Founder/Editor-in-Chief of editor of Writing-World.com and freelance writer since 1979, Moira Allen is the author of several hundred published articles, and three books on writing published by Allworth Press: Writing.com, The Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches, and Proposals, and Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer (now in its 3rd edition). Allen has also served as the editor of the national magazine Dog Fancy, as well as the editor of several online/electronic publications. I first came across Moira Allen’s writing articles in Working Writer and her practical suggestions helped my writing and the often confusing submission process.
When did you begin your author website guide and how did it come about?
Writing-World.com actually began in several stages. My first website was “Tips for Writers,” and included only my own articles. …
My boom box teetered on the limestone boulder next to the pigpen. Cousin Libby put it there, unconcerned by my catch of breath when metal scraped rock. The boombox, my only birthday present when I turned thirteen last week, was now scarred by scratches.
“Why didn’t you put it on the grass?” I asked before I saw the puddle beside the boulder, a spray of rust-colored dots on the dirt.
“So that’s what all that ruckus was about.” Libby skimmed her pinky over the surface of the puddle, then tried to trace a heart on the faded wooden plank of the pigpen. But she only had enough on her pinky to draw a backwards question mark.
From the other side of the pond, a holler, a girl waving with one hand, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun with the other. …
Centered on a small island on the River Lee is Cork, the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland. Nestled just north of the English Market and just west of Cork Harbor, lies the Mutton Lane Inn. A favorite of the early afternoon crowd (opening at 2 pm on Sunday) and the late night couples desiring quaint conditions include candle illumination, small oak tables, and in excess of 600 varieties of beer. Whether a local or a traveler from afar, this small pub sees its shares of love stories and heartache.
This story is not about the Mutton Lane Inn, rather, it pertains to true love found and true love easily lost.
Enter Sergei.
Sergei Protopopov is a young assistant coach for FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, or Luch-Energiya for short, or just Luch for conversations with those who find the Russian language and its far eastern dialects difficult to understand and even more difficult to pronounce.…
We bring baskets of deviled eggs and ham,
whatever the dead might miss. We cling
to photos of loved ones, set chairs in a circle,
wait for the tug. We’re searching for what
we’ve lost, pieces of our hearts stolen
by death. For my many recent losses
I want to know if the dead heal, if they feel heat
through the veil, if they’re given explanations.
I don’t believe one god made all this suffering.
Or these scars. Or this sunburnt flesh.
A deity should have no patience for misery,
that’s what we were taught. The wind
howls like collapsed lungs; we close our sweaters
against the cold. They are amongst us.
II. Them
The lack of a body, its battle with gravity,
this we like about our place.…
Diana Raab is a memoirist, poet, essayist, blogger, and speaker. She has a PhD in Psychology with a concentration in Transpersonal Psychology and a research focus on the healing and transformative powers of memoir writing. She’s published nearly a dozen books and over 1000 articles and poems. Her latest book, Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life, was published by Loving Healing Press in September 2017.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum speaks with Raab about the intersections between psychology and creative writing, including dealing with trauma, getting past mental/emotional roadblocks, and the like.
Marcie had just watched a polar bear starve on television and describing the stumbling, saggy beast to her grandfather wasn’t easy. Her assertions came in a rush of breath. If the magnificent, lumbering polar bears were in danger, what would happen to the people? Not to mention the penguins and the seals and the spikey, mud-colored fish who couldn’t handle a PH balance over 8.1, but it was 8.2 of late because of all the plastic straws and the acid rain.
“I met a polar bear once,” said her grandfather. “Nasty thing.”
Marcie’s grandfather, who was prone to exaggeration and suffered from a nip of dementia, listed the bear’s attributes, starting with its fiendish, river pebble eyes and finishing with an account of the way it had lumbered home, disinterested towards an old man.…
