Beyond the dark Where there is no light The days and nights Are frightfully stark  Where the mind is blind To the buried inner plights And void of any hindsight 

As expected, Miss Martha’s living room had pink décor, though it was subtler than I had thought. The cream-colored walls were lined with photos and paintings of birds. They ranged from common backyard birds and city dwellers like pigeons and cardinals, to exotic species such as toucans, macaw parrots, and flamingos. Some of those photos ...

New story ideas are one of the best moments in a writer’s life. It’s a new adventure to take, new lessons to learn, and new characters to meet. You feel alive, like you can’t wait to see how the story will unfold. Where do you start? Here are a few places that are fun to ...

I stand within the Twilight ZoneBetween pitch black and home Here in no man’s landListening to the Last Post from the bandstand I am not scared, nor do I feel aloneThe deep grayness glows like black chrome Bathed in droplets of moon rainThe tapestry’s dampness melts into the fading plain As I wander above my ...

I continued to date Louis every weekend for over three months; we had dates in restaurants, parks, beaches, movie theaters, etc. Louis grew closer to me; he even bought a beautiful pink necklace for our twentieth date. I enjoyed our time together, but the reminder of Miss Billings’ assignment had kept me on edge. I ...

Please understand, I had desperate ambitions to be a journalist by then. It seemed like a worthy sacrifice. Most of the working staff were already cutthroats, so it looked natural from my fatigued view. Now Mackenzie Billings, though unscrupulous, still had the foresight to ensure every dubious interview and story had some truth. I manipulated ...

Life would be simple if every task was a straight line from A to B. The paths ahead are clear, with no forks or decisions to be made about the direction to follow. Alas, reality is more complex. More often, every problem involves multiple solutions and requires us to make complicated decisions. Success does not ...

A poem about my new year's resolution to step out from the shadows and write what I love.

It’s Christmas day, and as the kids grumble about the gifts they didn’t receive, you’re in the kitchen, surrounded by the sharp aroma of minced onions while completing the repetitive task of removing the thick, robust skin of the potatoes. The kitchen is filled with the pungent and sweet fragrance of herbs as the flavors ...

“One of the photographers for the newspaper was Louis; he started his internship not long after I arrived. He’s a shy person and preferred to be behind a camera instead of in front of one. “With him assigned to another journalist; we only saw each other on occasional lunch breaks. After Miss Billings became the ...