Dear ,
Welcome to the first edition of the Feisty Deeds newsletter! It looks like you joined our list after we had already sent out the November newsletter. We will usually send a newsletter about every 1-2 months, but we wanted to make sure you got one to start off with. Thank you for your patience!
We have so much exciting news to share with you.
- Announcement: Name for Feisty Deeds II
- We've won an award!
- Feisty Deeds out in the world
- Stories & more from our contributors
- Call for Submissions, Feisty Deeds II
First of all,
with anyone who might want to read our next anthology, and especially with any historical fiction authors who might want to submit for the anthology! There still is plenty of time before we are taking submissions, and we want to reach as many readers and writers as we can.
Announcement: The name for our second anthology will be.........
Feisty Deeds II: Historical Tales of Batches and Brews
Our first volume of Feisty Deeds met with such enthusiasm that we decided put together a second one. So here we go again! This collection will focus on themes of eating, drinking, cooking, brewing, concocting—but with a twist.
Throughout history, women have spent a lot of their precious time and energy preparing batches and brews. We envision an anthology that approaches this central aspect of women’s lives from a wide-angle lens. We don’t want stories that just wax poetic about olives and sunsets or interrupt the plot with recipes; we want to surprise and intrigue our readers.
If you are a reader, you can expect Feisty Deeds to be hitting (virtual) bookshelves in late 2025. If you're a writer, you can find more details about submission below.
Award: Feisty Deeds has won its first book award!
Thank you Independent Author Network for recognizing our collection!
Sales & Donations Update:
Feisty Deeds continues to go out to readers.
- Dawn & Beth Anne participated in the North Alabama Author Festival, and they also have placed Feisty Deeds at Harrison Brothers — downtown Huntsville's destination shopping experience.
- Teri and Patty did a live event at the Southwest Brunswick Library in Calabash NC.
- Valerie is bringing FD to a book fair in Vancouver, B.C.
- Joan sold copies like hotcakes at the Missouri Book Festival
- Patty has presented Feisty Deeds at "Talking Turkey" at the Sea Trail Garden Club and the Local Author Night at Page 158 Books
- See this post for a fun compilation video
Offers from our contributors:
Do you love to read? Well obviously, because you're here! Here are some offers and brand new releases from some of the 23 feisty women authors you know and love.
- Christy Matheson is officially releasing The Horned Women on December 1st (or you can get it for FREE with her newsletterin November). It's a stitchy, witchy fairy tale retelling.
- Kay Smith-Blum is releasing Tangles on December 3rd. A quietly fierce secretary, a brash young scientist, a small town cloaked in secrecy...and an entire region under threat.
- Kimberly Sullivan is releasing Easter at the Three Coins Inn on December 6th. "This novel evokes a restorative, sun-kissed vacation in the Italian countryside on every page." -Kirkus Reviews
- Ashley Sweeney is releasing The Irish Girl on December 10th. "An addictive . . . drama with a strong female lead who shines with resilience.”-Kirkus Reviews
- Nina Waschman has just published The Courtesan's Pirate, set in 1614 amidst the chaos of hurricanes and Spanish marauders.
- Carolyn Korsmeyer is multi-talented — she has free children's stories available directly on her website, and just re-released Charlotte's Story, set in the world of Pride & Prejudice from Charlotte's point of view.
And if you are looking for more women's fiction, including many free titles, Feisty Deeds will be one of many books featured in the Cyber Monday Journey Women's Fiction Promotion. On December 2nd check out Journey's Women's Fiction. You can preview the stories now, open or bookmark the page, and on Cyber Monday all the books will be linked and available, with free/reduced prices for many books.
Call for Submissions: Feisty Deeds II
Are you a historical fiction author? We invited you to submit a story for the next edition of Feisty Deeds. Not only is this an opportunity to share your story and be published, but we're also a supportive team. Over the last year, we have cheered each other's social media posts, beta read for each other, and shared each other's books and successes.
Below this signature, the rest of this newsletter is the Call for Submissions. Free to respond to this email with further questions.
Thank you, , for reading this newsletter! We hope you enjoy our stories, and look forward to connecting with you again.
-Christy & the Feisty Deeds Anthology Committee
Feisty Deeds II: Historical Tales of Batches and Brews
Dear Authors,
Our first volume of Feisty Deeds met with such enthusiasm that we decided put together a second one. So here we go again! This collection will focus on themes of eating, drinking, cooking, brewing, concocting—but with a twist (or twists), as described below.
Throughout history, women have spent a lot of their precious time and energy preparing batches and brews. We envision an anthology that approaches this central aspect of women’s lives from a wide-angle lens. We don’t want stories that just wax poetic about olives and sunsets or interrupt the plot with recipes; we want to surprise and intrigue our readers.
To get your minds rolling, we would like to read about feisty women who might:
- address problems related to hunger: scarcities in war, famine, sieges, food shortages due to winter/drought/blight
- deal with food allergies, illness (gastritis, scurvy, gout), food poisoning…
- concoct potions in the stillroom: perfumes, medicines, poisons
- practice medicine as midwifes or herbalists
- experiment with forbidden food or magical potions
- twist kitchen experiments into scientific innovation
- invent tastes beyond the ordinary
Our selection process will prioritize variety across many periods, countries, ages of protagonists, subgenres, and types of struggles—stories set firmly in a specific place and time. Surprise us with your creativity so we can put together an intriguing anthology that would never belong in the cookbook section!
Other requirements:
- Main character must be female, although a second main character or narrator can be any gender.
- Not biographical fiction; main character must be fictional.
- Word count: maximum 3,000 words.
- “Historical” is defined as taking place 50 years or more in the past.
- Stories need a beginning, rising action, and conclusion. They do not have to be happy endings but must have a clear story structure.
- Chapters from novels are not acceptable.
- Your story should begin with (a) the title (b) author’s name (c) time and place of setting.
- Please affirm that no portion of your story was generated by AI.
- We recommend you send your story to one or two beta readers for feedback before submitting.
►In the interest of fairness, please do not ask any of the editors to act as beta readers. We need to approach final versions with fresh eyes.
Note: As before, we plan to self-publish the volume via PubShare and to distribute all profits from sales to the WFWA Scholarship Fund. Therefore, all authors will be required to contribute to production and promotion costs, including cover design, graphic art for promotion, editorial reviews, contest submissions, etc. Based on our experience with Feisty Deeds I, we anticipate the cost will be between $110-150 per participant.
Submissions process:
We will set up an email account for submissions three weeks before they are due.
Stories must be cleanly formatted and, in your own opinion, in final, publishable form.
- Submissions will open on March 1, 2025 and close on March 31, 2025.
- Prepare the story in Word in standard manuscript form: 12 point font and double-spaced.
- Please proofread carefully and correct typos and grammatical errors before submitting.
More information will follow, but for now, we hope that you will begin thinking about the story you might write!
We look forward to hearing from you,
The editorial committee: (Elaine Schroller, Kimberly Sullivan, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Christy Matheson, Kay Smith-Blum)
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