#WEP OCTOBER CHALLENGE #WINNER'S #GUESTPOST – ELEPHANT'S CHILD AND SELF-EXPOSURE #AMWRITING

Hello everyone! Renée here! 

Elephant's Child, the winner of the October Challenge The Scream, won with her story Un.... Her tagline: Sometimes no one will hear your scream.

 

As our judge, Nick Wilford said: "The rhythm really hammers home the oppressive feel and air of inevitability, but fortunately this is leavened by having a hopeful ending. Very thought provoking."

Today EC is addressing self-exposure. So take it away, Sue!

 SELF-EXPOSURE

I write occasionally. I read every day. I am much more comfortable describing myself as a reader than I am a writer.

What do I read? I refuse to be limited by genre or defined by target groups. Instead, I read for education, comfort, and escape – and am sometimes lucky enough to find them all in the same work.

While I am a greedy reader, I am not uncritical. Writing to strike a chord with me and find a home in my head and heart has to be authentic. Real for the moment (while I am reading), and/or honest for all time. This means that memoirs, autobiographies, diaries, and letters make regular appearances in my towering to be read lists. It does not mean that I avoid fiction. Neil Gaiman (one of my favorite authors) summed it up for me.

‘Fiction is the lie that tells the truth.

We all have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that society is huge, and the individual is less than nothing.

But the truth is individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.’

My latest WEP post was and is certainly real, an ongoing part of me that I rarely display. I was in at least two minds about submitting it, and having done so, felt exposed and vulnerable.

Not a comfortable place. So I thought about it. And thought some more.

That thinking brought me to a place where I realized that all writers expose themselves, or at least some of themselves, in every piece they create. As an aside, I do not think that art and the artist who created it can be separated. Each piece exposes their backgrounds, their personal values, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears. Some of it is conscious, and I suspect some of it isn’t. And by exposing themselves this way, they make themselves vulnerable. Vulnerable to being criticized, dismissed, or not understood.

Do my musings make sense to you? And do you agree?

Writers have long been my heroes, and I thank them for their courage and the gift of trust they bestow on their readers.

And I thank WEP, both the administrators and the contributors, for making this a safe place for writers to stretch their wings and to hopefully soar.

~~*~~

Our award-winning author, Elephant's Child is from Canberra, Australia

She says she is in the process of reinventing herself. Even though she keeps busy with gardening, reading, birds, blogging, and swimming.

You can learn a lot more on her blog. Just follow the link https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/

Photo by: Photo by Alysha Rosly on Unsplash

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Thank you so much for your guest post, Sue. How about you, readers? How do you feel about self-exposure? How much of you, is in your writing?

We'd love for you to tweet this post or share it to Facebook or your favorite social media site.

#WEPTHESCREAM #WEPwinner #guestpost SELF-EXPOSURE https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2021/11/wep-october-challenge-winners-guestpost.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchalleng

#WEPTHESCREAM #WEPwinner Uh…. #guestpost SELF-EXPOSURE https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2021/11/wep-october-challenge-winners-guestpost.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchallenge

#WEPTHESCREAM #WEPwinner Uh… #guestpost Self-Exposure https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2021/11/wep-october-challenge-winners-guestpost.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim #amwriting #writingchallenge

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Our next challenge will be here before we know it! We hope many of you will consider joining us for our December challenge. Narcissus! We'll be posting early, anytime between December 1st and the 15th.

Thanks, Sue!

See you all there!

#Winners #GuestPost for #WEP June challenge - UNRAVELED YARN - Elephant's Child on a PARADOX. Plus - An exciting partnership for WEP!

Hi! Denise here!

A huge congratulations to Elephant's Child who won the WEP June challenge, UNRAVELED YARN with her non-fiction story described as 'Very powerful stuff and causes one to think about how things could have been different.' If you haven't read it yet, go to this link!

Elephant's Child sent through this text which encapsulates what she has to share today...

Over to Elephant's Child...

Paradox.

Was the internet (and specifically blogs) designed with selfish introverts like me in mind?

Curiosity is one of my defining characteristics.

I am also an introvert.  It isn't that I don't like people, or am not interested in them, or even that I am particularly shy which are all common introvert myths.  I am interested in people, immensely so, but I find them exhausting.  Exhausting to the point of nausea and collapse.  

I need quiet time (preferably alone) to recover. 

Discovering the internet certainly scratched my curiosity itch (although it createed new ones).  Discovering the blogosphere was like coming home.

I learn from other bloggers, on so many levels and about so many subjects.  I marvel at their creations across a whole range of genres.  

I laugh with them.  

I weep with and for them.  

And, if I am tired or overwhelmed, I can shut down the screen and take time out without offending anyone.  Bliss.

Thanks to the internet, my horizons have been expanded immeasurably, and access to that much wider world has been reduced to a finger click.  

A paradox for which I am immensely grateful.

Those of you who follow ninja Alex J Cavanaugh's blog will already know that there's something happening with WEP and the IWSG. He's been dropping hints. 

Great news! 

The IWSG approached us in late May regarding a partnership. After some thought, we saw the benefit of growing our group by joining together. A couple of the IWSG admin already join us for challenges on a regular basis and others have popped in from time to time, so they know us well. 

By forming a partnership, we can call on the superior marketing skills of the IWSG as none of the WEP team is into marketing/promotion. With so much competition in the bloghop arena, getting our name out there and giving more writers the chance to showcase their work (from beginner to professional) is awesome.

Along with marketing, we welcome our new judge from the IWSG, Nick Wilford. 

Nick is a speculative author and editor. He had a trial run in June and did an awesome job in putting our shortlisters into winning order. The bonus is he's easy to work with. We'll continue to send Nick our shortlist and he and another judge (new each challenge - yet to be chosen) will decide the winners. 

Good news for long-time WEPpers! Nothing will change for you! Except there'll be more competition for those prizes. At this stage we are keeping the challenges every second month and will be working through our 2018 challenges as on our Pages and badge in the sidebar - so August/October/December to go. The IWSG is going to run a competition for the best challenge to begin 2019, so be aware that's happening soon!

More news! A mixture of good and bad. 

Our very own horror queen, Yolanda Renee, will be running the October Deju Vu/Halloween/Horror challenge as her last hurrah before leaving the team due to health challenges. I hope you'll all rock up and rock Yolanda's world as she goes out with a bang or a shriek or a scream!

Those of you who receive the IWSG newsletter (SIGN UP HERE) will see they're making the announcement in late July and I'll be guest posting early August, explaining some of WEP's history (did you know we've been around - transforming - since 2010?)

So, lovely WEP people, please continue with us! I look forward to the August CHANGE OF HEART challenge where hopefully we'll welcome many new writers! Please show your WEP friendly spirit and welcome them! And don't worry. We'll still be the warm, supportive online writing group you've come to love!

JOIN US IN AUGUST!

And here is the joint badge. We'd love it if you post it on your site! If you prefer the one with rays in the sidebar, you're welcome to show that one!

And please, if the pop up pops up, asking you to SUBSCRIBE, please leave your email address for us to add to the list!

So, congratulations again to Elephant's Child.

Any questions re the partnership, email Denise.

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

#WEPFF Unraveled Yarn Winners announced. @DeniseCCovey &@YolandaRenee http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/07/winners-guestpost-for-wep-june.html #amwriting #flashfiction

Come congratulate Elephant's Child, first place winner #WEPFF Unraveled Yarn Challenge @DeniseCCovey @YolandaRenee http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/07/winners-guestpost-for-wep-june.html #amwriting #flashfiction

The #WEPFF writers are all winners! @DeniseCCovey & @YolandaRenee http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/07/winners-guestpost-for-wep-june.html #amwriting #flashfiction