Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

The Choice, a short film by Desiree Cooper

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The moment we read the stick, some of us buckled on the bathroom floor....Undecided, we waited too long. Decisive, we were instantly clear about what to do. We were happy about it until we weren’t. (from "First Response," published in the short story collection Know the Mother, by Desiree Cooper) First Response: I first heard Desiree Cooper perform her stunning short story titled "First … [Read more...]

Women Writers Share their Celebrity Idols

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Oh, my teeny-bopping heart Think back... did you have a teen idol who made you weak in the knees? Did you pore over 16 Magazine or Tiger Beat for the latest gossip about your favorite star? Some of us us don't want to admit that we cried our eyes out when Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman, thus cruelly dashing our dreams that we might one day become Mrs. McCartney. But I know you're out … [Read more...]

Horseplay vs assault

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How can anyone call attempted rape by a seventeen year-old "rough horseplay" or "simply part of the natural order of things. Boys, figuring out how to be men” --? Don't believe that for a second. As soon as a boy or man claps his hand over a girl's mouth, it becomes an act of violence. Don't breathe a word When I was thirteen or fourteen, a boy tried to drown me in a swimming pool at the … [Read more...]

To remain open and quiet in the fertile darkness

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  “You never know what's around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain.” ― Tom Hiddleston The urge to explore Every path into the woods calls to me. When I'm riding along the Paint Creek Trail or Clinton River Trail, I often feel the urge to abandon my … [Read more...]

Beyond the Easy Gesture in Fiction

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Oh, those flashing eyes! The other day, I laughed when I read the recent tweet of a fellow writer: “There's a lot of 'flashing eyes' in this draft. Need to fix.” Our fictional characters certainly do flash their eyes. They also roll them, grind their jaws, blink, sneer, grimace, and smile in varying degrees from crookedly to unabashed. They shrug, cross their arms, tremble, and shake their … [Read more...]