A Hint of Romance

Today, we are visited by award winning author Pamela S. Thibodeaux and reviewing her new release: a collection of short stories published under the title A Hint of Romance.

Whether married or looking for another chance at romance, love is always in the air for these couples…

Twin Flames: Twins, Raymond and Raelee MacFarland have spent a couple of years and a ton of money turning the property they inherited from their uncle into a small guest ranch, rebuilding their lives after her husband runs off with his wife. Will they succeed and perhaps, get a second chance at love?

Like a Rock: Macey finds herself at a crossroads when her and Jerry’s youngest child leaves for college. Will their love survive midlife crisis and empty nest syndrome? 

The Big Catch: Karla and, the love of her life, Jeff, have uncovered some uncommon ground: The Great Outdoors. For the life of her, she does not understand his love of fishing and how he can spend so much time doing so. Will she come to love the sport as much as he or will his passion for a rod and reel tangle up their relationship?

A Hero for Jessica: Anthony Paul Seville is known as the ‘most eligible bachelor’ in New Orleans, possibly even the entire state of Louisiana, but finds himself alone—completely and explicitly alone. Jessica Aucoin is a writer on her way to fame and fortune but is haunted by a man from her past. Will the “champion” lawyer and the author of romantic suspense find love written in their future?

In His Sight: Grade schoolteacher Carson Alexander has a gift—a gift that has driven a wedge between him and his family. Worse, it’s put him at odds with God. Feeling alone and misunderstood, Carson views God’s gift of prophecy as the worst kind of curse…that is until he meets Lorelei Conner, landscape artist extraordinaire, and perhaps the one person who may need Carson and his gift more than anyone ever has. Lorelei Connor is a mother on the run. Her abusive ex-husband has followed her all over the country trying to steal their daughter. Distrusting of men and needing to keep on the move, she’s surprised by her desire to remain close to Carson Alexander. Through her fear and hesitation, she must learn to rely on God to guide her—not an easy task when He’s prompting her to trust a man. Can their relationship withstand the tragedy lurking on the horizon?

Review of Love: Jason Stockwell has been commissioned to interview Kylie Erickson and to review her books. The only problem is, she won’t give the time of day much less an interview to someone whose type of writing she deems not worthy of respect. Can they suspend their judgmental attitudes and find true love?

Paper Roses: Widowed eleven years, Patti Howard has found herself enamored with her son’s football coach. Will a homecoming tradition give them a chance at romance?

Journey’s End: Ellie Thibaudeau’s travelling days ended when she bore a daughter who, in turn, left a granddaughter to be reared in the small town of Wellington, Florida. With retirement on the horizon will her dream of seeing the world come true with a new man or will she be resigned to staying put and live vicariously through her Angel Girl, Callyn?

Soul Mates Jolie LeBlanc has used her Masters in Archeology and Minor in Anthropology to study the paranormal all over the world and ends up on five acres of land supposedly haunted by the famed pirate, Jean Lafitte. Will she and her soul mate will reconnect once again or will she live another lifetime without him?

Why I Wrote These Stories: As a novel writer, short stories are a welcome diversion, but also a challenge. To tell a complete story in so few words can sometimes frustrate one who thrives on the detail and description found in a novel. Some of these were written with a particular women’s magazine in mind. Others were for the publisher I was with earlier in my career who listed them for free through the website or for 99cents at Amazon. ALL were written for fun and the experience. A friend of mine said I write excellent short stories. I hope I’ve done well enough in these to entice you to want to read my longer works.

Keyword/Tags: inspirational short stories, christian fiction, supernatural elements, paranormal elements, prophetic tendencies, prophecy, reincarnation, romantic suspense, later in life romance, after life, magic, leprachauns, Irishman, romance and fishing, outdoor romance, married romance, women's fiction

Bio: Pamela S Thibodeaux is a native of SWLA and is the Co-Founder of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles. She is an award-winning author, life coach and mentor. Her tagline, “Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ defines her life, writing, and coaching style.

Find Pam at the sites listed on LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/pamelasthibodeauxauthor Sign up to receive her newsletter and get access to a free short story!

If you enjoyed hearing about A Hint of Romance, get Pam's brand new collection, A Hint of Holiday Romance at the introductory price of $2.99 but hurry, the #sale ends March 25th!  https://amzn.to/4iiS4G2 

Pamela S Thibodeaux

"Inspirational with an Edge!" (tm)

Website: http://pamelathibodeaux.com

Blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com

Sign up to Receive my Newsletter and get a FREE short story!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

March 17 is the traditional day to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Some of the best-known celebrations in the United States include Walt Disney World's Raglan Road experience, Chicago River Dyeing, and parades in New York.

If you're interested in participating in some St. Patrick's Day fun, but not quite sure how or where near you, check out this article I shared a couple of years ago: Irish Classics, Prompts, and Party Tips.

Feeling Lucky? Check out the post about where I and a few other writers get their inspiration: https://iwsganthologies.blogspot.com/2022/03/feeling-lucky.html

Some additional educational and fun holiday ideas include:

• Streaming Irish jigs and songs.
• Watching traditional Irish dance on YouTube or chrome cast to your TV.
• Adding green food dye to your short bread cookie recipes.
• Sewing or gluing crazy Green Irish hats, ties or belts using felt, ribbons, or fabrics.
• Cooking Irish Stew, scones and clotted cream or butter from scratch or from cans. 
• Telling Irish fables about leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, or gnomes.
• Reminding your children about the “kiss of the blarney” and the folkloric tradition known today as “the gift of the gab”.
• Research the real St. Patrick.

How about you? Are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day? How are you spending this time?

2025 A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

Don't forget to join the "A to Z" blog hop and post your theme reveal this week! 

I thought about joining again this year, but I've just taken on too many responsibilities at the moment and I'm not certain I'll be around to post each day, let alone have time to visit all of the blogs each day. I do plan to stop by and visit as possible. I just know it will be difficult to dedicate a lot of time over the next two months.

Best of luck to all who are participating. I look forward to visiting as possible.

To learn more about this challenge, or what you can expect to see this April, be sure to follow their website http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ 

Theme reveal sign up: March 9 - 15
Master list opens: March 24
Master list closes: April 5
After-survey: May 1-8
Reflections: May 3-8
Road-trip: May 10

Have you ever participated in this challenge? Will you be taking part this year? What other hops or challenges do you enjoy?

IWSG: Anyone or Anything - Shakespeare, Lewis, or Christie

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs. You can also join us on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG, or on the Facebook page.

Now, IWSG hosts have changed up the format in an effort to make it more fun and interactive. Every month, they will announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Don’t forget to visit others that day to see their answers. Want to join, or learn more? Visit our - Sign-up List.

MARCH QUESTION - If, for one day, you could be anyone or *thing* in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it inspire in you.

MY ANSWER - The first three that come to mind would be William Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, or Agatha Christie. I would choose Shakespeare or Lewis for the gender, cultural, literary, and even historical experience and Christie for similar reasons. However, beyond that would also be the group experience. These authors were a part of an artistic community that I don't believe we see on this scale except at conferences and conventions today. It would be amazing to have regular access to LIVE discussions among artists both of similar and varying backgrounds, genres, and views. While it's possible to achieve this online. Many of us rarely get to experience this type of immersive discussions frequently. I would love to do this more regularly.

2025 A to Z Challenge and Other Blog Hops

It's almost time for the 15th annual "A to Z" blogging challenge. Most repeat participants have already begun planning their posts for this April and will soon be posting theme reveals. Are there any themes you would particularly care to see, or learn about in April?

Sign-ups usually begin in March.  Followed by a schedule similar to below:

Theme reveal sign up: March 9 - 15
Master list opens: March 24
Master list closes: April 5
After-survey: May 1-8
Reflections: May 3-8
Road-trip: May 10

To learn more about this challenge, or what you can expect to see this April, be sure to follow their website http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ 

Have you ever participated in this challenge? Will you be taking part this year? What other hops or challenges do you enjoy?

12 Submission Deadlines Fast Approaching

12 Submission Deadlines over the next month. 

1. Deadline: February 27, 2025 - Entries are now being accepted for the 2025 Next Generation Short Story Awards, a not-for-profit international awards program for authors of short stories. The Short Story Awards offers 30+ categories to choose from and accepts original, unpublished stories (5000 words or less) written in English by authors in the U.S., Canada, or internationally. Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to have your story considered for 30+ cash prizes, gold medals, complimentary gold digital stickers, literary exposure and recognition as one of the top stories of the year! Winners in each of the 30+ categories will have their story published in an annual Anthology of Winners (you maintain copyright) and will receive a complimentary copy of the Anthology of Winners. Three Finalists in each of the 30+ categories will have their author name and story title mentioned in the Anthology of Winners. Three Grand Prize Winners selected from all entries will be invited to attend the Next Generation Indie Book Awards annual gala. Enter today at www.ShortStoryAwards.com. 

2. WRITING MAGAZINE NEW YEAR PROMPT COMPETITION - https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/free-to-enter-new-year-new-you NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 28, 2025. To get your new year off to a flying start, you could win a cash prize and publication by entering stories up to 800 words about someone who resolves to make a change in the year ahead. The winner will receive £150 and online publication.

3. 2025 ESSAY COMPETITION - https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/essay.php NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 28, 2025. Divisions: adult (age 19 - 30 years), senior (grade 9th - 12th), and junior (grade 8th and younger). Essays must not exceed 1,000 words in length. Each division has a topic. One entry per category per contestant is permitted. Adult division: First ($1,000), Second ($750), Third ($500). Senior division: First ($500), Second ($400), Third ($300). Junior division: First ($300), Second ($200), Third ($100). Honorable mention (for all divisions listed above): Friends of Pacific Rim Awards ($50 each). Winners' works may be published in the Korea Times Chicago or the Korean Quarterly or Azalea: A Journal of Korean Literature and Culture.

4. 2025 SIJO COMPETITION - https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/sijo.php NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 28, 2025. Divisions: adult division (age 19 and older) and pre-college division (age 18 and younger). Adult division: First ($1,000), Second ($750), Third ($500). Pre-college division: First ($500), Second ($400), Third ($300). Honorable mention (for both divisions listed above): ($50 each). Competition winners may be announced in AZALEA: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture, published by the Korea Institute at Harvard University. Contestants are permitted one sijo entry.

5. DIANA WOODS MEMORIAL AWARD FOR NONFICTION - https://lunchticket.org/contests/dwm/ Reading period month of February. Creative nonfiction authors are invited to submit work of up to 3,500 words on the subject of their choice to be considered for the Diana Woods Memorial Award in creative nonfiction. Winners will receive $250 and their work will be featured in the next issue of Lunch Ticket. Each award recipient must submit a 100-word biography, current photo, and send a brief note of thanks to the Woods family.

 6. IMAGINE LITTLE TOKYO SHORT STORY CONTEST - https://www.littletokyohs.org/imagine-2024 Deadline February 28, 2025. The story must be original, fictional, written in either Japanese or English by the submitting author and never been published (even online). Submitted manuscript should be 2,500 words or less for English or 5,000 ji or less for Japanese and have a title. If your submitted short story wins first place for the Youth, English Language or Japanese Language categories, you will receive a monetary prize of $500 after providing an e-mail of acceptance and biographical information for publication purposes.

7. TORONTO STAR SHORT STORY CONTEST - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/03/3004034/0/en/Toronto-Star-and-Toronto-Public-Library-Launch-2025-Short-Story-Contest.html. NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 26, 2025. Open to Ontario residents 16 years of age or older. One of the biggest prizes in Canada for a short story contest, with the first-place winner receiving $5,000. In addition to seeing their story in the largest newspaper and on one of the most-visited websites in Canada, the winner also gets to study with some of the country’s best creative writing teachers. Part of the top prize includes the tuition fee for one of two programs at the Humber School for Writers, either the Creative Writing Graduate program, which has an approximate retail value of $3,895, or the Summer Workshop in Creative Writing, valued at $1,665. The second-place winner receives a cash prize of $2,000 and the third-place winner will be awarded $1,000. All three winners will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges.

8. WATERMAN FUND ESSAY CONTEST - https://www.watermanfund.org/essay-contest/enter-essay-contest/ NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 1, 2025. Since 2008, Appalachia, the mountaineering and conservation journal published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Waterman Fund have joined to sponsor an annual essay contest for emerging writers. Writers who have not published a major work Contestof fiction or narrative nonfiction on topics of wilderness, wildness, or the ethics and ecology of environmental issues are eligible. The Waterman Fund provides generous prize money of $3,000 for the first-place essay selection and $1,000 for a runner-up. Submissions should be 2000-3000 words.  

9. PILGRIMAGES – 2025 TRAVEL WRITING COMPETITION - https://intrepidtimes.com/pilgrimages-2025-travel-writing-competition-now-open/ NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 1, 2025. Intrepid Times is inviting writers to explore the concept of the pilgrimage. Literary, secular, personal, or spiritual. Your story should be non-fiction, between 1200 and 1800 words, and written in the narrative style favored by Intrepid Times stories. The winning writer will be paid $300 USD and have their original story and accompanying photographs published in Intrepid Times. Up to four runners-up will also be selected for publication at our standard article rates. 

10. ALPINE FELLOWSHIP POETRY PRIZE - https://alpinefellowship.com/poetry-prize Deadline March 1, 2025. Awarded for the best poetic response on the 2025 theme, which will be announced in January. The winner and runners-up will receive cash prizes and will be invited to attend our annual symposium. First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000. Will also offer up to £500 travel expenses to help with travel to the event and meals and accommodation during the symposium dates are also covered. Open to all nationalities. You may submit one poem or a collection of poems as long as all the poems in the collection speak to the theme. There is a maximum of 500 words per entry.

11. NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST - https://www.arts.gov/grants/creative-writing-fellowships Deadline March 12, 2025. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Writing Fellowships program offers $50,000 grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) to published creative writers that enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. Individual U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. who meet specific publication requirements are eligible to apply.

12. Chicken Soup for the Soul has a call out for several titles including one about Miracle and one about Pets which are both due March 31. NO ENTRY FEE. To learn more: Possible Book Topics | Chicken Soup for the Soul

Week of Love

Many are already making plans for the next holiday, but did you know there is actually an entire week of love that thousands celebrate? Most of the people I know only celebrate, or dread, the most famous day which is Valentine's. However, according to multiple sites, there is an entire week of love and each day leading up to Valentine's has a significant meaning or purpose.

According to those love experts, the days are as follows:

 

While I love flowers and jewelry, my family and friends know my favorite gifts are a good book and chocolate.

Interested in a few FREE romantic flash fiction pieces? Try my stories:

Thankful Every Day
Madame Tooshkas Spell
Masters in Love
Love's New Beginning

Or order the last IWSG anthology on the right - First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts.

Not sure what to get the writer in your life? Check out this list of suggested Valentines day gifts for writers or check out these Six Ways to Participate in Romance Week at Goodreads.

Want to share the theme of love with children? Check out these 10 Best Children's Books About Love.

So many of us love reading and writing. We have favorites that we return to again and again. How about you? I am especially grateful for a warm home full of books as I've been seeing the massive freezes and storms sweeping parts of the world. I hope you all stay safe, warm, and loved. Happy Valentine's!

Will you be participating in the week of love? What is your favorite genre? Favorite author? Favorite book from childhood? Are you doing something special that week, or for Valentine's Day?