Writing in Progress

Well... life has been life-ing... mostly good things, but still time-consuming! We apologize for the long delay in posting this episode, but anytime Maggie and Charlie stop by, you know it will be a fun listen (even if its a bit late). The Tempest Raven competition has concluded, but we hope you'll still find value and joy in listening to our genre and prompt reactions! Maybe listening to this episode will help generate excitement about the upcoming Verdant Owl competition.

**SPONSOR INFO**

We have two sponsors we'd like to include this episode:

The first sponsor: Alexandria Bellani is promoting a new flash competition, Odd Embers! It’s run by a very talented friend and fellow Contest Goblin, and is an absolutely amazing competition focusing on weird fiction and unique, inspiring prompts (and based on chatter in various writing groups after the first challenge, it seems to have followed through on that prompt promise!).

Their next contest, “Drabble-abble-abble”, kicks off on Friday 10 April (registration closes 9 April), and will challenge writers to submit a single, cohesive story between 290-310 words. There will be three sets of prompts provided to the writers who will need to choose one prompt from each set to include in their stories. The prompt chosen from the first set of prompts must first appear in the first 100 words of the story, the prompt chosen from the second set of prompts must first appear in the second 100 words, and then the third prompt must first appear in the last 100 words. Once a prompt has been introduced, it can flow through into the rest of the story, but each prompt must appear for the first time within its designated 100 word section.

Odd Embers encourages weird, wild takes across all genres and is primarily targeted at the community of masochists who dread any weekend where they haven’t signed up for a writing competition. It’s really fun, quirky, and inspiring, and is really just intended for all of us to have a lot of fun writing!

The second sponsor: Maggie Schreier is promoting Autumn Bettinger's new book: Bella Donna. Although the book is not quite available for preorder yet, here is the link to watch for when it is available, and here is a link to Autumn's personal website. Below is the blurb Maggie wrote for the back cover:

"Belladonna" by Autumn Bettinger is a lush garden of short fiction –- sometimes disturbing, sometimes weird, often poignant, but always beautiful. Read like a botanical guide, this book explores the joy and sorrow of the human experience in masterfully articulated bite-sized tales.
            --  MM Schreier, author of "Monstrosity, Humanity" and "Bruised, Resilient"

**PATREON INFO**

3 prizes from our most recent giveaway have been shipped and received! We hope you all enjoy!

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

(Check other episodes for further description, I've maxed out the character limit for this epsiode description with the two sponsors.)

(Soon-to-be Daredevil) Ryan Fleming and (previous-winner) Autumn Bettinger are back for another slightly unhinged episode... 

...Not Quite Hinged, one might say...

In this episode, we pledged our allegiance to either Team Amanda or Team Ed--the lawful and lawless, respectively.

In all seriousness, it was fun to revisit this comp, given the fun new rule changes and write-off format.

Which of us picked the winning side? Only time will tell the tale...

**SPONSOR INFO**

This episode's sponsor: Alexandria Bellani

We didn't hear back from Alexandria about anything specific she'd like to promote, but we appreciate her support all the same! She's got tons of great stories floating around, one of my favorite is "The Taste of Pi", which you can find in the 2025 Not Quite Write "Best of" anthology. Hey, that sounds like something worth promoting on this episode. (Justin's in it, too. As well as past guest, Holly Brandon)

**OTHER LINKS MENTIONED**

-Check Ryan's winning story--The Tragedy of Montague Bellot--on Writer's Playground "Storytime" podcast. (Thanks for the shout, Ryan)

-Anyone looking to preorder Jon's book: Carseat Conversations: The Secret Life of a Dad

-Want Autumn to judge you? Who doesn't?? Here's a link to Tadpole Press' 100-word Writing Contest. (Insider tip: one of the judges really likes plants...)

**PATREON INFO**

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 6 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

It's always a fun time when Charlie and Maggie stop by the pod, but some sleep deprivation led to this one being the silliest, giggliest, most unhinged yet!

Amidst all the fun, we gave our reactions and opinions to the new Writing Battle format: 9 new classes, 9 genres, and--of course--lots of button pressing!

Buckle up, this episode is a wild ride. (Sadly, we lost Charlie for the last 10 minutes)

**SPONSOR INFO**

This episode's sponsor: Ryan Fleming!

Check out his winning story--The Tragedy of Montague Bellot--on Writer's Playground "Storytime" podcast. (Thanks for the shout, Ryan)

Also, more of his work will soon be available in one of our friends at Not Quite Write's "daredevil" episodes. So keep an eye out!

~~Also wanted to drop a link on her for anyone looking to preorder Jon's book: Carseat Conversations: The Secret Life of a Dad

**PATREON INFO**

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 6 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

It's a new year, but WiP is back with more contests! We have at least 14 planned genre/prompt reaction episodes this year, and we're starting off with Writer's Playground!

To honor traditions, but also keep things fresh, we're playing around with some new guest combinations. We're starting the year off with a bang: three guests at once! We're bringing back the original duo: Trey Dowell and MM Schreier! But we're also reuniting with the person who first introduced us to Writer's Playground: former winner Ryan Fleming! This was Ryan's first time "meeting" Maggie and Trey, and--some mild fan-girling aside--everything went really well!

We hope you enjoy the episode, and best of luck with Writer's Playground's 12th Challenge!

**SPONSOR INFO**

This episode's sponsor: Ryan Fleming!

Check out his winning story--The Tragedy of Montague Bellot--on Writer's Playground "Storytime" podcast. (Thanks for the shout, Ryan)

Also, more of his work will soon be available in one of our friends at Not Quite Write's "daredevil" episodes. So keep an eye out!

~~Also wanted to drop a link on her for anyone looking to preorder Jon's book: Carseat Conversations: The Secret Life of a Dad

**PATREON INFO**

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 6 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

Trey Dowell is back on Writing in Progress, and we're asking him questions from the Writing Battle forum to learn from his experience reading literally hundreds of stories as a professional judge this year.

**SPONSOR INFO**

This episode's sponser: Ryan Fleming!

Check out his winning story--The Tragedy of Montague Bellot--on Writer's Playground "Storytime" podcast. (Thanks for the shout, Ryan)

Also, more of his work will soon be available in one of our friends at Not Quite Write's "daredevil" episodes. So keep an eye out!

**PATREON INFO**

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 6 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

We got the band back together! Charlie and Maggie return to WiP (& Writing Battle) as we discuss the genres for the upcoming short story competition. Join us for all of the fun, excitement, insight, and predictions. 

*SPOILER ALERT* (that’s not actually a spoiler alert at all) Charlie peeks at his cards early and Maggie presses all the buttons... some things never change…

If you’re looking for the links to Maggie’s Intrepidus Ink craft essays, you can find them here (Character Voice: It’s not just what they say), here (Metaphor Magic: How to get the reader to accept the absurd), and here (Breaking the Rules: Doing it with intention and style).

**SPONSOR INFO**

Rat Bag Lit is the world’s first lit mag run by rats. 

Okay, the writers running Rat Bag Lit aren’t really rats, but we are human authors experienced in writing, reading, critiquing, and editing short fiction. Each of us knows the pain of submitting our work and receiving a seemingly endless flow of rejections in return. So we thought: why not make this fun?

Rat Bag Lit is a brand-new paying publication for short fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Rat Bag Lit seeks to publish work that crosses genre and blurs the lines between literary and genre. Weird little stories that keep us up at night, stories that make us laugh, and poetry reflecting the strangest dreams that pop out of your odd little noggin. Bold ideas, tight prose, snappy dialogue, speculative elements. 

Rat Bag Lit is looking for unique fiction that twists common tropes into something we haven't seen and, hell, maybe something we'll wish we hadn't. That strange little story that you hold close to your heart but has been rejected a billion times, but you keep sending it out because you believe in it, damnit? Yeah. Send us that one. We’ll publish all the weird that fits.

We open on the first of each month for themed drabbles (100 word stories) and unthemed micros. We expect to open for flash and short stories again in November. We do our best to respond to all submissions within 60 days, if not much sooner.

We’ll have a new selection of short fiction online each month. Our first print edition will be available in early 2026, which will feature flash, poetry, and short stories.

Check out our website at www.ratbaglit.com for more details and our full submission guidelines.

**PATREON INFO**

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 4 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

It's Writing Battle time again, and with Spooky Season upon us, it's fitting that we get to talk about the first-ever FEAR pro-judged competition! Justin & Jon are joined by longtime friends of the pod, Ryan Fleming and Autumn Bettinger as we discuss the possible genres (Horror, Mystery, Dystopia, and Thriller/Suspense) and reveal/react to our prompts. Our hearts will pound as we decide whether or not to push the button!

~~Episode Sponser~~

This episode's sponsor is Annie, once again! And she's using the spotlight this time to highlight The Booby Prize, an exciting new competition in support of a great cause: conservation of the Blue-Footed Booby.

However, it starts very soon!

WB raven, Steve Dixon is the founder. He’s recruited some fellow writing collaborators as judges and has a professional judge for the final decision.

The Booby Prize is a new and exciting quarterly global flash fiction contest with a first prize of £500. Simply, write a 500-word flash fiction story in just 48 hours using three prompts from a provided list.

Have you got what it takes?

theboobyprize.co.uk

Steve’s personal author page can be found at poemsbysteve.co.uk and his IG is @poemsbysteve

The contest is October 17th, so don't delay!

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 4 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

We're bringing them back...It's time for the WiPpys! We're happy to share some joy and kudos with our fellow Battle Ravens and reflect on some of our favorite stories from the Summer Nanofiction Writing Battle.

Justin and Jon each award a WiPpy in the following categories:

Hook

Ending

Plot

Voice

Humor

Theme

Setting

Character

and in the following genres:

Under the Bed

Coming of Age

Kindness of Strangers

Road Trip

*Full Disclosure* I had high hopes of editing up this quite a bit more--including splicing in more full-reads of the stories we got permission to share. Guys... I just couldn't swing it. This season of life is crazy busy and I'm happy/proud I can get this episode out at all, even if it's far from perfect or what I envisioned originally. I really hope you all still enjoy it.

A big thanks to this week's episode sponsor, Autumn Bettinger!!  You should totally sign up for one of her classes. More info below:

Microfiction via Westword: https://buytickets.at/westword/1834873
Nature-based Sensory Detail via Fishtrap: https://fishtrap.org/writing-workshops/

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 4 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

It's time for another Writing Battle! We've got 250 words on the agenda this time around, and show-regulars Ryan Fleming and Autumn Bettinger rejoin Writing in Progress to analyze the genres and react to our prompt draws. Our characters and objects must remain a secret, as we could end up judging each other! This episode was filled with lots of laughs, and we hope you enjoy listening!

The sponsor for this epsiode is Annie, and she has once again decided to use her promotional time to plug a fellow author. Jon Casper is the author we discuss, spcifically his sci-fi novel, Tantalus Awaits.

If you'd like to find our more about Jon, please visit his web site: https://joncasper.net/

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join at https://www.patreon.com/WritinginProgressPodcast

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 4 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.

Justin and Jon welcome a new guest to the podcast this week! Former episode sponsor, Amber Byers from Tadpole Press, joined us for a delightful interview spotlighting the following topics:

-crafting an entire story in just 100 words

-Building a supportive community

-Finding your own path

This interview is unique compared to many our guests, because Amber is on the opposite side of the Writer/Publisher relationship, so her perspective might be new and useful to many of our listeners, and allowed us to explore a few timely topics such as AI submissions in writing contests.

You can get to know Tadpole Press (and their writing contests!) from their welcome page, linked here.

Our episode sponsor this week is, once again, Ryan Fleming! You can connect with Ryan on Instagram at ryan.david.fleming. He's a great friend to have in your corner, and recently helped me with a panicked 10-minutes-to-deadline beta read!

If you would like to join our WiPpersnapper Patreon community, here's everything you need to know:

You can join here. 

The tiers/perks are as follows:

Good Samaritan ($1 USD/month)

-Access to posts/surveys/updates on the Patreon Website

-1 entry into giveaways

-Good Karma for supporting small-time podcasters

WiPpersnapper ($5 USD/month)

-Access to bonus audio episodes, exclusive to the Patreon. (Currently 4 available). We aim to record about one 20 minute bonus episode per month.

-5 entries into giveaways

-Name shouted out at the end of all public episodes (if you'd like!)

Episode Sponsor ($20 USD/month)

-Whatever topic/service that is desired will be discussed and promoted at the start of an upcoming episode. (Books, Websites, Contests, Services, Social Media, Publications, Websites, etc.)

-Appropriate links and descriptions will be included in episode descriptions and social media posts.

-20 entries into giveaways.