By Elizabeth Gaughan

I have no idea what made me decide writing was my passion. Not many of my friends are writers, and the ones who are only dabble in writing for fun, rarely indulging in it the way I tend to do. I use writing to solve my problems, masking my worries behind the characters in my stories or the carefully worded descriptions in my poetry. I love exploring how combinations of different words can create various emotions in a reader and how writers use this very practical language to make art a fundamental necessity of society.

by Madeline Schuster

Writers rock! That’s what I thought when I was eight years old and, with my friends, started a writing club called Writers Rock. Our club meetings consisted of reading our own writing aloud, giving written feedback to other members about their writing (usually no more in-depth than “Nice job!” or “Cool story!”), eating, and giggling.

by Lori L. Lake

If I told l you I saw a cat in a morgue, would you believe me?

It’s true. One April, I attended the Mad Anthony Mystery Conference in Hamilton, Ohio. As part of that event, participants toured the Hamilton Police, Fire, and Coroner’s departments.

by Ali Gharavi

Last week, I sat in an empty theater while a 20-year-old Italian American practiced being me as an Iranian boy of 12. They were rehearsing for a play based on a story I had written a few years back. The experience was simultaneously mesmerizing and jarring, and I wondered how I ended up here, watching the private memories of my childhood splayed out on a public stage, with my young thoughts spewing out of one stranger and into the ears of more strangers.

by John Evans

On the surface, it was a straightforward transaction: I retired because I could. The financials, though not ideal, were good enough, the work environment was increasingly unpleasant, and I was anxious to get on to something new. Why not retire? And, having done so, why not just shut the door and move on, instead of rummaging through my actions and motivations, as though I need a stamp of approval on my choice?