I have an older iPhone 6s. Its battery is still fine. It still works just fine. Its screen is pristine and not cracked. So I have not wanted to pay hundreds of dollars for the latest model. But I decided to try Apple Music the other week, thinking, $10 a month gets you all these […]
Category: writing
Starship Earth
He doesn’t like this. The way the stars feel in his hands. All cold and rotten, slimy, like the fish he ate for dinner. He wants to clean himself. He desires to see his skin again. Empty of the callouses of the constellations. Will it ever be home? Will he ever come apart at the […]
On writing every day and staying creative while the world burns
I started my first week of writing every day and I have to say I am excited enough about it to keep going. I started on Monday and averaged about 1,000 words a day in a short story I started about werewolves to submit to an anthology. At first I thought the hour I had […]
Life as I know it: Renewing my writing and personal goals at the mid-year point
It is June 1 tomorrow. This means that in one month the year will be halfway over. That makes this is a good time to reflect back on the year so far (I will avoid politics in this particular post, because 2020 is on fire, and I only have so much emotional energy right now.) […]
Life as I know it: When rejections keep you going
This has been a long week, but then again, all weeks seem long in a pandemic. Even though I work Monday to Friday, I have to constantly remind myself of the day of the week. It all drags together in one slow-motion blend of stress. For that reason, I have taken up again my habit […]
Why I Don’t Read Book Reviews
This may sound strange from someone who writes book reviews for this blog. But I typically don’t read reviews in order to influence my decision on whether to purchase a book. I have been told that 80 percent of readers use reviews as their decision point, but I’m not in that group. Here is why. […]
Life as I Know It: Confidence amid fear and uncertainty
I have decided to start publishing a twice-weekly update of a more personal nature with reflections on my writing life and creative journey. I will call it “Life as I know it.” Today is approximately Day 54 of quarantine. And it is yet another day in which I am taut with strumming anxiety. Yesterday, a […]
Why Editors Matter
On Twitter, someone makes a controversial statement about writing that goes viral, and then other writers must glom on with subtweets to dissent. The current debate is regarding whether writers need editors. I find this debate rather perplexing because I don’t come from a fiction background, except for my undergraduate degree; I come from a […]
Flash Fiction: Yearning for Water
I present to you another piece in my series of unrelated flash fiction pieces. All photography is shot by me. “Yearning for Water” Story and Photographs by Denise Ruttan Kyra Bartleby emerged from the water, her skin icy at the sudden shock of air. She sat at the edge of the swimming pool and dangled […]
Flash Fiction: “Faery Dust”
I am going to be writing a series of flash fiction pieces to improve my chops to get ready to submit some for publication. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the shorter the work of fiction, the easier it becomes; because short fiction is hard and flash fiction is some of the hardest of […]
