#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.

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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

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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:

#June WEP Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Welcome to June's WEP CHALLENGE!

Close Encounters!

Hello! - it's Nila here, along with my co-host Jemi, we're excited for the June Challenge! This month's prompt is "Close Encounters" based on an iconic movie title/poster. Before we get into the challenge, I'd just like to clear up a small point that came up last month. Hey listen, there is no homework given out around here!  

None of our prompts require any prior awareness or deep knowledge of anything. 

We are a diverse community spread across the world, from Australia right round to America. The primary thing that binds us together is NOT any specialist knowledge of movies, art or books, but our love for writing. That's what we get together here to celebrate and to nurture and support. You don't have to be published or perfect (heck, who is?!) to write with us at WEP, all you need is love.  For writing. 

This year, our prompts happen to be based on movies -  I'll  say it again -

You don't have to know any background, nor watch the movie, nor write to that specific genre or plot. 

All you need to do is to bring your imagination and a writing device. Look at the title, look at the poster if you like and run with whatever element inspires you.  The suggestions are just that - suggestions. We're uber happy for you to ignore them and come up with your own interpretations.

   "Close Encounters"+ YOU is all that's needed.  

We look forward to where this Challenge takes all of us!

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* Did you catch our second 'How-to' post? We started with HR Sinclair's guide to publishing on Google Play. Catch Holly's article HERE.

** Did you take note that WEP winners will be invited to submit to the WEP Flash Fiction Anthology, an ebook, out in 2024 (date to be announced)? After submissions are collated, there may be room to offer more members a place. Submissions will not be automatically accepted, and if they are, will go through an editing process so they're publication ready, following the rigorous process used by the IWSG Anthology team. A WEP committee will be formed to expedite the stories for publication. So if you've not been published, this is your chance to gain a publication credit. 

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WHAT INSPIRES?

Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar on Unsplash

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is an iconic 1977 Spielberg movie, in fact Ray Bradbury called it the greatest sci-fi movie ever made. The storyline combines three threads in parallel - broadly reflecting the three kinds of encounters, i.e. sighting, evidence and contact with alien life. An ordinary electrician sees an UFO and has his life upended. A little boy finds his toys operating spontaneously and is later abducted, his mother believes by aliens.  Meanwhile, a group of scientists are trying to establish contact with lifeforms in outer space and are nonplussed with the response they get. All three converge to a spot where the climax - a monumental event unparalleled in human history, unfolds. The film tells the story of the first contact between non-invading aliens and earth. It is characterised by opulent sets and mind boggling special effects and many instances of Judeo-Christian imagery. For all the opulence and slick effects, it is a simple, engaging story compellingly told. 

Go HERE to our Challenges 2023 Page to read about ALL our prompts for the year!

Post - June 21st - 23rd 2023

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WEP NEWS!

We at Team WEP want to make your experience writing for us as fulfilling as possible. We pride ourselves on being a supportive writing environment so we're always open to feedback.

The response was good. So far, one of the main points, was that you are busy people and cannot find the time to write to every challenge. We totally get this and are delighted whenever you turn up. 

THIS IS WHAT YOU SAID:

- I don't enjoy continuation stories based on prompts. I'd like to see something new and original from those writers.

- Please don't make rules - as they've done in the A-Z ... let us just do our thing at whatever level we're at ... 

- Don't make us do FB, or Tw, or anything else - 

- If it doesn't suit - move on ... don't criticise ... 

- Thanks - it's great - and I enjoy it ... and do what I can ...having committed to write WEP prompts ....

- The prompts such as the music prompts were about a song, but with all the possibilities suggested, I was confused on what you were actually looking for...

- Anthology could be cool. Would probably have to be a .99 cent one, because those rarely sell very well. But they're great for running a giveaway with as a prize.

- I'm still participating but I think it would be great to offer an anthology, and not just to the winners, but give a theme and accept submissions.

THIS IS WHAT WE SAY:

We hear you. 

We try to be as rule-free as possible. Some don't like the 1,000 word limit, but that is the Flash Fiction limit. We don't mind if entries are over 1,000 words at times - we don't count them.

We don't make you do social media. Some like it, so by pre-writing tweets it makes it easy for those of us who like to tweet. Also it brings more readers to your stories.

We get that some are finding the music prompts confusing. Nila has dealt with that above.

We are working on the concepts of the anthology and a theme has been mentioned rather than strictly adhering to the year's prompts. And we'll see how the words go and may well open for submissions to all members. Not all submissions will automatically be accepted. We're looking for well written and well edited work. An editorial team will read each entry and decide.

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 CRITIQUE PRIZE

This month's prize is from Lynda Dietz from Easy Reader Editing. 

Lynda says:

I’m a wife, mother, and worship leader from northwest PA. Though my kids don’t think I’m funny, I make myself laugh frequently. Everyone in my family lives, breathes, and eats music, so I’m always picking up some new instrument and giving it a try. I edit books with the help of my four assistants, all of whom are cats.

 Links:

Easy Reader Editing

Facebook

Twitter

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COMMENTING

Commenting is the lifeblood of WEP. We are a supportive writing environment where you are welcome to try new ideas, take risks, and put forth your latest WIP for feedback.

If you have trouble commenting on blogs, please continue to leave a comment here (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.

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We'd love if you'd Tweet or post to FB or any social media site where you network!

WEP movie #writingprompt June 2023s "Close Encounters" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html Sign up & post-June 21st thru 23rd! #amwriting #flashfiction #WEPFF #poetry #nonfiction

Get your thinking caps on for June 2023s movie prompt "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html Sign up & post your entry June 21st thru 23rd! #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

Join WEP @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the third movie Challenge of 2023, "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS". Sign up and post your entry JUNE 21 thru 23rd https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction.

Check out #stories of #love, #loss, #firstcontact, & #closeencounters @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee, @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the JUNE movie challenge "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS" https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/06/june-wep-close-encounters-of-third-kind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

 

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Wishing you a fabulous June. 

Bring on the entries!

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Our next movie prompt is for August. How about this? Sure to be a favorite~

Post - August 16th to the 18th 2023

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Nila & Jemi for the team: