Chesapeake Bay Writers

Second Monday Radio Show
Monday, May 13 at 8:05 AM

Neal Steele will interview Mary Montague Sikes on her novel, Hearts Across Forever.

Kathryn Calder is dedicated to her NY city career until an unexpected assisgnment to Jamaica changes the path of her life. From the moment she arrives on the exotic island, she is haunted by odd memories from a distant past. Is Flynt Kincade, the stranger she meets in an art gallery, part of that past? Kathryn senses he is, especially when dreams connecting her with Flynt grow more vivid. A visit to Rose Hall Great Plantation draws Kathryn into a scene from long ago when evil reigned in Jamaica and the white witch of Rose Hall was a part of the danger. Can a love affair from old Jamaica reach across forever and bring Kathryn and Flynt together?

When artist/writer Mary Montague Sikes first visited Jamaica, she has no thoughts of writing a book set there. But the bright tropical colors and the sweet, perfumed scents inspired her. Somewhere along the way, she visited Rose Hall Plantation and grew fascinated with the tale of Annie Palmer, the white witch of Rose Hall. That excursion started her thinking, “What if?”. What if a love lost over 200 years ago could be revived in the present day? Would that love be lost again, or were lessons learned long ago enough to create love found?Sikes’ fascination with a simple love story and her desire to study more about reincarnation in the works of University of Virginia scientist, the late Dr. Ian Stevenson, led to the writing of her first novel, Hearts Across Forever. The award-winning book was re-released, April 18, 2019 by High Tide Publications.

CBW Dinner Meeting
Summer Celebration
Wednesday, June 19

Join us on June 19th to hear a great program and celebrate the winners of the Keating Award. Details will be posted here as soon as all the winners have been notified!

"Flash Fiction: Small Stories with Big Impact."
As our attention spans are shrinking and the age of online literary magazines and journals are on the rise, flash fiction is in greater demand than ever. Whether you’re cheating on your novel, experimenting with something new, or you’re just up for a challenge, the flash fiction form of short shorts may be for you. This talk is dedicated to the art of making bite-sized stories feed the minds and imaginations of your reader long after the story’s end.

Abigail Putnam is an MFA graduate from Arcadia University just outside of Philly. She is the editor and chief of Penultimate Peanut Magazine, a small online literary magazine. She currently resides in Suffolk, VA and she teaches fiction and flash fiction at the Muse Writers Center in Norfolk. Her fiction is out with Maudlin House, Dreaming Robot Press, Five on the Fifth, the Dirty Pool, and more.

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March-April Newsletter is online now! Read how Cowboy Found His Forever Home on page 13 and listen to Neal Steele interview on the podcast page.

click image for full issue

Sally Stiles spoke on
on "Aha! Moments: Inspiration through Haiku"
in honor of National Poetry Month

Chesapeake Bay Writers and Yorktown Library presented Sally Stiles: “Aha! Moments: Inspiration through Haiku,” at the Yorktown Library on April 2nd.

It was a great presentation! The bad weather kept attendance down, but we'll look into setting up another date for this program.

Sally Stiles has called four continents, six countries, eight states and one small trawler home. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has taught and published poetry, fiction and non-fiction, including hundreds of magazine articles. She worked in New York City as an editor and advertising executive. Among her five published books are two volumes of haiku.

Her interactive program will lead you to seek aha! moments through haiku which can enrich and add depth to your work as a writer.

Winners to be announced in May!

Click for Details!

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About our CBW Meeting & Program
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
at the Yorktown Library
The Fictional Dream
with Lauran Strait

On Tuesday, September 18, Chesapeake Bay Writers sponsored “The Fictional Dream,” a workshop geared toward helping writers hide the narrator. Lauran Strait conducted the workshop at the Yorktown Public Library at 7 PM. Hiding the narrator, whether in a first person story or a limited third one, greatly enhances reader engagement with the characters and is something all writers should learn how to do. When the narration is limited and hidden to the extent possible, the FICTIONAL DREAM will result. In this workshop, participants will learn what the fictional dream is, about its advantages, and how to achieve it. Hurricane Florence kept some folks away, but those who attended enjoyed the evening!

Lauran Strait, former writing instructor and workshop facilitator at the Adult Learning Center in Virginia Beach, is the founder and executive director of Hampton Roads Writers. She occasionally teaches writing workshops for HRW and the Muse Writers Center. She also works as a freelance book editor for a few select clients.

Her print and online work appears in Dog-eared, The Gator Springs Gazette, Atomic Petals, Retrozine, The Copperfield Review, A Woman of a Certain Age, Moondance Magazine, Monkey Bicycle, Insolent Rudder, LongStoryShort, Edifice Wrecked, The Virginian Pilot, Whistling Shade Literary Review, Somewhat.org, The Green Tricycle, Reading Divas, The Angler, Salome Magazine, Quiction, Bewildering Stories, Tiny Lights—a flash in the pan, Down in the Cellar, Tuesday Shorts, Six Sentences, and HeavyGlow. Some of her other fiction and creative nonfiction appears in anthologies such as Random House’s Knitlit the Third—We Spin More Yarns,Better Non Sequitur's See You Next Tuesday, and Smith Magazine’s Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak.

Wow! What a great program!

"How to be a Rock Star at PR"
Olivia's in the Village, Gloucester

Alice Osborn

showed us how to stand out from the crowd and make others remember who we are through our personal brand at our June 20th dinner meeting! Alice started her own successful writing and editing services company over a decade ago and shared her secrets with us after playing her guitar and singing while we visited and networked before the meeting. Her workshop, showed us how to build our brand by highlighting what makes us different from the crowd through our personal story, how we show up, and how we network/volunteer our time. A great program where we learned how all of our printed and online materials (website, social media networking, and business cards) work together to create a powerful brand will help attract, engage, and retain new readers and fans as it builds the loyalty of our current ones.

Visit Alice's website at www.aliceosborn.com and check out her music at www.reverbnation.com/aliceosborn.

CBW Second Monday Radio Show
Xtra 99.1 FM, Monday, May 14, 8:05 a.m.
Carol J Bova - Chestnut Springs

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Neal Steele interviewed Carol J. Bova about her novel, Chestnut Springs, on the CBW Second Monday Radio Show on Xtra 99.1 FM WXGM, Monday May 14. Chestnut Springs is about a business woman who loses her job at 55 and moves from Los Angeles to a modern off-the-grid cabin in West Virginia while she job hunts online. Instead of another job in a big city, she finds a place for life, love and second chances. It's an upbeat story of small town life and friendships. The interview will be posted soon on our CBW podcast page.

Carol found a new lifestyle as a writer in 2004 after moving from California to Mathews. In 2014, she wrote a nonfiction book, Drowning a County. to unmask the urban myths the Virginia Department of Transportation created to explain decades of inadequate state road ditch maintenance. Carol is a columnist for Chesapeake Style magazine and a past president of the Chesapeake Bay Writers. She has three works in progress--a new novel also set in Chestnut Springs and two nonfiction books.

Great Program at CBW Meeting
April 18, 2018

Essex Public Library, Tappahannock

Writing for $$$: 5 Steps to Getting Published in Magazines

      If you love to write, it is possible to turn that skill into a fulfilling and even lucrative second career. Ann Eichenmuller will introduce you to the world of freelance magazine writing and share from her own experience the possibilities and pitfalls of getting paid for what you write.
      Learn about the markets available to writers, the kinds of articles magazines want, and how to research, develop, and pitch winning ideas. Become familiar with the business side of this kind of freelance writing, from contracts and invoices to payments to kill fees. No matter what your age or interest, there is an audience out there waiting to hear from you.
     The library is located at 117 N. Church Lane, Tappahannock, to the right off US 17N, between Tappahannock Elementary School and Queen Street (Route 360). There is no charge and non-members are welcome to attend.

About Ann Eichenmuller
     Ann Eichenmuller is an award-winning educator and writer and creator of Motorhome magazine’s popular “Classic Ride” series. A regular contributor to Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Chesapeake Style, and the Caribbean All at Sea, her articles were recognized at the 2016 and 2017 Boating Writers International Annual Awards. She is a former recipient of the WashingtonPost Agnes Meyer Award for Excellence in Education and the author of two mystery novels, Kind Lies (2017) and The Lies We Are (June 2018). Ann has recently completed her first non-fiction book, The Writing Cure, about the healing power of writing.

Check Events Page for New Listings

Dan Duke, of The Virginian-Pilot
spoke at the CBW Meeting on February 14 on
"Fake News and
Non-Fiction"

Dan is entertainment editor at The Virginian-Pilot, directing coverage of arts and entertainment and the Flavor section. In 23 years at The Pilot, he also has worked as a copy editor, copy desk chief and assistant business editor, while staying busy outside the newsroom as, at various times, a Cub Scout den leader, a youth soccer coach, a writing and editing teacher and an amateur musician trying to do right by his 1981 Gibson ES 335.

Apply Now for 2018 CBW Second Monday Radio Interviews with Neal Steele!

We are looking for members with recently published books to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by Neal Steele on XTRA 99.1 FM. Email Tracy Lanum at tracygl@cox.net or call (804) 815-9954 to get a copy of the show guidelines and discuss scheduling an interview.

How to Join Virginia Writers Club

VWC Membership is independent of CBW Chapter Membership and requires a separate application and dues payment. If you wish to join the Virginia Writers Club (VWC), click here.

Second Monday Radio ShowMonday, May 13 at 8:05 AM

CBW Dinner MeetingSummer CelebrationWednesday, June 19