Happy NEW YEAR Wordsmiths!

Kelly and I want to wish each and everyone one of you a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and Productive 2019! Happy New Year!

January 2019 Meeting Set

The WhipCity Wordsmiths will meet on Saturday, January 12th, 2019 at 3PM-5PM at Blue Umbrella Books, 2 Main Street, downtown Westfield, MA. Bring a brief, favorite piece of your own work with you to share and discuss with the group.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Kelly and I would like to wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and all the Joy of the Season!

The Forgotten Christmas Novella is now on my autor blog

When I revamped the three original larger Christmas anthologies, splitting them into three stand alone novellas and four small holiday story anthologies, somehow Christmas at Frothingham's was overlooked. For the past two years it never even occurred to me that this novella was missing from the collection...but watching a movie set in a department store on the Turner Classic Movie channel the other night reminded me that I had written a Christmas story set in a large downtown department story (think Steigers or Forbes & Wallace in Springfield back in the day, or G. Fox in Hartford- where I actually worked as a store detective when not at the stores in Enfield and Holyoke, when I was fresh out of college). Anyway, I found the story, not perfectly edited, but still very readable, on a USB, so...if you'd like to read Christmas at Frothingham's you can do so at susanbuffum.blogspot.com It may take a little while to load. Give yourself some time to read it. In its original form it's 33 8.5x11 pages long!

I Am so Hopeless at facebook Events!

I had a lot of trouble trying to create simple facebook event for the WhipCity Wordsmiths meeting this coming Sunday that Kelly finally pushed me out of my chair and took over, finishing in less than three minutes. The rule of thumb in this house is Mom doesn't touch the remote, doesn't want to touch the remote, and has no interest in it other than as an object I have to occasionally dust or pick up off the floor when a cat knocks it off the coffee table. I also don't do much other than write and create my books on my computer. What all that other stuff on it is...well, it's really not a major concern of mine. I can post a picture on facebook and edit a post if there's a word not spelled correctly, but beyond that, well, I don't have much in the way of interest in technology. I kind of liked rotary dial phones back in the day because it gave me more opportunity to slam down the receiver and walk away from the phone before someone answered. I still like to write letters on paper, with a pen, that I put into an envelope, have to find an address in an address book  to write on the envelope, and to stick a stamp on the front and place it in the mailbox for the nearly obsolete mailman to pick up and carry away to the post office where its stamp is cancelled, it's sorted and sent on its merry way to someone else's mailbox so they can open their mailbox and find something other than advertising and bills.

Can you tell I just signed, wrote out, addressed, and mailed Christmas cards? Only one person is getting an annual Christmas letter and that is Kelly's kindergarten teacher. This year I typed it and added pictures...rather high tech for me but it was a big year for Kelly that we wanted to share with her former teacher.

The Wordsmiths meeting and Celebration of Good Cheer and Friendship is Sunday, December 16th at 1:30PM at Blue Umbrella Books with refreshments courtesy of Susan, Kelly, and Rhonda to include several kinds of cookies, ginger ale, water, hot chocolate and hot cider. We'll review the group members various accomplishments in 2018 and look ahead to 2019. Join us if able.

Wordsmith Rhonda Boulette at Westfield Farmer's Market Saturday December 7th

Children's author Rhonda Boulette, a WhipCity Wordsmith since the group's beginnings, will be at the Westfield Farmer's Market at the Church of Atonement on Saturday, December 7th.The church is on the corner of Pleasant and Court Streets in downtown Westfield just past the Athenaeum on the left, same side of the street as the Women's Club but one short block west.
  Artistic, crafty Rhonda will have some of her hand-painted repurposed items for sale, as well as copies of her Wolfgang Loses His Whistle storybook with sweet illustrations. We've watched this book evolve in the group and given Rhonda encouragement and support along her path to getting this book into print.
   If you can, drop by the Farmer's Market to say Hello to Rhonda this Saturday!

137 Books by WhipCity Wordsmith Authors in the Gallery!

Kelly and I have purchased many of the Wordsmiths' books, some before there was even a WhipCity Wordsmiths group. She and I have supported local authors since emerging into the writing world in May of 2015. To date, we have 137 Wordsmiths' novels, anthologies, novellas, picture books, poetry books, and more pictured in the Book Gallery, many of them with a click-the-pic link to a retail site where people can buy your book or some of your fellow Wordsmiths' books.

I encourage you to refer friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, and those you meet at book events to check out the blog site, meet the authors via their bios, and check out their amazing body of work! It's free advertising for you!

Together, we are a talented powerhouse of authors/writers. Let's not keep this a secret just between us!

Updates

New member Joseph Seal's bio and books have been added to the Authors page and Book Gallery Page.

Claudia Turner's bio and book have previously been added.

And, yes, I tracked down a few more of Glen Ebisch's books to put pictures with titles.

As many book images as possible have been linked to a retail site so anyone you refer to the blog can visit the gallery and click on your book (-s) and find a way to purchase it.

Reminder- many of you are also authors on the blog. Feel free to post. Promote your book, give us your news, tell us what you're reading or working on...Kelly and I just ask that you keep it courteous and straightforward. Thanks!

December Meeting Set- A Little Different!

Blue Umbrella Books is open on Sundays during December. It's quieter downtown with more convenient parking on Sundays, so, I've booked the meeting for Sunday, December 16th, at 1:30PM-3:30PM. That way there's also some daylight remaining when we head home!

I'm making some cookies and brownies and will bring water and soda. Since we're a diverse group, we'll call this our Celebration of Good Cheer and Friendship to Close Out the Year.

 Hope to see as many of you as can make it!