ESSAYS

A Language All Our Own :
Growing and Learning from Our Microlanguages
Years ago, while driving in a caravan that preceded the peloton of a cycling race along the back roads of southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina, I noticed something strange and wonderful: the way people said “hello” or “hi.” …MORE

Running Into Life
The rising sun engulfed me. I dug in and climbed the grade, pulled by the sun, mindful of nothing but the blazing orange furnace and my steady breath. The surrounding eastern New Mexico desert, its heat and bone-drying air seemed as inconsequential as yesterday’s to-do list. … MORE

Sense-ual Writing
Recently, on a spontaneous invitation from an old school friend, I visited the Big Island of Hawaii. During a 6 a.m. run along Kona’s boardwalk, while thinking about my forthcoming re-entry into a world filled with projects and deadlines, the island exploded upon my senses. …MORE

Breaking Up Into My Characters
I had less than four and a half months to write a time-sensitive novel. The challenge was daunting. I would also need to develop characters in a hurry, and breathe life and realism into them so that they didn't resemble the stick figures that lurch in and out of so many hurried novels like tin men in a snowstorm.…MORE

In The Flow
Micro-Languages: The Art of Dialogue
Remember when microbreweries burst upon the scene in the 1980s and early 1990s? The little small-town beers with their distinctive regional associations, tastes and labels presented a diversity that captured the imagination and spirit of America's beer drinkers…MORE

Dreams of Going – An essay by Barbara Stahura
On cool summer mornings, curled under a cotton sheet and a pink chenille bedspread, I often awoke gradually, rather than to Mom’s quiet call of “It’s time to get up, sleepyhead.” Before my eyes opened, my mind would slowly come alert, wordlessly aware that the confusion of the day had not yet begun.…MORE

On Writing Poetry By Hand
Poetry is the most spiritual and organic form of writing; it is the closest we can come verbally to the divine, its reflection upon our souls, and to the sacred seeds of language. It is essential to compose and refine poems with the hand - handwriting in its purest form. Channel the experience, perception or vibration as it transforms from the wordless void into language. …MORE

Playing With The Muse
If we could "see" the "body" of the Muse, what would it look like? In this essay, Bob Yehling explores the myriad of influences and inspirations that create our Muses - and leaves the magic and mystery between you and your Muse…MORE

Turning 40: Crossing The Road
As I walked around, slowly gathering some sense of center, eating the luscious hors d'oeuvres, I spoke with everyone and just immersed in this feeling of being so … special. How else can one feel when he opens a door and walk into a circle of friends, all there to celebrate the same thing: the day the clock strikes 40? …MORE