Friday Lunch Blog

Dig in every month as our Lunch Ticket staff brings you thought-provoking personal essays and nonfiction stories in our Friday Lunch Blog. From stories about grief and loss, to tales of growing up and overcoming challenges, to celebratory pieces about love and family, these stories are shared every second Friday of the month. With these blogs, we aim to give you a glimpse into Lunch Ticket and the values we stand by for this literary publication, to empower writers and readers with the knowledge and skills to lead meaningful lives and to advance social, economic, and environmental justice. We hope you enjoy!

SXSW: Why Digital Media Matters for Writers

Erin Anadkat
The SXSW Interactive conference and festival was held in Austin,…

Winter to Spring: Practicing Patience in the Midst of Life, Writing (& Gardening) Transitions

Kiandra Jimenez
The first flowers of spring have come, calling all bees,…

Hearing Voices

Heather Hewson
Being an artist of any kind means hard work. It means pushing…

Writing: The Toolbox II

Bettina Gilois
All writing requires a reading audience. Words are a heap of…

Translation, Truth, and Writing About the Kids

Arielle Silver
Things look different from here, on the step/parent side of life.…

Allowing Room for Ideas to Grow

Erin Anadkat
Gardening has always been on my aspirational to-do list (along…

When Broccoli Bolts Yellow Poems Sky: A Meditation on Patience, Grace, and Humility for Writers

Kiandra Jimenez
Broccoli flowers are a riot of yellow. A yellow influenced…

Scratching Beneath the Surface

Heather Hewson
My figure-drawing teacher once told our class an anecdote about…

One Night, Strunk and White

Arielle Silver
When my fifth-grader returned home Saturday after a week at…

Writing: The Toolbox

Bettina Gilois
Writing for twenty-five years for a living, I have always written…

Shaking Up Your Writing Routine

Erin Anadkat
This past holiday season, instead of the customary trek to…

Wild Greens Ring in the New Year

Kiandra Jimenez
Long years after my great-aunt Nora and great-grandaddy Herman…

Getting It Write

Heather Hewson
Since I was young I have always imagined myself a writer. I have…

“The Journey” Into the New Year

Eva Shantharam
As I write this blog post, I’m sitting, tired, in front of…

From Where We Stand

Arielle Silver
Last night over dinner, after a discussion with our ninth-grader…

Express Yourself

Andrea Tate
I gave a girl goose bumps today. She was blow-drying my hair,…

My Goal on the Page

Arielle Silver
This week's post is by poet and guest blogger Adrian Ernesto…

The Reasons We Write

Eva Shantharam
There are different reasons why people write. For some of us…

The Two I’s

Arielle Silver
Back in September, in the midst of a submission deluge for our…

Time to Write

Andrea Tate
Last night I woke up at 3:30 AM in a panic. “I’m never…

Bookstores Closing

Eva Shantharam
When I travel I usually like to go into random stores and peruse…

A Wine Bar, the Blues, and the Reasons We Read

Arielle Silver
I am a nighttime reader. I turn pages till my eyes glaze, my…

On the Importance of Following Submission Guidelines

David Bumpus
Here at Lunch Ticket, we pride ourselves on encouraging emerging…

Taking Care of Yourself

Eva Shantharam
Maybe it is because it’s the middle of the semester for us…

The Courage it Takes

Arielle Silver
Sitting under a café umbrella recently, sipping iced tea with…

Bad Grammar

Andrea Tate
Let’s face it: many of us were spaced out during grade school…

Being Different

Eva Shantharam
  Sometimes it is hard to be bicultural. Add to the challenges…

The Sense of Smell

Eva Shantharam
As a writer we are constantly looking for ways to describe things.…

Spring Will No Longer Be Silent

Caitlin Bagwell
    Michael Brown died on my birthday.∗ No…

The Seduction of the Blog

Arielle Silver
This one’s going to start out with some family folklore. Bear…

A State of Mind: Embracing the Process of Essay Writing

Andrea Tate
Last week I traveled from Los Angeles to Montana, and while I…

Let’s Judge Your Book By The Cover

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, fellow scribblers! It's been a while!  We need to talk…

Meeting Author & Illustrator Yuyi Morales

Eva Shantharam
Last month just before residency at Antioch University I was…

Say My Name, Say My Name

Arielle Silver
Years ago, when I first met the girls who are now my stepdaughters,…

When Dependence is a Good Thing

Andrea Tate
On July 4th,1776, thirteen colonies declared independence from…

MFA and the Myths of Being an Artist

Arielle Silver
They say cardio is the first to go, which I suppose explains…

The Stories We Share

Arielle Silver
Survivor (as in “Eye of the Tiger”) is to play a free show…

Bookstore

Arielle Silver
My favorite Boston bookstore—my singular favorite in a city…
Photography by Clayton Douglas

Forgotten Places

Eva Mejia Shantharam
Lately I have been feeling a little sad, concerned about the…
The Sad Eyes of Virginia Woolf, by Debbie Styer 2013

B-B-B-Bennie, the Muppets, and Virginia Woolf

Arielle Silver
A few months ago, I caught myself on a Saturday evening at the…

I Have Writer’s Block, FML

Allie Marini Batts
You know those days, where you sit down to a blank page and everything…

Why We Said No, or “No This Time” Doesn’t Mean “No Forever.”

Allie Marini Batts
  Creating superheroes, one decline at a time! Silver…

Both Sides of Submittable

Allie Marini Batts
Most writers start out on one side of the screen, but the more…

Mind the Gap

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, fellow scribblers! We need to talk about what you are…

Let’s Do Math Together!!

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello! How are you, my fellow laureates? It's getting to be…

Get Your Book Banned

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello! Welcome back, you crazy Bannagahammers! While…

Glitter Pen 2014

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, fellow pen dancers! Let's talk about the hardest part…

How a Person Should be at a Reading, or Otherwise and in General

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, word workers! We need to talk. We need to have the talk...   Nobody…

The Anatomy of the Madeleine, an Owl, and General Hospital

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, fellow truth seekers! Today, we are going to talk about…

Spines of Unwritten Novels, A Love Affair

Caitlin Bagwell
We meet again, fellow logophile! Many of us have just gotten…

But I’m an Astronaut! (AKA write what you know)

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello, fellow scribes! We meet again. Today, I want to talk…

What Would Dolly Parton Do?

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello fellow Word Processor Mavericks! When I first was asked to write about voice I thought I had drawn the…

AWP: A Field Guide To and For the Dangerously Reclusive

Caitlin Bagwell
It's that time of year again, fellow scribes! For anyone who loves books. For anyone who loves writers. It is…

The Best Idea For A Novel Ever!

Caitlin Bagwell
Hello fellow pen slingers! To kick off the inaugural blog post here on Free Lunch I want to talk about…