Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Tracy Lawson

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What: I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but for the bulk of my adult life, I told stories through dance. Creating recital pieces and choreographing musicals required most of my creative bandwidth, and left me not totally burned out but always a little singed. The same year our daughter graduated high school, my husband changed jobs and we moved from Ohio to Texas. Now officially an empty … [Read more...]

Totally Shredded

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The Routine: In the morning, I prepare our older dog Clementine’s food– a special low protein kibble with a pump of fish oil and a sprinkling of tartar-removal flakes. Then I use a small syringe to shoot her liquid bacon-flavored medication, .5 ML, into a Pill Pocket, a big chewy doggy gummy with a hole in it. I tuck two and a half pills inside, too. I give her the Pill Pocket outside. Her … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Charlie Brice

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What: Years ago, when I first started writing for publication, I thought I wanted to be a novelist, a fictioneer, as one of my teachers, Chuck Kinder, used to say. My wife and I had a place on Walloon Lake near Petoskey, MI and I noticed, one day, while browsing in a bookstore, that a writers’ retreat was going to be held on our lake. I talked Judy into going. When Judy and I first got … [Read more...]

Where did the phrase Lunatic Fringe originate?

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Why do we say that? Researching the origins of words and phrases fascinates me. Do you know where the phrase Lunatic Fringe came from? I'll give you a hint: It has nothing to do with fringed bang hairstyle, as this silly essay attempts to explain. Luna Gone are the days of locking people up in lunatic asylums (although proper mental health services are sadly lacking in the US), but … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Terry Blackhawk

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What: I am one of the lucky children whose parents brought poetry into her life at an early age. The Silver Pennies poetry anthology was a constant companion, and by the time I was ten I was writing poems of my own, sealing them with wax, and hiding them in secret places in the woods behind our house. I edited Manuscript, my high school’s literary magazine, and in 1968 submitted for my final … [Read more...]