Issue 56, Spring 2019
Loyal Roundtable readers might remember when we first started with Issue 1, in September 2011. It was the brainchild of Jerry McFadden and Bernadette De Courcey (see this issue's interview). At that time, we didn't know how well we'd be received, or if anyone would submit their work to us. We weren't a paying market then, and always felt a little guilty asking authors to allow us to publish their work without compensation—just for the credit and to show the world what they had to say.
Now we've published 56 issues and have been gratified to have many authors entrust their work to us. We've received far more submissions than we could ever publish, and have come to know what our voice is and how to select the works that best fit our needs. (We've included some of these insights on our Submissions&Contactspage.)
We were overjoyed when we were able to become a paying market, thanks, in part, to our Short Story Award competition that we run each year. (By the way, our deadline for submissions to the 2019 competition has been extended through April 15. Hmm--that sounds like a familiar deadline date. So you still have time to send us your animal story to win cash and publication!)
We have come a long way, and during that journey, I have had my hand on the rudder. But now it's time to pass that duty onto others. I am very happy to announce A.E. Decker will be Roundtable's new "Chief Editor." In consultation with our editorial board, she will make the tough calls about what each issue will contain. She will have the loyal assistance of Dianna Sinovic, who will handle our layout and presentation for each issue. Jerry McFadden—one of the folks who inspired Roundtable in the beginning—will help make sure everything stays on schedule.
On behalf of myself and BWG, I thank each of these folks for stepping into their important jobs--offering writers a place where their work can be shared and appreciated.
In this issue: We're happy to bring you a story from Emily P.W. Murphy about the trials and tribulations of a shoe-store manager who can't stand toes! Our featured poem comes from Les Bernstein giving us insight into the passage of time. Our &More stories from Joyce Frohn, D.L. Willette, Philip D. Giacomo, and Mike Murphy give us their takes on our theme: Shade of Green. And, as always, Betty Wryte-Goode give us her take on Spring and where writers get their ideas!
We wish you all a happy and healthy Spring—and many more such seasons to come.
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Issue 55, Winter, 2019
The darkest days of the year are behind us for a while, and, as with any new year, a host of possibilities is open to us. While we still have some months of "Winter Chill"--our theme for this issue--we can be very productive indoors at our writing desks. The disorder of the holidays is behind us, and now is a wonderful time to make a few writing resolutions:
1. Organize (or reorganize) my work space. While it is said that a messy desk is a sign on genius, it is also true that we are more productive when we can actually find the file folder, photo, scribbled notes, or favorite pen among the other items on our work surface. With an organized space, we can keep going when the words start to flow with fewer distractions or interruptions. If we're starting a new project, we might need to reorganize a bit--putting higher priority items for the new project closer to hand
2. Open ourselves up to new ideas. It can happen this time of year that we find ourselves in a bit of a post-holiday funk. The best way to move out of it is to liven ourselves up a bit. Bring in new colors to our work area, listen to different music, even take up a new hobby. That fitness promise we make to ourselves every January 1 just might be the energy-booster we need to get our creative energies in tip-top shape, too. With new experiences come new ideas--and new ideas are great for our writing!
3. Prioritize our writing time. After the holidays, many of us find we've slipped out of our writing routine, what with preparations, parties, family get-togethers, and the holiday traditions we all love getting in the way. But it's a new year, and time to remember the importance our writing has in our lives. Our muses will forgive us our absence, but they expect us to make it up to them by making our writing a specific priority. Setting aside time each day, or having a daily or weekly word count goal can help us prove to our muses that we still love them--so they will continue to love us!
4. Choose a writers conference to attend. There are many from which to choose in almost every geographical location and every genre. We can almost assuredly find one that fits our schedules and your budgets. (Costs vary widely--from free to several hundred dollars). It's very stimulating to be among other writers with the same interests and challenges we face. Not only that--they get us! When we get home, we'll have new friends, new ideas, and more energy for our writing
5. Enter a writing contest! Okay--this might seem to be a cleverly concealed plug for the 2019 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award competition that is currently open, but it is still true that entering contest--especially if we do well in the competition--can be a great way to give our writing a kick-start. Nothing makes a writer love the craft more than having others love their work, too. And, while BWG members may not enter, you all can! Short Story Award winners receive cash prizes and publication. And, as you'll see below, several others receive Honorable Mention which often leads to publication. What could be more fun than that?
You will undoubtedly have other great writers resolutions that fit your unique writing goals, but these five are a good way to start. Here's to a happy, productive, and successful new year of reading and writing wonderful prose.
In this issue: This issue has some of our Honorable Mentions from our 2018 Short Story Award competition. These are stories of the Paranormal; the 2019 competition is for "Animal Stories." As you'll see, winners may interpret our themes broadly!
We have an interview with our Short Story Award guest judge, John Grogan, the NYTimes bestselling author of Marley & Me. (He really knows about great animal stories!)
Our featured poem is "Winter Solstice" from Fern G. Z. Carr, and a featured story from our own Diane Sismour. And, as always, we have our writing tips from around the web from Betty Wryte-Goode!
Issue 54, Autumn, 2018
This autumn, we are very happy to bring you our Second- and Third-place winners of our 2018 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award as our Featured Authors. Our theme was Tales of the Paranormal, and these talented writers have created very different takes on the theme.
The 2018 First-place winner, "The Sisters in the Museum" by Christine Eskilson, joins our 2017 winner ("Casting Off" by Suzanne Purvis) and twenty-five other stories in our latest anthology: UNTETHERED: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of the Paranormal. It is a collection of stories of the unexplained and is out this October--in time for Halloween. It's available online or through your favorite bookseller (ISBN: 978-0989265041 for paperback; 978-0989265058 for ebook).
Running our Short Story Award contest is one of the highlights of our publishing year. We look forward to reading the work of established and emerging writers and seeing how they interpret our theme in 2000 words or fewer--and then bringing the best of them to you through our anthologies or here in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. Our 2019 contest opens on January 1, with the theme "animal tales." All of our themes are broadly interpreted. As long as an animal (real or imagined) is an important element in the story, you can give us any genre that sparks your imagination. And we are fortunate this year to have John Grogan, the author of MARLEY & ME, as our guest judge. It ought to be a terrific year.
Also in this issue, we have a bittersweet poem from Felicia Mitchell, and stories from Nancy Christie, W. C. Clinton, Fiona Margaret Jones, and Katie Winkler. Our own Diane Sismour brings us an interview with Dee Davis, the current president of Romance Writers of America. And, as ever, we have writing tips from around the web from Betty Wryte-Goode. We hope you enjoy this issue, the lovely autumn season, and the best of the holidays.
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Issue 53, Summer, 2018
Summer is a wonderful time of year here at Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. We find ourselves completely awash in high-quality short stories. And we love it!
First, we announce our annual Short Story Award winners. From a wealth of really terrific stories this year--the best as a group we've seen in any competition--we have some that were just a bit above the rest. We're so happy to congratulate the winners listed above, and all the talented writers who made the selection of winners so difficult.
Special thanks go to Kimberly Brower of Brower Literary & Management, Inc. for being our guest judge and selecting the winners from among our finalists.
Besides our work on the Short Story Award, we are assembling our newest anthology: UNTETHERED: SWEET, FUNNY, AND STRANGE TALES OF THE PARANORMAL. The First-Place winning story of both the 2017 and 2018 Short Story Awards will be included among the stories we publish later this year. We think it will be our best anthology yet.
And, last, but not least, we have been blessed with a large number of excellent stories submitted for consideration for Roundtable. We have selected a few--and some poems as well--for inclusion in this issue. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Our theme for this issue is "Written in the Stars," and we think you'll find the various ways in which our current authors use that prompt to be intriguing, and perhaps surprising.
Short stories are a big part of what we do within the Bethlehem Writers Group. As Neil Gaiman says, “A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick – a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.” It's not an easy trick to master, though. Truman Capote said, “When seriously explored, the short story seems to me the most difficult and disciplining form of prose writing extant." And Annie Proulx agrees. She said, "I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story."
So, we writers labor on--working and reworking our stories, tweaking the dialogue, checking the pacing, trimming any expendable words until all we have left are the precious few that say so much. All we ask is that you read them.
In this issue: Our own D. T. Krippene takes our theme quite literally in his featured story, "In Simple Terms." We're happy to bring you the work of two poets in this issue: Joseph Murphy and Allen Kuzara. Our &More page includes stories from Wendy Swift, Douglas James Troxell, and RWW Greene. We have a terrific interview with Kaye George, an amazingly prolific mystery writer who has taken time from her writing to help emerging authors find their voice and seek publication. Don't miss the exciting announcement of our 2019 Short Story Award judge. And, as usual, we have Betty Wryte-Goode's latest advice gleaned from around the Web.
So, set your lawn chair in the shade, sit back, put your feet up, and sip a glass of lemonade while you enjoy our latest issue.
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Issue 45, Sept/Oct 2016
Our theme for this issue is Bad Ideas, and we received so many submissions--including from BWG members--that it appears authors were inspired by it. What is it about that theme that struck such a chord with writers? Could it be that bad ideas are often at the heart of a story? Bad ideas lead to bad choices and bad choices lead to--CONFLICT.
Without conflict, our stories go nowhere. Certainly, there are many wonderful writers who compose the literary equivalent of a still life--a snippet, a scene, or a mood that is a window into a moment. But, for our purposes, we don't consider that a story.
So what is a story? Roundtable editor Jerome W. McFadden encapsulates our definition on our submissions page thusly: A character (or characters) that we care for (or hate) in a conflict (plot) that leads to a plausible resolution that has an emotional effect on the character and on the readers.
One of the tasks we writers sometimes pose for ourselves is to write flash fiction: a very short story. Supposedly, the shortest story ever written, sometimes attributed to Hemingway, was six words: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. If you saw it on Craig's List, would you believe you had read a story? While it raises questions, we do not know why the shoes were never used. Was the baby already too big for newborn clothing at birth? Or was an anticipated baby stillborn? Or was it never able to walk? Or was it kidnapped from the hospital, never to be seen again? Or did someone buy the shoes to use on a doll, and they were too big? Or to use in a still life photograph? We'll never know which of myriad possibilities the author had in mind because the six-word "story" doesn't tell us anything more. It's a great hook, but it's not a story.
One of our members recently published her memoir on building her house while rebuilding her life. (From Scratchby Sally Paradysz) As she brought her first chapters to the critique group, she did not see the conflict in her story. She and her partner agreed on everything they chose for the house and got along smoothly throughout. But as the work developed, she found conflict everywhere, from finding a builder willing to work with two women who wanted to do much of the work themselves to ducking the building inspector after moving in before they had an occupancy permit. But the biggest conflict was within Sal--putting herself back together after a lengthy, emotionally abusive marriage. Because of these conflicts, her memoir is a compelling and moving story.
Conflict is a catalyst for action, and through action we accomplish character growth--both in our stories, and in our real lives. And, as is often quoted, we learn more from our failures than our successes. And what causes our character-building failures?
Bad ideas.
In this issue:
Our featured author is our own Jerome W. McFadden with a story inspired by his world travels and his deep well of understanding human foibles and their consequences. Our interview subject is Paul Weidknecht who is not only a talented writer and fly fisherman, but a nascent publisher with his new book,Native to This Stream: Brief Writings About Fly-Fishing & the Great Outdoors. On our &More page, we have stories from varied and talented authors: Joseph Sloan, Diana Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, Nancy Christie, and Elias Keller. And, as always, we have Betty's Tips from around the web. We hope you enjoy it--and maybe come away with a few bad ideas of your own.
Issue 29, February, 2014
Editor's Note: Readers and writers are our favorite people. And what can be better than spending time with our favorite people, enjoying the world of words and ideas? That's part of what makes editing Bethlehem Writers Roundtable such an exceptional experience. We love reading submissions from authors at various stages of the writer's journey. Often the works we present come from authors who have honed their craft over several years, but occasionally we find a never-before-published author whom we're happy to showcase. In either case, we're always excited to read work we're proud to include in an issue of Roundtable. To continue to offer you the best stories we can find, we're moving to a bi-monthly publication schedule with next month's issue. This way we can be even more selective in the stories we feature in each issue. We look forward to bringing you exciting new fiction, memoir, and, for the first time, poetry in Roundtable issues in the months to come.
In this issue: We're pleased to present Paul Weidknecht as our featured author with his short story "Ninety-four Winters." In &More, we offer Stanley McFarland's intriguing story "Lucky Ted," and Bill Vernon's poignant "Tiger." An interview with journalist, author, and editor Kathryn Craft can be found at our "Interview" tab. And, of course, we have Betty Wryte-Goode's tips from around the web. We hope you enjoy it. And remember--you can always offer your comments through our Submissions/Contact form. We look forward to hearing from you. ~ the Editors
Issue 15, December, 2012
Editor's Note: Our little town of Bethlehem, nestled in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, comes alive during the holiday season. The town was founded on Christmas Eve in 1741 by Moravian settlers. The Moravian influence is still widely felt, including Bethlehem's Moravian College where the Bethlehem Writers Group meets. Meanwhile the historic downtown area is relieved that the street reconstruction that caused endless detours and traffic snags for many months has finally been completed, allowing the traditional carriage rides and strolling carolers to go on as they should. The Christkindlmarkt is celebrating twenty years of bringing artists and their hand-made crafts to holiday shoppers. And above it all, the Bethlehem Star (pictured at the left) shines every night, 365 days per year, from its frame made of Bethlehem Steel. With all this holiday cheer, we can't help but get in the spirit. So we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, and a healthy and productive new year.
In this issue: Jeff Baird, our resident redheaded story teller, reminisces about his golden retriever, Murphy. Roundtable editor Jerry McFadden brings us a great interview with author and writing coach James Scott Bell, filled with good advice for writers. We have two holiday tales in &More--one from Headley Hauser who enlightens us on bachelor behavior in "Modern Single Holiday." and the other is Carol L. Wright's story of a very special chocolate cake. And Betty Wryte-Goode brings us great gift ideas for the writer in your life. Enjoy--and Happy Holidays.