A coming of age ritual — “It’s a fraud, Magnolia.” Heather’s words blew across the group of girls on the common, a cold wind chasing off the high summer heat. “It’s for little kids, not for adults.” Magnolia blushed. She turned twelve a week from today, leaving childhood behind. Henceforth, she would be a woman. Her…

How to use reader reactions to improve your writing — Whether to read your reviews is a vexing question. Many writers and publishers insist you shouldn’t, and they have a point. That volatile cocktail of glowing praise, lukewarm approval, and open hostility can make you sick with anxiety. Then again, hidden in the mix just might be some nutritive value…

Don’t look in the box — A light chop danced over the face of the Chesapeake. Wave peaks sparkled in the morning sun while darkness swirled in the troughs like entrances to the underworld. At the helm of his cargo boat, Chuck Boyd amused himself with that image. Water postmen, unlike their landbound colleagues, both delivered…

Odd, maybe, but carbon-neutral! — For one thing, you never saw grasshoppers as tall as your knees. Or made of copper. (Okay, two things.) Or with ornamental plating along their backs. (Three.) “Wings,” May Caldwell corrected. Wings. Right. Her brother Max shoved his hands in his pockets and tried not to shudder. …

A flash fiction wrong turn — “Launch is scheduled for an hour from now. We’ve got the best seats on the planet.” Karen gave her husband Bill a look of reproach. “We’re too far away,” she said. Bill set up the folding chairs and helped her into one. “Nonsense. We have a clear view across the…

He came to take something back — For a cold night, it was hot tonight: the music, the dancers, the laughter. Everyone in their bright finery had crowded into Harold’s establishment to drink and sing and dance and forget for a time the knee-deep snow, the day’s drudgery, the war, their own forgottenness. Jazz rattled the windows…

Much of writing is cutting — Here’s my first draft of an introduction to this article: Broadly speaking, writing can be divided into two parts: the first draft, and everything else. Your job while writing the first draft is to get your story down. Even if you’ve written an outline, this part of writing is largely…

Lit Up: Spring Prompt — Reality — Shopping wasn’t Amelia’s thing, but Alex had a list, and he was determined to tick off every name: his parents, her parents, their two kids, his sister, her brothers, their nephews and nieces. They weren’t returning from vacation empty-handed, and every town they stopped in welcomed tourists’ credit cards with…

Sometimes the best way to hide is to get caught — A more ridiculous scenario had never arisen in Clara’s experience. Eyes everywhere, ears everywhere, facial and voice recognition systems lurking behind them all, and she ordered to meet her contact on Las Ramblas among the markets and artists, the street performers and tourists, with Centro Nacional de Inteligencia watching everything…