Confident Writing: Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
by Stephen Parrish
Styron’s writing is muscular, confident; he writes with the poise and pluck of a man who knows he can use any damn word he likes.
Suicide Notes: A Look at Marcia Aldrich’s Companion to an Untold Story
by Vivian Wagner
Marcia Aldrich’s Companion to an Untold Story is the story of her friend Joel’s suicide, told in bits and pieces in the form of an abecadarium.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Photosynthesis
by Con Chapman
Photosynthesis is an important process. I mean it’s extremely important. It’s the source of food for almost all organisms on earth.
Five Minute Mornings
by Vivian Wagner
Who doesn’t have five minutes? Even on my busiest days, I can find that kind of time. And what I’ve found is that those few minutes, taken every day, add up.
In Defense of Entertainment
by Camille Griep
Most of us spend our school days trying to figure out how to love books. Even those of us given Nancy Drew or the Babysitter’s Club or Sweet Valley High on the side still had to choke down The Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye, Gatsby.
Poignant Little Stories: All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot
by Stephen Parrish
An artist sees hue and value, a choreographer watches how people move. A writer sees little stories in everyday situations.
Upcoming Flash Contests
By Vivian Wagner
So you’ve been working on flash prose pieces all summer, and now you’re wondering where to send them.
Me and Sappho
by Con Chapman
Sunday night in Boston. The city’s winding down at the end of the weekend, or at least some of us—like me—are.
Piecing Together a Life: Peggy Shumaker’s Just Breathe Normally
by Vivian Wagner
Just Breathe Normally doesn’t use flash pieces because they’re trendy. It uses them because that’s the only way to tell this story.
At the Junior Algonquin Club
by Con Chapman
It’s August, time for me to check on the kids to see how they’re doing with their summer reading lists. Things haven’t changed much in our little town since I was a boy.
A Postmodern Western
by Vivian Wagner
I’ve been thinking lately about how we’re becoming more fragmented as readers and writers, and about how that might not be such a bad thing.
Completing the Circle: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
“I’m turning in my card.” Francie pushed the wrinkled dog-eared card covered with stamped dates across the desk. The librarian picked it up and was about to tear it into two, when Francie took it back from her. “I guess I’ll keep it after all,” she said.
A Quite Literary Catfight
Dick Cavett asked, "What was overrated about Lillian Hellman?" Mary McCarthy—never one to mince words—replied, “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’”
Short-Short-Short Stories: A Look at the #cnftweet World
by Vivian Wagner
It’s pretty much the shortest possible flash nonfiction, and I’ve learned that it requires some skill and practice.
Submissions, Cliches, and Self-rejection, Oh My!
Love them, hate them, love to hate them, The Literary Contest is a near constant feature of a writer’s world. Here at Easy Street, we just wrapped up our first contest, awarding $10 per word for the best sentence.
