I have just spent the weekend with two independent, accomplished, and beautiful young women–twenty-somethings, like Emilie Loring’s characters–and they set me to thinking about attitudes toward competence and beauty. As a child, I strove to earn A’s at school, and although I had school clothes, church clothes and play clothes, I don’t remember ever … More One Touch of Lipstick Makes All Women Kin
With startling unexpectedness the western sky crimsoned in streaks as though the sun, exasperated with the slow process of tinting, had flung his color brush straight at the heavens. Estelle French stole a glance at her companion. He was gazing at the west, rider and horse both motionless. The man sat with hat off, his … More An Elusive Legacy: My Dearest Love
Have you ever gotten impatient with a descriptive passage, wondered why it seemed to go on and on, maybe skipped over part of it to get on with the story? Try to describe something at length to your friends, and it can be a conversation ender. We’ve all been there. We’re hungry for the witty dialogue … More About Those Lengthy Descriptions
Emilie Loring’s father often strung together Charles Dickens’ titles to create a story. In 1941, she did the same with hers in “The Story the Titles Told:” “Like all beginning writers I fared forth on The Trail of Conflict, then plodded on ’til suddenly I exclaimed, Here Comes the Sun! On I went until … More The Story Her Titles Told
For All Your Life is a natural choice for the first day of fall. There was an outsize gold-and-crimson maple leaf of weatherproof metal attached to the trunk of a gigantic oak. Its tip pointed east. TO THE MOUNTAIN, it directed. “Motorists will begin to flock to see the foliage tomorrow. The different shapes and … More “For All Your Life” Begins So Well
“A formula, Mr. Lee, is like a unicorn. There isn’t any such animal for me.” … More No Formula Could Produce These Stories
These past few weeks, we’ve suffered–vicariously or directly–from hurricanes Harvey and Irma. We’ve waited for news from friends and family, perhaps made our own plans for safety and resilience in the face of the storms’ fury. A similar event inspired Emilie Loring’s Swift Water, the story of a flood in the wake of torrential rain … More When Swift Water Comes
The Emilie Loring Collection 