In the title story of her short story collection, Everything that Rises Must Converge, Flannery O’Connor introduces us to Julian, a gloomy young man burdened by a martyr complex, and “Julian’s mother,” who embodies everything he detests. Julian, who is living with his mother in a run-down neighborhood where the houses are “bulbous liver-colored monstrosities,” is one year removed from acquiring a college degree at a third rate college. His bleak job prospects, financial dependence…

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A certain arrangement of words may sound right enough to you that you write them down without fully comprehending what they mean grouped together or why they sound right. Where did they come from? Is this the spark of inspiration? More often than not such word groups are conceived and quickly trampled by more desperate ones pushing forward, ensuring the demise of all. (when someone cries Fire in a crowded theater…) Sometimes a spontaneous burst…

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