Tag Archives: competitions

A Congratulatory Post On Poetry And Books


Happy Friday, everyone! I hope your week was productive and that you have a safe and memorable weekend of rest, reconnection and gratitude. I, like you, was saddened to hear of Robin Williams death. I was remembering all of his great performances and his upbeat, perfectly timed improvise & jokes that made us laugh until we hurt. What baby boomer doesn’t remember Mork & Mindy? His passing is unfortunate and very sad. There are never enough words.

This is a congratulatory post of sorts that I’ve been meaning to share with readers about what’s been brewing on my creative stove, give a well-deserved shout-out to an author’s milestone accomplishment and share information about clara54’s upcoming guest author appearances.

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I admit it. I didn’t spend time working on my memoir during my hiatus. I couldn’t bring myself to create in that cathartic space and so I went back to writing poems; a genre I’d found a bit of success in, in the beginning of my freelance writing career.

I wrote a few new poems and gathered some of my languishing poetry to enter them in The Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize Competition.http://caseyshaypress.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-mary-ballard-poetry-chapbook-prize.html where they placed in the competition’s quarter finalists. The finalists vote comes at the end of August. Fingers crossed:)

I received edits to a poem selected for inclusion in the Michelle Obama Anthology (the authors changed the title) which is set for publication in the historical academia’s “The Black Scholar” sometime in September.

My poem “When Morning Comes” was selected to appear on the website Best New Poems for 7 days where readers and poetry lovers get to vote on the poem they like best and that poet wins the contest. My poem is scheduled to appear on the site August 29th. I need your votes, people! so go here to vote for When Morning Comes www.BestNewPoems.com.

I’m collaborated with,and will be the featured author on a new upcoming Christian Romance Guide, penned by my colleague and friend, Evelyn Cogdell. At our last correspondence, Evelyn was held up and anticipating returning to the project in September. More on that as it unfolds.

Kathy Pooler, who blogs at Memoir Writer’s Journey http://www.krpooler.com/blog is presently on a blog tour for her just released memoir and will be stopping in at clara54 the first week of September to talk about her new book (which has received great reviews) and her journey away from emotional abuse.

The same week, Kathy will guest post at my Authentic Woman site to encourage, inspire and empower other women to live a life of wholeness, away from abuse.

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I was stuck writing my memoir and turned to penning poems on my time away. I also connected with Joy Devok, a prolific cross genre author who blogs at “My Life a Legacy” and who just happens to have recently published her e-book of poetry, called Poetry: Touch the World with Your Art and Soul.

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Look for Joy’s appearance very soon as she joins the writers blog to talk about her enormous body of work and the joy of writing poetry. I’m excited to have these authors visit and share with us their writing process and talk about their books.Congratulations authors!

Whew, this post was supposed to be short and sweet. What happened!? If you have great news to share with my readers, please feel free to inquire about joining the fray:)

Learning To Fly In Story…


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I wanted to wish those of you who are mothers, a Happy Mother’s Day! Those who are not moms, but, still have their moms in their lives-give praise to God while you are make a loving mother-daughter connection. May is also Short Story Month.

I recently reviewed Learning To Fly, a coming of age love story by Audrey Chen for Amazon.com. You can see the review here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RBCPN8Z4U7JC , but this isn’t a review. It’s more about the art of “persuasion” in storytelling. Audrey Chen have mastered that art in her book!
It pulls the reader in with such subtle nuances and wham! you’ll soon find yourself wondering where the heck that emotion came from.

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That is what we all strive for in our work as storytellers. Over the course of 2 months, I’ve read 6 powerful author voices in fiction and nonfiction, who left me in awe of their craftsmanship through the lens of their storytelling techniques. I’m learning as I read, review and host these wonderful, brave, esteemed folks who have kindly stepped onto the pages of clara54’s writers blog. My doors are opened to your creativity.

For those who are writing short stories or considering stories for competition ( I’ve completed 2 shorts for this month) here are a few sites to jump-start your creative juices…

Short Story Competition- Words Unlimited

Saturday Evening Post- Great American Fiction Contest

Mississippi Review

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When writing your stories, remember it’s our duty to please ourselves first, but, our readers have to care…

Happy Writing!