Until I walked into a UCLA Extension personal essay class in January 2013 when I was 39-years-old, I was an unpublished perfectionist with a fear of failure so debilitating I hadn’t written a word in two years. I was a…
Archives for November 2016
Guest Post: The Accidental Poets by William Greenfield
Some decades ago I unwittingly fathered a baby girl. Through some trick of fate or the magic of genetics, that baby girl helped me develop into something loosely resembling a poet. I say “loosely” because part of me believes that…
A Conversation with Tasha Cotter
An interview by Alicia Cole. Tasha Cotter is the author of the poetry collection Some Churches (Gold Wake Press, 2013) and the chapbooks That Bird Your Heart and Girl in the Cave. Winner of the 2015 Delphi Poetry Series, her…
Guest Post: The Art of Construction by Shaina Clingempeel
Oftentimes, people picture the modern poet as an outspoken individual. This individual shares even her early scraps. I, however, differ from this image. Throughout college, I dreaded the workshop circle. While I like the concept of collaboration, I struggle to…
A Conversation with Jen Knox
An interview by Alicia Cole. Jen Knox is a writing coach and the Writers in Communities program director at Gemini Ink. Her short fiction and nonfiction appear in over seventy publications, including The Adirondack Review, the inaugural issue of Black…
Guest Post: Laryngitis by Diana Conces
Laryngitis is, of course, a temporary loss of voice. You try to speak, and what comes out is this awkward, hollow hiss, like a particularly disgruntled ghost dragging a rusty pitchfork across a chalkboard, and then everyone around you puts…
Secretary by Megan Roberts
I was called a secretary again. When I hear the word, it makes my blood boil. I know my master’s degree is sitting on the shelf laughing at the way my face contorts when my co-workers spew their venom. The…
A Conversation with Vanessa Blakeslee
An interview by Alicia Cole. Vanessa Blakeslee is the author of the debut novel, Juventud (Curbside Splendor, 2015), hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as a “tale of self-discovery and intense first love.” Her story collection, Train Shots (Burrow Press) won the…