Birthday Celebration Challenge — Question 7 — Regarding desserts, I can be quite picky, especially on my birthday. While I do classify myself as a carboholic (probably related to being a T1D), that usually extends to bread — any bread, all bread. However, I am fond of donuts — glazed, Bavarian crème, and lemon-filled —Tiramisus, my mom’s…

Birthday Celebration Challenge — Question 6 — I don’t have an ounce of Italian, but there should be. I am obsessed with Italian food — pasta, sauces, bread, pesto, olives, spices, cheese, and garlic. I even prefer Italian wine. So when my birthday rolls around, and I begin contemplating my birthday dinner, I always think Italian. Thankfully…

Birthday Celebration Challenge — Question 5 — While I was born in a Summer month, I’ve rarely enjoyed Summer. I grew up in Southwestern Virginia, where Spring rushes into Summer. At the onslaught of June comes warm, humid days. Temperatures quickly rise to the high-80s and remain there until July. The rain barely falls, with the exception…

Birthday Celebration Challenge — Question 4 — I was born on Monday, June 20, 1966 at 6:39 pm. I know this because I still have the original hospital document with my footprints and time of birth. This means I am a Gemini, but it also means that I am a cuspy of Cancer. A few hours later…

Chills and thrills abound — Writing dark poetry isn’t everyone’s forte. It takes a willingness to dig deeply into one’s psyche, pull forth dark, shadowy trauma and pain, and thrust it into the light. We dark poets are often stigmatized by words such as overly emotional, melancholic, demented, and yes, even evil. And while we…

Prompts to tempt your muses — Welcome, me lovelies! This is the twenty-third issue of Creative Expressions — a week’s worth of prompts to tempt your muses into producing some artistic-based writings. While we will still accept any of your artistic creations, we hope you will consider using one or more of our prompts as well. …

Prompts to tempt your muses — Welcome to the twenty-third week of writing prompts here at PW. I hope everyone is having a great June thus far. We’ve had some unusual occurrences here at home — along with our two cats, we’ve been adopted by another juvenile cat and a black pig — yes, a pig…

Giving credit where credit is due — Hello, me lovely PW writers! Along with doing Editors’ Picks this month, your editorial team has decided to honor writers in each of our four categories — Poetry, Fiction, Essays, and Articles. Believe me; this has not been an easy task. PW has some of the most amazing writers. We…

Birthday Celebration Challenge — Question 3 — I’ve tried to understand why people get freaked out by the number thirteen, but for me, it holds a special significance. Why? Because the summer I turned thirteen was a magical affair. Or so it seemed to this melancholic newly-minted teen. Per usual, I had been staying with Grams on…