Megan Eccles from Love Letters 7.10 writes about the moments that bridge the gap between memory and grief.

As she stripped the house to its bones, she dwelt on the fact that she was an orphan now. Her father had passed away three years prior, a heart attack, sudden and shocking. That was a hard year. The realization that her parents were no longer young was a blow that Cecelia wouldn’t have time to recover from. Cecelia’s mother had received the news of her cancer, terminal, only a few weeks before. They had clutched hands as they remembered him in the front rows of the pews, as friends and strangers told the wonderful things about him. It wouldn’t be the last time.

Read more at “The Forever Song“

Ann Bennett writes about the complicated nature of childhood friendships and the line between being nosy and neighborly in “Children’s Arguments.”

If you haven’t had a chance to read this week’s offerings, take a few minutes to catch up with your fellow writers.

I apologize Write on Edge. I absolutely spaced this week and didn’t schedule the Weekend Linkup OR the Week 20 Wrap Up for Write at the Merge. The wrap up will post tomorrow morning, but for now…

Welcome to the Weekend Linkup! The linkup is a place to link up your favorite piece of writing from the week, whether it’s a new post or something you wrote for another prompt or Tuesday’s musings on how important ice cream is during summer months. There are no word limits, no topic restrictions, and no prompts.

Please try to visit as many as possible, particularly the ones in front of and behind your link. Thanks, and happy reading!

Running, story research, writing, character development, sleep.

All were set aside. I found myself missing them desperately, but I also realized how quickly rust can grow on those parts of ourselves we cultivate so carefully. Each night it became easier to ignore the moss growing on my blog, to leave my notebook in my tote bag for another day. My head was tired and filled with other things, and I slept as late as possible instead of crawling out of bed to run in the darkness.

But the rust is starting to stiffen my head and stiffen my mood, and I know part of the reason discontent is becoming commonplace is that I haven’t been taking any time to take care of myself and the things that help me distinguish myself between me and the role I play in the wheel of my household.

A few times last week I let myself fall into novels and pick up my pen to jot lines and stories and connections between characters in a story that consumed me for a while. I could feel the hesitation in my voice, not aloud, but the voice that dances from my head to the words on the page, and I know the inactivity has taken its toll.

This week I promised myself I would take time each day to write, even if it’s only for fifteen or twenty minutes, and by write I mean give life to the stories that still unfold behind my eyes when I take a few minutes to breathe. This promise feels a little self-indulgent, a little presumptuous, because I know that all writers are busy, that all writers have to struggle to fit writing into their lives.

But if you’ve found yourself putting writing at the low end of your to-do lists lately, play along with me and write a little each day this week. If you’ve been racking up words lately? Rock on, writers, rock on.

Do you ever get out of the practice of writing?

The link will be open until 11:59 PST on Thursday. Happy Writing!

The first part of this week’s prompt is the word: orphan. Please feel free to use any definition of the word for inspiration.

The second half of the prompt is an image:

This image courtesy of F3D3.86 via Flickr Creative Commons

Settle in and read as many as possible, especially the links before and after yours, and leave a comment to say hello.

Happy Saturday!

Baby, instant soup doesn’t really grab me today. Today I need something more substantial: a can of beans or black eyed peas, some Nescafe and ice, a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading from Dr. Seuss.

And this image, courtesy of my drive to my son’s school.

We are lucky to have some new voices linking up with us, as well as some returning old friends. To all of you, you are what makes this community! Welcome. And thank you.

Now for the spotlight:

Stacey of Stacey’s Mothering Moments took my breath away with her ficional, but brutally truthful, look at the dark moments of mothering, in 5 a.m..

Her head bobbed a little too much and the infant stirred. She shushed and rocked and was satisfied when the infant smiled in her sleep. She should enjoy that, she thought, but somehow all she felt was relief that this little person wasn’t awake.

Shreya at My Ramblings examined the price of going home again in The Cherry Blossoms.

Please take a few minutes to explore the link ups, especially those whose writing you’re not familiar with. You may discover something truly wonderful.

Image courtesy of natalie_31via sxc.hu.

It’s been a ghost town around here this week. For that, we all apologize, but we’ve been busily compiling the Precipice submissions for review.

Our heartfelt thanks to all who submitted. We can’t wait to get started, though the decision-making process is always daunting.

How soon is too soon to talk about the next volume?

This week, Write at the Merge, is offering you our customary 500 words and open linky through Thursday at midnight PACIFIC. Bring your creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry prompted by either or both of the week’s inspirations.

But what are they?

This week, one of my favorite passages from REM’s The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight:

Baby, instant soup doesn’t really grab me today. Today I need something more substantial: a can of beans or black eyed peas, some Nescafe and ice, a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading from Dr. Seuss.

And this image, courtesy of my drive to my son’s school.

Settle in and read as many as possible, especially the links before and after yours, and leave a comment to say hello.

Happy Saturday!

Lyssa from Always Another Chapter gives us a glimpse into how elves and faeries get their hands on such marvelous things in “When One Door Closes…”

In Maud’Dib Amy Beth from Under Loch & Key reminds us that this statement is usually when parents find trouble in their homes: “They were getting rambunctious, but it probably wasn’t anything she needed to interfere with.”

Have a wonderful weekend!