As the youngest of seven children, I’ve experienced radical changes in my relationships with my siblings. I was born seven years after the sibling closest in age to me so in the beginning of my life, my older brothers and sisters
Read more02
02
The Sane Ones: free short fiction
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Short Stories | 0 commentsA man stood reading a book over another man’s shoulder at one of the tables in the library like it was a perfectly natural thing to do. When the sitting man turned around to ask the standing man what he was doing, the latter said they should
Read more28
Writing about Family: when divisiveness strikes
Posted by Grace Mattioli in writing about family | 0 commentsMost if not all families become contentious at some point in their existence, with quarreling sometimes transforming into battling or causing family members to become alienated from each other. Some families live on this chaos. The disharmony
Read more01
Writing about Family: the eternal influence of family
Posted by Grace Mattioli in writing about family | 0 commentsThe influence of my family lives on strongly in my life, in my every day decisions, struggles, and joys despite that most of my family members have either passed away or even more sadly, have become estranged from me. This is one of the main
Read more29
I began writing Olive Branches Don’t Grow on Trees after a failed attempt to make peace in my family. I wanted the protagonist, Silvia, to succeed at unifying her family so that I could experience her joy and gratification vicariously. Writing
Read more26
Something He Could See Himself In: free short fiction
Posted by Grace Mattioli in Short Stories | 0 commentsSomething He Could See Himself In The empty spot on the bottom of Tattoo Tommy’s back was the only tattooless spot on his body, minus his face and head. It lived right below a tattoo of Mary that looked like one of those statues people
Read more09
A Final Picture from the Family Saga, “The Bird that Sang in Color”
Posted by Grace Mattioli in The Art in "The Bird that Sang in Color" | 0 commentsThis is the final drawing in my series on the artwork that inspired The Bird that Sang in Color. The words on this drawing are lyrics from a song by Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band. This pictures is mentioned during chapter four
Read more04
I hope you enjoy this free short story that I wrote a while back. For those of you who read “The Bird that Sang in Color,” you’ll see many similarities. Blue Suede Clogs Atlantic City was only twenty miles away but the
Read more07
The Albums From the Family Saga, “The Bird that Sang in Color”
Posted by Grace Mattioli in The Art in "The Bird that Sang in Color" | 2 commentsThe Bird that Sang in Color is filled with music! This post includes a few of the albums from the novel. The story opens in 1970 with Donna and Vincent listening to Let it Be by the Beatles. While Vincent is sad that this is the band’s
Read more16
A Boy and His Mom: artwork that inspired the family saga, “The Bird that Sang in Color”
Posted by Grace Mattioli in The Art in "The Bird that Sang in Color" | 0 commentsThroughout The Bird that Sang in Color, Donna encourages her brother, Vincent to live by society’s conventions. She assumes that because he is single, childless, and works mostly menial jobs, he can’t possibly be happy. She fails to
Read more