note location BUCKS COUNTY WRITERS WORKSHOP
Bucks County Writers Workshop


Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal



“Writing is easy; all you have to do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper
until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

[Gene Fowler]

If the picture of the church on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post of Jan. 5, 1951, looks familiar to some, it's St. Paul's Episcopal at Oakland Avenue and Pine Street in Doylestown, PA -- although now with an extension and a parking lot and a barn in the rear. This was the Bucks County Writers Workshop's home for several years until the pandemic.

The cover was painted by Philadelphia artist John Philip Falter (1910-1982) who took some artistic license by moving a couple of houses into closer proximity to the church and removing a few trees.

The Doylestown Historical Society tells us that Falter's first Saturday Evening Post cover was published on Sep. 1, 1943. He produced 128 additional covers until the magazine's format was changed to photographs. Falter also provided illustrations for many other publications including Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, McCall’s, Life Magazine, and Look.


Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal names its first ever nominees for the Pushcart Prize. Since 1976, the Pushcart Prize is awarded annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction published by literary magazines or small presses during the current year.

Since 1998 the independent, non-profit BCWW in historic Bucks County, PA, has advanced the power of the written word in fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. It does not work with poetry. The BCWW's only aim is to critique members' writing with the goal of publication. Membership -- for adults only -- is limited by design.
Newcomers with a serious writing interest and background are welcome as space permits.
There are no dues or membership fees.
The workshop may not be right for every aspiring writer, but if interested in becoming a member contact Don Swaim sharing your background and experience.

LATEST WORKSHOP NEWS
HERE


BUCKS COUNTY'S FABULOUS
LITERARY HISTORY

HERE

BUCKS COUNTY LIBRARY AUTHOR FEST

Part of our table display, Nov. 4, 2023. Present and past Bucks County Writers Workshop members, such as Bill Donahue, Damian McNichol, Lindsey Allingham, Sandy Cody, Melissa Sullivan, Linda Wisniewski, and Don Swaim were there to tout some of their work. Also available: the latest issues of the BCWW literary journal Neshaminy and the workshop's two showcase anthologies, Shocking Verbs, Lawless Nouns and Covid-19: The Pandemic Project



LATEST ISSUE NOW ON SALE

cover art by Patricia Allingham Carlson

The Fall/Winter 2023 edition of Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal features a stunning landscape by Patricia Allingham Carlson, who was profiled in this issue just days before her death on September 10. In a separate article, "Purdy and Me: Don't Feed Him Because He Might Get Nasty," Don Swaim describes his ten-year friendship with the controversial author James Purdy), whose best known novel, Malcolm, was created in a Bucks County farmhouse. By Daniel Dorian, a profile of the venerable Bucks County Workshop after a quarter of a century of helping to inspire local writers. AND MUCH MORE! Available HERE



Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal
&
The Doylestown Historical Society. . .

...co-sponsored the first lecture in the Abramson Art & Artist series: "No Destitute Scribbler, Henry C. Mercer's Adventure in Publishing" in the refurbished barn at the Doylestown Historical Society on July 26, 2023. It was standing-room only.


Professor Tom Sparrow illuminated multifaceted historian-archeologist-collector Mercer's foray into the world of fiction, his use of local landmarks including Fonthill Castle and Doyle's Tavern, and why his only collection of ghost stories November Night Tales, though hailed as comparable to Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce, ultimately fell into obscurity.


Henry C. Mercer

Raised in the Poconos, Tom Sparrow teaches philosophy at Slippery Rock University. His published work includes books and articles of academic philosophy, most recently The Alphonso Lingis Reader (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) and True Detective and Philosophy: A Deeper Kind of Darkness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017).

The latest edition of Neshaminy featuring Sparrow's work and Mercer's ghost story "Castle Valley," illustrated by Pat Achilles can be obtained at: Amazon


OUR SHOWCASE ANTHOLOGY
The Best Writing by the BCWW

Fiction, poetry, prose. Some of the best work exlusively by members of the BCWW since its founding in 1998. Available HERE

COVID-19 -- THE PANDEMIC PROJECT
Exclusive stories by Members of the BCWW

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, BCWW members began staging virtual meetings via Zoom with mixed results and sometimes hilarious technical complications. The result is an original story collection filled with humor, journal-like narratives, fiction, essays, poetry, and scathing satire.

Buy HERE

BCWW IN THE NEWS
  • Neshaminy Contest Winners announced, August 1, 2019:
    Bucks County Herald


  • Bucks County Writers Workshop Marks 14th Year in 2013:
    Bucks County Herald


  • "The Good Earth" 2009 article about Bucks County writers:
    Bucks Living Magazine


  • OUR STYLEBOOK
    A Free Read


    HERE


    VARIOUS BCWW STUFF

  • Latest Workshop News
  • BCWW Stylebook
  • Member Submissions
       (members only)

  • Member Address List
        (members only)
  • BCWW Archives
        (Posted by date)
  • BCWW Archives
        (Posted by date)
  • Photo Gallery
  • Instant Literary Quiz
  • Errata (back issues)
  • Stuart Cummings Ripley
  • Bucks Living Magazine
       (2009 article about the BCWW)


    BCWW SPECIAL
    WRITING PROJECTS
  • 2012: “Literary Haiku”
  • 2009: “Ghosts”
  • 2009: “Six Word Story”
  • 2006: “Stuart C. Ripley
  • 2005: “Raymond Carver
  • 2004: “O. Henry
  • 2003: “The Yellow Bus”


    BOOK BEAT: THE PODCAST
    Don Swaim's online audio interviews with the best-known writers of three decades,
    author updates, and more

    click here


    HOW TO READ A SCREENPLAY
    with an addendum by
    Daniel Dorian

    click here


    WRITING TIPS
  • BCWW Stylebook
  • How to Format
  • Eight-Point Checklist
  • Alan Shils on Writing
  • Tom Swifties
  • Elmore's Writing Tips
  • First Five Pages
  • Screenplay Elements


    SITES FOR WRITERS
  • Writers' Tool Box
  • EWAIATP: funny agent list
  • ABE Books: out of print books
  • Arts & Letters
  • Project Gutenberg



    DISCLAIMERS

    Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent those of the editor, the BCWW, or its members.

    Not associated with the former Writers Room of Bucks County, its successors, or any other organization.

    The BCWW is not affiliated with church, school, library or any other entity. We are not religious. We are not educators. We are not political. We are writers!


    For info email
    Don Swaim




    The BCWW Facebook Group is open only to past and present members.


    SOME OF DON'S SITES

    WCBS Appreciation Site
      Book Beat: The Podcast
      Wired for Books
      Radio Days
      Aspinwall HS Class of 55
      Ambrose Bierce Site
      Bucks County Writers Workshop
      Errata
      Steinbeck in Bucks Co
      Pennsylvania Sunsets
      Growing Up in WW 2
      Don's Houses: Where I've Been
      Fighting the Hun in WW I   Official Stuart Cummings Ripley Site
      Swaim Name in History
      The Swaim in America

    PC Magazine's BEST OF THE INTERNET cites Don Swaim's Wired for Books. 11/20/07 issue











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