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:

#WEP DECEMBER CHALLENGE WINNER PAT GARCIA WRITES FOR US! #HOW TO BECOME A NOVELIST

 Hello friends of #WEP, your foremost online writing challenge site. Pat Garcia blew us away with her beautiful rendition of THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE, a heartfelt tome of love, as our judge Nick Wilford said. We could all do with a positive love story at this turbulent time and Pat has delivered. 

Pat has sent her article which we proudly present below. An excellent way to begin the New Year here at WEP where I'm sure many of you have made resolutions to write more. Writing 6 times a year for WEP must surely improve our craft.

#HOW TO BECOME A NOVELIST

 

 As a kid, I was always writing something. I didn't have any direction, but the desire deep within me was to become a novelist. I discovered reading, which strengthened my craving to be a writer, but I didn't know how to become that novelist with the deep voice I wanted to have until I met Dorothea Brande in her book Becoming a Writer.

I had enrolled in a Writer's Digest class, and an instructor offered to look at 250 words of each individual's manuscript and tell us what she thought.

At that time, I thought, "I got this" until she returned my snippet. I was so devastated that I didn't see her last sentence, "You've got potential."

To make a long story short, this tough lady, who was passionate about writing and had worked in several of the top publishing houses as a consultant in their merger and acquisition departments, had shot my baby (my story) and left me depressed.

 I finally pulled myself up and sent her a note during the last week of class. She recommended that I read Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande and get back to her if I still wanted to be a Novelist. And that is precisely what I did.

 The book challenged my thinking on the first pages. After reading them, I knew I didn't want to be a one-book writer, an occasional writer, or an uneven writer.

I also liked how she explained that having all the technical writing books on my shelves (and I had plenty of them) would only make me a successful writer once I knew how to work as a writer.

Brande connects the writer's vision with their willingness to become vulnerable to themselves. It reminded me of what Socrates said, "Know yourself." She talks about the child in the writer, and I thought of William Wordsworth's statement, "the child is the father of man."

 I only knew then what to think about her book once I realized that I had to cultivate my writer's temperament and that it didn't happen overnight. Slowly, I began to grasp that writing is like painting a picture.

 With each chapter I read, I recognized that I had a lot of work to do within me and that I didn't have any guarantees about the outcome. But I knew this was the type of development I sought, and regardless of the cost, I would do whatever needed. Since then, it has been and still is a risk I am willing to take.

 I am continually learning to be vulnerable or aware of the voice within me to write good fiction.

 

Shalom aleichem,

 

Pat Garcia

A writer, singer, and musician, Pat Garcia, lives as an Expatriate on the European Continent. She is a voracious reader of literature from all genres and loves knitting, playing chess, playing her piano and watching Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes films.

A multicultural writer, she writes stories that encapsulate Romance with a mainstream touch, a sense of suspense, and fantasy.

As it was the Movie Poster we found

most inspiring we'll be starting off

in February with

"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

#WEPWINNER #How to become a writer  #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-december-challenge-winner-pat.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser
@pat_garcia #amwriting #writingchallenge

 

#WEP #How to become a writer #guest post  #WEPwinner https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-december-challenge-winner-pat.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser
@pat_garcia #amwriting #writingchallenge

Please read and enjoy Pat's post. See you in February 2023 with your entries inspired by Gone With the Wind. 

Denise, for

#WEP WINNERS - DECEMBER 2022 "THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE" - AND ANNOUNCING 2023 MOVIE POSTER INSPIRATIONS

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!

We're wrapping up the year 2022 with the "THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE" winner's post. As usual, this prompt took our writers in all different directions. Thanks to all the superbly talented writers who took part, the WEP challenges once again were so very hard to judge.

Thank you, everyone, for your outstanding entries:

Thanks to Jemi, here's a round-up of the taglines for all entries posted:

Denise Covey - Your Face, Your Face, Your Face - More than cooking goes on in the kitchen

Nilanjana Bose - Chiaroscuro - A random photo can open up a can of worms

Yolanda Renée - The First Time - Love defined

Beth Camp - When You Say Yes - Saying yes to a simple request can change your life

Olga Godim - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Kidnapped by a pirate, the Finder can’t resist the pull of her magic

NR Williams - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Love, acceptance, compassion

Hilary Melton Butcher - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Glory Be…a Cruel Unmasking…What a stink for Christmas Joy

Jemi Fraser - Harry’s Mission - Harry's on a mission to see a face for the first time

Roland Clarke - Soul Seeds - Slava Ukrayini

Ornery Owl - First and Last Memories - a tribute in the form of Choka poetry

Pat Garcia - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - He turned to talk to the man on his left side and the full extent of the scar, the zigzagged flesh that marred the terrain of his otherwise sculptured face, had me wondering who could have been so angry as to mark him so brutally.

Bernadette Braganza - I Saw You! - A child’s curiosity leads to an unexpected discovery

Roland Clarke - (Act 3) Swords to Ploughshares - Night Witches look to the Peace after the firestorm

Sonia Dogra - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - We choose to be handcuffed by rolling letters

Sally Stackhouse - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - A forbidden meeting

LG Keltner - Seeing You - The line between love and obsession is easily crossed

J Lenni Dorner - ANTiation - A true face is revealed

Jamie - Face Of Fratricide - What did they expect with a name like King?

Carole Stolz - The First and Only! - Love can be deceitful, even fateful

Shortlist

So many great entries. We had such trouble whittling down our choices. This is our full list, but only 3 could win!

Sonia Dogra

Pat Garcia

Roland C. Clarke

Ornery Owl

Beth Camp

J Lenni Dorner

Carole Stolz

Jamie 

         Bernadette Braganza           

Commenting

Thank you to all those who comment widely, especially those who read and comment even when they do not have an entry in the ring or are unwell. Commenting is super important to us both as feedback towards the improvement of writing craft and as a communication channel for community building.

Sadly, this month as in months past we've had commenting issues. No one's quite sure what is going on, but it is not just a WordPress/Blogger issue. Please check the comments on the WEP post or the C-Box where we posted comments that wouldn't take on blogs. 

Please note that due to incessant spamming issues, we have had to keep comment moderation on. So your comment may not show up right away, but we will get to it soonest possible. We value your comments, please keep them coming. 

The December Prize:

 Award-winning writer and artist Olga Godim is offering to help design a book cover, critique a short story, a flash, or a chapter -  up to you.

Visit Olga's Blog: Olga Godim writing!

NOW LET'S CONGRATULATE THE WINNERS! 

THE WINNER OF THE 

DECEMBER 2022 CHALLENGE, 

THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE, 

IS 

CONGRATULATIONS, PAT

THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE is a heartfelt tome of love.

Nick said - "A sweet portrait of love and devotion. Very nicely done."

PAT, please post this badge and link it to your winning entry. Enjoy the critique prize or pass it on if you’d prefer. We look forward to a guest post here on a topic of your choice soon.

THE RUNNER-UP OF THE

DECEMBER 2022 CHALLENGE IS

ROLAND C. CLARKE -

CONGRATULATIONS, ROLAND!

Thank you for the reading pleasure of SWORDS TO PLOUGHSHARES.

Nick said, "A moving exploration of the human side of war and how love finds a way in the direst circumstances."

Roland, Please take this badge and link it to your winning entry on your blog.

AND FINALLY, THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD

FOR THE DECEMBER 2022 CHALLENGE

GOES TO -

BERNADETTE BRAGANZA!

CONGRATULATIONS, BERNADETTE!

Thank you for a sweet Christmas tale of I SAW YOU!

Nick said, “Whimsical and fun. A great antidote to the heavier pieces..”

Bernadette,  please take this badge and link it to your entry on your blog.

Thank you to all our amazing participants for your entries. We read so many magnificent and magnificently varied takes on this month’s prompt!  

PLEASE SHARE ACROSS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES.

We announce our WEP DECEMBER 2022 THE FIRST TIME winners @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @LGKeltner @OlgaGodim @jemifraser #amwriting #writingcontest #flashfiction #wepwinners https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/12/wep-winners-december-2022-first-time.html

#WEPFF DECEMBER 2022 THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE winners announced @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @LGKeltner @OlgaGodim @jemifraser https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/12/wep-winners-december-2022-first-time.html  #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest

Come congratulate our DECEMBER THE FIRST TIME winners! #WEPFF Challenge @DeniseCCovey @yolandarenee @OlgaGodim @LGKeltner @jemifraser #amwriting #flashfiction #wepwinners #writingcontest https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2022/12/wep-winners-december-2022-first-time.html

ANNOUNCING

 2023 

AS THE YEAR OF

Movie Prompts 

PLEASE JOIN US!

As it was the Movie Poster we found

most inspiring we'll be starting off

in February with

"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

See you in the 

NEW YEAR 2023!

Here's to YOU!

Yolanda, for

And before we go, I, (Denise) wish to thank my team for helping me get through a very challenging time which is ongoing. Without them, WEP would not be possible. And how sad not to have this refreshing writing challenge to motivate us to dig deep and learn things about ourselves that surprise us! Thank you to a wonderful bunch of writers who inspire us! Your writing is amazing! 

Looking forward with great anticipation to 2023.