The First First Wednesday

Didn’t we just post the Last First Wednesday of 2018? Yes. So now we get to start fresh with the First First Wednesday of 2019. Happy New Year and read on to find out what a great start we have!

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The awesome co-hosts for the January 2 posting of the IWSG are Patricia Lynne, Lisa Buie-Collard, Kim Lajevardi, and Fundy Blue! The question of the month is “What are your favorite and least favorite questions as an author?”

My FAVORITE QUESTIONS:
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
Ans: Sometimes. I like to steal some of the good ones for my own uses. I read both good and bad and try to learn from each. My one caveat is that they must be well-written. Poor grammar or sloppy writing in either the good ones or the bad ones turn me off, and I ignore them. I love it when there are big differences in how readers react to what I’ve written. 

My LEAST FAVORITE QUESTION:
What is your advice for writers?
Ans: I have absolutely no advice. If someone wants advice they should go to an expert in writing/publishing, which I’m not.
What is your writing process?
Ans: My most current one is that I don’t have a process. If I did, I’d be ever so grateful. What I have are a lot of accidents that produce stories.

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Email Connect

In my Email Connect this month, I’m writing about my take on networking in 2019, and I’m featuring Diane Burton. I just realized that this first Email Connect of the year is my 58th, and I only send one or two each month. This might be where some of my time goes.

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Great WEP 2019 themes.

And here’s some exciting news! We have WINNERS–a lot of them.

Read About All of the WINNERS

Oddly Suited by LG Keltner

Sea of Sorrows by AV Brown

Behind the Catcher’s Mask by Jennifer Lane

A Diver’s Ball by Angela Brown

Fearless Heart by Deborah Solice

The Dark Charade by CD Gallant-King

The Cog Prince by Elizabeth Mueller

Flower of Ronda by Myles Christensen

Remedy by Chelsea Ballard

Charleston Masquerade by Carrie-Anne Brownian


The top story has the honors of being included in the title. LG Keltner’s story came out on top! The official title of our next anthology – Masquerade: Oddly Suited. Congratulations, LG. (She was also in the top spot for our first anthology, Parallels: Felix Was Here.)


The IWSG Admins spent many hours reading the entries and fourteen were sent to our special judges. We certainly wish to thank them for taking time away from their own work to read the entries:

Elizabeth S. Craig, author
Kelly Van Sant, agent at Red Sofa Literary Agency
Elana Johnson, author
DL Hammons, Write Club founder
S.A. Larsen,author
Kristin Smith, author
Gwen Gardner, author and previous IWSG anthology winner


Look for Masquerade: Oddly Suited late spring!

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Don’t Forget to Pitch!

Quote of the Month: This seems like a good quote since book reviews often reveal very different thoughts about the same work, so we should love tha. “Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.” Walter Lippmann, Journalist