Tag Writing

In the Presence of my Enemies

Whitney L. Schwartz 2 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA“It was June of 1941,” said Walter Cross, looking at his grandson through the steam rising from his coffee, “I hadn’t been in the army more than a few months when I was captured by the Nazis. They sent me to a POW labor camp. They worked us all day and didn’t feed us enough to keep a kitten alive. Half the men I came in with never came out.”

Matt looked intently at his grandfather.

World War II, Nazis, and labor camps were only things he’d ever read about or seen in movies. His grandfather had lived it.

“What was it like?” Matt asked. Continue reading “In the Presence of my Enemies” →

Ten Things

Whitney L. Schwartz 5 Comments

lightstock_66582_medium_peripheral_images(Winner of CFW Event #18)

 

Taking that first drink when he was seventeen. That was the first major mistake of his life. One drink had led to another and then… he was hooked.

 

Stopping by the side of the road to help Jenny Garman change a flat tire. That was one of the good choices he’d made. They’d known each other vaguely before then. Seen each other as they walked through the halls of Dearbrook High, but after he’d helped her that day it had spurred a friendship. He never really understood it, at least on her part. She must have seen something good in him. Maybe she saw what he could be. Continue reading “Ten Things” →

Like a River

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bwwaterfalloverrocks(Second Place Finisher in CFW Event #15)

 

Rissa watched the stream trickle to nothing more than a thin thread of water meandering over the rocks. Then a little further down it disappeared altogether. As she walked on, she found herself entering a desert, stretching out endlessly in a sun-beaten, desiccated expanse of sand. Heat-lines rose up like a mirage in the distance where the sand met the sky. Continue reading “Like a River” →

The Forbidden Box

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https://www.lightstock.com/photos/storm-in-a-gift-wrapped-box

(As seen in CFW Event #14)

The world where I was born is the same as yours. It’s just made of different stuff – the kind of stuff that makes dreams and myths and legends. You can’t see my world and my people can’t see yours, with the exception of brief glimpses now and then. I, however, can see both, for I am fated to walk the empty space between the worlds until the end of time. It is the sentence that I must pay for my crime. In your world it was Adam and Eve who brought the curse upon humanity. In my world…it was me. Continue reading “The Forbidden Box” →

Sailing the Seven C’s of a Better Blog

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lightstock_75566_medium_novelaficionadaAnyone who can use the internet can blog, but it takes more than key-taps and mouse-clicks to craft a well-formed post.  So here are seven easy steps to help you make a better blog.

1: Condensability

Keep it short.  If you’re writing a how-to or a business blog, save your long-winded literary commentaries for another day.  Stay on topic and say what needs to be said.  If you go into long run-on thoughts and explanations, you’re likely to lose your readers.  Continue reading “Sailing the Seven C’s of a Better Blog” →

The King’s Son

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armor(Winner of CFW Event #12)

 

Rylan stared at the endless expanse of Illtydian soldiers stretching out for miles across the rolling green hills of the Takuma Downs. Ominous gray thunderheads billowed in from the north, threatening a violent storm and blanketing the land in an eerie, dim blue light.

Rylan stood atop the hill to which his army had just retreated.

He could see the Illtydians reforming into lines, preparing for the next battle. Continue reading “The King’s Son” →

Until Today

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lightstock_6289_xsmall_peripheral_images(As seen in CFW Event #10)

 

Hezekiah Tyrell Cooper shuffled down the busy Chicago sidewalk. He was just a face in the crowd. At a glance he was a well-dressed, handsome, young, black man, probably worked at a law firm or financial corporation. If the observer were to look closer, they would see that the mouth drooped at the sides, the feet moved slow and aimlessly, and the deep brown eyes were heavy-lidded, red-rimmed, cast down in desolation at the pavement. However, even the closest observer couldn’t tell who he really was. Continue reading “Until Today” →