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Attention Writers!

Attention Writers!

The Lyrical Language Lab is having a Rhyming Poetry Contest for kidlit. The theme is “Winter Wanderings: Nature Poem.” Your submission must not exceed sixteen lines (excluding the title) and be suitable for elementary, middle grade, or young adult readers. Submissions are being accepted now through December 8^th. For more information, please go to:

ReneeLatutippe.com

Happy Writing!

—Kidd

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We Have Liftoff!

November 15, 2024 by Renae Wrich in category Writing

I’m thrilled to announce that my second book, Mac and Cheese in Outer Space is officially available! The book was published last week. Unfortunately, early November in an election year is not the greatest timing to be putting a new book on blast. On the other hand, it provided me more time for a soft-launch with family and friends. Big shout out to my Mom, whose quilting friends are purchasing the book in record numbers. You’re the best, Mom!

“Mac and Cheese in Outer Space”. A book by Renae Wrich.

I’m super excited to share this book with the world. It would not have been possible without my daughters, who also inspired my first book, Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please. Soon after MCPPP was published, they begged me to write a book about mac and cheese in outer space. I immediately blanked. How do I write a book about macaroni and cheese in outer space? In the years that followed I let the idea marinate slowly, visiting it like an old friend from time to time. It finally came together earlier this year and I could not be happier with how it all turned out.

I partnered with my previous illustrator, Winda Mulyasari, and I’m in so awe of her process and her ability to take my ideas and turn them into magical illustrations. Asking someone to illustrate the planet Mars holding a bowl of macaroni and cheese that looks like Flaming Hot Cheetos, is not for the faint of heart.

The planet Mars in “Mac and Cheese in Outer Space” by Renae Wrich

Wondering where the mac and cheese journey will go from here? My kids have already supplied the idea for the next mac and cheese book. Here’s a hint- Bring your sunscreen.

Mac and Cheese in Outer Space is available now on Amazon.com.

Please visit www.renaewrich.com to learn more.

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‘Sisters at War’ chosen for Sunday Remembrance Fiction at KOBO by Jina Bacarr

November 11, 2024 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Army, RemembranceDay, RemembranceSunday, Soughnut Dolly, Veterans Day

I love this fabulous painting outside the Salvation Army Building in Tulare, CA re: the photographer © Karinoza – Dreamstime.com

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Sunday in the UK was #RemembranceSunday.

According to Merriam-Webster, Remembrance Day is the Sunday closest to November 11 and in Great Britain is ‘set aside in commemoration of the end of hostilities in 1918 and 1945’.

I’m honored Sisters at War was chosen for #Remembrance Sunday Fiction on KOBO.

2 sisters at war with the Nazis… and each other https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/sisters-at-war-2

from BoldwoodBooks

In my story Justine is the victim of sexual assault by the SS. ‘Sisters at War’ explores wartime sexual assault and how it affects the lives of Justine and Eve Beaufort in Wartime Paris.

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Back in the day, I served with the U.S. Army Special Services in Livorno, Italy. My job was to make coffee and play pool with the troops, set up entertainment and gourmet restaurant tours.

And make cookies.

I whipped up hundreds and hundreds of cookies. Chocolate chip.

And doughnuts, too. I got help from the mess hall sergeant, a bespectacled guy from the Midwest who let me commandeer his big pots and huge ovens. Along with my Italian liaison, Maria, we’d cook up hot doughnuts and top them with powdered sugar we got from the PX, a sweet favorite with the boys.

Those were the days.

I’m proud of the time I spent with US Army Special Services — I made turkeys, fruitcakes, hot chocolate, and tons of cookies!

So on this Veterans Day here in the US, I think about all the Doughnut Dollies who help bring our servicemen and women a touch of home.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize the amazing effect my time with the service affected me. I had some difficult times, like being assaulted on the street by a thug and my pants ripped, also in an elevator (story for another time), but I had some heartbreaking and soulful times, too.

Like the sisterly bond I developed with another American girl on base that lasted far beyound my time there, the wonderful Italians I worked with who took me in like I was family and taught me about music and photography and how to properly eat pizza.

I drew on these experiences when I started a series of historical novels set in Wartime Paris about the brave women who fought in the French Resistance.

An actress, a parfumier, a Philly debutante and my 2-book Wartime Paris Sisters series SISTERS AT WAR and SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE.

I want thank the brave servicemen and women who have served our country. If you were stationed in Livorno and dropped by the service club once upon a time and saw a girl with long hair from California handing you a cup of coffee, it was me.

PS — For fun, I put on my old uniform with U.S. Army Service Clubs patch.

I lost the hat years ago somewhere in Italy.

Sisters At War:

US https://a.co/d/eZ25gZb

UK https://amzn.eu/d/0LEWy2z

Who are the Beaufort Sisters?

They’re beautiful

They’re smart

They’re dangerous

They’re at war with the Nazis… and each other.

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Menopause Rage Can Be Funny by Kitty Bucholtz

November 9, 2024 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, new release, Perimenopause, romantic comedy

A year and a half ago I finally found out what was wrong with me. Problem: middle age womanhood. Bigger problem: this part of life is apparently such a freaking big secret that no one except ONE friend bothered to say a word about it! Not my mom, not my grandma, not my older sister. I literally thought I was losing my mind. In fact, the GP I finally went to see immediately wrote a prescription for HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and another one to make an appointment with a head doctor.

Great. That’s just…great. I guess she was covering all bases.

I’m better now, but partly because now my craziness has a name. Still, I feel like a lunatic half the time. I don’t want to leave my apartment. I don’t like to go to church. (Used to be one of my favorite things, but now there’s just way too many people and too much putting on a smile when I want to say, “That song sucked,” because it probably didn’t suck and I shouldn’t rain on other people’s happy moment.) I do still like going to the library — whew! — but I’m eating too much and drinking too much and swearing way too much.

And even though my problem has a name and I’m trying to find better solutions for me, turns out a lot of my friends don’t have nearly as many problems as I do. That definitely makes me feel alone. And stupid. And like I’m not a nice person because I just want to yell F*** a lot!!

So when my friend and fellow author Maggie Nash told me about a new book that was on sale on Amazon for 99c (it’s still only $2.99!) about a woman going through menopause, I bought it without even reading the description!!!

I just finished it last night. It. Was. Marvellous!!! Even though I’m not divorced and don’t have kids, I felt like I completely related to the main character, Heidi, who almost gets herself fired in the first chapter! I normally don’t like many books with women my age as protagonists because their lives are so unlike mine as to have nothing in common.

But Hot (Not Bothered) by Harper Ford is a super fun book I think you might love!

One other book about a middle-aged woman that I immediately pre-ordered book two the minute I finished book one is Tess Gerritsen’s The Spy Coast. I don’t want to say too much but she’s a retired spy who gets sucked back in!

Some of my friends know I’ve been wearying of writing about 20-somethings falling in love. I’ll finish the two series I started, and maybe I’ll get my mojo/joy back as I do. But the two books above are making me feel like “people like me” aren’t at all boring, and maybe I should write something like that! I’d have to get a pen name if I want to write f*** half as much as I’ve been saying it lately, but it could be worth it!

I hope you check out both of these books! And remember, if you’re going through tough times right now due to brain and body chemistry, you’re not alone! Don’t despair! Talk to a friend, or even a stranger. I went off on a menopause rage rant about the disappearing messages at my credit union the other day and made the middle-aged woman answering laugh out loud, she told me in one of her replies. Yay! Two more women who know they’re not alone! Go read Hot (Not Bothered) and laugh instead of cry!

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On the Wing

October 30, 2024 by Dianna Sinovic in category Columns, Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as birding, flash Fiction, short fiction, writing

The post promised an autumnal birding phenomenon not to be missed. Steph wasn’t really a birder—she could never tell one sparrow from another—but she did like birds. The local nature site urged anyone interested to show up just before dusk at a reservoir in the hills of Bucks County. There they would watch as a large flock of starlings swooped and tumbled in a remarkable, unified movement called a murmuration.

She reached out to several friends, but no one could make it. And Claire was gone; Claire, who had given Steph a rudimentary lesson on birds several years before. Steph didn’t know if Claire had ever seen the starling flock. She would go, alone, in memory of her friend.

When she arrived at the nature center, a tangerine sun sat on the horizon. A handful of cars filled the lot, and a knot of people stood outside the building entrance, which was flanked by several large pumpkins and a scarecrow. Steph made her way to the group, adjusting her binoculars around her neck. The center director, a woman in a blue down vest and a wool watch cap, was already talking.

“We’ll take the boardwalk to the lake shore,” the director said. “That’s the best place to see the birds. They’ll start arriving within the next fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Intimidated by what she thought of as “true” birders, Steph hung at the back of the group as they set off toward the lake. The slight October breeze made her zip her fleece jacket and pull out her mittens. It carried a faint whiff of fireplace smoke and moldering vegetation. Dried leaves scuttled along the wooden planks and crunched under hiking boots, and a handful of crows cawed overhead. Claire would have been at the front of the line, pulling Steph along, making her feel at home and welcome despite her limited knowledge of avian life.

Many birds are like people. They prefer to hang out in groups. That was a bit of Claire wisdom Steph dredged up as she walked. But Steph was more of a loner. More like a heron, she decided, preferring to watch the world by herself. Except. She missed Claire.

“Everyone!” the center director shouted. “The starlings are starting to gather across the lake. Keep an eye on the small flocks. They’ll merge into bigger and bigger groups.”

Focusing the binoculars at the far shore, Steph swept them up and around, listening as others in the group called out. Sure enough a small flock dipped and turned in the distance. Another flock appeared to the left. Yet another materialized. Soon the flocks became one—a large swirling mass of dark birds dancing to their own feathered rhythm.

“Oh, Claire,” Steph breathed. If only she could have seen this magical phenomenon.

As if in answer, the now-large flock swooped upward as one entity and curved to the right. The trailing birds formed a line, and the complete symbol became the letter C.

In a whisper on the wind, Steph could have sworn she heard Claire’s voice: Even herons need companionship. Don’t be afraid to reach out.