The Next Fall Step

It's the last weekend of October and while many of you will be celebrating Halloween or Dia de los Muertos, others are preparing for NaNoWriMo and/or the next step.

No matter where you are in your planning, writing, or publishing journey, I thought you might be in need of some inspiration and advice.

https://nanowrimo.org/

Becoming Your Own Best Critic

Interview With a Gatekeeper: Riverheads Rebecca Saletan

Ask the Editor: An Interview With Sarah Cantin of St. Martins Press

Picturing the Personal Essay

How about you? What is your next step?

Fall Fun 2023

Fall temperatures have finally arrived in our area. Orange decorations, and pumpkin everything, seem to be surrounding us. We usually stay busy all month long with many seasonal activities: marching contests, Fall festivals, the Texas Renaissance Festival, etc. We also enjoy visiting the local pumpkin patches and Scarecrow Festivals.

If you prefer to stay home cuddled up with a good read instead of heading out to crowds celebrating seasonal festivals, try one of my suggestions from 10 Scary Reads to Terrify Your Inner Child.

I also recommend my short story "Lights Out" which can be found in Road Kill, Texas Horror Volume 4 from Hellbound Books Publishing: here.

If you're looking for something a little lighter, try my romantic Halloween short story (about 800 words): Madame Tooshkas Spell.

Interested in FREE scary books? Try one of these!

Need a few scary good costume ideas? Try one of these 10 Minute Literary Halloween Costumes and dress like your favorite characters.

How are you celebrating this season?

#WEP - October #FlashFiction Challenge - The Phantom of the Opera - Post October 18 - 20

  Welcome writers! Are you ready for a spooky challenge? For more specifics than I have listed here, or to visit the source: Write...Edit...Publish -- Online Writing Community: #WEP - October #FlashFiction Challenge - The Phantom of the Opera - Post October 18 - 20 (writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com)

Welcome to the October Challenge 

for WEP - Write...Edit...Publish,

The Phantom of the Opera!

Hey writers, Renée here with our next challenge. We chose the movie The Phantom of the Opera to inspire your writing for this month's WEP Challenge. 

Post October 18th to 20th, 2023

FLASH FICTION, POETRY, NON-FICTION, PHOTO ESSAYS...
POST OCTOBER 18th - 20th

1. SUBMIT your name and URL to the list below starting October 18th to the 20th
2. POST your entry according to October's prompt "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
3. USE WEP in your Title and the Poster on your page. Post your word count.
4. STATE feedback preferences and give positive feedback as requested. See WEP Critique Page.
5. SHARE THE CHALLENGE on social media. Tweets are ready on the WEP blog.

Open to all genres - 1000 words maximum 

Email Denise or another team member if you have more questions:

den.covey@gmail.com  yolandarenee@hotmail.com nilabose@gmail.com

1.

Denise Covey

2.

Yolanda Renee

3.

Olga Godim

Autumn Writing

It's finally Fall, and we just had our first big cool front here in southeast Texas. Although, highs are still near 80, we are getting into the 50's at night. Just a few weeks ago temperatures were still hitting near 100 degrees. I'm glad to see the changing season. 

I'm also hoping to change and increase my writing output as I've been too busy to write as much as I would like lately. I'm teaching both high school and college classes, and my kids are involved in a lot of extracurriculars which require a lot of travel. Don't get me wrong - I'm grateful for everything we have and share. It can all just be overwhelming at times and writing continually takes a backseat when it isn't directly related to work. In that vein, I thought I would share some writing prompts - not all of them are season related, but you can make them such if you wish. I hope they inspire some wickedly wonderful Autumn tales!

1) Write a Fall or Halloween special for your favorite television show.

2) Design your own school of magic: what does it look like? what subjects are taught? Who are the teachers? What are some of the back-to-school traditions?

3) Create a legend about your city.

4) Write an acrostic poem.

5) Write about a Thanksgiving dinner attended by your favorite fictional character.

6) Write a scene from the POV of Alexa or Siri.

7) Create a fake news report.

8) Write a retelling of your favorite Shakespeare play.

9) Write a scene that takes place in your favorite bookstore or coffee shop.

10) Write about a character who has terrible luck.

11) Write a Fall scene without using the word pumpkin.

12) Write about the worst possible break up you could imagine.

13) Make up your own conspiracy theory.

14) Write a story that takes place in a corn maze.

15) Write a ghost story.

16) Take a favorite Christmas song and rewrite the words to be about Halloween, or Thanksgiving.

What are you writing? Are you trying any of these? Any other prompts you want to share?

IWSG:AI

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.

OCTOBER 4 QUESTION - The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts?

MY ANSWER - A lot of people are worrying about AI writing. If you'll remember, many worried electronic devices would replace physical copies, self-publishing would be the downfall of all publishers, etc. I think AI will cause changes, but not replace all writers. As we've seen from the writer's strikes already, many want laws put into place to prevent loss of jobs and identities. I believe society will grapple with this concept for quite a while.