WEP - FEBRUARY CHALLENGE "GONE WITH THE WIND". What inspires you about this film? Write for us ...

 

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Denise here for our first challenge of 2023!

Hope your holiday season was fun and relaxing.  WEP welcomes you to the Year of Movies! We're so excited! Hope you are too! Here is the whole year in a badge, proudly created by WEP's Olga Godim.

But first, we have ...

TEAM WEP NEWS!

- We have created a new website. Do you like our new look? Let us know.

- Notice the gorgeous new badges in our sidebar created by Olga? Choose which of the two you like best and if you're 'proud to be a WEP writer', please post it in your sidebar linking to WEP.

- Laura has taken a leave of absence to care for her family whilst working night shift. She'll be back when she sorts her work/life balance. Take this opportunity to say thank you to Laura for the stellar job she's done for WEP these past years. We look forward to working with Laura again.

- To help ease the load, Team WEP has taken on Sonia Dogra as a trainee. Sonia volunteered to help in any way she could when she saw my blog post about the ups and downs of WEP these past months when life just got too much for many of us. However, we have collectively stood up, brushed ourselves off, and are powering ahead to provide a supportive online writing community of which we can all be proud. Most of you will know Sonia, but here she is in her own words:

Sonia is an accidental poet and short story writer based in Delhi. Her writings have appeared and are forthcoming in The Kali Project, Write in Power, Amity, Kitaab, Tell Me Your Story, Recipe for a Perfect Marriage, A Body of Memories, The Hooghly Review & Flash Flood Journal among others. An ex-educator, copyeditor and nature enthusiast, she dreams of owning a book café in the hills. She can be followed on A Hundred Quills (https://soniadogra.com).

Welcome Sonia!

This unfortunate upheaval in late 2022 has forced each one of us to take stock. We find that most of us are at a stage where, for one reason or another – new jobs, new family circumstances or life events - our tranche of time devoted to WEP is no longer as wide or flexible as previously. We agree that we fill a need for many. Whose writing doesn't improve when every two months you find inspiration to write to a prompt? Over the years we've seen such an improvement in each of you. Reading your entries is one of our favorite things!

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CHANGES FOR 2023!

There will be several changes to WEP this year. We need a different iteration to suit the changed circumstances of our team members and that is what we present to you in WEP Challenges 2023!

The Changes

1. 5 Judged Challenges instead of 6.

2. No Challenge for December but a Christmas Party post instead. Check the December badge - Over to You. That is exactly it. Over to You to write about your favorite movie of all time.

3.  No winner's guest post. Instead, a team member will write a 'How-to' post outlining something they've already tried and found successful. Or they may share a post you will find interesting/educational/motivational. If there's something you'd especially like to share in the guest post format, email Denise - den.covey@gmail.com

4.  Critique prizes remain. We have some sought-after prizes this year as always. Check our sidebar. Remember, if you have no WIP ready, please pass on the prize to the runner up and so forth. We encourage you to check out the editors in our sidebar and contact them if you need their services.

5. To replace the winner's guest post, for the 3 winners each challenge there is the option to be included in a WEP Anthology which will be published in early 2024. Here is your chance to garner a publishing credit if you are not yet published.

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So, let's do this!

Image courtesy of Freepix

All our challenges in 2023 have the theme, the Year of Movies. As it's Valentine's month, we kick off with the classic Gone With the Wind. Both the movie and the book have broken all sales records so is worthy of its Number One slot. 

From our Challenges 2023 page, use or discard ideas as you wish. Your interpretation of the prompt is totally up to you as long as it is obviously inspired by the image and blurb in some way. 

Nila's blurb says of Gone With the Wind:

Remember, it's all about what inspires YOU:

GWTW can be the springboard for a million ideas- civil war, love, the definition of beauty (‘Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful but men seldom realized it..’), racism, slavery, strong women, gun violence, plantations, breaking conventions, the bond between fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters, the love for a piece of land, a lament for a vanishing society…alternatively, even an essay on the stars or the film director or the author Margaret Mitchell or some aspect of the making of the film...endless opportunities for creativity.

Post - February 15 to the 17th 2023

Don't forget your tagline at the beginning or ending of your entry!! 

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The February prize:

The 3 winners have the option of being published in a WEP Anthology.

The outright winner receives a Critique Prize from our stable of generous editors and authors.

This month's prize is from a contributor to the IWSG, L. Diane Wolfe.

 

L. Diane is the owner of Dancing Lemur Press LC, professional speaker, & author, She  also conducts seminars, offers book formatting, and author consultation. She’s the senior editor at Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. and contributes to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG).

 

http://www.dancinglemurpressllc.com/ - Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C

http://www.spunkonastick.net/ - Spunk On A Stick

http://www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com - Spunk On A Stick’s Tips

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/ - Insecure Writer’s Support Group

https://www.facebook.com/l.diane.wolfe - Facebook

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BC4SRKH2
iTunes - https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id6443336227
Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940165920110
Kobo - https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9781939844903

In Darkness: The Vampire. First in Diane's In Darkness series.

 

Souls shrouded in darkness…

 

Stuck working as a barmaid for her demanding father, Anna dreams of adventure. When mysterious strangers enter the bar, she overhears they seek Zancrela, an ancient fortress filled with treasure and a magical library. Taking her chance, she offers to guide them. The conditions: deliver Zancrela or die.

 

As they journey through the wilderness, she discovers their secret: they are vampires. And most view her as food. One takes interest in her and her heart dares to hope, but it might not be enough to change her fate. Will Anna find Zancrela or become a vampire morsel?

Other books in the series ...

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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, 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.

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

WEP movie #writingprompt February 2023 "GONE WITH THE WIND" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-february-challenge-gone-with-wind.html Sign up & post-February 15 thru 17th! #amwriting #flashfiction #WEPFF #poetry #nonfiction

Get your thinking caps on for February 2023's first movie prompt "GONE WITH THE WIND" @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-february-challenge-gone-with-wind.htmlSign up & post your entry February 15th thru 17th! #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

Join WEP @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the first movie Challenge of 2023, "GONE WITH THE WIND". Sign up and post your entry February 15th thru 17th https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-february-challenge-gone-with-wind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction.

Check out #stories of #love, #loss, #racism, #war @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee, @SoniaDogra16 @jemifraser, for the February movie challenge "GONE WITH THE WIND https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-february-challenge-gone-with-wind.html #WEPFF #amwriting #flashfiction #poetry #nonfiction

 

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Wishing you a fabulous February at WEP. Bring on the entries!

Our next movie prompt is for April. How about this?

Post - April 19th  to the 21st 2023

At the basic level, Life is Beautiful is about protecting children from the trauma of war, about paternal love, about one family's struggle for survival amidst the horrors of the concentration camp. 

Denise for:

#WEPff UNRAVELED YARN - Winners!

When we set the prompt, UNRAVELED YARN, the team wondered how it would be received. We needn't have worried. Your posts explored 'yarn' from many and varied POVs, some literal, some metaphoric, some fictional, some raw non-fiction, some poetic. The variety showed the creativity of the writer's mind.

The reading part of a WEP challenge is easy for the team, even though we often go back several times for a re-read. Then another read if there are similar stories. Then comes the hard part. Choosing three outstanding entries. Often the writers who make the final cut tugged at our heartstrings and stood out above the rest or simply entertained us. Whatever the process, coming to a final decision should be easier, but how we respond to writing is SO subjective. What floats one's boat, sinks another's.

UNRAVELED YARN resulted in some deep responses. Isn't that really the point of writing? To garner an emotional response in our readers? That's the sort of thing editors crave from submissions that cross their desks. Here at WEP, we like being emotionally involved in your stories and poetry. 

Here is a quick run through of the entries, excepting your hosts':

Pat Garcia – Engaging, emotional as always. Pat's heroine was someone with insecurities we could sympathise with. 

Carrie Golden – charmed us with her micropoetry on the unravelling that happens during a heat wave.

Christopher Scott - combined punk fiction with classical mythology to weave a thought provoking tale. Fixing fate is a tricky job!

L G Keltner – riveted us with her chilling, powerful flash on abuse, murder and thwarted revenge in the afterlife.

Pat Hatt – delivered with great panache another of his dark, nasty and extremely clever tales.

Kalpanaa – came in with a poetry entry that beautifully combined unravelling and yarn with gender stereotypes, expectations and freedom.

DG Hudson– gave us another snippet of her stellar sci-fi story set on an abandoned space station where some mysterious intruders are up to something disconcerting.

Jo-ke Ojo–  was amazing as always. Her brilliant poem explored the trappings and unravelling of gender identities.

Desk 49 – spun a fun, light hearted flash in prose this time, a change from his usual poetry posts.

Elephant's Child - posted a stunning, courageous and poignant memoir of a life unravelled by grief and alcoholism and its far reaching ramifications.
C. Lee McKenzie - delivered a poetry entry with splendidly evocative imagery and metaphors. Generations of women and the knowledge, or ignorance, of handling yarns.

Deborah Drucker – showed us that loneliness can take us down a dark path.

Orlin - a cute, playful take on the prompt with kittens literally unravelling the yarn, told from a cat POV done to a turn.

Jaya - posted a well-crafted and sorrowful tale of the unravelling of a suburban neighbourhood to creeping urbanisation. A dream home turned into a nightmare under the boots of progress.

Hilary Melton-Butcher -  wove a cool, colourful flash with children and wool and a napping grandpa which felt almost like a fairy tale, interspersed with amazing images, as is her forte.

Crystal Jepsen -  a first timer at WEP, Crystal gave us a disturbing and powerful flash on child abuse. Looking out for her future entries!

Dolarah - wrote an exquisitely atmospheric tale of an everyday hero set in small town USA. Is this navy Seal-turned-small-town-good Samaritan as whole and as wholesome as he appears?

Randomzb - Another first timer. Randomzb gave us a flash which kept the reader guessing whether grandfather was reminiscing or telling a tall tale. A Turkish delight!

Elephant's Child - non-fiction

Pat Hatt - flash fiction

L.G. Keltner - flash fiction

C. Lee McKenzie - poetry

Pat Garcia - flash fiction

Dolorah - flash fiction

As we couldn't get a consensus amongst ourselves, I outsourced the shortlist to writer and editor, Nick Wilford, who is also associated with the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG). (More on that in a later post.) Nick kindly read each entry on the shortlist, giving the following feedback:

Elephant's Child - non-fiction - 'Very powerful stuff and causes one to think about how things could have been different. Excellent interpretation of the theme.'

Pat Hatt - flash fiction -  'Packs quite a punch and took me by surprise! I know this one wasn't a poem, but it had a lot of haunting and poetic images and something of a flow to it. Dark and mysterious.'

L.G. Keltner - flash fiction - 'Powerful and moving. A great take on the theme.'

C. Lee McKenzie - poetry - 'Great structure, stream of consciousness feel. Manages to convey regret, nostalgia and hope in only a few words. Nice job.'

Pat Garcia - flash fiction - 'Very vivid and intrigued me to know more.'

Dolorah - flash fiction - 'Nice and understated, but hints at something deeper going on. Leaves it to the reader to fill in the blanks. Great folksy feel to it.'


So finally, we came up with three winners.

THE WINNER OF THE

2018 WEP JUNE CHALLENGE UNRAVELED YARN

is ELEPHANT'S CHILD 

Congratulations Elephant's Child!
Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

An Amazon Gift Card of $10 will be winging your way shortly.

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THE RUNNER UP OF THE

2018 WEP JUNE CHALLENGE UNRAVELED YARN 

is C. LEE McKENZIE

Congratulations Lee!

Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

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THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE

2018 WEP JUNE CHALLENGE UNRAVELED YARN 

is L. G. Keltner

Congratulations L. G.!
Please link the badge to your story and post it on your blog!

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All prospective winners are vetted for their comments before they are awarded a prize. 

Why? Because WEP is a supportive writing community where each person is valued. Wouldn't we all be sad if no one took the time to read/comment on our posts?

For the very strong commenters, we made a special award. 

For the inaugural Commenting Champion Award, issued in April for the Road Less Traveled prompt, we acknowledged Desk49. 

For June, we pass the Commenter Award to Elephant's Child, who, even when she cannot take part in the writing challenge, often reads all our entries and comments. That's true dedication!

Thank you Elephant's Child!. Please accept the badge and display on your blog!

We thank our team member, Olga, for the creative winners' badges. And kudos to team member Nila who re-read all the entries whilst in India to produce those alluring blurbs on each! 

THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS!

THE NEW TIMEZONE:  In June, WEP began posting to EST (East Coast USA) time which is shown on the clock on the site. Still, we sent out 5 reminders to late posters. In the future, we will no longer send reminders. Late posters often lack readers, so remember to post your entry on or before the challenge date according to the clock on the website. The linky will tell you how many hours to closing time. Thanks for making our lives easier!

Relative to comments: try to set up your comment system so it's easy to comment! No Google+ please. Leave a message on our CBox or in comments if you cannot post comments on someone's site.

NEW ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING AUGUST WEP COMING SOON! WATCH THIS SPACE AND YOUR EMAIL!

Thanks, everyone, for joining us in JUNE. We appreciate each and every one of you. 

Our next Challenge will be in AUGUST -- CHANGE OF HEART! 

So what's your CHANGE OF HEART going to be about? And I think this is the most gorgeous of Olga's badges yet. How about you?

On the Challenges Page you’ll find the prompt schedule for the year and further inspiration for the next prompt.

Be sure to return to read the winner’s guest post in a couple of weeks!

We'd love if you'd Tweet this post or share to Facebook or your favorite social media site.

Your Hosts…

Denise – Renée – Nilanjana – Olga

Welcome to #WEP - Write...Edit...Publish JUNE Challenge -- UNRAVELED YARN

Hello Writers,

Unraveled Yarn! We’re not necessarily talking knitting and crochet.  Although, knitting/crochet/embroidery could easily be woven into a backdrop, even take centre-stage, in the interpretation of this prompt. A yarn is a long and rambling, often improbable, story. But we’re not talking long and improbable, a crisp and convincing flash in whatever genre you choose is what we’re after. We are open to everything, except erotica.

Serenity, meet Disaster. A lie found out, the unpicking of a tall tale. A crime taking an unexpected turn. A bad-hair day. An ordinary walk spiraling into a crisis. A romantic encounter ending in chaos.   Take your pick with the unpicking. And have fun! 

Remember to add WEP to your post title so it's easily spotted. We like to have all participants on the blogroll, please have a quick scan and tell us if your blog is missing and email one of us if it's not there!

ANNOUNCEMENT!
We're sorry to say that our team member, Yolanda Renee, is withdrawing from WEP at least until the end of the year due to health problems. Please join with us in thanking Yolanda for her seriously excellent input into WEP, and praying her health will improve. We all want to see Yolanda join us again in 2019, don't we? 

If you'd like to post the list on your blog here's the code:

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Don't forget to share the Challenge on your favorite social media! Press our buttons and publicize our yarns!

See you soon!

#WEPFF The End is the Beginning WINNERS for December, 2017!

Hello there!

What a wonderful challenge to end 2017. 

The entries were outstanding as always, and quite varied -- flash fiction ran the spectrum from time travel (Christopher) to a story of loss and renewal (Pat G), then a tale from a cat's POV (Pat H), to the macabre (Dolorah) which was countered by a funny Christmas letter (Liz). Then there was a sci-fi Asimov-inspired tale (D.G) and an environmentally-aware flash from Deborah.

Flash fiction received a challenge from the poets, with poems of healing and hope (Carrie, who made the shortlist), The Walk by Nidhi, and even a colors puzzle within a poem (L.G. Keltner.) Not to forget Desk 49 (Ellis) commented on practically every post in poetic form even though he chose the flash fiction route with his time loop. Go Ellis! 

There was non-fiction (Tyrean, an early contender), who shared her personal challenge of rising from the ashes. I'm sure each of you was mightily touched by Tyrean's will to survive. Hilary's interesting short memoir of her life, looking back and to the present made for great reading. An informative craft post was Roland Yeoman's contribution.

Each time we've read through the entries, our winners' choice changed; it wasn't easy to achieve consensus. Those finally chosen were always in the mix.  

Kudos to you all for coming out to play so close to Christmas. It was lovely to welcome new writers--Keith, Nidhi, Carrie Ann and Liz. I hope you've enjoyed the experience and will come again! 

For the newbies to WEP, with winners it comes down to who strikes the loudest chord with us as readers -- choosing is so subjective! Then it must be edited, with apt paragraphing, grammar and punctuation (as you'd submit to an editor.) An occasional lapse will be overlooked if the story touches us, of course. We also take into account the collegiality of the participants. Reading and commenting on each other's posts is  crucial to the success of WEP and we spell it out on the Submit list.  We're delighted that many of you took the time to do just that and disappointed that some didn't read any, not even the hosts', who read entries many times and use comments to ascertain people's choices.

There is a DL after each name, so you can come back at any time and read or reread for yourself. I hope you'll at least go read the winners' entries if you haven't already.

I take my party hat off to thank my wonderful team members -- Yolanda, Olga and Nila, who always write quality entries, but cannot be in the running for a prize. Ladies, thank you for your help in 2017 and into 2018 with its gorgeous challenges!

So, without further procrastination, I announce...

THE WINNER OF THE

2017 WEP DECEMBER CHALLENGE

THE END IS THE BEGINNING

is

ADURA OJO

We loved Adura's take on the Cinderella story where the Prince is a Princess and "I Kiss Frogs No more" a powerful statement. A timely tale!

Congratulations Adura!

Please, accept the winner’s badge and display on your blog with a link to your poem.

An Amazon Gift Card of $10 will be winging your way shortly.

THE RUNNER UP OF THE

2017 WEP DECEMBER CHALLENGE

IS

KEITH HILLMAN

"All the world's a stage" was the apt title for Keith's flash which was a clever interweaving of drama and real life.

Congratulations Keith!

Please accept the Runner Up Badge

And display on your blog with a link to
"All the World's a Stage."

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE

2017 WEP DECEMBER CHALLENGE GOES TO

SALLY STACKHOUSE

Congratulations, SALLY. Please accept the badge and display it on your blog with a link to your story.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS

Thanks, everyone, for joining us in DECEMBER. We appreciate each and every one of you. Can't wait for the first challenge of 2018!

We know it's Valentine's month, but treat this challenge any way you wish.

Go to our Challenges Page to read the prompt schedule for the year.

Be sure to return for the winner’s guest post!

We'd love if you'd Tweet one of these:

The #WEPFF The End is the Beginning Challenge Winners announced. @DeniseCCovey & @YolandaRenee  https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/01/wepff-end-is-beginning-winners-for.html

Celebrate with Adura Ojo first place winner #WEPFF The End is the Beginning Challenge @DeniseCCovey & @YolandaRenee https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/01/wepff-end-is-beginning-winners-for.html

The #WEPFF writers are all winners! @DeniseCCovey & @YolandaRenee https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/01/wepff-end-is-beginning-winners-for.html  

Please click the social media buttons to share this post if you'd be so kind!

Happy New Year and may we enjoy your company every two months in 2018! 

From Denise, Yolanda, Olga and Nilanjana!

See you soon!!