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Critique Group
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
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October 2024
Renee' La Viness held a session at the Craft of Writing Conference, in Tulsa, about finding reputable contests and anthologies and a few tips on submitting stories for them.
Jill Hierstein-Morris has had two ebooks from her Educational Skits series published. Book One is Educational Skits -- Behaviors and Book 2 is Educational Skits #2 -- Stresses.
Gene La Viness's multi-award-winning short story, William and the Old Indian, was published as an ebook. It has frequently been the #1 New Release in "Children's 19th Century American History" on Amazon since it was published.
Congratulations to Gene La Viness, who won 3rd Place in the "Author's Anonymous 2.0 Award" at White County Creative Writers Conference, in Searcy, Arkansas. It was the second time this particular story placed in a contest.
Good news! Joy M. Ross's new book, The Secret of the Ugly Brooch has been published by Wild Rose Press.
Congratulations to Jill Hierstein-Morris, who recently won 2nd Place in the "Unpublished Poetry: Rhymed Short" contest offered by OWFI.
Gerald W. Carter recently published his first novel, One Hundred Years From Now.
Renee's annual writing contest is online! Visit the website at www.jespiddlin.com/writingcontest and start writing your stories to be submitted between July 1st and August 31st.
One of Renee' La Viness's more recent stories has been published in Del Garrett's latest anthology: The Vault of Terror: Tales to Tell - Volume 6.
Renee' La Viness published her first coloring book Holiday Coloring Book: Christmas Art by JesPiddlin under the pen name of JesPiddlin.
Renee' La Viness taught a session on meeting your word count at the Craft of Writing Conference held by the Tulsa NightWriters on Saturday, October 21st, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Teresa Bruce's book, The Fourth River: Life Begins at the End of Days, has been published. It's the first installment of the set, which is an action-packed Hebraic Roots interpretation of the end times.
Renee' La Viness taught authors how to cut and strengthen their stories at the same time during her session at the East Texas Writers Guild Conference on Saturday, July 15th, in Tyler, Texas.
At the Arkansas Writers Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, Joyce Ross won 2nd place in the Erdel Family Memorial contest with the first pages and summary of her soon-to-be-published novel, and Renee' La Viness took 1st place in the White County Creative Writers contest with Keeping the I-CAN Promise.
Congratulations to Del Garrett, who won our NOVEL IDEA writing contest for the "Time and Again Award" at the Arkansas Writers Conference.
Joyce Ross had a short story published in The Vault of Terror: Tales to Tell, Vol. 5
Congratulations to Joyce Ross for winning Honorable Mention in the PEN US AN AWESOME TALE short story contest offered by Arkansas Writers Conference.
Lacey Janes's romantic meet-cute/flash fiction, "Help in a Crunch," was published in the January issue of Writers Monthly PDF. It was her first published work.
Our group has decided to sponsor and judge a writing contest for the 2023 Arkansas Writers Conference held annually in in June. We are looking forward to the experience.
Congratulations to previous group member, Mike Turturici, who recently published his book, THE DISGRACE OF SANT' AMBROGIO: Memoirs of Father John Conley. To get your copy, click here.
In the 4th annual La Viness Short Story Writing Contest with a theme of "Draw Bridge," Joyce Ross won Third Place for "Meet Me at the Bridge," and First Honorable Mention for "Bridging the Gap."
Renee' La Viness published Life Sucks, another short story ebook.
Jim d Jordan was the featured author for the October 2022 issue of Writers Monthly PDF e-magazine.
Renee' La Viness published three short story ebooks. Click on the names for more info or to purchase them. On Thin Ice, Life Grows On, and Ragan's Reign.
Members Renee' and Gene La Viness with grandkids Xaundra and Christopher, and member Joyce Ross, attended the White County Creative Writers Conference in Searcy, Arkansas on Saturday, September 3rd.
---AWARD WINNERS---
Joyce Ross - 1st Place
Gene La Viness - 3rd Place, 2HM, 3HM
Renee' La Viness - 3HM, 3HM
Christopher - 3rd Place
Renee' La Viness won First Place in the Yorkshire Publishing Short Story Contest. Click here to read her story, "Milky Way."
Days of Smoke and Shadow has been published. This is Book 1 of R.A. Hargreaves's trilogy.
Joyce Ross's short story, "Winged Guardians," has been published in volume 4 of The Vault of Terror: Tales to Tell anthology.
Our members have been winning awards! In the 3rd annual La Viness Short Story Writing Contest with a theme of "Butter Fly," Yvonne White won First Place with "No Flies in My Butter," and Joyce Ross won Second Honorable Mention with "The Fairy Trade."
Also, Renee's short memoir about her family's experiences with COVID, "Surrounded by It," was recently published in Writing Our Lives: A Southern Storyteller's Anthology, Volume IV. Click here to get your copy. (Interesting note: Almost immediately after submitting this memoir for the anthology, Renee' and Gene came down with their second round of COVID-19.)
During the summer of 2021, the COVID-19 virus made a strong return to Oklahoma. Many of our members are senior citizens, and some are unable or unwilling to receive the vaccine. Each member is responsible for his or her own health, and we ask anyone showing signs of illness to stay home until they are well.
Three of our members have been published in an anthology by the Arkansas Writers Conference, titled Winning Writers' Waltz. The inclusions are: Gene La Viness's First Place short story, "The Gilmour," Xaundra La Viness's First Place poem, "Helpers," and as a presenter for the conference, Renee' La Viness's article, "Behind the Scenes of a Writing Contest."
Renee' La Viness was the featured author on the cover of the April 2021 issue of Writers Monthly PDF e-magazine.
It is with great sadness that we share the loss of our founder and leader, Mary Shackelford. In her honor, we carry on as she wished.
As the years moved along, Mary Shackelford's health declined and she turned the group over to Renee' La Viness and Rita Fagan in 2019. After a year or two, Rita resigned and Renee' assumed full leadership.
Novel Idea Critique Group was originally created by Mary Shackelford, retired school teacher and author of Cinnamon's Quest and Sojo. Hoping to educate and encourage area senior citizen writers, she brought the group to life and held meetings at the Broken Arrow Senior Center. Mary shared her own entertaining stories and helpful critiques, and she led with a joyful attitude at all our meetings. In time, we outgrew the center, but we are thankful for Mary's dedication and the center's support while we were there.
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