Slanted Guidelines

I’ve been looking through my duotrope listings and came across the guidelines for Wild Blue Yonder, an inflight magazine, posted on Lighthouse Writers Workshop.  The magazine discusses their wants, etc., then adds that the content must be appropriate for all ages.  Here’s an excerpt: Each issue of WBY has a theme that the fiction writer

Mona Lisa Smile

I was struck by how foreign this movie was to everything I knew as a girl, everything my life was in my ‘formative years’.  As an adult I’ve brushed up against this kind of thing–fiercely competitive polish and ‘society’–but only enough to recognize it when I saw it. Some of it is the difference in times,

In the Headlights

Tonight as I was driving home (about 9:30pm) I came down a tree-lined, rural street and saw something big-ish in the middle of the road.  Around here we’re always watching for dear, but this looked more like a dog. I slowed, assuming it would run, but covering the brake. The thing stood there, turning to

Top Ten Ways to Change Your Luck

10 – Date a Blonde. 9 – Crush rose petals in your shoes. 8 – Make your mother-in-law green tea every day for a week. 7 – When parking your car, take the spot furthest from the store. 6 - Wallpaper your front door with all your old computer disks. 5 – Go to your local high school

Sniffing Out the Scent of Story

Science News has an article about restoring scent to individuals who have little or no sense of smell.  The research is fascinating in its own right, but it’s also got me thinking about how individuals learn that one of their senses isn’t working as it should. For example, it’s not uncommon for children who need glasses to be

Amazing Rain

I love rain. Glorious, thunderous, torrential, pounding, drenching rain. You must remember, I grew up out west.  In Utah, and right next door to the desert.  I can remember only a small handful of big storms from my childhood, and each was an Event.  Like watching the surf pound, or coming out on a winter