Dec 1, 2022Member-onlyA Boy AppearsSome fiction. Night again, and he is in the den, the cave, having hiked down to Mrs. Rickets, his hairy body covered in a civilian suit, and climbed back with the heavy flats of canned goods strapped to his back. When he returned in the afternoon, he ate, then perused…Fiction6 min readFiction6 min read
Aug 20, 2021Member-onlyA Story About Evening * Aspiring Writer SyndromeI’m writing a story about my evening. In it, I take a walk up the road past Jablonski’s place to see if he should happen to be mudding that godforsaken concrete wall he’s been failing at for the last three winters. I have a strong sense of how things will…Fiction4 min readFiction4 min read
Apr 30, 2021Member-onlyYou RememberAn account of some introductions made at a party — Hey, Karl. Come on in. Good to see you. Hey, you remember Denise, whose ham salad went viral last year. You remember Joan, the dental assistant with the really successful autism blog. You remember Augustine, the former bank president who wears a crooked brown mustache. You remember Harold, the graphic…Experimental4 min readExperimental4 min read
Apr 28, 2021Member-onlySmall ShotA writer’s journey from point to point — Part 1, Bullshit Self-Esteem October of 2019 Day Zero Where else could I have been when I spotted Ken? At the bookstore, of course. The memorial was underway. Bookstores are where recently passed poets are remembered these days. …Writing Life31 min readWriting Life31 min read
Apr 20, 2021Member-onlyOde to the Men of Erectile Dysfunction Commercials RevisitedA poetic adventure — Hail to you, gray-haired gentleman / on that summer porch. Let us put down / our fishing magazines and nod / sternly to your valor You have met her eyes, there on the wicker davenport / with a curtain of lush hemlock and hard / ash behind you; Trickling /…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 1, 2021It's been a long time since I've come back to an article a second time to read it just for the…It's been a long time since I've come back to an article a second time to read it just for the pleasure. This one slays. Nice job.1 min read1 min read
Mar 29, 2021Member-onlyThe Pandemic PantPart of the Spring 2021 collection The Pandemic Pant returns to the spring lineup. Back by loathed demand, and sponsored by Doritos, this classic is literally timeless. As in, all recollections of sanity and personal grooming will be sucked into the void of something called a “distant past.” Available in…Pandemic Reflections2 min readPandemic Reflections2 min read
Mar 22, 2021Member-onlyThe Editorial Department SchemaA plan for compartmentalizing your creative writing tasks and responsibilities — I want to introduce you to something I call “The Editorial Department Schema.” It’s a way to think about your fiction writing, or other creative writing work. What’s a schema? Let’s have a look.Writing Advice10 min readWriting Advice10 min read
Mar 15, 2021Member-onlyThe Killing PlaceIn a future where Willful Elimination is legal and encouraged for the survival of the species. A fiction excerpt. — Hello, readers, writers and followers. Since the start of 2021, the AWS crew and I have been putting out various how-to’s for fiction writers, looking at technical craft elements, inspirational ideas, and gray-area stuff like closeness in point-of-view. This week: something different! It’s time to walk the walk and (hopefully)…Fiction20 min readFiction20 min read
Mar 5, 2021Member-onlyCosmic BankingCan we transact between creative and financial accounts? On June 6, 2014, I heard something uncommon: a novelist interviewed on a Wall Street report radio program. The novelist was Mona Simpson. Forgetting the supernatural suavity of host Kai Ryssdal’s voice, let us look at these wise words from his “Marketplace”…Writing Inspiration8 min readWriting Inspiration8 min read