Reckon Review

Tag: Wind & Root

  • BURIED NITROGEN: On writer’s block and six-toed cats | by Sandra K. Barnidge

    The smell is what surprised me most about visiting the Ernest Hemingway house in Key West, Florida. Specifically, the dominant smell of the idyllic, subtropical garden surrounding the meticulously preserved Spanish colonial house: cat pee. The undeniable—inescapable—scent of litterboxes and free-range territory marking. It hit me immediately after handing over my $20 for a ticket…

  • ORANGE JUICE, 2000 | Nonfiction by Mary Thorson

    We believe in Orange Juice. We have many beliefs, and orange juice is one of them. And plane crashes. On the morning of the day that Uncle Willie died, he came back from his car to the kitchen three times. The first was to tell his wife that he loved her. The second was because…

  • DUDE, WORST TITLE EVER | Nonfiction by Jim Roberts

    “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” That quote is attributed to W. Somerset Maugham, although no one seems to know for sure if he wrote it. Deciding which advice to accept and which to reject is, for me, the most difficult part of writing fiction. There’s…

  • SEASONS | Nonfiction by Laurel Hightower

    It’s mid-winter in Kentucky and the ground is frozen solid, the trees bare and gray. It’s twenty degrees outside, so for this rare holiday weekend we’re hunkered down and making use of the black marble fireplace, my pitbull curled up under multiple blankets, occasionally knocking my laptop out of her way or adding her input…

  • Closing Time (inspired by a Semisonic song we aren’t quoting for copyright reasons)

    By Stuart Phillips Editor’s note: It’s been 5 years and just over a week since I published the first story here at Reckon, “Country Roads” by Stuart Phillips, so it feels particularly fitting that Stuart is sharing his thoughts with us this week. Back then I wasn’t sure that anyone wanted to read stories about…

  • ARTFUL ACADEMICS: The Bees’ Needs

    By Brandy Renee McCann Have you closely watched bees working summer flowers? In my backyard, tiny, fragrant goldenrod flowers unfold in clusters along arched stems, swaying and bending amongst tall burgundy-tinged mugwort and a rainbow of zinnias. Pollinators—little bees, big bees, and butterflies of all kinds—blossom hop amongst the golden florets, sometimes pausing to nap,…

  • MUSINGS FROM NATURE: Learning to Breathe | by Susan Schirl Smith

    The woods have a unique quiet. A silence, almost, but for the sounds of the whispering leaves as the wind caresses their surfaces. An occasional birdsong creates melody with the sounds of the breeze. My feet crunching softly on the dirt path are rhythmic, patterned, meditative. The light— chiaroscuro, a fractal sun dancing on leaves…

  • WRITING THROUGH ADVERSITY IN THE POST-TWITTER AGE AND THE HEALING POWER OF LITTLE STORIES | By Barlow Adams

    Few things are as daunting as a blank page or an empty screen, the sheer weight of expectation lurking in all that white space can be crushing. It’s a heaviness that settles in your chest, threatens to cramp your fingers, daring you to prove you have the words, that you’ve still got it, whatever it…

  • PARENTAL RECKONINGS: Lassie, there’s a writer in a well!

    By Amy Barnes I have NOT been writing. I have managed to dig myself a well in my sleep. There’s dirt under my dream fingernails. I’m tired. I’m thirsty. My thoughts feel dry. My nightly goal is to find a well of creativity I’ve been told exists somewhere, but I’ve only managed to locate a…

  • THE FRACTURED MIRROR: Craft it Loud

    By Edward Karshner When someone asks me what I do, I fight the urge to say “cowboy.” I usually say, “I teach.” I never lead with “I’m a writer.” I never feel comfortable with that particular job. It’s my favorite. Not my favorite to talk about. Eventually, I confess, and the next question is, “what…