Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, Nov. 28 through Dec. 5

Today I'm honoring the memory of author Ravina Thakkar of Plainfield, who died in 2019 from complications of her cystic fibrosis, because it's her birthday.

Thakkar was just fourteen when Sourcebooks published her middle grade novel. The publishing company has since created an internship program in her honor.

Her career/life goal was writing and editor. I hope that generations of children will find her book and enjoy it, so her words and goal live on for many years.

For more on her book, read this.

For anyone new to my blog: each Friday I post a roundup of my feature stories for The Herald-News. It's been a tradition ever since I started the blog more than a decade ago.

This week, I have a dozen to share (not bad for a first week back), along with another six or so that haven't posted it.

I also include links to other places of interest, such as social media, writer resources, and where to find my books, such as those you will find directly under here.

Have a terrific Friday!

WRITERS

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to join WriteOn Joliet's Facebook page. We'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. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.

ARTISTS

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

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide and Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story and Book Review Newsletter at https://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/

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 do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.

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-1.

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

LocalLit book spotlight: 'Abyss of the Fallen' by Diana Estell of Romeoville

And its review

Joliet Walmart is transitioning to curbside pickup of self-administered collection kits: Mobile testing sites also available in Will and Grundy counties

Pets of the Week: Nov. 30

An ExtraordinaryLife: 'I guess you would say helping #Channahon is my only hobby': Stephen M. Rittof's efforts endure 25 years later

New outpatient protocol for COVID-19? DuPage Medical Group uses aspirin, supplements for COVID-19 treatment

LocalLit book review: Images of America - Joliet

'The need is very large. And we don’t see it going away any time soon': Spanish Community Center in #Joliet available to help all people in need

COVID AT WILL COUNTY HOSPITALS

Here's the COVID situation at Will County hospitals after Thanksgiving weekend

COVID cases drop slightly at Will County Hospitals on Tuesday: Only AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook has seen a small increase in cases

COVID cases at Will County hospitals holding fairly steady 

Will County hospitals see slight dip in COVID cases over past 24 hours: But Region 7, which includes Will County, is still under 20% threshold for medical/surgical bed availability

Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage."

A Real Loss

Almost without fail, the first words I type each morning are a Bible verse, wishes for a good morning with a cup of coffee, and birthday greetings to Facebook friends who have a birthday.

That's when I found out that an incredibly talented young writer had died in August.

Fall is a busy time for me, work-wise, so I don't keep up with everyone on social media. However, before I reviewed Ravina Thakkar's book for the LocalLit newsletter back in August, I did hop onto her page to make sure all was well with her - and i appeared to be.

She passed later that month.

Ravina had spoken to WriteOn Joliet, an adult critique group I co-lead, back in January. She spoke about writing and the process of becoming a traditionally published author in her early teens, even as she battled cystic fibrosis.

It was Ravina's mother who told me off to the side how sick Ravina was that night, but she was so honored at being invited to speak, she wanted to power through it.

I had interviewed Ravina for The Herald-News several times over the years, the last before she set off for college as a creative writing major, full of hopes for publishing more books and launching a career as an editor.

The story was called "Cystic fibrosis won't get her last word."

You might think it did.

But that's the great thing about writing.

The words last forever.

Ironically, Ravina's novel for middle-schoolers was called "The Adventure of a Lifetime."

You can buy it here.

And while Ravina won't write another book, her determination will now help other young writers.

Sourcebooks, you're a real class act.

Community News: Aug. 11 and Aug. 13, 2018

Check out upcoming events in the Joliet area, as well as the awesome things people are doing.

Gotta Do It: Aug. 12 through Aug. 19 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/08/gotta-do-it-aug-12-through-aug-19/ayouno6/


Local pet events: Aug. 13 through Aug. 20

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/10/local-pet-events-aug-13-through-aug-20/ap96obm/


Plainfield student wins Will-South Cook SWCD scholarship 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/24/plainfield-student-wins-will-south-cook-swcd-scholarship/ao7np6m/

VVSD board of education names executive director for grades PreK to 5 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/24/vvsd-board-of-education-names-executive-director-for-grades-prek-to-5/ai84ag5/

Thomas Jefferson Elementary class keeps on learning

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/24/thomas-jefferson-elementary-class-keeps-on-learning/ani0iai/

Lemont student wins Will-South Cook SWCD scholarship

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/24/lemont-student-wins-will-south-cook-swcd-scholarship/axfuj7g/

Ravina Thakkar of Plainfield awarded $5,000 Vertex All in for CF Scholarship 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/31/ravina-thakkar-of-plainfield-awarded-5-000-vertex-all-in-for-cf-scholarship/ab6wkol

Annual 'Golfing for Wishes' fundraiser to benefit Make-A-Wish Illinois

Event is Aug. 17 in Joliet 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/01/annual-golfing-for-wishes-fundraiser-to-benefit-make-a-wish-illinois/asxuarp/

Joliet Zontians give to Joliet Central Fearless Females Z Club seniors

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/03/joliet-zontians-give-to-joliet-central-fearless-females-z-club-seniors/au3hz8n/

Coal City funeral home receives award 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/03/coal-city-funeral-home-receives-award/ab4ld66/

Local students named to dean's list for spring 2018 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/30/local-students-named-to-deans-list-for-spring-2018/a83mk9c/

Joliet ReStore to host 3rd annual ‘Homes for the Hounds’ 

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/08/12/joliet-restore-to-host-3rd-annual-homes-for-the-hounds/a7xdgal/

Will County State’s Attorney Glasgow hosts two-day training session on recognizing, investigating animal cruelty

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/08/10/05126fb883744662a3ff993f6b95c451/index.xml

Pets of the Week: Aug. 13 

Click on the caption of each pet to read its description and how to adopt it.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/08/08/a4669590626046a383ba7cbb370929c8/index.xml



Check out the following newsletters:

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide

http://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/will-county-go-guide/#//


Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story Newsletter

http://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/locallit/


Sign up for The Munsonville Times

https://www.bryonyseries.com/munsonville-times

Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, July 29 through Aug. 3

Last night's WriteOn Joliet meeting: what an inspiration for a packed Friday!

The last few weeks have brought quite a few new faces and talent to our meetings. It's humbling and encouraging to see. I only hope they're muse is fed half as much as mine is.

WriteOn Joliet is also ahead of publication schedule for our second anthology. This is good because we noticed some errors last night while flipping through the proof copy. Still, it's looking good, and the process is smoother than last year, all good things.

On the calendar for the next couple days: work (today, tomorrow, and probably a bit on Sunday, too), three meetings tomorrow (The Book Market, a marketing meeting, and WriteOn Joliet's Gothic Book Club), a ghostwriting project, and some work on Before the Blood, because I am definitely adhering to a schedule.

And bringing this post back to WriteOn Joliet: some exciting developments in the works. Looking forward to sharing!

And circling once again to Before the Blood: I may go off radar again in a month or so and use more vacation time to really sink my teeth into that last novel. August is turning out to be busier than I anticipated, and with no money in the budget for a Raleigh trip, I might as well spin words into story.

Or so the old fairy tale sorta says.

And now onto other information.

Non-bylined features:

Monday through Saturday I assembled my non-bylined works - brief posts and calendar listings - into one convenient file and posting them on Facebook in the evening, so readers can easily choose the ones they want to read.

 One can also find those event listings, the Gotta Do It calendar, as well as the pets, health, faith, and arts and entertainment calendars, under the sections tab on the left hand side of http://www.theherald-news.com/. Click on "features" and the topics drop down.  Gotta Do It runs under "people."

Community news? Again, under the sections tab, under features, and by topic. Updates are posted on these days in print and web (and some only on web on other days as I have the time): Monday (pets), Tuesday (health), Thursday (faith), Friday (arts and entertainment), and Sunday (people).

Social media:

Daily updates: I do post the briefs and calendars on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries. And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to jon WriteOn Joliet's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/writeonminooka/?ref=bookmarks. We're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

Upcoming events: 

These are listed here: https://www.bryonyseries.com/fetes-and-feasts

Books and Such

Information on my books (including where to buy) along with upcoming events is at www.bryonyseries.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.

NAACP - Joliet Branch #3018 serves the community in many ways

"It's important for people to have a say in what goes on in their community," Mike said. "Too often we sit back and let other people decided for us. We wait until something negative happens and then we want our voices heard. It's always better to be proactive. We can do much more to fix problems or improve things that are already going well before problems occur."

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/07/24/naacp-joliet-branch-3018-serves-the-community-in-many-ways/a142ika/

Joliet cafe features artsy ‘zoo’

Check out these whimsical animals...and then stop by the cafe to see more!

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/29/bc27f450bf344e43934518862fd37696/index.xml

Cystic fibrosis won't get her last word
Plainfield teen is off to college to study creative writing

“College is the big independent moment, for me, even more so,” Thakkar said. “For the first time, I’ll be taking care of my health in all its entirety. I’ll be living in a dorm and having a bunch of new experiences. I love what I’m going to major in and I get the chance to study it.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/30/18c8072eeae74822a14480990928ed07/index.xml?page=1


Mystery Diner: Lucano's in Crest Hill offers quality and quantity

Our first item was a 16-inch traditional sausage thin crust pizza. Our pizza came hot out of the oven. Lucano's was generous with the ingredients, and the pizza was covered with sausage!

The sausage was tasty and somewhat sweet. The pizza crust was golden brown and crispy, all covered with delicious mozzarella cheese. We had plenty of pizza to take home and enjoy later on, and it reheated well.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/31/101a1aba6f114eaeb919ce27c425293d/index.xml

A 100-year-old sax sparks a special event for youth-based church orchestra

Lockport church makes a joyful noise 

Tuba player Antonio Gonzalez, 17, of Joliet, said, "I have always been met with appreciation and kindness which has made playing at church one of the highlights of my week."

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/31/0476ecfea3144aa3965967910f3f3180/index.xml


It's all fun and games in New Lenox
Escapement Mobile LTD brings escape rooms to right your door

"We can bring the experience to you whatever you have going on," Carla Erdey, one of the four partners, said. "A corporate meeting or team-building meeting? We can add on and be part of it. Or if you're having a birthday party, it can be the hip new thing."

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/07/31/93af8efccf514ddc8b00f07c819bf430/index.xml


Artworks: Making people happy with her music
Crest Hill teen sings, writes her own music, plans to teach and release first EP

"I love empowerment songs," Mikayla Ahern said. "I love to bring people's spirits up."

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/08/02/91eb2cf6899a4c8fb2f0e4b8bb608de8/index.xml


LocalLit author spotlight: Denise Issert of Wilmington

Denise Issert said: My interest was truly awakened in high school when my college prep English teacher, Mrs. Diane Stacy, allowed me to design an independent creative writing class that gave me the freedom to write my heart out.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/05/08/76b5f2e8ff0049989180ec18f08844d3/index.xml

Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff