The Dance by Garth Brooks was a song I learned on the piano way back in 1989. I was 12 and saved up my babysitting and stall cleaning monies and purchased the Garth Brooks Easy Piano Song Book from my piano teacher Mrs. Hansen. I remember this time in my life quite vividly. My friends were busy figuring out hair spray and lip gloss dreaming of what it might be like to get asked to the school dance....
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Why You Should Start a Blog in 2021
Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Next year marks my 10 year blogging anniversary. It's hard to believe that so many years ago I first started my writing blog. As a writer, in between every blog post, I battle an internal conflict that debates whether it's all worth it. I've read all sorts of opinions about writers having a blog, and once I even received bad advice where someone said that writers that aren't published shouldn't even...
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Interview with Eva W: Summer 2020 Flash Fiction Runner Up
Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Eva Wewiorski has lived a geographically varied life in Scotland and the UK, currently residing in Leith, Edinburgh with her fiancé. Outside of writing, she works in a university library. She trained as a librarian at Newnham College, Cambridge and throughout that year, spent every evening and weekend she could scribbling in the romantic secrecy of her rented annexe. At the end of her internship...
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Nine Guiding Principles To Order My Steps As A Writer in 2021
Monday, December 28, 2020

This has been a year when my steps, personally and as a writer, have faltered. Some missteps were because of the pandemic. Some were because of disheartening and tragic occurrences in the world that both saddened and angered me and stopped me in my tracks. And some were because of my own doing...procrastination, being too easily distracted, or just wanting to frolic around my home doing anything...
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Regroup in 2021
Saturday, December 26, 2020

I think we can all agree that 2020 ended up looking a lot different than we probably imagined this time last year. I consider myself very blessed that I ended the year still employed and able to earn extra income because of freelance opportunities. There are plenty of people impacted by the effects of the pandemic that have not been so fortunate. Because of this, I believe we should...
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12 Days of a Writer's Christmas
Thursday, December 24, 2020

Happy holidays to one and all on this Christmas Eve. If you were just celebrating Hanukkah, I hope you had a wonderful time! I'm a Christmas celebrator and a writer, so I thought I'd have a little fun today...The 12 Days of a Writer's Christmasby Margo L. DillOn the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a brand new MacBook Pro.On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 2 sharpened...
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A Fine Romance
Wednesday, December 23, 2020

It’s true confession time, y’all. I’m having an affair. And it’s been going on a loooong time.It all started when I was about eight years old. That’s when I learned to read and fell in love with words. Big words, little words, hard words, easy words. Words could make me laugh out loud, and sometimes, words could bring me to tears. Words were—are—endlessly fascinating to me. I especially love origins,...
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INTERVIEW WITH KAREN BARR, RUNNER-UP IN THE SUMMER 2020 FLASH FICTION CONTEST
Monday, December 21, 2020

Karen Barr lives with her husband and three min doxies, on 34-acres east of Kansas City. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, talking to the neighbor’s calves, and sitting among the charm of 45-60 hummingbirds that spend the summers off her upper deck. She is editor-in-chief of Village Square literary magazine, an extension of Writer’s Village University. She holds an MFA in Creative...
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A Book Born 5 Years Ago
Monday, December 21, 2020

Forty-one years ago on this day, my daughter was born. And five years, 1 month and 21 days ago, my book was conceived.I’ve been posting about my book on the Tulsa Race Riot (really a massacre, not a riot). I’ve been posting about some criticism/advice I’ve been given, since my book’s main character is young and Black and male, and I’m ancient, white-as-notebook-paper and female. (In case you...
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Interview with Jennifer “Jay” Palumbo: Q4 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest Runner Up
Sunday, December 20, 2020

Jennifer’s Bio: Jennifer “Jay” Palumbo is the Chief Executive Officer at Wonder Woman Writer, LLC, and a Freelance Writer. In addition to being a Forbes Women Contributor, she has had pieces included in Time magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post, and ScaryMommy. Ms. Palumbo has covered topics such as infertility, women’s health, patient advocacy, pregnancy, relationships, parenting, being...
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Friday Speak Out!: Writing
Friday, December 18, 2020

by Alice MayMy house falling down unexpectedly had a very focusing effect on me. It’s not difficult to imagine the thoughts that galloped through my head as I stood on my driveway, watching in total disbelief, as a large corner section of two supporting walls slid gracefully away from the rest of the property, taking with it a couple of windows and part of the porch roof. As my house fell down, my...
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The One Thing You Need to Do
Wednesday, December 16, 2020

It’s that time of the year again. As December flies by, we find ourselves bemoaning what we didn’t get done. And let’s face it. 2020 was a sucker punch for us all. No one had the year they expected, so it isn’t surprising that many of our goals have gone unmet. Many of my writing friends are tweeting and posting the same question – how can I get back into writing in 2021? Want to know a...
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Realizing My Home Library Needs Some Diversity
Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Last week I interviewed a local college professor who is scheduled to talk to the parents at my school about diversifying their family libraries. It was a great discussion as I asked her to give me some examples of children’s literature that deserve a place in classroom libraries, while also filling a clear need of representing people of all walks of life, race and ethnicity. But it...
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Interview with Lorin Fries: Summer 2020 Flash Fiction Contest Third Place Winner
Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Lorin’s Bio:
Lorin Fries integrates writing alongside an international career in food access and climate change. She placed 4th out of nearly 5,000 participants in the 2019 New York Midnight Short Story Contest. She is finishing a first literary fiction novel in which two stories intertwine, across generations, in Brooklyn: a beloved magician struggles to heal a heartbroken girl during WWII while...
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Psst. Hey You. Yeah You. Don't Give Up.
Monday, December 14, 2020

Walk with me for a moment. We're inside the dimly lit streets of my imagination. We're walking down a desolate street, next to buildings that look like they haven't been habited in years. It's night time, and all we can hear are distant traffic noises, a dog barking, and a couple having a fight in a nearby apartment. An alleyway is coming up, where the darkness doesn't seem to have a beginning...
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Anne Walsh Donnelly, Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Runner Up, Writes About Self-Love
Sunday, December 13, 2020

We are lucky to interview Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest runner up for Q4, Anne Walsh Donnelly, today who lives in Mayo, Ireland. Ann won for her essay, "A Lover Without a Lover" which you can read here. Here's a little bit about Anne: Anne Walsh Donnelly lives in the west of Ireland. She writes poetry, prose and plays. She started writing in her mid-40s, kick-started by the end of...
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