#WEP #NEWLOOK #WRAP-UP OF #DECEMBER POST #GOODBYE FROM THE TEAM

 Hello friends! Denise here for the team.

I'm sorry some of you were shocked that we're closing down - at least as far as bi-monthly challenges go. We could no longer sustain the workload. One door shuts, another door opens I believe, so who knows what's in store for everyone who found WEP a great place to test your writing.

And we're definitely looking for more entries for the WEP Anthology. READ MORE HERE. Time is running out, so get your stories to us by December 30. BE IN IT!

READ MORE ABOUT OUR REASONS FOR CLOSING DOWN HERE. 

And don't forget, we celebrated our 10th anniversary along the way:

So ... now let's look at our final WEP challenge where you were asked to basically write what you wanted. We were thrilled that some of our oldies turned up and penned something by way of saying farewell.

Jemi has collated the taglines, so you can quickly check out any stories you missed.

TAGLINES:

Denise Covey - The Song Of Bernadette - Do you believe in magic? The miraculous? The humble being exalted?

Yolanda Renée - Hope On The Silver Screen - The movie whispered truths she hadn’t dared to acknowledge

Nila Bose - Chiaroscuro VII  - Sometimes just the touch of a finger can change the direction of an entire life

N.R. Williams - It’s a Wonderful LIfe - Your life matters

C. Lee McKenzie - The Conversation - A fond farewell

Jemi Fraser - Underdogs - Everyone loves an underdog

Shilpa Gupte - Rusty - A tribute to the movies and Chikoo

Rebecca M Douglass - Aftermath - After the wars, it’s time to rebuild

Pat Garcia - The Screenwriter - Last week’s question about her short, teeny-weeny-afro (TWA) almost caused her to explode and show him that she had muscles. She was ready to give him her Ali left punch and knock him out.

Sonia Dogra - Everything Will Be Alright - everything will be alright!

Roland Yeomans - No Safe Mode To Life - every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end

Olga Godim - Scarlet Sails - A centennial celebration of a beloved story and author

Roland Clarke - Svenigora Snow - Slava Ukrayini

Bernadette Braganza - A Starry Affair - A silly conversation with Promilla

Ornery Owl - The Xenomorphs Understand - Thoughts from Outsiders on Aliens and Acceptance

Jamie - Interview with the Vampire - Interview with the Vampire, opening scene with some twists

J lenni Dorner - Origin Story Of The Seven - Where’s Fluffy?

Hilary Melton Butcher - Out Of Africa - A farewell to WEP

Thanks Jemi.

Now, as we said, there are no prizes this month. We just wrote for love of writing.. But one entry stood out, and I have her permission to repost here. Hilary's farewell to WEP. Unique as always. (I wish I'd have thought of it!)

Over to Hilary -

Write … Edit ... Publish ... Bloghop: Out of Africa …

 Out of Africa – never – so true that phrase – anyone having spent time or lived in Africa - it is not possible to take Africa out of one's system ...

 … embedded for ever – perhaps tied to the roots of the human race, or perhaps just imprinted into this blogger's life … BC blogging …

  … then along comes the Write Edit Publish group with prompts for the blogger of positive intent to join in with … at first with trepidation, then later with random abandon, as the poor Phantom of the Opera found out, regarding her input …

  Freedom Morning has arrived … Freedom of Speech was accomplished … the Caged Bird escaped into the WEP world …

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall … which created an Urban Nightmare from The Great Wave … but The Kiss had a fun story to tell …

 There was Grave Mistake, a smelly Antique Vase, a pretty Jewel Box, Long Shadows spread over a delicious meal, Horrible Harvests did not prevail at that time, Dark Places were brightened with memories of the Red Wheelbarrow days …

There was a Thriller in the authorship of A Change of Heart (ugh!) … Gone with the Wind hastened the Unravelling of the Yarn …

 A Grave Mistake could have been made when the Back of the Drawer was opened to find the Letter that was begging Please to be Read, while the Moonlight Sonata resonated in the background …

 Bridges were mended, a Reunion would take place in the Cafe Terrace, besides the river where Like Water for Chocolate was enjoyed by all the WEP group remembering All You Need is Love …

  The Last Remembrance we will have is of Footprints for our memory bank … while we as a group will all reflect Peace and Love for the world.

 The little Voodoo is doing its thing weaving, diving, spinning and in true childish passion will be remembered in our penned compositions …

  From this Blogger to all WEPpers, particularly the administrators, I acknowledge you … and even though I for The First Time I Ever Saw Your Faces was and is on the screen … where you were Unmasked … this End is now the Beginning for you to enjoy your Freedom Mornings …

… before I get In Too Deep and mushy in thought … I will say Farewell to WEP and thank you all profusely for organising, initiating the fabulous thought provoking prompts, for all generous commenters, and supporters …

 A fond goodbye to Write Edit Publish … and I've just scraped into the time frame … though Out of Africa was going to be my last WEP – it changed its spots! …

… however if a piece for the Anthology is required, please administrators let me know … and I'll craft an entry before the year end.

 Cheers from the Positive Blogger …

 Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

 

Thanks Hilary! I'm sure many who read this post will be thrilled to see WEP in retrospect.

Bye for now!

Denise for the team:

and we remember past team members/admin:

Francine Howarth

Donna Hole

Laura!

Elephant's Child!

If you have news, new release, writing success, need help? email denise ... den.covey@gmail.com

#WEP December Challenge "Over to You" The Movie That Inspires and must-read news!

Welcome to the December Challenge

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

Over to You!

 

Can you believe this year's ending and the holidays will soon be upon us?! The year's simply zipped past!

Hello writers, this is Nila with you with our December Challenge. A few things are different for this month's WEP Challenge – okay, correction, a lot is different. We are leaving the fun and creativity in, taking the pressure out. It’s an open prompt this month – it’s Over to You!

 

Think of your favourite movie - whichever film inspires you - and shape your entry around it. And there’s no time squeeze either, post anytime between 1^st and 15^th , we’re leaving the linky open for an extended period because...well, it’s the festive season and year end and family visits and travelling out and a hundred other things besides, so how can a three day period be enough to fit the writing in, right?

 

This Challenge is purely for the love of writing - a celebration of the creativity that bubbles and fizzes here for each Challenge and blows us away every time. Even when the numbers are down or there are other, unforeseen spanners hampering the works. We will be reading and commenting  as and when we can, many of us are travelling or otherwise away from our devices, so bear with us. There will be no prizes this Challenge, this is purely a blogfest to showcase our passion for our craft and to get together to enjoy each other's blogs.

 

Now for the less pleasant difference. Many of you will have noticed already that there is no mention of next year’s challenges – that’s because there aren’t going to be any. So this Challenge will also be our swan song – I’ll hand you over to Denise in a minute, who is the founder member and has been the creative vision, the driving force behind WEP from start to finish. She will explain how we’ve reached here and what happens going forward, but before that I’d just like to say – this is the very last time we’re getting together, so let’s make this party rock! 

XXX XXX

This is our final WEP challenge, as after 13 years, WEP is closing down.

 

This is partly due to the stressors on the team which have been relentless since Covid and are ongoing, and partly because of the drop in the number of participants this year.  We know many WEP members are experiencing their own stressors in the form of health challenges in themselves or family members which impacts writing time.

 After much consideration, the WEP team concluded that this is the time to finish. Not exactly on a high, but not exactly at the bottom of our game.

 For thirteen years we have been a light for many struggling with their writing life, and many of you credit WEP with the improvement in your writing and confidence when submitting your work to publishers. This is what WEP set out to do and we can be happy in that we achieved the supportive writing community we set out to create. I know we could have done better in some areas, but due to time constraints we could not follow every avenue we would have liked.

 Thank you to all who have visited our website over the years and offered us words of encouragement and thank you to those who took up the challenges which made the hard work rewarding. Our wonderful judge, editor/formatter Nick Wilford, attests to the quality of WEP writing when he judges each challenge, so it’s not just us. Nick never asked for a financial reward, so if you appreciate what he has done, please feel free to say thank you by buying his latest book, The Becalmer. 

 A special thank you to those of you who have been with us for the whole journey and we’re sorry that closing down WEP will have a great impact, but all is not lost. #Read below.

 Your writing success has made us proud.

 

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

 #The WEP site will remain open, and the team and anyone else who wishes may return to the site on the 1^st of each month (beginning February 2024) to chat about the ups and downs of our writing and family lives.

 

- Have you had a book/short story/flash fiction published?

- What challenges are you facing in your writing?

- Share an extract from your WIP and we will happily give feedback.

 We'd love to hear from you!

Remember the WEP How-to posts which we collated on the site to help you in your publishing and marketing. 

 

THE FUTURE OF THE WEP ANTHOLOGY

 The anthology is going ahead at this stage, but as yet we do not have enough entries to take it forward. The end of December is the close of submissions, but if you intend to submit, please send Nila your information. We need at least 20 more submissions to make the anthology viable. It will be a precious keepsake, so if you want to see your story included for perpetuity, gain a publishing credit, send it in! (Check out the information on the WEP Pages above.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Tweet if you will ...

#WEPFF DECEMBER ’23 #OVER TO YOU #amwriting,#favoritemovie,#WEPfinal writingchallenge, @DeniseCCovey @SoniaDogra16 @yolandarenee @jemifraser #amwriting #nocontest #flashfiction https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/11/wep-december-challenge-over-to-you.html

Come say hello and goodbye to the #WEPteam, #finalstories, DECEMBER’23 @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #nocontest https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/11/wep-december-challenge-over-to-you.html

Grab the Code

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Thank you once again for being here, thank you for making WEP part of your writing journey and making it the lively, supportive, creative community it has been all these years. 

We'd love to hear your WEP stories if you have one. How has WEP helped you over the years? 

 

With heaps of best wishes for the holidays and New Year 2024 to all of you -

 

Denise and Nila for the team:

#WEP WINNERS - OCTOBER CHALLENGE - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

 Hi! This is Renee & Denise for the team, to sum up the October Challenge and to announce the winners!

Thanks for joining us this Halloween month of October and for taking on the story of the Phantom. Amazing work all - the information regarding the story by Gordon Leroux, was most enlightening, stories just perfect for a campfire setting, or poetry for lovers of the art. I think one of my favorite aspects of the WEP is the different takes on the prompt! Again, thank you for your participation, it was wonderful seeing new entrants and returning entrants! As always the choice for the top was tough! 

Here is a synopsis of all the entries via the tagline the author provided.

Denise Covey - The Ghost of Opéra Garnier - Love will find a way despite exceptional circumstances

Yolanda Renee - Premonition - Pay attention to your sixth sense

Olga Godim - The Phantom Of The Opera - Music on Mars sounds just as beautiful as it did on Earth

Nilanjana Bose - Chiaroscuro VI - An old radio goes berserk in the middle of the night

Beth Camp - First Time - What do we learn when we close our eyes?

Kalpana M - Undisguised - A self-satisfied man immerses himself in his needs

Shilpa Gupte - Rukhsar Khala and her Kitties -  Love thy neighbour, but from afar

Roland R Clarke - Masked Nemesis - Chaos from the shadows delivers a crippling blow to the night witches

Pat Garcia - Joy Comes In The Morning - The kids fell in love with him, a man whose face they couldn’t see. Fascinated by the white gauze covering his head, ears, face, and neck, each wanted to be like him

Jemi Fraser - Think Of Me - Deep in the tunnels, surprises await

Sonia Dogra - Phantom - Stories that did rounds of villages were, after all, only stories

Jamie - Phantom of the Boarded Up House - Teen initiation includes B&E to Phantom’s ghostly concert

Christopher Scott - Phantoms - Inspired by Lon Chaney’s portrayal of the Phantom

J Lenni Dorner - Phantom Wolves - Phantom wolves battle our heroes

Ornery Owl - The Star Child and the Phantom of the Opera - The Other remains reviled

Hilary Melton-Butcher - Phantom Of The Opera - Who But Me Could Come Up with This Post for the poor Phantom (of the Opera) prompt – I feel for him … I wonder if they had Bile Beans on the Nile 

Damyanti Biswas - Have You Met the Phantom of My Life’s Opera? - Things only begin with mistakes. That’s not where they end

SHORTLIST

As always our talented writers make the task pretty tough for the team. 

For the prompt 'The Phantom of the Opera', here is the not-so-short shortlist (in no particular order)!

Shilpa Gupte 

Hilary-Melton Butcher

Ornery Owl

Beth Camp

Kalpana Misra

Carole Stolz

Pat Garcia

Jamie Dorner

Damyanti Biswas

JUDGE'S CHOICES

Ornery Owl

Shilpa Gupte

Beth Camp

but as Nick says: 

Great stuff all around! Other selections were bubbling under. Well done to all!

 Thank you for the haunting quality of each contribution!

COMMENTING

WEP is a supportive writing environment where you are welcome to try new ideas, take risks, and put forth your latest WIP for feedback. Commenters are asked to be respectful, and sensitive and to keep comments positive. 

The trouble with commenting on blogs continues (we're fortunate that Google hasn't messed up our commenting here) or on our C-Box. And if your blog comments are down and you have a blogger blog, consider changing your comment settings to Pop-ups, not embedded, temporarily, until Google provides a fix.

And if you're using Pop-ups and people still can't comment, we hope would-be commenters will post at WEP or C-Box.

This month's prize is from me, Yolanda Renee, a mini Developmental Edit. 

Please email me at yolandarenee@hotmail express for further details!

AND NOW IT'S TIME TO CONGRATULATE THE WINNERS!

WE HOPE YOU AGREE THE BADGES ARE BEYOND AWESOME!

THANKS, OLGA GODIM!

And, the Oscars go to...

Three winners, three Oscars!

AFTER MUCH DELIBERATION, THE WINNER OF THE OCTOBER 2023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

IS

CONGRATULATIONS Ornery Owl!

Please accept our thanks for writing such a great essay. READ IT HERE. Please accept your badge and add it to your blog.

Nick says: 'A really thought-provoking essay that shows how the story is still relevant today. Sadly, like she says, we need to do so much better.'

Remember, if you can't use Yolanda's generous gift, please let us know so we can pass it on. We hate it when a gift remains unopened.

~*~

THE RUNNER-UP OF THE OCTOBER 023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

IS

CONGRATULATIONS Shilpa Gupte!

Thanks, Shilpa for an innovative read. READ IT HERE.  Please post the badge to your blog with a link to your story!

As Nick says: 'Fun and playful, but subtly terrifying as well - this is a treat!'

~*~

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE OCTOBER 2023 CHALLENGE 

~THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA~

GOES TO

CONGRATULATIONS Beth Camp!

Thank you for a short entry packed with good things. READ IT HERE. Please accept the badge and display it on your blog. 

Nick says: 'Short and sweet, a feel-good dopamine lift, a nice message to take forward.'

~*~

CONGRATULATIONS ALL!

REMEMBER!

THE WEP ANTHOLOGY

A mock-up temporary cover was created on Canva.

WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOUR ENTRY!

UPDATE: The entries are trickling in. We are concerned we won't receive the numbers to go ahead. If you intend to submit, please let us know.

WEP 2024 FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY - to be released approx. May 2024.

All winners are automatically invited to submit.

Anyone involved in WEP in the past is invited to submit.

Nila is in charge of bringing this baby home. For now, any questions, please post in comments so all can see the answers.

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES WHO LOVE WRITING FLASH FICTION:

 You are personally invited to submit a flash fiction piece of between 500 min - 1,000 words max to our upcoming anthology. This will be a work of prose fiction – no poetry, although a poem may be included within your predominately prose story.

 Many of the finer points of the anthology are still being finalized, but we have a concrete theme -- Gone!  Gone! Gone! All stories submitted will be written to this theme from which the WEP team envisages many possible genres - thriller, romance, fictionalized memoir, horror, crime, women's fiction, paranormal ... and others. By the August post, you will know all there is to know.

 What do we want? We want standalone, complete, previously unpublished stories - no extracts of a WIP or serialized story, photo essay or opinion piece. A solid flash fiction. This will be submitted to technical guidelines to be announced in August. This is when WEP will publish an Anthology Page on the site where you will see various ideas for stories, but none is binding. We stress - this is YOUR story, written YOUR way in your chosen genre.

 We aim to publish a high-quality eBook and print book. If your entry is accepted, you will be asked to perform further self-edits and the editorial team will do any final editing. WEP's raison d'etre is to improve writing, so the writing must be well-edited and excellent overall.

 The Anthology is the culmination of the work and collective wisdom of 13 years of enthusiasm for flash fiction. Most of the current team have been with WEP in one role or another for the duration.

 We envisage submissions closing at the end of December ‘23.

Please join us for the Challenge in December! This is a post where you aren't painted into any corners. Give us your real self!

For the festive season, we're taking the stress out and leaving the fun in. No competition, only creativity. We're inviting you to a Holiday Writing Party and we're saying Over to YOU. 

Remember to post December 1 through the 15 so everyone can get on with the festive season! 

~OVER TO YOU~

Click on our Challenges 2023 page for ideas for December. But we stress, write your entry your way! What movie inspired you?

SHARE THE LOVE IF YOU WISH. IF YOU DON'T DO SOCIAL MEDIA, THAT'S TOTALLY FINE.

We announce our WEP OCTOBER‘23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @jemifraser @SoniaDogra16 #amwriting #writingcontest #flashfiction #wepwinners https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

#WEPFF OCTOBER ’23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners announced @DeniseCCovey @SoniaDogra16 @yolandarenee @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

Come congratulate our OCTOBER’23 #THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA #winners! #WEPFF Challenge @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontesthttps://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/wep-winners-october-challenge-phantom.html

Signing off for now

Renee & Denise

for the team