Putting our people on the page
One hard truth I learned along my bumpy path as a published memoirist is that people-pleasing is not exactly part of the equation. Despite my best efforts to write with multidimensionality, love, and integrity,...
Writing Prompts
June’s writing prompt –– Vineyard horror stories –– was not popular. Since we didn’t receive any submissions, we’ll share an essay by Brae Eddleston from the previous month’s prompt, which was “Vineyard love story,”...
‘Jaws,’ capitalism and Fidel Castro
“It was 1975, and Fidel Castro was reading ‘Jaws.’”
Wendy Benchley shared that complex shard of history with me. She’s the widow of Peter Benchley, who authored the best-selling novel that would inspire the Hollywood...
In the beginning was the POV
When a writer sits down to begin a work of fiction, one of the most important decisions is what narrative voice to use. There are so many ways to tell a story, and sometimes...
My job was to be a kid
By Jill Orluskie
Thanks to my father, I couldn’t have asked for a better summer job on Martha’s Vineyard from 1982 to 1985. Although my father’s job at Bell Atlantic had him work on the...