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Beth “B.R” Smith

@brsmithbooks.bsky.social

220 followers 250 following 150 posts

I write books about strange weather, murder and the places people drink coffee. Occasional painter of things. Rep: Amanda Jain at BookEnds Literary. https://linktr.ee/brsmithbooks

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Aug 7

🌊 A storm-buffeted island of folklore and superstition.

🌊 A writer grieving her father’s drowning death in an isolated lighthouse keeper’s cottage.

🌊 A cursed Mariner who will tear her apart to stop her learning the truth.

#WriteSky #OS #AG #MY #T #H #questpit

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 1d

The horrors persist, but so do dogs.

Sharing a snippet of my thriller WIP about a girl, her dog and a whole lot of trouble.

#writesky #writingcommunity #thrillerbooks

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · 29d

Writing about what it took for me to let go of my on sub book and start a new one + the best advice I received about going on submission.

#onsubmission #writesky #writingcommunity

open.substack.com/pub/writersa...

What it feels like to let go of a book

The best advice I received about being on submission

open.substack.com

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Aug 29

I may have just written the best pitch of my life. I will never top this. I am
100% maniacal laughter right now. The title is so good it’s breaking my brain. Some books are gift books. I’m convinced that this is one.

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Aug 7

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Aug 6

“But the image that will stick like a burr in his mind, which will appear to him in quiet moments for the rest of his life, is of long tendrils of red hair swaying like the tentacles of a Pacific octopus in the chill water of the hold.”

#OS #AG #A #MY #T #H #QuestPit

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jul 10

Hi, my name is Beth, and I don’t believe in guilty pleasure books. Give up the guilt. Enjoy the book.

#Booksky

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jul 6

Thank you for hosting!

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jul 5

Introducing my #WIP THE TAXIDERMIST, a romantic horror mystery described as THE HUNTING PARTY X RIP VAN WINKLE.

Illustration: own work.
Background image: provided copyright free by Birmingham Museum Trust.

#RT #MiseryPit #A

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jun 19

Everything is uncertain and everything is terrifying and every night I sit down and write imagining that, word by word, I am building a better world.

#writingcommunity

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jun 6

My video this week on Last Chance Writer’s Club is about finding joy in your creative process again. 🍁💛

If you watch it, I’d love you to let me know one of your ‘joy notes’ for today.

#writingcommunity

youtu.be/XY1jc8YBrBA?...

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Jun 4

Oooh, this looks deliciously creepy!

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 21

THE HUNTING PARTY x a sigh from the other side of an empty room.

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 21

THE HUNTING PARTY x an autumn leaf stuck to the bottom of your boot.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 21

THE HUNTING PARTY x a cup of coffee left out in the rain.

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 21

My WIP has taken a turn, as WIPs tend to do, and I’m now describing it as:

THE HUNTING PARTY x RIP VAN WINKLE.

I am so excited to submit my last assignments so I can dive headfirst into this deliciously spooky book!!

#writesky #writingcommunity

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 15

This week on Last Chance I’m talking writing to your strengths. This was honestly the most transformative practice for me - to actively seek out the gold in feedback and use it to be even better at what I’m good at. I hope this discussion serves you, too!

youtu.be/YmxwcmDxddQ?...

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 11

Art + words from my WIP about a doomed reader’s retreat. I’ve never painted in a journal before, and I think I’ll have to continue. It makes me so happy!

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 8

If you prefer to read than watch, there are transcripts for each episode on my website. Episodes release weekly. I truly hope this helps even one person trying to break through. 💛

brsmithbooks.com

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 8

Each week, I’m releasing a video on YouTube discussing a question I asked myself after giving myself one last chance to write a publishable novel. A year after I started this process, I had a novel I was truly proud of, and a wonderful literary agent.

youtube.com/@brsmithbook...

B.R. Smith

youtube.com

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 8

I’ve been searching for ways to give back to the #writingcommunity that has supported me for so many years, and what I came up with was this: The Last Chance Writer’s Club.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 7

In this locked room mystery/horror, a horror writer at a reader’s retreat in the Washington woods unravels the tangled histories of the attendees when flooding washes out the only road into town and something monstrous stalks the readers from the trees.

#QuestPit #WIP #a #m #h

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 7

🌊A small boy finds a body floating in the fish hold of his father’s boat.

🌊A writer packs up her missing lighthouse keeper father’s things.

🌊A private investigator searches for the missing and the drowned.

🌊A horror rises from the deep.

#questpit #onsub #editors #m #h #a #os

A killer whale tail rises from a Black Sea, a red-headed woman throws back her hair, a lighthouse stands against a wind-whipped sky.

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · May 6

Quick after work oil painting. The sea wolves were calling.

Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Apr 27

I’ve detailed my (very messy) process for writing a first line here if you want to see:

www.instagram.com/p/DI7YqeeTA9...

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

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Beth “B.R” Smith @brsmithbooks.bsky.social · Apr 27

The most important job of a first line… is to set up the next line. I actually think a first line that is too beautiful, too stunning, that holds you too much in thrall, actually prevents that so-important momentum at the beginning of a book.

#writingcommunity #writesky

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