In August, Managing Editor L.L. Barkat published Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing. It is extraordinary, and not the usual book you find about writing....

I began my writing life as a clandestine affair--meeting the keyboard in secret for many months before confiding my wayward passion to my husband. I wasn’t entirely sure that he would understand—feared he might roll his eyes, or--worse--laugh at this fragile love affair. Of course, he did neither, just nodded his head and encouraged....

The words of my youth were simple words. They were good words, functional words, words with concrete meaning. Even the bedtime stories my mother told us had an obvious purpose. The moral of the story is… What other need of words would the children of a blue-collar family have?...

I drive with the windows down and the air conditioning on. The sun burns through the windshield but it is not enough to be cool--I must let the breeze ripple my hair, feel the wildness of strands licking face. I have the music loud-- it fills the air around me, drifts out and spills onto the road I leave behind. I remember this—this wild abandon....