Charlotte is a successful romance novelist who escapes city life and moves to the small town of Crispens Point in Blackberry County. She immediately connects with some of the quirky but friendly residents and begins to feel at home right away. When a friend invites her to attend a local community church, Charlotte is attracted…
Sugar Birds: A Novel is an evocative coming-of-age story about personal wilderness, trust, and the search for forgiveness. In this selection from the book, ten-year-old Aggie—angry with her unpredictable mother—has accidentally lit a tragic fire that drives her into the rugged Pacific Northwest forest, where suffering will compel her to grapple with the character of…
The past paralyzes, and the future is unknown. My calendar captures future events as my “to-do” list increases with things I should have done yesterday. In the meantime, social media drags me down in the game of “what if”: The world will come to an end if democrats win, and the world will go to…
Your rolling and stretching had grown quiet that stormy winter night, but no labor came as it should. A long ten days overdue post-Christmas, you clung to amnion and womb, not yet ready to emerge. Then the northeast wind blew more wicked and the snow flew horizontal, landing in drifting piles, the country roads impassable,…
“I want to keep it handy in case I need it,” she said, matter-of-factly. She wasn’t talking about a flashlight. Not a package of tissues. Not a cell phone—they hadn’t been invented in 1978. She was talking about Isaiah 55. “I liked it,” she went on. “So I memorized it.” “Come, all you who are…
Courage whispered the autumn leaf He, born of spring’s budding hope commissioned for summer’s verdancy yet most glorious in decline Courage urged the autumn leaf As he, in trust and gratitude…
![Ask Me What I [Don’t] Know](https://redbudwritersguild.com/wp-content/uploads/three-beauties-2722474_1920-768x512.jpg)
What do we see when we look at others’ faces? We notice the outward appearance, whether we wish to or not. Skin color, eye color, clothing, and so on, are apparent features that are obvious and difficult to pretend we do not see. What we cannot see or know from the outward appearance is a…
In the month of December, the Christmas story often stands alone, lifted with huge parentheses out of the New Testament—maybe delivered in Linus’s hushed boy soprano, and then tucked away with the durable resin Nativity set and the twinkly white lights until next year. It’s a great story, so it’s easy to see why authors of…
I do not buy those words, sacred and secular, They’ve rent the world in two. They take the magic from how a speck of dust catches the light Or how the cadence of footfall is poetry. They make too much of church casseroles that do not feed the multitudes. Blind adult eyes Miss the…
Cancer grows in odd places and moves in unseen ways. A big mass in his chest. A tiny spot in his spine. The bad, old cells clumping together to attack and destroy. In the beginning, death seems like the biggest and only potential thief. You do not yet realize that cancer will steal his hair…
In the beginning, God created. Artist’s soul attuned to string everything from nothing formed an idea in his head that gave him delight. A black and barren expanse mutely marked a starting point from which the Spirit hovered, wrinkling the waters, suspended in pregnant pause before the birth of what was to be. Clear, sharp,…
Just a little more beauty, Lord. That’s what I’m asking from you. I’m not begging for a model’s thighs or to wear a slim size two. Smooth out these rolls, this dimply skin, lift up some sag, if you will. Wipe out each stretch mark too please, Lord. I know you have the skill. Just…
Day of the Lord You have this thing that begins as a wave, Hurried thing, it takes to task the columns of unconvincing elation. Ever present regardless of the wind or the decisions of humane individuals eager for motive, and cause, and effect, and things wrapped up before the end comes at warp speed. …
Ah Ni stepped off the airplane and immediately sensed she was in a new place as the odors of fried food and coffee assaulted her senses. Excitement and fear intermingled as she settled her backpack more securely on her shoulders and followed the crowd through the airport. She glanced around at the signs in English….