I feared this drive. Shivering, the cold Sunday morning after Christmas made my teeth chatter. The minivan’s wheels crunched over salted streets. I passed houses weighed down in slushy white. My wife and kids were still asleep, warm in their beds. I breathed and raked a hand through my thinning, graying hair. Marriage.Kids.Mortgage.Bills. How’d I get this old? I turned onto the onramp. The highway lines blurred and my mind cleared, leaving nothing else to think about but him. Granddad. … Read More »

Single When one has previously been seen as two, a newly perceived single woman often suggests the context of a half-life, an attempt to double back on her previous secure identity.   I will never accept the bromide “my better half.” It implies that a part of me is not only missing but is somehow inherently preferable, so that my oneness, my uniqueness, needs to be complemented by an extension of myself in order for me to be considered whole. … Read More »

The FWA Board of Directors wants to showcase our winning Collections authors. Please read Kamesa Evette Carter’s winning short story. A Teen Mom Starts Over As a kid, I was a fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. I liked choosing what direction the story took to its ultimate end. Once, I was eaten by a shark. Another time, I was betrayed by a friend and locked in a dungeon. Of course, I liked the ending where … Read More »

Another fabulous contest produced sixty winning authors bound for our seventh edition of FWA’s Collection – Revisions: Stories of Starting Over. Increasing the length of the contest from three-and-a-half months to four months, January 1st through April 30th, resulted in a total of 176 entries. This year 131 authors sent in one entry and 46 authors sent in two. Woohoo! We had ten poems entered into the contest. We are excited and pleased to announce two new records achieved in this year’s collection contest. … Read More »