Hello friends and fellow writers
For several months, I have been helping as a judge in Florida Writers Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. The contest judges assign scores using a rubric that focuses on attributes such as characterization, plot, description, dialogue, and others. Reading and scoring the entries present a learning experience for me, and I grow in my own writing. I am frequently impressed by the high quality of writers that submit both fiction and nonfiction to this highly praised competition.
Jefferson County here in West Virginia has several opportunities for writers to gather together to share and improve their writing. Last year I organized a group that now meets weekly at the beautiful Charles Town Library. We submit work for comments via email and meet every week to discuss. My own writing has been inspired. It has been gratifying to see progress in our members' writing as well. We follow the motto: Writers Helping Writers.
A happy announcement: my story "Connection" won second place in this year's WV Fiction competition. The setting switches from a modern day woman whose office is in historic McMurran Hall on the Shepherd University campus to a dying soldier from the Battle of Shepherdstown, a small, but bloody Confederate victory on Sept. 20, 1862. Much research was involved in getting the details just right. The town hall, which was later named McMurran Hall, was unfinished in 1862, but still served as a hospital for wounded soldiers, most from the Battle of Antietam across the Potomac in Maryland. "Connection" will be a featured story in Vol XVII of the Anthology of Appalachian Writers to be released in 2025..
This past spring two of my stories saw publication. "Woven Lives" was published in the Northern Appalachia Review, and "Lizzie" appears in this year's Vol XVI of the Anthology of Appalachian Writers. I am very pleased to be included in these anthologies which are full of excellent stories, nonfiction, and poetry.
My books have been doing well, especially when I go to festivals such as the Shepherdstown Book Festival held in September. Another festival that is great fun is in beautiful Capon Bridge at the River House. Every time I go to these gatherings, I am inspired by readers and especially writers that I meet.
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Review of The Whispering Chimney
A story of love and courage, The Whispering Chimney enthralled me from the first page until the last. Set amidst the well-described beauty of rural West Virginia, eleven-year-old Bethany discovers the ghosts of a bygone era still walk along the hills. This window on the past becomes clearer, and draws the reader deep into struggles once endured. Recommended for young readers as an interwoven tale of the long-past and challenging present. Sharon Keller Johnson author of Milky Way Rising and Lure of the Grove.
Review A tale of betrayal and courage, told with eloquence and beauty, BEYOND THE STONE EAGLE GATE traces the footsteps of David, a runaway orphan, to his ultimate victory over treacherous circumstances in rural 1893 Tennessee. Nancy Stewart, author of BEULAH LAND. |
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Four Seasons Bookstore's anthology of ghost stories was released October 2020. My submission "The Water's Edge" was included.
For my fellow writers: I am now available for editing help. See my Contact page for more information.
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