Lyrical Language Lab Poetry Contest
August 25, 2024 by Kidd Wadsworth in category Writing
On June 25, 2024, I posted about the Lyrical Language Lab poetry contest. The winners have been decided. You can read the winning poems here:
https://www.reneelatulippe.com/poetry-contest-winners
My entry won an honorable mention.
Happy Writing,
Kidd
Some of Kidd’s stories are in the following anthologies.
FLORES AND MISS PAULA by MELISSA RIVERO—A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE
August 22, 2024 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as Flores and Miss Paula, Melissa Rivero, Reviews by Veronica Jorge, woman's fiction
BOOK REVIEW: FLORES AND MISS PAULA
MELISSA RIVERO
Ecco Books
2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-327249-1
At thirty-something, sharing an apartment with her mother, Paula, is not Flores’ idea of adulthood, freedom or independence. But now that Paula is a widow, Flores must find a way to help her mother cope with the loss of her husband and move on. At the same time, Flores has to deal with her own grief at losing her father, while trying to launch her life and career.
Mother and daughter attempt to support each other and get along, but their choices and understanding of life often clash. Paula wants her daughter to find a nice young man, marry and settle down. Flores wishes her mother would admit when she’s wrong and apologize. She would also prefer to see her mother choose best friends that aren’t always married men.
And she’s never sure if her latest headache is induced by her mother.
When a situation arises that they have to move out of their current apartment, the two women must decide if they should each go their separate ways, or if they can find a way to live together and create a mutual future with new hopes and dreams.
Flores is every child that values the sacrifices of their immigrant parents to create a better life for them. But she also longs to forge her own new path. The challenge is how to go forward without losing the past that she still values and which holds part of her identity.
Paula is every mother who wants a happy and better life for her daughter, but is unskilled at navigating the minefield of when to hang on and when to let go. And as an immigrant, and a widow, she must find the resources within herself to start a new life; whatever that may look like.
Both women struggle to make past and present converge into something new without losing the essential essence of who they are, and where they came from, while they explore their future destinations. The question is, Can they grow together? Or will they grow apart?
A story of loss, forgiveness, and love, Flores and Miss Paula, is a down-to-earth novel of learning what it means to be family, building a new life in a new country, and the tender yet sometimes frustrating relationship between a mother and a daughter.
Veronica Jorge
See you next time on September 22nd!
Kitty Bucholtz, August Featured Author
August 16, 2024 by Kitty Bucholtz in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured author, Kitty Bucholtz, romantic comedy, Superheros, Write Now Workshop Podcast
August featured author Kitty Bucholtz is a writer, podcaster, and a book coach. She has combined her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher turned coach.
She writes romantic comedy and superhero urban fantasy, often with an inspirational element woven in. She loves to teach and offer advice to writers through her WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast.
Kitty has also created the Finish Your Books Coaching Program. Find out more about either 1:1 Coaching or Group Coaching on Kitty’s website. http://kittybucholtz.com/
Besides Kitty’s Coaching Program and WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast, you will find her here at A Slice of Orange on the 9th of each month writing It’s Worth It.
Books by Kitty Bucholtz
A Little Taste of Space
August 15, 2024 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as Childrens Lit, Mac and Cheese, Outer Space, reading, Summer, TOGHello friends! How has summer zoomed by so quickly? Thankfully, my family and I have been able to sneak away from life and the softball field where we spent 90% of our summer (I wish I was exaggerating) for a little lake time.
Me sitting lakeside in Northern Minnesota with a local brew, good company, and Sarah J. Maas’ Crown of Midnight. –>
Weeks at the lake always give me the best perspective. I mean, how could it not?! It provides an opportunity to unplug from my day-to-day and focus on me, my family, and my favorite hobbies. While I didn’t get as much writing done this on this vacation as I have in the past (probably had something to do with the fabulous Sarah J. Maas), I have zero regrets about that. 🙂
One writing project that is moving along very well is my next children’s book! I’m excited to share is that the illustrations are completed!
My wonderful illustrator, Winda Mulyasari, finished the illustrations for my second children’s book over the summer and they turned out better than I ever could have imagined. The fact that she is able to take my bulleted illustrator briefing and carefully craft the images to match the crazy world inside my head completely blows me away. She’s so talented and I feel very fortunate to have her as a partner in this.
Mac and Cheese in Outer Space will be available this fall and I’m SO thrilled with how it turned out. I can’t wait to share it with the world. I have a few more boxes to check off before we are ready for liftoff, but it’s coming soon!!
Why Do You Read Blogs? by Debra H. Goldstein
August 13, 2024 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as Blog posts, Debra H. Goldstein, Give-a-way, mysteries, reading
There are many reasons I write blogs, such as this one. Some include interacting with readers, hoping to attract new readers, sharing my thoughts in a forum that reaches more people than journaling would, and because I enjoy it.
My blogs range from a personal topic that crosses my mind to blatant self-promotion. I want people to become familiar with my five books in Kensington’s Sarah Blair series. If you don’t already know, unlike most cozies, Sarah is a woman who finds being in the kitchen more frightening than murder. I also hope University of Michigan or academic fans will check out IPPY winning Maze in Blue, a mystery set on U of M’s campus, or that traditional mystery lovers will pickup a copy of Should Have Played Poker. If I’m not pushing my series and standalones, I often use blogs to promote the newest anthology or periodical I have a short story in. Sometimes, I utilize a blog to introduce readers to other writers or books that they might not otherwise be familiar with. Finally, I try to direct people to sign up for my newsletter or my personal “It’s Not Always a Mystery” blog from my website: https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com.
I also subscribe to several blogs and read them religiously for their humor, insight, or because I like the people who write them. At this point, I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t sign up for another blog, but I feel an obligation to follow friends or people who interest me. Of course, if they tend to be too long-winded, I merely glance at the heading and hit delete (do you ever do that?).
To me, the soft spot for a blog is 300-500 words. Just enough for a reader to take the ideas that it is conveying in immediately. Usually, I try to make one major point that the reader will leave with. Although a lot of bloggers do giveaways or share personal tidbits, that’s not why I follow them (okay, maybe for the personal tidbits. Let’s be honest, I also read People magazine and TV Guide from cover to cover).
Why do you read blogs? Why do you follow this specific blog? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my first Sarah Blair mystery, One Taste Too Many (mass market or e-book – U.S. only). I’ll look forward to reading your answers.
Judge Debra H. Goldstein (www.DebraHGoldstein.com) is the author of Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series and two standalone novels. Her novels and short stories have received Silver Falchion, IPPY, BWR, and AWC awards and been named as Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Claymore finalists. Debra’s short pieces have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. A national board member of Sisters in Crime, Debra previously served on the national boards of SinC and MWA and was president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters.
Books by Debra H. Goldstein
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group
Featured Books
MISTLETOE & MAYHEM: A REGENCY HOLIDAY ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY
There’s no Christmas like a Regency Christmas spent under mistletoe! New York Times Bestselling author Cheryl Bolen and friends invite you to discover true love in eleven deliciously steamy romances in this all-new holiday collection.
More info →
FREYA Viking Glory Book Two
What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Sparks fly and love blooms.
More info → 
DAY OF THE DARK
A recipe for disaster: take one total solar eclipse, add two dozen spine-chilling mysteries, and shake the reader until the world ends in Day of the Dark!
More info → 
