A Sampling of Linda's writings, both Essays & Fiction...

Fiction: What Troy Wants

Published online in The Smoking Poet December 17, 2009

What Troy Wants

By Linda Sands

Troy is always asking me to do this, asking me to pose. I feel like that sock puppet that went around the world, passed from place to place, pulled out of suitcases and backpacks, covered in the dirt of continents, only to be propped up against cold stone lions or balanced on precarious ledges.

He tells me to feel the art—that a photograph lives beyond the moment, beyond the room or castle or field in which it’s shot. He says everyone will find something different once they stop looking…

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Essays: Holiday Writing Over The Years

I’ve been posting former Christmas Letters.

The old FAMILY ANNUAL REPORT poking fun at all those holiday letters you can’t wait to mock then toss in the fire.

Check it out over here:

http://linda-sands.blogspot.com/

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Fiction: Flash Fiction Debut in Weirdyear

New Flash Fiction from Linda appears in WeirdYear.

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Fiction: When fire leads to words leads to…

I read a bunch of tragic fire accounts in the newspaper a few years ago after Thanksgiving, and I took notes, clipped photos and generally forgot about them, until I was browsing through my ideas folder and came across them.

One piece I’d written and entered in a spoken word contest, but the others had never really been completed, I think there are about nine total.

I found an interested editor, sent in three to his new journal and they liked them, publishing them immediately.
A wildland fire service organization got hold of the link via Facebook, liked what i had…

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Fiction: Ashes, Ashes…

Three Thanksgiving Day fire stories taken from newspaper accounts.

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Essays: AJC Op-ed column: The New American Dream

Reviving dreams of past would make for a better America
Linda Sands – For the Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, September 17, 2002

I am a proud American woman. I drive my American-made vehicle to overstocked grocery stores, proudly paying extra for American-grown fruits and vegetables. I give to charities that benefit less fortunate Americans, and I raise my children with the hope they will embrace The American Dream, whatever that may mean to them.

My father chose to live his parents’ dream. By the second baby and the third house, Dad’s company settled him in a small town in central New York, where he served…

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Essays: A Holiday Gift From Your Sole

Dec ‘02 BigCityLit

Articles

A Holiday Gift From Your Sole
by Linda Sands


Ask any woman. Shoes are more than mere footwear. They are an expression of love, of want, of desire. They can tell you more about a person’s inner life than any other article of clothing on her body. A good shoe can make your day, get you the job, win you a spouse. Yes, the shoe is more than elemental protection, it is karmic destiny. The soul of my sole will not be denied. Which is why I just had to have one more pair of boots this season—in tan suede,…

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Fiction: The Sack They Left Behind

This version of the award-winning story was well received by the fans and readers of espressofiction.com.

Roxie and her pals will continue their story in a new novel: 3 Women Walk into a Bar.

Under a full moon, thousands of people line the most popular beaches of Southern California, in anticipation of a grunion run. The race to pick up the fish that have come ashore to spawn provides an exhilarating experience for young and old.

You sit at a small, tiled table in a dark coffeehouse in San Diego, sip cappuccino and fold your napkin into origami shapes that only you understand. Ignoring…

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Essays: I Write Because People Tell Me Stories

EndPiece, Byline Magazine, January 2005

My mom used to say I had a “come hither” look that invited trouble. I think it’s more of a “come tell me anything” look that invites stories.

People tell me their most personal problems, thoughts and feelings. They relate stories about their jobs, their neighbors, their Scottish childhoods, and I stand there nodding and wondering why these complete strangers feel compelled to confide in me.

Personal journal pundits claim it’s cathartic to write things down. Just “get it out.” Then burn it. Compose a ten-page, soul-wrenching letter to Mr. Perfect who dumped you in 1989—then throw it…

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Fiction: A Private Play

A version of this story appears in the 2004 edition of Oh Georgia! A Collection of Georgia’s Newest & Most Promising Writers.

A Private Play

Kimber: Light and Possibilities

I had been scrubbing Edith Turner’s toilets for eleven years. Not that it’s important, but that’s what I was thinking as I backed my ’65 Ford down the long gravel drive. The pickup was loaded with mop, broom, Oreck and magic solutions of vinegar and lemon rind, and her rusted-out side panels announced my profession in a fancy curly-q design compliments of my ex, Jason, the artist/lumberjack I’d dated for two years. Never mind that…

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    big water The MSR 2008 Short Fiction Anthology BIG WATER, is now available featuring award winning shorts, including a beach-themed story from Linda.

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