Bayou folks say the Lantern‑Back Man only shows up when a guy’s on the verge of making a spectacularly bad decision — the kind you’ll later call “growth” even though everyone knows it was just you being stubborn with style. He’s got that Amy Winehouse aura: smoky, sharp, and carrying the kind of tired affection reserved for men who insist they’re fine when they’re clearly unraveling. I met him on a night when I was absolutely not winning at life. Shirt wrinkled, hair doing whatever it wanted, drink in hand that tasted like bravado mixed with denial. Very I swear I’m good, man energy. The fog rolled in thick, and his lantern glow cut through it like the last warm light in a bar that should’ve closed an hour ago. He didn’t say a word — just gave me that look Amy perfected, the one that’s half‑tender and half‑“you’re better than this, love.” I muttered, “I’m fine.” He tilted his head — pure Rehab energy — the kind that says, Sure you are, champ. Then he tapped my phone. The screen died instantly, like it had been caught pretending it had its life together. The river hummed. The night breathed. My pulse finally slowed. He pointed toward the water, inviting me to sit with something real for once. So I did. And the quiet hit me harder than any drink — that Winehouse truth that shows up when everything else stops buzzing and you’re left with yourself. When I finally looked up, he was gone. Just a faint shimmer drifting toward the trees, like the last note of a song that leaves you standing there, hands in your pockets, wondering how you got so far off track. People say he appears to men who are unraveling with charm. I believe it. I haven’t doom‑scrolled by the river since.

@Laura Cushing I hope you don't mind. I read the premise of your RPG in the July Accountability Post - and it took me to another place . It also reminded me of Summer Camp! Briarwood feels different now. Like the whole town is walking around with a bruise they can’t see but keep pressing anyway. Thirty‑one days gone — cleanly, surgically — and everyone pretending they’re fine because what else do you do when the calendar betrays you. The halls look normal, but the air has that charged heaviness, like a storm passed through the building and forgot to take its teeth with it. Friends I used to nod at in the hallway now carry themselves like they’ve fought something in the dark. Some have scars they joke about, but their eyes don’t match the punchline. Others keep glancing at their phones like they’re waiting for a message from someone they don’t remember meeting. And the dreams — God, the dreams. I’ve never been to a lake like that. Never stood on a dock that long. Never heard water whisper like it’s trying to confess something. But I wake up sweating, heart pounding, like I almost drowned in a place that doesn’t exist. People keep finding photos too — blurry, off‑angle shots of August that shouldn’t be real. A bonfire. A cabin. A shadow that doesn’t look human. Everyone laughs it off, but nobody deletes them. And every so often, someone remembers one moment. Just one. A flash of fear. A scream swallowed by trees. A hand reaching through water. Enough to know August wasn’t empty. Enough to know something happened, and it wasn’t kind. Briarwood woke up on September 1st. But I’m not convinced we all came back!

Hello everyone, I had the idea the other day that it might be fun to have writing contests here in the community. I'm curious what you all think about that. I'm not quite sure how they would work yet, which is something else that I would need some help figuring out. It might be fun to have some kind of prize, but I'm not sure what it would be at the moment. The contests would need to have enough involvement and engagement to warrant prizes because if every contest only gets two submissions from the same people, the contests are going to get stale rather quickly. So what do you all think? Should we implement writing contests? And if we do, how should they be run? What guidelines do you want to see? I can definitely come up with some, but first I want to get the community's opinion on how they should work. Make sure to vote in the poll, and please share any ideas you may have in the comments.

It's a simple question, at least on the surface. What drives you as a writer? There's no right or wrong answer. At the end of the day, everyone writes for different reasons: enjoyment, money, fame, talent, passion for the arts, having a story to tell, an admiration for and aspiration to be like other great artists. The list goes on. I think that I personally write for some combination of all of those reasons. I enjoy writing. I would love to make money doing it and have my stories become beloved for generations to come. I have stories to tell, and I want to be like the great artists I learned about in school. My advice to you is to ask yourself that simple question: why do I write? Then just think about your answer. Use that as your guide when it comes to writing. Remember what it is that drives you every time you struggle, or even just whenever you want to write. And if there's a certain author you particularly look up to, use that author as a guiding light. I'm not saying to deify or idolize that writer, simply find and author you admire and use that person as inspiration. Writing is a journey. Remember that. Sometimes it's slow and painful. You won't always see the results you want to see at first. That's totally fine. Just keep trying, and eventually something will work out one way or another. One of my favorite examples is H.P. Lovecraft. He died believing himself to be a failure. But today, his fiction is immensely popular and influential. Success isn't linear. That statement is applicable to all areas of life, but it's especially applicable here. Keep writing. One day you'll look up and realize you did it. But the only way to get there is to start writing now, and always remember why it is you do it.

This isn’t from a book but in an interview I saw with John Acuff who is an author and productivity expert: “I don’t believe in writers block. I believe in idea bankruptcy.” He went on to say how he collects ideas, which I think is a cool thing to do. For myself, this quote motivates me to challenge myself to keep thinking as creatively as I can. What can I create that is unexpected or opposite of what someone might expect. When Jonah gave his first writing prompt, rather than continue with the characters he introduced, I went in a different direction. Maybe in the end it wasn’t so very creative? Maybe others would have had similar ideas, but I enjoyed the creative process. I hope that others in this group will share some of your writing in the writing prompts or projects or workshopping soon!