A Word with You Press

with the diversity and imagination of those who visit our site to write. Our third finalist who just complicated Stefanie Allison’s task as judge is Julie Mark Cohen. Our contest, The Third Annual Victor Villasenor First Sentence Contest, netted three diverse finalists; two are regularly submissive to me, and one is submitting for the first [...]

Literati… We are a non-political site, a writer’s site.  We believe that people of all political persuasions should have an opportunity to humiliate themselves, but we never encourage them  to do it here, or to espouse any specific religious views, believing that if religion is your bag, you are by definition sack-religious. But social issues [...]

change your mind about leavin’– leavin me be hi-ind. Oh-oh Bring it to me, bring your…literati! bring them on home to ME–the editor-in-chief! (picture upper left is of an intern saluting the editor-in-chief as she is about to begin her train-ing) And to add to your bank of trivia, I had the pleasure of seeing [...]

Oh, Literati!   (It’s a little know fact that Mick Jagger was born in Texas and started out as a country western singer.  Now, you know!) I believe this is the final entry into The Third Annual Victor Villasenor First Sentence Contest. If you have not seen an entry that you submitted, please let the [...]

Literati! Ok. ok.  I get it.  The contest is supposed to be ONLY about the first sentence.  But this first sentence soooo makes me want to read more, and read more I did.  The paragraphs that follow perfectly compliment a lovely start to a lovely story. I dare anyone to disagree with me on this. [...]

Literati! Out with my old life; hand me a new one. Sounds like a perfect New Year’s sediment–oops!–sentiment!.  And it comes from someone new to our site who found us by first visiting our friend and neighbor Victor Villasenor at http://victorvillasenor.com/. Victor is the inspiration for The Third Annual Victor Villasenor First Sentence Contest.  He [...]

Oh my Literate Ones!   (In this recent photo, an intern at A Word with You Press prepares to backfire.) The purpose of our contest The Victor Villasenor First Sentence Contest is to inspire you  to create words that will draw your reader in. Intrigue with just a few words before some punctuation mark brings [...]

Literati Many of you know the world ended a few days ago.  I have this posting on auto-pilot–you can do that.  You write the post and then schedule a date for any time in the future.  The world ended, just as the Mayans said it would.  Fortunately for our our computers, we managed to get [...]

Literati! Hi all.  I was recently stranded in the North Pole and unable to access my computer and post your stories which are clogging up the arteries that are the towers know as A Word with You Press.  My thanks to Diana, Gary, and the Brit (that would be derelict–oops! Derek) for providing you guys [...]

 There are few guarantees in life (apart from my Mac’s irrational approach to uploading images – this is my third attempt). However, when an opening line includes the words “dead” and “cluttering”, we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll want to read on. After all, a story is a body of work.   UNDER THE [...]

Every first sentence suggests a plethora (I know, smart huh?!) of possibilities. Sometimes – like Terrie does here – the art lies in not showing your hand. The inner landscape she shares will drive the story, and some things are worth waiting for.   Vacation Points by Terrie Leigh Relf It wasn’t that Sylvie didn’t appreciate [...]

  Those opening syllables are subtle clues of what’s to follow. They are breadcrumbs on the trail of a literary adventure. We may not know exactly where we’re going, but we’re eager to buy a ticket for the ride.  When it’s done well, it’s all there – like here! Rhyme nor Reason By Michael Stang             Vanessa [...]