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  1. Honestly, It's Not for Everyone

    That’s Nebraska’s current tourism slogan, and it seems perfect to me. Most people from the state (at least among those I know) will freely admit there are no obviously sublime sights, no real mountains, no towering redwoods, no massive canyons, only one real waterfall (and it ain’t much by Niagara standards). But then they will say something like, “it’s got a lot of subtle beauty.” And so it does. I was born in ranch country, way out in the northwest corner of the state, in the shadow...
    By GrahamLewis · Mar 14, 2023 · 541
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  2. All I can do

    All I feel I do is endure. There is no way out of this thing, this experience of awareness. All the pain, and all the pleasure passing by while I watch it. Everything is happening in one space, and I don't even know where or what it is. What I am. The thoughts that come up are the same, I don't choose which ones arise, I only notice some of them as they do. Some are more viral than others, and the whispers of others often wiser. No wonder this idea of the angel and devil on the shoulder is...
    By Dave The Great · Feb 14, 2023 · 446 · 1
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  3. Still not dead…

    I don’t even know when the last time is I logged on here, let alone posted content, reviewed others’ content, or acted like a member of this community. I’m still alive, still writing. In fact, I’ve started taking a class from David Gerrold, which is exciting. In case anyone’s interested, I’ve launched a new website with a series of shorts I’ve been working on, called Tales of the West. Stop on by if you care.
    By J.D. Ray · Jan 31, 2023 · 3.9K · 1
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  4. Decaying Mind

    Sometimes it feels like my mind is slipping. Too many universes to keep track of. Or perhaps my psychosis sickness is making itself heard... not literally. I just feel so stupid at times. Like my mind is really decaying. I recently comissioned two artists for illustrations outside their expertise. It only occurred to me to search for the right artists after I had comissioned the first two. What the hell, mind? What the hell is going on? Years ago, I would not have made that mistake. I seem...
    By Madman · Jan 4, 2023 · 644 · 2
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  5. What a Year!

    As 2022 comes to an end, most of us are reflecting back on the year and others mine as well be in 2023. getting those resolutions ready to be forgotten about by the second week of January if they're lucky to make it that long. I've tried that I don't know how many times and I never felt like I was actually changing. well until this year. The beginning of the year had all the magic; I thought 2022 was gonna be the year where everything just magically turned perfectly. Between trying to be a...
    By AraROO1111 · Dec 29, 2022 · 443
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  6. Books Read in 2022

    Bolded titles were my favorite (4.5 or 5 star) reads of the year. Some of the books, such as the two from H.G. Wells, could be considered outside the genres where I’ve placed them. I did my best. :) Fantasy (14) The Darkness That Comes Before, R. Scott Bakker At the Earth’s Core, Edgar Rice Burroughs Traitor’s Blade, Sebastien de Castell Tigerheart, Peter David Beyond Redemption, Michael R. Fletcher Smoke and Stone, Michael R. Fletcher The Grey Bastards, Jonathan French The King...
    By Bone2pick · Dec 28, 2022 · 676 · 3
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  7. Wishes

    Wishes When I was about ten years old, I was stopped in the school hallway by a classmate. She asked me to make a wish and share it with her. I didn’t play along. I supplied no wish. “I know it won’t come true,” I said. The first wish that had come to my mind was that a much-loved uncle who had recently died, very suddenly, had not died at all. But even at that age, I understood, that wishes had no power over what already was. The past cannot be re-written. Don’t waste your wishes there....
    By Louanne Learning · Dec 27, 2022 · 454 · 1
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  8. It's All Good

    My kid sister died about a month ago. I'm still processing it. I tried to capture it below, but I'm so close to it that I can't tell if it's worth reading, or it's TMI. I didn't want to post it in the workshop, because it's not meant as a project but as an effort to understand. I recently touched death, touched it when I held the icy-cold, blackened, hand of my dying kid sister and learned from her the art of dying right. Susan (not her real name) was diagnosed with cancer about four...
    By GrahamLewis · Oct 18, 2022 · 708 · 1
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  9. Random Thoughts on Want and Need

    Human motivation is created by wants and needs. Want and need both signal a deficit, but want is beyond need. Need is core, bones and meat. Want is extra, frills and lace. Frustrated wants bring on disappointment. Frustrated needs can harm body, mind and soul. You can live without what you want, but not without what you need. Wants and needs can feel the same in your body, a yearning that stretches to the limbs. What we want does not always equal what we need, although either can be...
    By Louanne Learning · Oct 12, 2022 · 676 · 3
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  10. Kindness

    This poem got me through difficult days. KINDNESS By Naomi Shihab Nye Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever....
    By Louanne Learning · Sep 10, 2022 · 478
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  11. Immortal Words

    We’ve discussed immortality in the Science thread, but it occurred to me today that we never touched upon the kind of immortality we as writers hope for—to live on in our words. It’s a nice thought, that what we create from our depths, from our blood, sweat and tears, will never die. We put who we are into our writing and the writing survives. In 23 BC the Roman poet Horace began the final poem in his Odes with these lines: I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze, more lofty...
    By Louanne Learning · Sep 5, 2022 · 683 · 1
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  12. Scrabble

    I love playing Scrabble. My husband and I played every day before he died. My brother comes over a few times a week and we always take out the board. I’m not really a competitive person but when it comes to Scrabble I like to win. Letters and words! Is there any better combination? My instinct for symbolism comes alive. Not even my brother’s constant harangue that I fucked the board bothers me. Getting that seven-letter word! Is there anything better? My most recent seven-letter word (a...
    By Louanne Learning · Sep 5, 2022 · 747 · 2
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  13. A Slow Start

    So this first entry is going to be a little warm-up. everyone always wantd to rush into things right? I've learned my lesson the hard way with that. so focused on the end-game then the actual journey itself. life is about getting to know things. I know as a child for me I had the feeling of constantly being rushed. everything needed to get done on someone elses time. racing against a clock that never stops. We live in a world that never stops. We never have the same moment Twice. even if its...
    By AraROO1111 · Aug 19, 2022 · 523
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  14. Everyday War

    Every day or so I have to fight against my own hatred. I was attacked and beaten at night in a park years ago, really, years, and years ago. I should be over it. Yet my hatred still remains. And I have violent thoughts of vengeance. I never reported the attack to the police, which was a major mistake. Not just for my own sake, but for the sake of others. So now here I am, deep in my own dark thoughts, where I do everything imaginable to the perpetrators. Such is vengeance. It is not...
    By Madman · Jul 31, 2022 · 2K · 2
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  15. Weathering it All

    Last Sunday the temp in Omaha Nebraska reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit. And the weather nannies were telling people to stay indoors and all that. So why was I, at age 72, outside, in or near my tent much of the day? Even though I had pitched it in the shade of a large maple, the humidity and air temperature combined encouraged a lot of sweating. I was there because I had scheduled the trip a couple weeks earlier. My mother at 97 is still lucid and on stubbornly on her own, but barely...
    By GrahamLewis · Jul 25, 2022 · 564 · 1
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