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New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
I'm Not Adjusting Well
Transformation is change. And not all change is as good as we wish for. William Wordsworth wrote, “The child is the father to the man,” implying that our childhood is what tends to mold and shape our future life, including how raise our own children. I felt this to be true with my own upbringing. I grew up with my live-in Italian grandmother who took care of me until I was eight or nine years old. I understood she looked out for me, cared for me, but it didn’t always show. It was an old army blanket - scratchy at times but still warm. It was only a few years later I learned my mother did not fully embrace her own mother for reasons she never divulged. She took care of Nonny because my mother did what a daughter ought to do through filial obligation.
By Barb Dukeman11 months ago in Psyche
A Fond Memory, A Cheating Friend, And Love Languages
Rupi Kaur's Relationship Writing Prompts - Describe a fond memory you've shared with each of your closest friends. Rose: I worked with her when I was still in my early 20s. We had a co-worker who some of us determined had a drinking problem and several of my co-workers decided to try an intervention. This friend had dated him.
By Denise E Lindquist11 months ago in Writers
Free Market Man Returns
Listen to the audio version on Spotify (starts at 6:05): (Available on all major platforms—full list) *** Fresh from his battle with the Bureaucracy Brothers, Free Market Man patrols the skies over America, the shining city built on a hill of U.S. dollars (and a few dead laborers).
By Stephen A. Roddewig11 months ago in Humor
beginning-endings. Runner-Up in Self-Editing Epiphany Challenge.
The following is an excerpt of a draft of the opening of a novel which I hope to someday write. This piece is being submitted for Vocal's "Self-Editing Epiphany" Challenge, and will therefore include my analysis and reflections following the conclusion of the excerpt. Cheers, friends!
By Gabriel Huizenga11 months ago in Critique
A Family Affair
It was another dreary day of drizzle, but Thomas Milford didn’t mind. He slogged through the final few yards of mud to the big house’s kitchen door. After giving the knocker a few good clangs he glanced out at the green fields of the estate. He could just make out the shape of the farmhouse that he and his brothers called home.
By D.K. Shepard11 months ago in Fiction
The Price of Eternity
"Welcome to Drax Industries: the Home of the Future. Please enter your State identification code to begin." Kaylie shifted her weight and wet her lips, staring at the prompt on the holographic screen for a while longer. Her fingers hovered over the number pad, but she couldn't bring herself to do what it asked. It wasn't like she didn't want to. After all, who wouldn't jump at the chance to live forever?
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in Fiction
