A Wenchly Celebration and a Memorial

by Mary Jo

Welcome to WenchLandia!  The Word Wenches blog is now ELEVEN YEARS OLD!  Which is quite amazing in this age of ephemera. Over the years, our membership has changed, but I think the essential Wench spirit of intelligence, kindness, and acceptance has remained true and strong, traits we share with you wonderful readers.

Looking back to our first anniversary blog in 2007, we did a week long rumination on nakedness in history.  Last year, we celebrated our tenth anniversary by inviting back some of our guests from those ten years.

This year, we're creating a bouquet both for our eleventh anniversary, and also as a memorial for our Wench sister Jo Beverley, who died the day after last year's anniversary. I'm starting with a picture of my blossoming chives for Jo because they are pretty, tasty, and a gift from the garden.  And I'll add some of my irises just because.

More thoughts from the Wenches:

From Susan King:

I've been with the Word Wenches since literally the first minute, when a few authors, all good friends, bravely set off to try this blogging thing. Eleven years later, we're a strong sisterhood--our roster has changed as we've lost dear friends and gained new ones, our look has freshened up, our lists of books has grown, we've written thousands of blogs by now (surely it must be!), and we've even written two holiday anthologies as the Word Wenches, a unique achievement for any blog.

And most importantly, absolutely, this blog has become a place for so many readers to drop by, read a bit, comment a bit, share their thoughts and experiences. You all have made this blog what it is, you have given us longevity, you've made all of us laugh and learn and crave the stories you all are reading. We show up every day for you all, and we value your contributions and friendship as much as we value our own. Thank you, and happy anniversary to everyone!  

In remembrance of Jo and her love of flowers, here's the very first rose to bloom in our garden this year, and some pansies on my porch, complete with blue butterfly. I'll always miss Jo and her wisdom, her wonderful stories, and her friendship, and I'll always feel blessed to have known her.


From Andrea Penrose/Cara Elliott:  

Eleven years is an eon in cyber-time, but I hope all of our readers can sense the undiminished Wenchly enthusiasm for history and research, and how the arcane details and fascinating people of the past are a constant source of inspiration for our own stories. I also hope readers sense how much we love  the community we’ve created with all of you. It’s something truly special, and we’re very grateful for that bond.

On a more personal note, I feel amazingly lucky to be part of such a wonderful sisterhood of writers. Though we don’t see each that often in person, we talk every day on our e-mail loop (trust me, we have some pretty  hilarious conversations!) and have become the best of friends. We share laughter and tears, and all the craziness in between. We celebrate the highs together and help each other through the inevitable bumps that Life throws our way. And oh, yes—we occasionally brainstorm ideas and talk about the craft of writing. But first and foremost, the Word Wenches are all about love and friendship. (We are, after all, romance writers!)

Flowers often remind me of a well written story—the subtle range of colors and texture have an intriguing depth and complexity that invite you to forget about all else for the moment and lose yourself in their beauty. No wonder they make me think of Jo, whose magical books will keep blooming season after season to fill readers with a sense of wonder and joy.  Here's a beach rose for Jo since she loved both roses and the sea.

Joanna Bourne:
By choice, I live far away from folks, out in the woods in the mountains. The nearest town is tidy and wholesome and practically a postcard of rural America, but for all the opportunity to pick your own peaches and buy the local craft beer, this is not a hotbed of the cosmopolitan literary elite. I love the peace and solitude on my mountain, but writers are not thick on the ground hereabout. (Deer, yes. Bear, occasionally. Writers, not so much.)  

I would be nearly Romancewriterless without online friends like the Wenches. Sometimes I want — there's no other way to put it — I want to have somebody to gripe to. Somebody to share obscure victories with. Somebody to ask for advice. The support and wisdom and comradeship is very real, even if we go months and years between meeting face-to-face. Wenchdom forever, says I.

I didn't have much time to know Jo face-to-face — this business of being on different continents got in the way. But I'm grateful for the chance I had to know her. She was a woman of sturdy worth. Of great value. Her arrow-straight spirit and brilliant mind shone through her writing. For her, an elegant day lily.

From Nicola Cornick:
 I've chosen an English country garden in spring for Jo because when it gets to this time of year I am reminded particularly of the beautiful seaside garden Jo created on the south coast, a perennial beauty, as fresh and bright and wonderful as her writing.

Susanna Kearsley:
As grateful and happy as I am to have been welcomed to the Sisterhood of Wenches, I am always very much aware of who passed on and left this space for me to fill. I know Jo loved roses but I’m going to go to the fields for her tribute and gather some cosmos. When I was fifteen I moved with my family to South Korea, where the cosmos grew wild by the side of the road as in this picture a parent took, and for me it’s a mingling of memories and journeys, of treasured old friends and the new ones to come, and the roads that lead on to adventure.

Patricia Rice:

The Wenches are my true soul mates, the ones who understand the horror of a broken wrist when on a deadline, the ones who laugh when I explain how my character ran away and died, the ones who band together in happy times and sad. Our readers over the years have become part of our tribe as well. Happy Anniversary to us all!"

Roses, daisies, gerbera, statice, remembrance. May your bouquet grow in Heaven, Jo.

Anne Gracie's words:

I'd followed the Word Wenches as a reader almost since the beginning. It was my favorite blog. I met Mary Jo and Jo and Pat in person at a couple of small conferences.  Then in October 2008 I joined the Wenches. We talk every day via email -- encouragement, commiseration, chit-chat and fun. We're scattered in different parts of the world, but we're still a tribe.

My last memory of Jo in person is from a wenchly gathering in my room at the San Antonio RWA with Jo, Mary Jo, Nicola, and me. She was sitting back with her feet up, drinking wine and telling a story. I don't think any of us has yet become accustomed to Jo's absence. She's still a star -- she has a new book out next week, on May 30 -- and I hope she's still "Flying into the Mist."

I'm sending scented, old-fashioned roses, above.

Mary Jo again.  I asked Jo's husband Ken if she had any favorite flowers.  In true English fashion she loved roses, but she also had a special fondness for double petaled poppies and here she is in her garden by the sea, with blooming poppies in a color I've not seen before.  

 

 

 

 

To celebrate our anniversary and memorial, we'll be giving away Word Wench books to readers who comment between now and midnight Thursday.  The giveaways will include both print and ebooks, so please specify if you have a preference. 

Mary Jo & the other Wenches offering a floral toast to the past, and to the future.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll end with this lovely picture of roses from Ken Beverley: