Mark David Gerson

I like to joke that my Muse tricked me into being a writer, slyly pushing against my longstanding blocks until, suddenly, I was a writer and there was no turning back. Growing up, you see, I never viewed myself as creative and could never imagine wanting to be a writer. Now, of course, I can’t […]

Daliah Husu

The healing power of written words revealed itself to me in my early thirties. I was heartbroken by someone I loved and the physical and emotional pain was unbearable. During those times of seclusion, as I spent days and nights in bed mourning my loss, my only companions were my iPad, my index finger, and […]

Read More, Live Longer

I’ve always believed that reading was the one essential pastime to assure the most fulfilling quality of life. It now appears, based on new research, that reading actually extends life. The assertion is based upon a study revealed in Social Science and Medicine, as reported in the New York Times. The researchers used data on […]

Viga Boland

I’ve always had a love affair with the power of words. Words can build us up or tear us down in seconds. Whichever way they are used, there are lifelong ramifications for all who read or hear them. As a victim of child sexual abuse, I know all too well how harsh, unkind words can […]

George Clowers

I read something, a Frost poem perhaps, at the age of eleven, and thought, “I want to write something that affects others the way I was affected.” The music I heard at home and my mother and her sisters singing to her piano playing set off a desire to write what I was seeing and feeling. Little did […]

Elaine Viets

My grandpa was a master storyteller, a real raconteur. He’d tell his stories in a redbrick saloon on St. Louis’s south side, the city’s German-American neighborhood. Back then, saloons were working people’s clubs. The bartender-alderman, who knew more about sin than a priest, gave Grandpa this accolade: “He was a snappy dresser. Drank two beers […]

Natalia Leigh

When I don’t write, I feel a sort of loneliness seep into my life. It’s as if my characters and stories are always there in the back of my mind, reprimanding me for neglecting them. Writing allows me to chase dreams and go on adventures that aren’t possible in my everyday life. And I think […]