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If You Could Create the Perfect Writers Conference by Kitty Bucholtz

May 9, 2020 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as Kitty Bucholtz, Write Now Workshop, writers conference

Six weeks ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, I was all set to sign a contract with a beautiful hotel here in Malmö, Sweden, and host the first WRITE NOW! Workshop Writers Conference. My, how things change.

While hosting live, in-person events has become questionable on many levels for the rest of this year, more and more people are getting used to meeting online simply because it’s the only way to connect right now. For that reason, I decided not to cancel my conference, but to simply recreate it as an amazing online experience.

But if it’s going to have to change anyway, what else could we do to make the conference even more amazing?! I thought I’d ask you, the writer who normally enjoys going to writers conferences – what would you love to see in an online conference?

There are a few ways we could go. One person suggested that since going to a conference all day for two or three days can be exhausting, maybe we should spread it out to several half-days over a month. Someone else suggested creating a writers summit instead of a conference – a free or low-cost event with lots of great content, but each speaker gets to pitch something that they sell at the end of each session (a course, a book).

I have to admit, for me the conference experience is the joy of seeing old friends and the fun of making new ones, and sharing all of the fun and learning together. If we recreate the conference experience online, we can create little experiences where we get to meet and talk to new people, hang out with old friends, and share our coffee or wine together.

We’ve come up with some super fun ideas to keep it interesting even as we’re apart. For instance, I could have a yoga instructor or physical trainer come on for a couple minutes every few hours to get us up and moving a little, get some more blood and oxygen into our brains.

We could still have a timed writing sprint room in the morning or at night where people could meet and write together. We could have a fireside chat one or two nights with a fun, famous author talking about their writing life and taking questions. We could even have pajama parties! We’d break it up according to genres or topics.

So what do you think? If you’re thinking you might not be flying to a writers conference this year, what’s the best way to recreate that awesome experience online? Share your thoughts and I’ll incorporate what I can into the first ever WRITE NOW! Workshop Writers Conference!

And save the date: October 9-11, 2020!

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Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC January Featured Author of of the Month

January 21, 2020 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as 2020 Short Story Contest, AE Decker, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Carol L Wrignt, Kitty Bucholtz, Short Story Award, Write Now Workshop

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.

BWG has published five anthologies. Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres, and 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.

Besides anthologies and yearly writing contests, the group publishes a quarterly literary journal, The Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and hosts twice monthly writing workshops and a critique groups for local members. You can see the schedule of BWG meetings and events, including author signings here.

Next up for BWG

BWG is working on their sixth anthology, Fur, Feathers, & Scales: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales.

In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2020 Short Story Award.

The 2020 Short Story Award opened on January 1, 2020. The theme will be Animal Stories, broadly interpreted. Stories of 2,000 words or fewer about WILD ANIMALS, PETS, or IMAGINARY BEASTS will be welcome (so long as an animal is an important character or element of the story).

The winner will receive $200 and may be offered publication in the above mentioned upcoming anthology. The 2020 Guest Judge is Edgar Award winning and NYT best-selling author Peter Abrahams/Spenser Quinn.

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Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC January Featured Author of of the Month

January 14, 2020 by A Slice of Orange in category Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as 2020 Short Story Contest, AE Decker, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Carol L Wrignt, Kitty Bucholtz, Short Story Award, Write Now Workshop

Next up for BWG

BWG is working on their sixth anthology, Fur, Feathers, & Scales: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales.

In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2020 Short Story Award.

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Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC January Featured Author of of the Month

January 7, 2020 by A Slice of Orange in category Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as 2020 Short Story Contest, AE Decker, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, Carol L Wrignt, Kitty Bucholtz, Short Story Award, Write Now Workshop

An Interview

BWG members Carol L. Wright and A. E. Decker were interview for The WriteNow! Workshop podcast with Kitty Bucholtz.

Carol and A.E. share their wisdom and experiences in creating an online literary magazine. They explain how it all started, some of the mistakes made along the way, and how they found their groove.

In addition to the quarterly literary magazine, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable (a paying market!), the group also publishes an anthology of short stories every other year. Early each year they host a contest based on the theme of the anthology. The annual winners are published in the anthology, and the runners-up are published in the online magazine. A celebrity judge chooses the best story. In 2019, John Grogan, author of Marley and Me, was the final judge. In 2020, Spencer Quinn/Peter Abrahams, author of the Chet & Bernie Mysteries, will be the celebrity judge.

More information on the contest can be found just below the video.

Next up for BWG

BWG is working on their sixth anthology, Fur, Feathers, & Scales: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales.

In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2020 Short Story Award.

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Getting Back to Work by Kitty Bucholtz

September 9, 2019 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz tagged as Goal Setting, Planning, Write Now Workshop

Many of us are wrapping up the summer, vacations, and watching or helping students go back to school. It’s one of those natural times of year to see what else we want to accomplish in the last few months, and figure out the best way to accomplish our goals.

I teach a time management class most January’s, and I help people do all they can to accomplish the tasks they set for themselves. But this past year or so, I’ve been very careful about not helping you to the point where you burn out, too. One of the things that can help is planned time off. I marked last Sunday off my calendar specifically to have no plans. It was blissful! So in addition to planning some time off, we also want to plan the most important things we want to get done before year’s end.

You can plan forward – how much time do you have each day or week, and how much can you get done in that time. Or plan backwards – what do you need to get done, and how many hours a day or week will be necessary to do so. Planners can also be a big help.

Check out Susan May Warren’s My Brilliant Writing Planner for a discount on the 2019 version, and a discount when preordering the 2020 one. Susie May will be on the show again in a few weeks to tell you about all the new updates in next year’s planner.

https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/

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