LIPSTICK IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL by Melodie Johnson Howe My husband has trouble listening to singers who are off key. Which means he has a problem listening to most contemporary music. We attended a performance of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. When the string section and the brass section began to tune up my husband […]

THE DIOSCURI DIAGRAM Considering the Storyline Diagram, Part the Second by James Lincoln Warren Last week, I offered my version of the venerable storyline diagram, seen above, as a cure for three-act-itis. One of its advantages, I claimed, was that it was more flexible than the vaunted three act structure. This week I aims to […]

OBSERVATION and DESCRIPTION, Part I by Leigh Lundin Lacrosse Purposes I found myself sitting in a new fast food restaurant looking through glass at a multi-level kid playroom with gerbil habitat tubes tykes are supposed to crawl through, slides, a basketball hoop, and other structures designed for kids– but not by kids. As I watched, little children– […]

SIGN LANGUAGE by John M. Floyd Last weekend I did a bit of work and play, at the same time: a Saturday afternoon booksigning, about 120 miles northeast of the town where I live. (As some of you know, my latest book — a second collection of mystery/suspense short stories — will be “officially” released […]

EDITING WITH STONE AND CHISEL by Steve Steinbock I never thought of myself as a Luddite. I don’t run out and purchase every new gadget that comes on the market, but neither do I shy away. Back in the day when I first heard talk of computers being used as writing tools—“word processing” they called […]

OH, HENRY! by Deborah Elliott-Upton Ask readers why they remember the stories of O. Henry and it’s likely due to his surprise endings. It could also be that he wrote approximately 600 stories, publishing at least one a week during the ten year span while living in New York City until his death. As in […]

SIGNS OF HEALTH by Robert Lopresti Last week Melodie wrote about communication problems during her hospital stay. By coincidence I had written something on a similar topic a week before. My view was pretty different; no doubt in part because I was just visiting (not Melodie, by the way). Compare and contrast … Recently a […]