Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Mary Jo Firth Gillett

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What: Since the earliest days, I’ve been drawn to language, the sound of consonant, vowel, syllable.  My parents made a recording of me at three reciting nursery rhyme after nursery rhyme in an impossibly high, piping, precocious little voice.  Later I became thrilled with the sense of “knowing” something of an author and another time from the writing. Even so, it seems too great a … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Dorene O’Brien

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What? I have published poetry and essays, but at heart I am a fiction writer. My first story collection, Voices of the Lost and Found, is a group of gritty, unflinching, largely tragic stories told from the perspectives and in the voices of eleven disparate characters: an urban graffiti artist, a doctoral student who loses his mind while studying literary theory, a teenage boy on an interstate … [Read more...]

I Will Revise: An Ode to the MFA Program

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One highlight of The University of Southern Maine MFA program is their annual talent show. When I was a student ten years ago, we enjoyed everything from clarinet recitals, hula hoop performances and one-act plays to an excellent demonstration of finger shadow skills. My debut in the talent show was to sing a rewrite of Gaynor's song depicting the work we had to do as creative writing students. … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Tamra Wilson

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What: I write both fiction and nonfiction. I’ve written stories since I was a young child to my stint as high school yearbook editor. In high school I wrote a fiction column for the school paper. That was my first real venture into characterization and dialog. After a career as an editor and PR director, I’m now a columnist in Western North Carolina and enjoy ten minutes of fame every other … [Read more...]

Blackout Poetry – as creative as you want to get

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A mix of writing and visual art All you need to make blackout poetry is imagination and the ability to let your mind take creative leaps with given text. Even my logical, engineer-minded husband enjoyed this project when we participated in a workshop after my reading for In the Context of Love at the East Tawas Library. Any age can participate, too. My ten-year old granddaughter enjoys making … [Read more...]