BEST OF BLOOM: Walker Percy, The Original Moviegoer

by Lisa Peet

“It is not like learning a skill or a game at which, with practice, one gradually improves. One works hard all right, but what comes, comes all of a sudden and as a breakthrough. One hits on something… It is almost as if the discouragement were necessary, that one has first to encounter despair before one is entitled to hope.” Continue reading →

Multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith southern stories: Q & A with Anjali Enjeti

There is such joy in happy endings, and we know that making that final climb to publishing can sometimes feel like a fairy-tale ending while slogging away at any work in progress. That is why it feels particularly thrilling to share in the celebration of Anjali Enjeti, who after years of putting in the hard … Continue reading →

Bloom Creative Writing: Poetry by Tracy Youngblom

by Tracy Youngblom

“He won me once—twice if you must know.
Each time, forced to silence, I watched
his strength prevail, other suitors bloodied,
beaten.  This was one kind of love.” Continue reading →

The Delights of Middle-Grade Fiction: Q&A with Gary Pedler

“Being from the minority group of LGBT+ made me more inclined to diversify my characters in ways beyond sexual orientation. I can get as emotionally involved in stories involving straight characters as the next person. At the same time, I’m aware of often not being included in these stories.”

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An Excerpt from Cheryl Krauter’s memoir, Odyssey of Ashes

“You can’t go alone,” Diane says… Continue reading →

Beginner’s Mind vs. the Dark House

by Lisa Peet

I craved—I still crave—transcendence, some kind of transformation to click through the plodding circuits in my brain and fire them up again, one by one, turning the lights back on. Continue reading →

Bloom Creative Writing: Touch Screen

by Mohini Malhotra

“And they say you can’t read cues on Zoom…I say those people can’t read cues period. I quickly look away in case the whole room sees us seeing us.” Continue reading →