Hi Everyone

I've been remiss at checking this blog, but for a good reason. My next novel, My Mother's Daughter,
has been published and will appear on Amazon on January 1. I'll be  sending the first chapter of MMD within the next couple of days.

Wow! Sixty-eight pageviews today from Poland alone! So glad to see this!

I've been looking for someone to translate One Amber Bead into Polish--also for someone who might be interested in producing a film of the novel. If anyone knows anyone who might be interested, please let me know.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I see I'm getting many views from folks in Russia. I'd love to hear from you--please post!

I am looking forward to publishing my second novel, My Mother's Daughter, this year, and to completing revision on my third completed novel Coming to Be. Many people have asked me to write a sequel to One Amber Bead and I'm thinking of that as my next new project. What do you think?

I also hope to continue our series of writers' retreats at Three Ponds Farm (threepondsfarmwritersretreats.blogspot.com). My co-presenter, Phillip Sterling, was an author-in-residence last year and I spent the year revising one of my textbooks into an ebook and editing a wonderful art book on Armand Merizon: I can't wait to get back to writing fiction.

Wishing everyone a happy and successful new year--Rebecca Thaddeus

Wigilia Dinner

Earlier this month my friend Jeanette and I hosted our tenth annual Wigilia dinner as a benefit for our local art gallery. Our dinners have earned a great reputation, and this year's Wigilia raised $725 for Artworks, our best ever.

We've always done the 7-course version of the Christmas Eve dinner (although never actually on Christmas Eve), and it's based on the wonderful dinners my grandmother prepared every Christmas Eve. The dinner features such standbys as pierogi and kapusta, but I've abandoned the no-meat feature of the traditional Wigilia because everyone expects kielbasa and my mother's recipe for golabki is the best ever. I  don't serve the traditional carp. As kids, when my sister and I arrived at my grandparents' apartment in Chicago, we'd see the carp swimming in the bathtub. Of course we'd name them and feed them, but were very unhappy Christmas Eve morning when we learned that grandpa had killed them!

But I do introduce our diners to some of the wonderful Wigilia customs--straw and coins under the tablecloth, a candle in the window and an empty seat and place setting reserved for any stranger who does not have a place to go for dinner that evening. Perhaps the most meaningful custom to our diners is the Oplatek, when everyone breaks a bit of the wafer and shares it, along with their blessing, with each member of the party. Every person who has enjoyed one of our dinners is charmed by the beauty of these customs.

Jeanette, who is of French ancestry, and I always bicker a bit (but playfully and lovingly) about the menu. "No" I tell her to such suggestions as onions in the royal potatoes, crackers with the appetizers, and a fruit plate with pineapples or bananas. None of these appeared on my grandmother's table, and they don't appear in the cookbook she gave me, "Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans," which was first printed in 1948. I think it's still in print, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

But best of all, hosting these dinners carries me back to my grandparents' apartment and the wonderful evening they provided for us every December 24th. It reminds me of my heritage, and of how special that heritage truly is. 

My Mother's Daughter

Have you missed me? It's been a long time since I posted. I've been busy revising a textbook which was published in 2007--but now that task is almost done, and I'm soon to be FREE! to seriously work on my fiction again.

I just finished a revision of my as-of-yet unpublished novel My Mother's Daughter, which is set in 19th Century Natchez. When I visited Natchez several years ago, I was intrigued to learn about all the "mail order brides" who traveled from places like Philadelphia all the way down the Mississippi to marry men they had never met. I couldn't stop wondering what would cause a 19th Century woman to do such a thing, and from that wondering came my character Eugenia Meier. My Mother's Daughter follows Eugenia's and her children's stories to the end of the Civil War.

I'm hoping to see My Mother's Daughter published by fall. Once I can realistically expect publication, I'll post the first three chapters. I think you'll like it!

Release your inner author!!

Our workshop-styled retreats offer information, activities, and critiques to help you become a better writer, all in a beautiful, forested setting.

Looking forward to seeing you at Three Ponds Farm!

Three Ponds Farm Writing Retreat

June 10-11, 2016

threepondsfarmwritersretreats.blogspot.com

Narrative Structure

(tips, prompts, and critiques)

Betty Stolarek   Novelist, author of One Amber Bead                              

     Phillip Sterling     Poet/short fiction, author of

                                                            In Which Brief Stories Are Told

Tentative schedule:              

            Friday:             1-2 p.m registration, meet and greet

                                    2-5 p.m. workshop with Phillip Sterling

                                    5-7 p.m. social hour and dinner

                                    7 p.m. reading by faculty, participants/ guests invited

             Saturday:        8-9 a.m. breakfast

                                   9-12 workshop with Betty Stolarek

                                   12-1 lunch

                                   1-4 p.m. critique workshop with Sterling/Stolarek

                                   

$200 per writer*

(includes all workshop fees & meals)

@ Three Ponds Farm

     18741 Milton Road

                                        Big Rapids, MI 49307

For more information, writing sample submission requirements, or registration, contact:

Betty Stolarek

stolaree@ferris.edu

231-796-2707

*Limited to 10 participants

To register, send check for $100.00 made out to Three Ponds Farm Retreats to Betty Stolarek at Three Ponds Farm address, or use PayPal through our blog. Limited overnight accommodations available at Three Ponds Farm. Registration Deadline is 5/11/16.