Posted by Karen Zappavigna Hoogland | 0 Comments
Step into Autumn!
And all at once summer collapsed into fall. ~Oscar Wilde The back-to-school sales are long over. Halloween candy, Thanksgiving decorations and Christmas ornaments have adorned store aisles for several weeks. Still, to me, summer is not officially over simply because the school buses are delivering neighborhood children to and from the schools. Summer end when fall truly arrives! Good-bye Summer! Hello, Fall! This evening, the Fall Equinox is at 8:48pm. I always look forward to this time of...
Posted by Karen Zappavigna Hoogland | 0 Comments
Bliss
This was written for a poetry class I took about 10 years ago. We had to write a “found poem.” This meant we had to find a block of text, then edit out half the words and add back in no more than 5 words. I took verses from the Song of Solomon, from the Old Testament. My mother had recalled that when she was a girl in Catholic school, they were not allowed to read this book in...
Posted by Karen Zappavigna Hoogland | 0 Comments
What’s In a Name?
For a project in my writing class, I had to go through my wallet, purse or junk drawer and find something to write about. I pulled out an old prayer card with St. Elizabeth Seton on it. She has always been someone I have admired. Like my siblings, my given name is short. Five letters. Simple. Karen. The last name? Not so simple and prone to many mispronunciations. Zappavigna. Try spelling that in kindergarten! Dad was all Italian....
Posted by Karen Zappavigna Hoogland | 0 Comments
The One That Almost Got Away
For a recent writing project, I had to find a newspaper article and then use it as inspiration to create a fictional story. We had to write about 500 or so words, and then share just the first 300 with the rest of the class. Below is my first 300 or so words. I may just continue this story. She looked in the mirror and found the face of a 92-year-old woman peering back. “Who is that?” Elaine...
Posted by Karen Zappavigna Hoogland | 0 Comments
They Called It A Near Miss
I am taking a creative writing course. One of the assignments was to write a short piece using dialogue. This is not necessarily my favorite kind of writing, but since I am taking the course to stretch out of my comfort zone, I decided to give it a whirl. They called it a near miss, but Jethro called it something a bit different. The alarm buzzed, the off button smacked. Jethro’s feet hit the floor. He could hear...