IWSG:

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.

NOVEMBER Question - What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

MY ANSWER - Photography, travel, crochet, etc.

How about you? What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

The Next Step

It's the last week 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 2024

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? Do you have any recommendations?

11 October Submission Opportunities

1. Undertaker Books: Winter Horrorland Anthology - This is a fiction anthology. “We’re looking for horror stories of all subgenres that take place in winter. Please note that we are not looking for holiday-themed stories, and they will be a hard sell.”
Deadline: 15 October 2024
Length: 1,500-4,000 words
Pay: $25
Details here.

2. Shooter Literary Magazine: Coming of Age - They want submissions on the ‘Coming of Age’ theme. “We’re looking for stories, essays, memoir and poetry on anything to do with the transition to adulthood: first love, hormonal angst, Saturday jobs, brushes with the law, experimentation, gaining independence, losing virginity. Literary reflections on books that made an impact during late adolescence would make particularly welcome essays. Tales of college and first steps on the career ladder are also relevant.”
Deadline: 20 October 2024
Length: 2,000-6,000 words for short prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: £25 for short prose, and £5 for flash prose and poetry
Details here.

3. Smoking Pen Press: Time Travel - They want fiction for their Read on the Run anthology series, and the theme is Time Travel. “We welcome stories involving all types and aspects of time travel, and we are open to all genres – Sci-Fi, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure.”
Deadline: 21 October 2024
Length: 1,200-6,000 words
Pay: $20 or paperback copies (see guidelines)
Details here.

4. Eye Contact Award in Genre Flash Fiction - This is a prize for genre flash fiction by Eye Contact Magazine; for this cycle, they want a romance story of up to 1,000 words. The prize is sponsored by Seton Hill University and its MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. Value: “a cash prize (or gift card equivalent) of $250” Deadline: 25 October 2024 Open for: Unspecified, Details here. 

5. Flame Tree Publishing Anthologies - They have periodic announcements for speculative fiction anthologies on their blog. Currently, they are open for — Were Wolf Short Stories – “We are seeking stories about werewolves, shapeshifting humans, rivalries and alliances between vampyr and werewolves. The word werewolf goes back more than a thousand years, coming directly from the Old English wer, meaning Man, and wolf. Also of interest is folklore and mythology which plays on such legends as Fenrir (born of Loki) defeating Odin at Ragnarök, and early Slavic myths and rituals in which were wolf skins are removed and stolen. Stories can explore wolves which might have been human, changing by choice at the howl of the moon, or people cursed and damned to be wolves for all time. Is that why the lone wolf is alone? The wolfish grin is a little shy? Is that why we wolf down our food? Is there a wolf inside us all? In the forests around us? Hunting us, haunting us, protecting itself and its kind.” Length: 2,000-4,000 words, Pay: $0.08/word, due Oct. 27 - Details here.

6. Worldstone Publishing: Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy - They want science fiction and fantasy stories for this annual anthology.Deadline: 31 October 2024, Length: 1,500-7,500 words, Pay: $0.005/word; more if Kickstarter is funded, Details here.

7. Rebellionlit: Three x The Fun - They want stories in all genres. While there is no theme, they do want stories that rebel in some way. They accept flash and short stories. They only want stories from writers with a US mailing address.
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: 1.5 c/word
Details here.

8. Black Beacon Books: Steampunk Sleuths - This is a fiction anthology. “The genre of mystery is designed to get the cogs cranking, but let’s not forget that steampunk is all about cogs too! Why not bring them together? Steampunk Sleuths will be an anthology of four novelettes (15 – 20,000 words) featuring detectives in a steampunk setting solving peculiar crimes. The only requirements for submission will be that the means of committing the crime (murder, theft, kidnapping…) must be clearly steampunk and the reader must be given the tools to crack the case before the solution is revealed.”
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Length: See above
Pay: $50
Details here.

9. Whisper House Press: Dread Mondays - This is a workplace horror anthology. They have an extended submission window for writers of marginalized groups. 
Deadline: 31 October for all writers, 30 November 2024 for historically marginalized writers
Length: Up to 4,000 words (prefer up to 3,000 words)
Pay: is $0.06/word
Details here.

10. Submissions are open for Midnight Menagerie, a fiction anthology from WolfSinger Publications featuring “the strange and bizarre (creatures) from around the cosmos and other dimensions. They can be the stuff of dreams or nightmares.” Pay is $15 for stories of 1,000-7,500 words, and the deadline is 31 October 2024.

11. Submissions are also open for Into the Dark, a dark fantasy and fantastical horror fiction anthology from All Worlds Wayfarer. Pay is $20 for stories of 1,500-4,000 words, more if their Kickstarter is funded, and the deadline is 31 October 2024.

WEP Halloween Flash Fiction Special Challenge 2024, HORRORFEST!

Welcome to the WEP Halloween Flash Fiction Challenge

 

1. SUBMIT your Direct Link between October 1st and October 16th
2. POST your edited entry, making sure 'WEP' is in the TITLE along with the badge.
3. STATE feedback preferences
4. READ other entries, giving positive feedback. Refresh on WEP Critique Page.
5 SHARE THE CHALLENGE on social media. 

PLEASE NOTE: ENTRIES CLOSE October 16th (NY Time - check WEP blog clock)

ALL GENRES WELCOME except erotica - 1,000 words maximum 

FURTHER ENQUIRIES VISIT writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com and leave a comment or: email: yolandarenee@hotmail.com or any of the admins with your questions.

1.	Denise Covey	5.	Nilanjana Bose	9.	Pat Garcia
2.	Renee Poem 1	6.	C. Lee McKenzie	10.	Beth Camp
3.	Renee Poem 2	7.	J Lenni Dorner	11.	Christopher Scott
4.	Roland Yeomans	8.	Sonia Dogra	12.	DONNA HOLE

(Submissions close in 8d 16h 32m)

XX

Welcome to the October 2024 Special Challenge 

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

October Horrorfest!

Hi, Denise here, announcing WEP is back to offer a flash fiction challenge for October. We didn't want to miss our Thrillfest month.

October is our month to celebrate speculative fiction, horror and paranormal, but as always no bar on any genre except erotica. But a little bit of scary can't hurt...

 This is the Horrorfest Challenge in which we ramp up the spook factor, welcoming your creepiest compositions, your most haunting and haunted tales running the gamut of paranormal, speculative, crime and horror genre. However, as always, there are no rigid rules. Feel free to write to any genre if those mentioned are not your thing. 

We can't go on without explaining what's been happening. As always, the WEP team have been facing some mountainous challenges. Early this year in April I didn't expect to have my son in Intensive Care for three months and a hospital ward for one month! Was the most trying time of my life. Thankfully, we got through it, but still face day to day struggle.

Meanwhile, we've had bi-monthly meet ups here, where we reported on what we've achieved and some of you dropped us a comment and link to give us your news. I want to thank the WEP team for writing my entry when I couldn't face opening my laptop.

The team was devastated with the loss of two of our original members, Sally Stackhouse after a struggle with liver cancer (her combined prose and poems will be sadly missed) and Nancy Williams who was finding much joy in writing as she battled health problems. RIP, ladies. We love and miss you.

There is a tribute page to Sally here:

https://sallystackhouse.muchloved.com/

Here's to you, Sally!

Will miss your writing, Nancy.

So, hey writers, welcome to our special challenge! Many of you have told us that you have been missing the inspiration of writing to a challenge, so here we are to challenge you to get your flash fiction writing mojo on and pen a thriller for October.  The October challenge has always been heaps of fun. Let's make this one the funniest ever! 

Post your entries to the Linkup from October 1 to 16, 2024

Remember to add a tagline which should take us to the heart of your story:

"A tagline is more like a catchphrase that conveys a feeling or a promise about the story. A tagline should be catchy, genre-focused, and intriguing."

We'd love it if you'd Tweet or post to FB or any social media site where you network! If you avoid social media, we totally get you.

 

WEP #writingprompt October 2024s "HORRORFEST" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2024/10/wep-halloween-flash-fiction-special.html Sign up & post-October 1-16! #amwriting #flashfiction #WEPFF #poetry #nonfiction

Let's write for the October 2024 "HORRORFEST"@DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16@jemifraserhttps://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2024/10/wep-halloween-flash-fiction-special.html Sign up & post your entry October 1-16! #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

Join WEP @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser for the Special Challenge of 2024, "HORRORFEST" Sign up and post your entry October 1-16. https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2024/10/wep-halloween-flash-fiction-special.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction. 

To Post Our Link Please Use the Code Below:

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Wishing you an amazing October.

Bring on the entries!

Who knows? Perhaps we'll see you in December!  For more information, visit: Write...Edit...Publish -- Online Writing Community (writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com) 

IWSG: Ghost Stories

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 Question - Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

MY ANSWER - It's difficult to pick just one. The Haunting of Hill House and A Christmas Carol are the first two that come to mind. When you read either one, they just stay with you. At least that has been my experience. A good book always stays with you for a while. However, these two have hung in my mind for years.

What about you? What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

2024 Banned Books Week

September 22 is the beginning of "BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2024". It lasts through September 28. Below is a couple of lists of the most frequently challenged books. 

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Banned Boks Week is an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and highlights the value of free and open access to information. The theme of this year's event is "freed between the lines".

The Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged books list is compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and is based on or derived from communities across the United States. To see the ten most frequently banned in 2023, check here.

Ava Duvernay is the Honorary Chair of this year's "BANNED BOOKS WEEK". She is joined by youth honorary chair Julia Garnett. You can learn more about them and activities throughout this week by visiting the banned books week events page here.

You can also view previous lists by year as well at OIF. The list of the most banned books for 2024 will be available in April of 2025. However, some books have been repeatedly banned or challenged throughout history. If you're curious about the most frequently banned books of all time in America, here is a list of the "Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books in American History":

• 1984 by George Orwell
  Call Number: PR6029.R8 N49 1984
  Publication Date: 1984
  Reason: pro-communism ideas, sexuality

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Performed by); Emory Elliott
  Call Number: PS1305 .A1 1996
  ISBN: 0585363447
  Publication Date: 1999-01-01
  Reason: racism

• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
  Call Number: PS3537.A426 C3 1979
  ISBN: 0316769533
  Publication Date: 1951-07-16
  Reasons: offensive language, unsuited for certain age groups

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  Call Number: PS3573.A425 C6 1982
  ISBN: 0156028352
  Publication Date: 2003-05-28
  Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for certain age groups

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Matthew J. Bruccoli (Preface by)
  Call Number: PS3511.I9 G7 2000
  ISBN: 9780684830421
  Publication Date: 1996-06-01
  Reasons: reference to drugs, sexuality, and profanity

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  Call Number: PS3551.N464 Z466 1997
  ISBN: 9780394429861
  Publication Date: 1970-01-12
  Reason: sexually explicit

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding; E. M. Forster (Introduction by)
  Call Number: PR6013.O35 L63 2003
  ISBN: 9780399529207
  Publication Date: 2003-10-28
  Reason: profanity, sexuality, racial slurs, and excessive violence

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  Call Number: PS3537.T3234 O2 2002
  ISBN: 9780142000670
  Publication Date: 2002-01-08
  Reasons: offensive language, racism, violence

• One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken kesey
  Call Number: PS3561.E667 O5 2002
  ISBN: 9780670030583
  Publication Date: 2002-01-28
  Reasons: profanity, unsavory theme, sexuality, and racism

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  Call Number: Adult PS3562.E353 T6 1982
  ISBN: 9780061743528
  Publication Date: 2010-05-11
  Reasons: offensive language; racism

If you would like more information about banned and challenged books, contact the Office for Intellectual Freedom at (800) 545-2433, ext. 4220, or oif@ala.org. Another god source of information on banned books is the "Libraries and Center for Academic Technology" site by Butler University: https://libguides.butler.edu/c.php?g=34189&p=217684

How about you? How many of these banned books have you read? How do you feel about the idea of banning books in schools and libraries?