by Lisa Brownell | Mar 23, 2023 | posts
When Women’s History Month rolled around this March, stories of women’s achievements were everywhere; I even read one profile on a small, digital screen at a gas pump. Instead of feeling cynical that this celebration was a form of tokenism, or being frustrated by the...
by Susan Kietzman | Nov 25, 2022 | posts
It’s easy at 62 to look backward. Most of my life is behind me. And wistfulness seems to increase with age. As a younger person, I used to be amused by my older relatives who talked about a loaf of bread costing a nickel and the good, clean fun of a high school sock...
by Ginny Bitting | Sep 21, 2022 | posts
I have been thinking a lot about perspiration, inspiration and the maddening ebb and flow of passion in my writing life. The first line of this post came into my head this morning at 5:30 AM after six weeks capturing vague thoughts on yellow sticky notes. At her book...
by Maura Casey | Aug 13, 2022 | posts
Writing a good lede is like meeting an angry drunk in a dark parking lot. You have to hit him over the head right away to get his attention. At least, that’s what an editor told me early in my career. While the comparison is a bit violent for my taste, it is...
by Ruth W. Crocker | Jul 23, 2022 | posts
Not long ago in a writing workshop, a colleague offered to read a personal essay I had written about a difficult life experience. My kind friend reported back that he felt as if I were dragging him, sad and depressed, to the abysmal end of the story. “I don’t want to...
by Bethe Dufresne | May 19, 2022 | posts
“How do you choose a book?” Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda asked and answered recently, which naturally led me and other Mystic Writers, all avid readers, to have our say. Dirda’s advice to consult book lists by famous writers works only occasionally for...
