An Eighth Shot of Espresso: The Coffeehouse

Writers write to be heard.  We have stories in our minds and hearts. Think of it like a dam holding back a flood of water. Ideas, voices, settings, characters, they all clamor loudly. We are the dam, and if we resist, we will break. It can be voluntary and we're the mouthpiece for them. Sometimes it is not, and they burst out anyway. Critics want to stifle that flow of words. Some attack the idea itself. It is not acceptable, not appropriate, not comfortable. Others berate the writer. That person wants attention, they want to be seen and heard. What sort of person would stand out from the crowd? Challenge conventional ways of thinking? Point out the flaws of the world around them? Indulge in worlds that may not exist in reality? Bring out emotions that are unfamiliar or unwanted?  Who would even  dare ? A creative person, of course. One who marches to a different drummer, whose path cannot be predicted or steered into a 'correct' path. One who uses their chosen medium to ...

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree This writing prompt response is from the early days of  my original "The Eighth Shot of Espresso" writing blog on Wordpress. I've reposted it here in the new prose blog.  _____ Yes, he was a coward, but he wouldn't have put it that way. He always called it 'self preservation'. When he was young, his father flew into rages at the slightest thing. There was no ice in the freezer when he wanted iced tea. Bureaucracy never moved along at the speed he expected it. His father ranted and raved loudly. He and his mother ducked their heads and waited for the storm to pass. Don't rock the boat. Don't say anything to him; it would make it much worse. Don't make him turn his wrath on you. As an only child, he bore the brunt of it. As the only son, it fell to him to make his own destiny. He would never take out such selfish rage on those around him. So he put up with it in silence and fumed about it in private. Yet...