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Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month

April 28, 2024 by in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , , ,

Featruing Marianne H. Donley

Marianne H. Donley makes her home in Pennslyvania with her husband, son, and a very very active dog. She is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group, The Charmed Connection, Sisters in Crime, The Guppies and Capital Crimes. When Marianne isn’t working on A Slice of Orange, she might be writing short stories, funny romances, or quirky murder mysteries, but this could be a rumor. She also could be knitting.


Each year consists of many seasons, each with its own unique appeal. Besides winter, spring, summer, and fall, within the pages of this book you’ll find seasons of life and love, sports seasons, and even seasons of discovery.

The multiple award-winning Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC, once again brings you stories that span a range of genres. Readers of mystery, romance, humor, paranormal, children’s, literary, popular, and women’s fiction will all find something to love. No matter your favorite season, you’re sure to discover a tale to amuse and delight.

Praise for ONCE AROUND THE SUN:

“Beautiful voices, gorgeous writing—fresh and vibrant and compelling and irresistible. This collection of stories—each one a gem—is a real treasure. Dip in and try one—lounging by the shore or curled up by the fire, you’ll find a perfect story for every season.” Hank Phillippi Ryan—Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author.

Once Around the Sun escorts its lucky readers through the seasons. We witness winter snows and spring’s thaw; we feel summer’s heat and autumn’s chill. But the real journey cuts much deeper, an exposing of rich veins of faith, humor, friendship, and love. Once Around the Sun follows the cycles of our world and lives, a trip navigated by voices you won’t soon forget.”Curtis Smith—author of BEASTS & MEN and WITNESS.

“Once Around the Sun proves the short story is alive and well! Cover to cover, it is packed with delightful, insightful, and exciting short stories. What a treasure! Perfect weekend reading.” Rebecca Forster—USA Today bestselling author of THE WITNESS series and other thrillers.

This collection has a cosmic range of genres, styles, and matters of the heart that matter: pets, sports, hobbies, preserves, reserves, heroes, villains, mentors, ghosts, lovers haunted and haunting. It sticks to the soul.” Geoff Gehman—author of THE KINGDOM OF THE KID.

“Tomato Blight,” Marianne’s short story in Once Around the Sun, introduces detective Eleanor Reed as she solves a murder despite being haunted by the victim’s ghost.

Other Anthologies with Marianne’s stories.


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Water Lilies by Neetu

April 26, 2024 by in category Poet's Day by Neetu Malik tagged as , , , ,

Water Lilies

wetting my feet
in the old pond

I pause           to remember
how it felt
back when the feet
were young and free

but memories wrinkle
and my skin is worn and coarse
to feel the same things

the water in this pond
too murky
to bring back
the clarity of fresh water lilies
and unclouded hopes



(c) Neetu Malik


Some of Neetu’s Books


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In The Zone

April 25, 2024 by in category Infused with Meaning by Kidd Wadsworth, Writing tagged as , , , ,
Photo by Sonia Sanmartin on Unsplash

You’ve been there. Writing as fast as you can type, scared that you won’t be able to get all that fantastic dialogue currently flooding your mind, down on the paper before it slips away. You are IN THE ZONE.

I remember a summer day when I was writing in my dining room, every word an effort, the scene falling flat. I’d been at it for hours. I kept thinking, “If I just sit here and keep working it will come.” Eventually, I got up, went into the kitchen and began washing dishes. That’s when I saw him. He darted around the corner. Then I heard him speaking in my mind, as clear as if he was standing next to me. I dried my hands and returned to write one of the best chapters I’ve ever created, personally dictated to me, by a wonderful little boy—my protagonist.

But how do I get into the zone reliably, every day?

Truthfully, I don’t get in the zone every day. But I do get there often. Here are my two best strategies.

First, I speak—out loud—with the voice of my character. When my character is sad, I cry. When she is angry, I rage at full volume. When she is lonely, I ache. When she is afraid, I run for my life—literally. I run through the house, up the stairs, and hide in the closet. I feel what my character feels, I do—as much as possible—what my character would do. I become her.

Once I woke in the night. Earlier that day I had been crafting a short story about a young woman who was hunted by a demon. As I typed the scene I had just dreamed, I began to see moving shadows in the dark room. I hadn’t turned on any lights because I didn’t want to wake my husband. As I worked, the fear within me built to such a level that my trembling fingers kept typing the wrong letters. When I finally got the last words down, I hurriedly fled back to bed and woke my husband. “Tell me it’s not real,” I said. He put his arms around me. “Have you been writing again?”

When the zone happens, I typically write in first person regardless of the POV the story eventually will have. I do this to capture the character and the emotions I am feeling. Once down on the page I can easily shift into another POV.

My second technique is music—and dancing. I deliberately chose a piece of music to play when I begin a new story. Whenever I open that file on my computer, I also play the music. This helps me ground myself in the world of my character. However, music alone is typically not enough to get me in the zone. I must also dance—the wilder the better.

Happy Writing!

Kidd Wadsworth

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The Character Must Die

April 22, 2024 by in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as , , ,

I killed one of the characters in my novel.

(It was more like two, but I have no qualms about the second one.)

I came up with a death scene I really liked and just had to use it, so someone had to “go.”

I’m still not sure if it was in the best interest of the story, or if I’m just stuck on having to use a particular description.

As I reflect on the sequence of events and the wording, and debate the character’s fate; to live or not to live? I think about language in general and the nuances contained therein.

The English “goodbye”, like the characters in a book, can be so finite. Here today, gone tomorrow.

In contrast, parting words in other languages encompass a world of possibilities of that which is yet to be experienced. Whether it’s, auf wiedersehen in German, arrivederci in Italian, or hasta luego in Spanish, each expresses the probability, and the hope, that we will meet again. Even the Japanese rarely use sayonara, unless it really is “the end.”

In life, as in writing and in reading, I prefer the meanings that other languages provide for that interim we call separation. And I would like to think that the characters we create in our imaginations, that eventually inhabit the pages of a book, continue on, not only in our own minds, but in the minds, and perhaps the hearts, of our readers.

So, if I must terminate one of my characters, I’ll think of them as an old soldier who has faithfully served, and comfort myself with the words of General Douglas MacArthur.

“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”

And I realize that no matter how wonderful a story may be, as we grow and change, some of the characters we loved best as writers and readers do fade away and/or are replaced by others.

But, they never really die.

We meet them over and over again in the ways they have touched us and changed us, and have made us different and maybe, even better, for having met them.

See you next time on May 22nd.

Veronica Jorge

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Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author

April 21, 2024 by in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as , , , ,

Featruing Marianne H. Donley

Marianne H. Donley makes her home in Pennslyvania with her husband, son, and a very very active dog. She is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group, The Charmed Connection, Sisters in Crime, The Guppies and Capital Crimes. When Marianne isn’t working on A Slice of Orange, she might be writing short stories, funny romances, or quirky murder mysteries, but this could be a rumor. She also could be knitting.


Dare you read our latest
Sweet, Funny, and Strange® Anthology?

The Bethlehem Writers Group is pleased to present this collection of tales of mystery and intrigue—the latest in its award-winning series of Sweet, Funny, and Strange® anthologies. From classic whodunnits to tales of the unexplained, each of the twenty-three stories contained herein have an element of mystery that will keep you guessing and wanting to read just one more story.

We’re thrilled to have old friends, but new members of BWG, join us this year. Award-winning author Debra H. Goldstein favors us with a mystery set among volunteers at a synagogue entitled “Death in the Hand of the Tongue,” while “Sense Memory,” by the multi-talented Paula Gail Benson, brings a delightful mix of mystery and the paranormal that helps a young couple find their way to each other.

In addition, we are happy to bring you the winning stories from two of our annual Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award competitions: “Good Cop/Bad Cop” by Trey Dowell (2021 winner) and “The Tabac Man” by Eleanor Ingbretson (2022 winner).

You’ll also find stories from your favorite BWG authors, including Courtney Annicchiarico, Jeff Baird, Peter J Barbour, A. E. Decker, Marianne H. Donley, Ralph Hieb, DT Krippene, Jerry McFadden, Emily P. W. Murphy, Christopher D. Ochs, Dianna Sinovic, Kidd Wadsworth, Paul Weidknecht, and Carol L. Wright.

So get ready to be mystified . . . or intrigued!

An Element of Mystery finaled in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award.


Marianne’s short story “Iced” features Eleanor Reed, a police detective, who receives “help” solving crimes from a snarky ghost.

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Other Anthologies with Marianne’s stories.


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