Friendly Reminder
January 15, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as be kind, new year, reminders, writing
For me, January has always felt like a clean slate. An opportunity to psych myself up for the year ahead and think about all the things I hope to accomplish.
On the contrary, January is also a time when I think back on all of the things I wasn’t able to accomplish over the past year.
Did I reach my fitness goals? Nope.
Did I tackle that home improvement project? Nope.
Did I publish my next children’s book? Nope.
I find that I always need that friendly reminder to focus more on what I did accomplish, and less on what I didn’t.
Did I make sure my children knew they were loved? Yes.
Did I keep things like family dinners despite our crazy activity schedule? Yes.
Did I raise a puppy? Yes.
Did I volunteer my time to important causes? Yes.
Did I take outdoor walks when my schedule/the weather allowed? Yes.
Did I tackle massive projects at work? Yes.
Did I start contributing to a new blog? Yes!!!
Did I write my first romance novel? Yes!
Focusing more on what I did accomplish, helps better prepare me for what I hope to accomplish in the New Year.
How can I build upon the things I that I was successful at? How will that help me accomplish the things I haven’t been successful with in the past?
Please remember to be kind to yourself. You’re doing great things and you are enough just as you are. Everything else is a bonus. 🙂
Featured Author: Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
January 14, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Fur Feathers and Scales, new release, Short Story Award, The 2023 Short Story Award
About Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Intrigue is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
About An Element of Mystery
The Bethlehem Writers Group is pleased to present this collection of tales of mystery and intrigue—the latest in its award-winning series of Sweet, Funny, and Strange® anthologies. From classic whodunnits to tales of the unexplained, each of the twenty-three stories contained herein have an element of mystery that will keep you guessing and wanting to read just one more story.
We’re thrilled to have old friends, but new members of BWG, join us this year. Award-winning author Debra H. Goldstein favors us with a mystery set among volunteers at a synagogue entitled “Death in the Hand of the Tongue,” while “Sense Memory,” by the multi-talented Paula Gail Benson, brings a delightful mix of mystery and the paranormal that helps a young couple find their way to each other.
In addition, we are happy to bring you the winning stories from two of our annual Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award competitions: “Good Cop/Bad Cop” by Trey Dowell (2021 winner) and “The Tabac Man” by Eleanor Ingbretson (2022 winner).
You’ll also find stories from your favorite BWG authors, including Courtney Annicchiarico, Jeff Baird, Peter J Barbour, A. E. Decker, Marianne H. Donley, Ralph Hieb, DT Krippene, Jerry McFadden, Emily P. W. Murphy, Christopher D. Ochs, Dianna Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, Paul Weidknecht, and Carol L. Wright.
So get ready to be mystified . . . or intrigued!
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their eighth anthology, Season’s Readings: More, Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales.
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2023 Short Story Award.
The 2023 Short Story Award opened on January 1, 2023. The theme will be Holiday Stories (broadly interpreted).
BWG is seeking never-published short stories of 2,000 words or fewer. First Place will receive $250 and publication in their upcoming anthology: Season’s Readings: More, Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales or in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable.
The final judge of the 2023 Short Story Award is renowned short story author and editor, Barb Goffman.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
The 2023 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
January 13, 2023 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Contests, From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group, Writing Contest tagged as Barb Goffman, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Writing contestThe 2023 Short Story Award is now open for submissions!
The theme: Season’s Readings
Bethlehem Writers Group is seeking never-published short stories of 2,000 words or fewer for a chance to win:
Winners will receive:
First Place:
$250 and publication in our upcoming anthology: Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Click here for submission rules
The 2023 Guest Judge is renowned Short Story Writer and Editor Barb Goffman. You can read an interview with her here.
Other Books Published by BWG
My Word for 2023 is Change
January 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Word of the year, Writing GoalsMy word for 2023 is change.
Why change?
This year will be some big changes in our family. And I hope to make some changes of my own.
What type of change?
First our family changes. With our youngest in his senior year of high school, we will be done volunteering and being involved with high school activities come June. I will miss it. Supporting all the kids, cheering at choir, theater, and other events, and hanging out with other parents. Three kids and 10 years at the same school (for our 3 sons), it will be weird to say goodbye.
But with goodbye, is the opportunity to spend more time on my writing endeavors. To change my writing process, my manuscript, and my writing time. And hopefully do a little more travel and exploring with my hubby. I’m super excited about that.
Researching My 2023 Word Change
I like to explore and research my word, finding quotes and phrases that support why I chose the word I did. What I found encouraged me even more that this was the perfect word for me in 2023.
Change begins at the end of your comfort zone
Roy T. bennett
I’m at a place where I know I need to change things in my manuscript to take it to the next level. And I’m ready to do it. After a lot of work (my word in 2022), reviewing and evaluating the entire novel, I know what I need to work on. And embracing change instead of being fearful of it, is how it’s going to get done.
Here’s to a year of change!
Denise M. Colby loves to choose a new word each year and then share what she learns about it. She wrote about her 2022 word, work, in her latest blog post, and created a highlights page for her 2020 word of the year courage on her website.
Are you an author or a writer? and my TikTok Confession by Jina Bacarr
January 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category historical fiction, Holocaust, Jina’s Book Chat, Paris novels, Writing tagged as author, Berlin, editing, Paris, World War 2, Writer, writing@jinabacarrauthor WIP woes… #booktok #authorlife #writersoftiktok #amwriting #ameditingfiction #womensfiction #booktoker @bookandtonic #writer #authorsoftiktok #heartbreakingstories #amediting edit
No, this isn’t a trick question.
It’s the challenge we ladies of the pen all face in our social media, digital, crazy, mad, mad world…
The answer is: BOTH.
The writer is me in total chaos working on an insanely difficult book about rape in France during World War II with a deadline looming. My office is a mess, I’m a mess… the manuscript, thank God, is NOT a mess but it’s not finished yet. Weaving such a trauma against the backdrop of the Nazi Occupation is the most gut-wrenching task I’ve ever faced. It’s taken me a while to get a handle on the story of two sisters and how the rape of one of them affects them both.
That’s the writer me.
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Now for the author me.
That’s the me writing this post because this is my chance every month to reach out to you guys and let you know what’s going on in my world. It’s how we present ourselves to the book world and at times is as just as trying and difficult as the writer me.
Hence, my TikTok confession.
I hope you enjoy my video showing me in my office drowning in research material… oh, Lord.
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And now for some good stuff, if I may.
My WW2 story THE ORPHANS OF BERLIN is now FREE to read in PRIME on Amazon
THE OPRHANS OF BERLIN
Meet the Landau Sisters barely surviving in Nazi Germany… and Kay Alexander, the amazing debutante from Philadelphia who will stop at nothing to save them from the Nazis in 1939 Berlin…
And of course, there’s a British pilot hero to die for…
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A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN
"A woman walks into a crowded Manhattan bar and meets a nice southern gentleman." That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke or the beginning of an intriguing love story.
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