The Loft Blog

Writers may be passionate about writing, but a fair number also abhor social media. Instead of feeling inspired by the wealth of information available via a quick scroll on their mobile device, many feel overwhelmed, disheartened, and/or perplexed.

Premee Mohamed's Beneath the Rising is about two teenagers, Nick and Johnny, who inadvertently awaken The Ancient Ones and must race around the world to save humanity. It's also about good and evil, the perils of transactional relationships, and what makes friendship real.

There is an age-old conundrum confronting writers of personal essays and memoirs. Should the writer change the names of persons who may come off negatively in the piece, or should the subjects be identified? I have done both during my five-decade writing career.

Ellen Birkett Morris is an award-winning, multigenre writer, teacher, and editor based in Louisville, Kentucky. Morris is the author of the forthcoming short story collection Lost Girls (TouchPoint Press) and of Surrender (Finishing Line Press).

In the United States, it is almost impossible to make a living as a writer. This is because our country has divested from the arts in favor of industry. Capitalism demands commodification above all else, and this corruption has stifled American literature for far too long.

“Boosting” a post seems so simple. With a mere tap of your finger, your new book or blog post will now be shared with hundreds more people than you currently have as followers. Or least that’s how it seems on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Kate Carmody is a recipient of a CINTAS Foundations grant supporting artists born in Cuba or of Cuban descent. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Potomac Review, Essay Daily, No Contact, Los Angeles Review, the Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and Lunch Ticket, among others.

Kate Kitamura's A Separation is about a woman who travels from London to Greece to find her estranged husband so she can ask for a divorce. The book is her physical search for him, but more than that, it's the narrator's search through memory and fantasy for some understanding.

Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy novel out in February 2022, and the Alice Payne time travel novellas (2018/2019). Her debut novel Armed in Her Fashion (2018) won Canada’s Aurora Award.

Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi, opens in a strange and magical way. Not only is the POV “we,” the narrators are not yet born and might be magical. When we first encounter this voice, it's hard to tell what is happening—what is "real," what is human, what is something else.

Marginalization is often magnified by societal invisibility for the disabled individuals. Even initiatives and organizations committed to championing inclusivity often overlook those who have different access needs.

Troy Wilderson is a New Orleans–born writer, senior prose feedback editor for Typehouse Literary Magazine, and a manuscript reader for a local independent publisher. She teaches the art of short story writing online. Her short fiction has appeared in Roanoke Review, the Tishman Review, and more.