastimes. I was...

Thank God the panic isn’t as intense as when I first fell in. The boat floated away so fast! I’ll never catch it. Michael Phelps could....

I was so mad I thought my head was going to explode. “Mary, what's the matter?” Nick asked when I walked into the living room. “The...

My body tensed, anticipating the brief, searing pain as the desperate bee thrust its venom into my skin. The poor bee. It was ultimately...

On a sweltering Thursday afternoon one August, I dipped my toes into the shark-infested waters of publishing in the early 21st century....