The thing about literature is that the writer does half the work. It’s like building a screen, and then a reader comes and projects on it.

Evidence of a flourishing writers’ community abounds in the literary entries for Critical Mass 9, a project of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) that fosters critical artistic dialogue. The variety and daring of this year’s submissions bespeak an arts council and a literary scene open to many genres, styles and forms.

over to an electronic medical record. So, to practice my typing, I wrote the beginning of the story, where Betsy shoots the water moccasin on the front porch,” Lawler said. “I let it sit for a year or so, and then the rest of the plot formed up, and then it was just a matter of trimming out the story.