• YOUR WRITE PATH

    Need a No-Fuss Author Website? Let’s Chat

    November 25, 2025 / No Comments

    Author Stacey Meadows / Pine Melody

    Kim Cook Books

    Mark McNease – Writer

    Are you looking for a simple, professional website that showcases your work without the overwhelm? I’m now offering custom design services for authors who want a clean, easy-to-navigate online home for their books, bio, event news, and contact information. I specialize in streamlined, affordable designs that highlight your voice and make your books shine. If you need a straightforward, beautiful author or book website built with clarity and care, reach out! – Mark at YourWritePath

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  • YOUR WRITE PATH

    ‘God’s Teeth’ Places Third In Hunterdon Main Library Short Story Contest – Read Them All

    November 19, 2025 / No Comments

    How much more could I love our local libraries? The main branch of the Hunterdon County Library, where I also conduct workshops, recently held a short story contest. All of the stories are posted online, and you can read my own ‘God’s Teeth’ at the library’s website. LINK HERE.

    UPDATE: My story placed third! From the Hunterdon Co. Library organizers:

    “Hello Mark,
    Congratulations! Your story “God’s Teeth” got third place in the Adults Category of the Hunterdon County Short Story Contest. Pick up your prize at the North County Branch Library in Clinton.
    Thank you so much for participating! It was a pleasure to read your work!
    Best,
    Tess Furnari”

     

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  • YOUR WRITE PATH

    Coming in January! Weekly Autobiographical Journaling Workshop In-Person in Lambertville

    November 14, 2025 / No Comments

    Coming up in January: A weekly journaling workshop in Lambertville, NJ

    REGISTER HERE

    I’ll be conducting a weekly autobiographical journaling workshop every Monday, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm (eastern) at Bucks on Bridge Coffee Shop/Soupcon art space. It’s a great location for intimate workshops and it’s also a terrific way to support and be part of the community.

    It will be $10 weekly at the door’ or $30 for a month (4 or 5 weeks, excluding absences for vacation or travel).

    Autobiographical journaling centers on thematic writing, with participants writing each week on a selected theme. Wokshops include handouts, thought- and conversation-generating ideas and suggestions, ice breakers, flash writing each week, and the pleasures of bonding with the group members while we all travel this path together.

    Every life is a story, and each of us is the storyteller. Participants will join in journaling exercises, various weekly pre-workshop assignments (such as bringing in photos or objects of meaning) and a weekly theme-based writing assignment. Pen and pad are strongly suggested! In -person participants will receive the workshop outline (PowerPoint), complimentary folder, yellow writing pad, and pen.

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  • One Thing or Another Column

    One Thing Or Another Column: Why November?

    November 11, 2025 / No Comments
    By Mark McNease

    Temperatures have plummeted, leaves have fallen, the gray days have taken on a certain despondency, depending on your mood. It must be November. I don’t have anything against it, and I always enjoy Thanksgiving, but there will always be something misplaced about the month, which I describe in further detail in this column from a few years ago. It still rings true.

    NOVEMBER SEEMS LIKE AN ORPHAN month, stuck between the festivities of Halloween and the extravagance of Christmas. It’s that month when we wave goodbye to moderate weather, and say hello to furnaces and fireplaces. We watch leaves fall helplessly, their spectacular colors melting to a dull compost brown. November has a way of confirming our suspicions that nothing lasts forever. We get the tires checked or replaced, knowing they’ll soon be slipping and sliding in winter weather. We twiddle our thumbs, waiting for sleigh bells and gift ideas. November is just there, like a stretch of time spent in a waiting room. Eventually the door will open and we’ll be invited to the party, but in the meantime we’ll be reading a magazine on dental hygiene and hoping for the best.

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  • YOUR WRITE PATH

    Online Workshops in December: Fiction Writing, Self-Publishing

    November 2, 2025 / No Comments

    I’m excied to announce three online workshops coming up in December, with more online and in-person workshops planned for the new year. These will be held via Zoom from 2:00 – 4:00 pm eastern to accomodate participants in multiple time zones. (Workshops are limited to 8 participants each.) Just click on the links below to register. And now you can also purchase gift certificates for the writer in your life!

    Gift certificates are good for any workshop or project. 

    Fiction Writing Essentials: 2 Hour Online Workshop
    Join us on December 03 via Zoom – 2:00 – 4:00 PM eastern

    In these writing classes and workshops you’ll explore your own creativity as writers, learning what makes good characters, page-turning plots, and the illusion of conversation we call dialogue.

    Have you wondered where story ideas come from? Or how to take an idea and turn it into fiction? What do you do when you get stuck? How are some of the ways we can keep ourselves going from the whisper of an idea to a full-fledged short story or novel? Learn structure, outlining, narrative, point of view, and more, as you become what you want to be, or what you already are: a writer. Yes, you can!

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