Bang that keyboard and jazz up your writing

A freelance science journalist took up drumming, dared to jam some jazz — and found a way to do fast-jazz story drafts

By Esther Wei-Yun Landhuis • August 30, 2024

Freelance science writer Esther Wei-Yun Landhuis learned to play the drums during the COVID shutdown

When you can’t paint over problems and need to tear your story down to the studs

A kitchen renovation reminds a writer that not every story can be saved without a complete rewrite and a thoughtful blueprint

By Joanne Sasvari • August 28, 2024

The allusions and confusions of regional references

The editor muses on how cultural references have the power to make writing more intimate and authentic, but can also leave readers out

By Jacqui Banaszynski • August 27, 2024

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“Besides, there’s more room …”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

August 9, 2024

From a tribute by Mary Lou Logsdon, a spiritual advisor and writer in St. Paul, Minnesota, upon the death of a friend

“Go out, little book, into the world.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

July 30, 2024

From an interview with author Margaret Atwood

… that he who does good …

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 7, 2024

From the novel "North Woods" by Daniel Mason

“…last straws and camels’ backs…”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 8, 2023

Charles P. Pierce (paraphrased) on college basketball coach Bobby Knight

“History is a merciless judge.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

November 2, 2023

David Grann in his nonfiction book "Killers of the Flower Moon"

“Now is the winter … “

By Jacqui Banaszynski

October 6, 2023

Name that source: Subversive literature in a raunchy, slapstick comedy

“Are you writing this down?”

By Polly Basore Wenzl

July 26, 2023

An 11-year-old in Wichita, Kansas, challenging a journalist

“… it’s not terribly unusual to see grown men crying …”

By Erik Ness

June 2, 2023

Cynthia Barnes of Denver Westword in her obit of a local bartender

“…just how astonishing this particular moment really is.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

March 31, 2023

Peter Baker of The New York Times on the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump

Divining the “fantastical sea creatures” on the political horizon

By Jacqui Banaszynski

March 23, 2023

New York Times chief political analyst Nate Cohn on the possibilities of indictments against Donald J. Trump

“…cutting the viewer to the bone.”

By Trevor Pyle

March 7, 2023

Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz on actor Tom Sizemore

“…the stories it told … were not someone else’s but one larger story of which they, too, were a part.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

March 1, 2023

By Jacqui Banaszynski As I read Celeste Ng’s most recent novel, I couldn’t help but think of George Orwell’s “1984” or Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale.” Nor could I avoid echoes to discordant times in real life in recent years. Novelist Celeste Ng… Read More

Personal Essays

Bang that keyboard and jazz up your writing

A freelance science journalist took up drumming, dared to jam some jazz — and found a way to do fast-jazz story drafts

Story Craft

When you can’t paint over problems and need to tear your story down to the studs

A kitchen renovation reminds a writer that not every story can be saved without a complete rewrite and a thoughtful blueprint

From the Editor

The allusions and confusions of regional references

The editor muses on how cultural references have the power to make writing more intimate and authentic, but can also leave readers out

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