Category: Featured Writing

If I had known, when I turned sixteen, that during the next year my father would die, I would have done so much so differently, but I was just sixteen and could not know, or even imagine, he would be killed. That year of my life began so normally, I have little recollection of it. … Continue reading If I Had Only Known by Duane L. Herrmann

Sometimes, even with our best friends, we need to keep our mouths shut. Don’t be too honest, and don’t tell them everything. That’s certainly the advice I should have given myself a number of years ago when torrential rains turned our backyard into a pond, suitable for kayaking. Along with the rain came a power … Continue reading Nothing Said is Best by Linda Freedland

Regrets can take many forms - that opportunity not taken, that relationship which collapsed, the hurt feelings from harsh words - and each category can pitch you into a conundrum of feelings from mild discomfort to downright depression. My story is a true story, one that I have shared with potential employers when on a … Continue reading Rights, responsibilities, risks, rewards, regrets…. by Kathy Barlow

If I could take back the words I’ve said, these three would be the ones.“You’re not petite.” I said those to my mother as she held up a blouse from the clearance rack of JC Penney’s.“Maybe I am a petite.” she had said. It was a pretty blue floral print looking somewhat like a Laura … Continue reading I wish I never said… by Bridget Cole

 “It does not require many words to speak the truth.” - Chief Joseph I am not known for having a foul mouth. Nurses are sometimes like sailors with their colorful language especially in emergency situations. “God damn it, breathe!” and “Shit, stay with me.” or similar commands are often heard during a cardiac event. It … Continue reading Honesty Is the Best Policy by June Hannay Kosier

I am now the owner of a slice of the farm where I grew up seventy eyars ago. This slice is bound on the east by a creek that divides the farm and on the west by the neighboring farm. There is a considerable difference in elevation between the creek and the neighboring farm, maybe … Continue reading Surprise in the Woods by Duane L Herrmann

Jon was an interesting blend of Grizzly Adams and Bear Grylls. A collector of weaponry, with an arsenal of guns, bows and arrows, knives and yes, a genuine harpoon. One would not expect a lawyer for a state agency to have such an eclectic hobby. But he did and he was passionate about his collection. … Continue reading No Picnic Today by Linda Freedland

The detective looked at the dead body with the vacant eyes found in the forest and tried to evade his thoughts for the moment. Too many memories, good and bad, were racing through his mind. The body was found by a woman living nearby walking her dog. She said she never enters the posted forest … Continue reading The Clue in the Eyes by June Hannay Kosier

I am trying to let go and abandon the negative things my mother said to and about me when I was a child. Her most common combination of attributes she ascribed to me were: “fat, lazy and asinine.” I knew what “fat” was, so I assumed I was grotesquly obese. I knew what “lazy” was; … Continue reading What I’m Trying to Leave Behind by Duane L. Herrmann