Category: Contest Winners

Novel Beginnings

Let’s Write Contest Winner: This is the story of a story and why it came to be.

Written by: Gail Gallifant Collins

It’s the story of a quiet, fatherless girl growing up in Germany during World War II. She was bombed twice and walked for three weeks with her mother, following the rail lines to locate relatives and shelter. Some harrowing things happened to her before and after that, but she prefers to remember the kindnesses people showed to her.

It took the girl a long time to tell me any of this though. She is old, and I am growing old. When finally she shared it with me, she said, “It wasn’t a beautiful life.” Continue reading “Novel Beginnings”

A Spanish Lullaby

As printed in Loren’s Divine Intervention Travelers’ Tales

When I was a child in 1967, Marty Robbins wrote A Spanish Lullaby whose lyrics embrace a father’s tender words of comfort to his child. “…dream while the angels watch over you. I will hold your hand. And when you wake with the morning, I’ll still be here.” One night in Spain, I awoke to the truth that I am still a child, holding fast. Continue reading “A Spanish Lullaby”

Larry, Come Out … Please

Dead of Winter Nonfiction Contest

There are some grim and difficult things that we’re forced to learn in a lifetime. Physics homework or memorizing the driver’s manual is standard fare. But I’m talking about the things we never counted on learning. For some, it’s measuring their blood glucose for diabetes. For others, it’s filing for bankruptcy. And for my neighbor, it was dealing with your husband when he’s high on painkillers, waving a gun and threatening to kill himself. Continue reading “Larry, Come Out … Please”