Tuesday, February 23, 2010

MEMORIES IN BLACK AND WHITE



MEMORIES IN BLACK AND WHITE: A Collection of Childhood Memoirs, by the Royal Scribbler's, Cashiers Writers Group, was published in 2009 by Main Street Rag Press. Here's how they describe themselves:

The Royal Scribblers is a group of writers who are about as well-adjusted as any creative community can be.

They have been getting together twice a month since 1996 in Cashiers, NC. Meetings are called to order by a quacking duck and a squawking chicken--two wind-up toys that dance simultaneously to different tunes.

And that pretty much describes the Royal Scribblers.


Now, I ask you, what would you expect from a writers group like that? I'd expect to have some fun with them, to enjoy their meetings and their work. And I did--not the meetings, since I've not been to one yet, though I'd like to (if only to hear the duck and the chicken!), I mean this anthology that begins with Foreword by my friend Joyce Foster, a fine poet whose work I featured on my Laureate's Lasso blog last year.


"Time tumbles down the stairs two by two in this last spiral of my life. I have stories that want to be told. They sneak around corners and slide sideways, like naughty imps, into my poetry. For my children, for their father; for my brother and family long gone; for friends here and there; for dreams and for life, I remember and write. Our lives touch and come apart. Through poetry I heal. Through poetry I celebrate the gift of this fragile moment."


I haven't read a better testimonial to the power of words than this in a long time. Besides Joyce, other contributors include Netwest members Ben Eller, Bob Fahey, and Deanna Klingel, as well as Kathie Blozan, Bill Christopher, George Cowan, Debra Edwards, Stephen J. Fischer, Karen Gilfilllan, Elsie Sameulson Haight, Eva Hanson, Jeanne Larimore, and Alicia Savino. Contributors' notes at the end feature photos of the authors, as children and as well-adjusted creative adults!
Perhaps if some of these well-adjusted folks will email me their memories from this book, I will post them on our Netwest blog. Is that a deal?

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations to the Royal Scribblers - Cashiers Writers Group. I look forward to reading Memories in Black and White.

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  2. Great idea, Kay. I'd love to see some of the work from Memories in Black and White on the Netwest blog. I know some of these folks and they are excellent writers.

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  3. Kay,
    I attend the Cashiers Writers group regularly, and although I am not in their anthology, this is where I read the draft of my last play. I like the fact that the group really functions as a writers' group. No foolishness about word games or time wasted on stuff like copyright laws which we can all find....this group is there to read and discuss.

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  4. Thanks, Gary. We could learn much from them, and I hope their members will join Netwest. Nancy and Glenda, I with you in hoping we can post some of this work on the blog.

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