Cleaning up the Home Page
Mood:  chillin'
03-19-06 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Check out the new Writing Conference listings on the Writing Links page. They're in calendar order, with state abbreviations at the end of each link, so you can plan your summer travels quickly and easily. Our Conference list begins with June 2006 dates.

02-16-06 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Check out this week's FREE Contest and our improved Writing and Info Links pages. Older news items (ie., hurricanes, publications) have been moved to my blog (link under my photo on About the Author page) in an effort to clean up this Home page. Circulation for Belinda's Writing News is now almost 400. Thanks for sticking with us!

01-16-06 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Congratulations to Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy, author of this week's winning entry, "Family Ties That Bind.” See the newsletter for full text.

THIS WEEK'S CONTEST:

- NOW FEE-FREE!
- Deadline: Midnight Friday 02-24-06.
- Genre: Poetry; Topic: Love.
“Have you ever been in love? Have you ever touched the moon?” asks a popular Celine Dion song. Tell us about it. There are so many different kinds of love to experience: romantic; parent-child; sibling; friendship; animal guide-human; self love; loving life itself; and of course, Divine. You don’t even have to pick just one, write about love’s infinite variety in your piece, if you like. Just please keep it to 30 lines or less, in the interest of loading time and convenience to all readers.
- All submissions must be 30 lines or less, titled, in plaintext format, and in the body of an email, with “Contest Submission” in the subject line. Send to: Author_Belinda@yahoo.com.
- No previously published submissions, but simultaneous submissions are OK. Kindly let us know.
- Limit one entry per person.
- Include a cover letter with a short bio, email and site addresses, and hometown.
- Prize is publication. While I feel you richly deserve payment, alas, with no juicy grants and no entry fees, and preparing for the next hurricane season (I survived Rita) in just about 100 days myself, I have nothing available to pay prize money at this time. Authors retain all rights. Winning pieces will be published in the next BWN issue and archived as part of that issue.

Show us what you've got - submit your entries today!

11-26 through 12-23-05 front page posts

11-26-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Our fourth Post-Rita issue is in the works. Check out our new and improved Links pages. Older news items (ie., hurricanes, publications) have been moved to my blog in an effort to clean up the Home page. The blog link is under my photo on the Author page. I'm currently at 5,054 words for NaNoWriMo. Thanks for sticking with us!



12-23-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- See my Rita Recovery pics. Just click About the Author on the nav bar below.

Help others while helping yourself get published! Check out our Writing Contest (Newsletter archives available via link below.):

CONTEST TOPIC: “Regrets and Triumphs”

- Deadline: Midnight Friday 01-06-06.
- Genre: Poetry; Topic: Regrets and Triumphs
Conquer your (or your character’s) old memories with things you’re
particularly proud of, then share it with us!
- All submissions must be in the body of an email, with “Contest
Submission” in the subject line.
- No previously published submissions, but simultaneous submissions are
OK. Kindly let us know.
- Limit 6 entries per person, one page per entry.
- Include a cover letter with a short bio and all relevant contact
information.
- All submissions must be titled.
- $5.95 fee, payable via http://www.paypal.com/ to
Author_Belinda@yahoo.com.
Payments and submissions should take place on the same day.
- Prize is publication and a portion of proceeds. While authors will
retain all rights, winning pieces will be published in the next BWN
issue and archived as part of that issue. I am personally recovering from
Hurricane Rita and not the recipient of luxurious arts grants at this
time. I want to be able to give you something, because you deserve it,
hence a portion of the proceeds, whatever they may be.
- A portion of proceeds will be contributed to Hurricane Rita recovery.

Just Another Submissive Monday
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Joy to the World (Three Dog Night)
Just submitted a set of five out of ten of my Tanzanian safari cinquains to five different markets. Feels good to actually be submitting again.
Peace,
B

Moving things off the front page
07-05-05 -- Belinda's Writing News is proud to be featured as an Editor's Choice in the July 2005 issue of Zinester's News!

08-20-05 -- Two of my Tanzania-theme cinquain poems, "Lake Tanganyika" and "Sacred Ibis" have been published in the October 2005 issue of Long Story Short (http://www.ALongStoryShort.net).

08-29-05 -- Just returned from Katrina evacuation myself. We went to visit friends in Dallas. Home is just the way we left her, neither a limb nor a carport cover out of place. Power is on. Thanks to all who prayed for us! - BYH

10-14-05 (Dallas, TX) -- My animals and I evacuated to Dallas. Our hometown, Lake Charles, LA took a terrible direct hit from the eye of Rita. We live in the most heavily damaged area of town.

While piecing our lives into a crazy quilt, I hope to resume publication of our writing newsletter within a month. Please hold onto your subscriptions and see which way we grow next! I hope you enjoy it.

10-22-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Back home photographing damage and handling business of recovery. Working on next issue of BWN at local library.

11-10-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- BWN is back! Latest issue was published a few days ago, although I ran out of time on my library computer session. Therefore, there aren't many markets in that issue. But the next will be better. Preparing it in my dollar store notebook now.

11-11-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Zinester has informed me they are addressing temporary problems delivering the BWN newsletter to Yahoo members. This problem has been addressed to facilitate the delivery of the upcoming issue. Our apologies to our Yahoo subscribers. Thanks for your patience.

11-16-05 (Lake Charles, LA) -- Getting the third post-Rita issue together. Second issue appears to have been successfully delivered to all.

Back in Big D
Mood:  amorous
My animals and I just returned to Dallas, courtesy of Hurricane Rita. I think we'll stick around awhile, as the show doesn't appear to be over, with Wilma brewing in the Gulf. Our two friends here welcomed us to come, bathe, enjoy electricity and relax. They didn't have to ask twice!

Now, I've worked two weeks, spent a week gathering resources, and a couple days with the truck in the shop. I'm enjoying attending the Cathedral of Hope and look forward to participating as a massage therapist in their Health Fair this Saturday. I gotta keep this short as I forgot to eat lunch today, I was so excited to get my truck back again and get over here to the library.

I finally wrote a little scribble and posted it on TheWritingBridge.com. Rita blew my literary breath away! Now I understand what Eudora Welty felt like when she had dry spells from loss.

Currently working on permanent housing, veterinary annuals for the girls, and dental for me. Parker Chiropractic College's Public Clinic has been most generous caring for my back the past couple weeks. Intern Dr. Chance Norman has been an immense help!

Until later...*hugz to all*

Peace,
Belinda