If days in the previous year seem somber, maybe dismal, cut them up into interlocking parts and box them like a 365-piece puzzle. At start of the New Year, resolve to put them together, studying one bygone segment with each new day. You just might find delight in the details.
Judith wrote this. She resolves to smooth out the jagged parts of life’s puzzlements.
On a sweltering July afternoon, the hospital door whistles shut behind Sarah as she watches a little girl, carried by her father, lick a rainbow sprinkle off her chin, her cheeks rosy and full like Sarah’s own used to be before she started counting everything. This time will be different.
Lauren Vogel is a writer and artist whose work is featured in Nowhere Girl Collective and on her Substack, OwlPerson.
Red theater curtains pull open, dust shaking itself from the satin folds.
The speakers announce The Universe. Stars and galaxies spin. You’re in the front row, eyes reflecting all of that cold bright space. You lean forward, crying.
When the orchestra’s first notes hum through your sternum, you are weightless.
Jessica is an aspiring author of lyrical fantasy and fantastical romances. She shares her writing process and book reviews on Instagram @jess.reads.too.much.
He cries the whole way, wriggling against the straps of his car seat. I hold my breath. Steam rises as cold air hits warm water. Bare feet slap against wet concrete. He dips one tentative toe, then a whole foot. All the way under now, laughing and splashing. I exhale.
Rachel M. Hollis lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, child, and a deeply unmotivated dog. Her work appears or is forthcoming in River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, Midway Journal, Lost Balloon, Gone Lawn, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere.
I flew halfway around the world to get over a crush that I couldn’t shake loose.
Time + distance = healing.
I arrived in a different climate, tried new foods, and learned new words. I took in the history and the art… and still I want to tell it all to you.
Basil D. Cove is an artist and organizer based in North America. They have an abundance of love in their life.
The story of the week for December 22 to 26 is…
Shortcut on Christmas Eve by Bob Thurber
There is nothing left; it is already over by the time you get there. Linens and flowers crowd the already small space. The staff, already busy with another room, have left it all to decay.
On your way home, inside the cold bus, your thumb caresses a petal you stole.
Lucie Culerrier is a French writer based in New York, where you can find her behind her computer in small coffee shops of the East Village. She has recently finished writing her first novel and is now a bit unsure of what to do with her life.
The boxes came down from the attic at the same time every year.
Delicate, brightly-colored ornaments.
The Christmas village collection.
Keepsakes passed down from generation to generation.
All beautiful in their own right, but none could ever compare with the macaroni wreath and its simple message:
I love you, Mom.
Susan Gale Wickes is a writer from Indiana. She enjoys writing short stories and greeting card verses and the joy of cartoon captioning.
Just another lonely morning since her husband passed. As she pours her coffee, the doorbell rings.
“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Johnson!”
A gift? For me?
By the fire, with tears in her eyes, she opens it.
“Good for one car wash.”
“One lawn trimming.”
And in a child’s scribbles, “One hug.”
Christa Lyon-Moon has spent two decades transcribing the voices of others as a TypeWell transcriber for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community in higher education. She lends those same attentive ears to her writing, crafting stories that listen closely to silence, love, and the small moments connecting her family and lively collection of animals.
The star was somewhere under the tinsel and the web of fairy lights.
“I’d buy a new one instead of this junk,” Max said, but Laura rummaged harder.
A flash of red plastic appeared in the corner, and she heard the voice of her mum:
“You are my little star.”
Nelly Shulman’s prose was published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies and she has authored three collections of short stories. She is a member of The Society of Authors (UK).