Friday, April 19, 2024

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, April 13 to April 19

Good morning!

I have just ten news and features stories to share with you this week. But more stories will post over the weekend. So be sure to check back on The Herald-News site: shawlocal.com/the-herald-news.

What a year it's been so far! In addition to work and battling malady after another since January, I've also been involved with this event...and opening night is tonight!

So if you live reasonably close to the Will County, Illinois, area, consider attending on one of the two nights. You will not only be entertained, you can meet Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara in person! And you can browse books by some of WriteOn Joliet's authors as well WriteOn's anthologies.

Also, WriteOn Joliet is dedicating the event to our co-founder Tom Hernandez, who died from brain cancer on Monday. We will also have a limited amount of Tom's books for sale. 

Here is an update on my BryonySeries book projects:

House on Top of the Hill: Third book in the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy. I now have a good working draft of the entire book and six chapters and a prologue that are ready for final edits. I scrapped most of chapter seven, restarted it a few times, and now finally have all but one scene ready for editing.. We are estimating a late 2024 release date for this book.

The Adventures of Cornell Dyer: Timothy said the next book will be slightly dark ("slightly" because it's for kids, too) and will involve an old toy store. We are also working on the last book in the series (but it's not the final book, if that makes sense). Timothy is actually writing that one. We had a tentative "Cornell breakfast" scheduled for last weekend, which didn't happen...and we have no opportunity for another for at least a couple more weeks. We've scheduled and broke several in 2023. Our last one was July 2022. So we are LONG overdue.

Brainy Ann: The fifth book in The Girls of the BryonySeries is outlined and ready for some serious writing in 2024. The first chapter is written, hurray! Jennifer Wainwright has already started working on the cover portrait. That one is called "Brainy Ann."

Jennifer designed the cover portraits for "Julie and the Too-Hard Homework," "Katie and the Big Fear," "Summer Sisters." and "Karla Joins In," as well as the frontispiece for Lycanthropic Summer.

A Year of Shadows and Moonlight, of Gathering Blooms in the Woods: A rather unusual, poetic novelette in the second person is completed and just needs final copyediting. Rebekah is still experimenting with cover art for this and made good progress this past weekend. We are estimating a mid-2024 release date.

Rebekah is also slowly updating the BryonySeries YouTube and Pinterest accounts. And she' catching up with Kindles for some of the BryonySeries books. So do watch for those.

Now back to The Herald-News stories stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!

But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too.

Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.

And have a great Friday!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.

Each Wednesday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks, will be featured in an upcoming cookbook, or is just an "extra" we want to share with you.

Check out the recipe here.

WRITERS

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to join WriteOn Joliet's Facebook pageWe're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues and two ways to attend meetings. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.

I also suggest this book: Little Book of Revision: A Checklist for Fiction Writers. It's exactly as it says. Each page some with one suggestion for revision. The rest of the page is blank, so you can add your own notes. All proceeds benefit WriteOn Joliet.

If you need editing or help with self-publishing, check out dmbaranunland.com.

ARTISTS

If you need an artist for a project, I offer these recommendations.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for The Munsonville Times by emailing us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. The newsletter still isn't official yet, so we don't have an actual link on the website - but we are working on it! 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Daily updates: I haven't posted anything on Twitter/X (except a daily Bible verse) since September I can no longer schedule posts in advance. I'm not sure yet how to manage the account without that option. But you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I used to curated content relating to the BryonySeries on Twitter/X at @BryonySeries and still post assorted related content at facebook.com/BryonySeriesyoutube.com/user/BryonySeries, and themes of each book in the BryonySeries at pinterest.com/bryonyseries.

Again, not sure yet about the direction of the BryonySeries Twitter/X account. Still mulling that over.

And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

BRYONYSERIES BOOKS

For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.

BRYONYSERIES EVENTS

A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events.

QUESTIONS

Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.

FEATURES

Joliet Junior College Repair Cafe brings new life to broken items: Repair Cafe events originated 15 years ago in Holland

Will County Old Timers baseball group goes to bat to support youth baseball, softball: The association raises money in three ways.

‘The Voice’ of Plainfield District 202 died Monday morning: Tom Hernandez’s legacy ‘is one of compassion and community’

Registration open for NAMI Will-Grundy’s BeActive 5KWalk/Run: Dressing up as a superhero strongly encouraged

Will County Animal Protection Services offers pet adoptions

Beatles tribute band coming to Joliet’s Rialto Theatre: 1964 – The Tribute was founded 40 years ago

Joliet man arrested after high-speed crash

Joliet police searching for missing man

Pets of the Week: April 15: Will County rescues have dogs and cats for adoption

The Local Scene: Explore ‘Fragments of Time’ at Joliet Bicentennial Park: Here are 5 things to do this weekend



Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage"

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