Showing posts with label Jayne Jaudon Ferrer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jayne Jaudon Ferrer. Show all posts

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Stop the Trees from Growing

You can read a poem of mine, Stop the Trees from Growing, on Your Daily Poem,

http://yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=3204
If you like it, I hope you will leave a comment.

Thanks, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, for continuing to publish poems every day.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Your Daily Poem.com presents its Third Annual Poetry Writing Workshop October 21–23, 2016 Black Mountain, NC

Think poetry is boring? Think again! Come spend an inspiring, relaxing weekend listening to, laughing at, learning from, and loving poetry in a gorgeous mountain setting. Spend time with some of Your Daily Poem’s most charismatic, successful poets as they guide and encourage you in turning poetry into an uplifting and
satisfying part of your life. Space is limited; register now so you don’t miss out at www.YourDailyPoem.com.
 

What is Your Daily Poem? YourDailyPoem.com was born in 2009 as a way to prove that poetry is
not the dull and boring thing too many people (incorrectly!) believe it to be. Today, well over 25,000 people visit YDP each month to enjoy poems about everything from cheeseburgers and cheerleading to activism and
autism. Are you fascinated by the details and nuances of everyday life? Do honesty, wit, and introspection 

make you smile? Could you use a 2-minute infusion of something fresh to perk up your  everyday routines? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, come be a part of the YDP family!
 

Whether you’re someone who wrote off poetry years ago as a waste of time, someone who doesn’t know much  about poetry but wonders how it might enrich your life, an aspiring poet in search of direction, or
a poetry lover eager to share your passion with like-minded folk, there’s a place for you at Your Daily Poem. Learn more at www.YourDailyPoem.com
.
Accommodations for our 2016 event are at the beautiful Blue Ridge retreat and conference center in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Nestled in the heart of Western North Carolina, just 15 minutes from Asheville, you’ll be just 2 miles off I-40, and conveniently located to airports in Asheville, Charlotte, and Greenville, SC. 


Presenters will be Jan Seale, Edwin Romand, Ruth Moose, and Gilbert Allen. Please visit YourDailyPoem.com, for the schedule of events, and information on accomodations, etc. 

Links for this workshop are:



Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dana Wildsmith

Tonight on Facebook, I learned that Dana Wildsmith has been chosen for the 2009-2010 Artist-in-Residence Programs for the National Parks. She will be at the Grand Canyon National Park. Below is an interview I did with Dana a couple of years ago. I thought our new members and readers might like to read it.


Dana Wildsmith is a fine poet, writer and teacher. Recently I discovered Dana's poetry on Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's Poetry Parade and commented with enthusiasm about my appreciation of this poet's work. I was delighted to have Dana respond to me with a thank you email. From there we have become email friends, and I'm delighted she agreed to take time to give me an interview for this site. You can find her books listed on her website, http://www.danawildsmith.com/.

Glenda: Dana, you grew up living in different places because you are a preacher's kid. How did that affect your writing?

Dana: I loved being a PK, and moving around. I loved moving to a new place and having everyone already know who I was and why I was there. Even as a small child I got excited about the possibility inherent to moving- that idea of starting over (as if a seven-year-old has anything to start over from!). I think the moving made me more aware of my surroundings and more attentive to differences. I became a person who notices by habit, and that is a good trait for a poet.

Glenda: Where did you live the longest as a child? Where was your favorite place to live?

Dana:
I didn't live anywhere the longest. My daddy was transferred every five years, so my inner time clock still starts thinking about moving on after four and a half years. MY favorite place while I was growing up was definitely Savannah. I loved Savannah from the first time I saw it. I loved being part of all that history and I loved the somewhat self-centered air of assurance Savannahians have from birth. My mother says I was born secure, so I guess I felt at home with the sense of assurance of place and role among the old families of Savannah. And, of course, I loved the beauty of the place.

Glenda: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer or poet? When did you begin to realize you actually are a writer?

Dana: I don't know if I always wanted to be a writer, though I have always written. To me, words and playing words was always tied in with music. I am a singer and need music in my life at all times.

When did I realize that I am a writer? The flip answer would be to say- the first time someone gave me money for words I had written. That's partly true, though. I consciously think of myself as a writer whenever someone else thinks of me in that way. Otherwise, I think of myself as writing, which is a whole other attitude.

Glenda: I have come to believe that many writers are insecure about their work until someone they respect validates them by telling them they are indeed a writer or a poet. What do you think about that?

Dana: I think there's a lot of truth to that. But I also think it's not limited just to writing, Any time we are investing huge amounts of time and energy into something that doesn't (at least at first) come with a paycheck as validate, we need some other form of validation that we aren't being foolish or wasting our time- and the validation which seems to hold the most weight is affirmation from someone more established in the art.

Glenda: You and your husband are now living on a family farm outside Atlanta and you are feeling the impact of developers buying up properties and making subdivisions all around you. We face that here in the mountains and feel helpless to stop this destruction of mountain tops. What are you and your husband doing to make a difference?

Dana: We are doing the same things my friends involved in the fight against Mountain Top Removal are doing- we're fighting. We don't give in to any changes which are needlessly harmful without questioning, and then- if need be- starting the process of taking any possible civic or legal action to stop the harm. We are attentive, constantly, to what's going on around us. We don't let anyone get away with anything.

Glenda: When did you publish your first poem and where?

Dana: I truly don't remember. But I know that one of my very first acceptances was from Yankee magazine- a commercial journal whose poetry editor I greatly admired.

Glenda: What advice do you have for beginning writers or those who have been writing a long time, but have trouble getting published?
Is it really all about "who you know"?

Dana: It helps to know people, but the happy secret is that the more you plod along, sending things out and getting rejections, the more you get to know people- and they, you. All you can do is keep on keeping on. And commiserate with other strugglers. I remember going to a writing festival and running into the quiet successful poet Michael Chitwood, who told me he'd just started having a few things accepted after a year of rejections. He had no idea how much this cheered and heartened me!

Glenda: Why do you think so many writers and poets are self-publishing now?

Dana: Two reasons:
- Because it is so possible now. It's relatively easy to turn out as fine or nearly as fine a product as many publishing houses do.
- and because the book market is so tough right now that this may be their only way to get published without a long wait.

Glenda: What place do you think the Internet has in the future of publishing? Do you have a website or a blog?

I think it is firmly established to the extent that any writer who wants to keep on seriously being published and in the public eye needs to keep this medium in mind.

I have a web site: http://www.danawildsmith.com/ It has proved invaluable to me, and has put me in touch with people who otherwise would have had a tough time finding me.

Glenda: I know you are on faculty for the John C. Campbell Folk School. What do you most enjoy about teaching there? When is your next class at JCCFS?

Dana: What I love most about teaching there (besides the food- seriously!) is the space of time I have to get to know my students and their work. We have all day, for five days, with each other. It's a great luxury which affords us the chance to make leaps forward in our writing.

My next class there will begin on Sunday, August 17th and go through that week. It's entitled:Beyond Memoir. In this class (which will be fine for writers of all levels of experience), we'll work on taking the facts of our lives and using them to create writing which moves beyond the mere recording of facts, into a larger purpose.

(Dana will teach Beyond Memoir again in 2010. Contact the folk school to register for the class.)


Glenda Beall writes, teaches and manages this blog from Hayesville, NC.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Blue Ridge Book and Author Showcase - I'm Still High!

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, poet and Netwest Rep for South Carolina is always gracious and friendly. Even though her books had not been ordered for the book fair, she gained many new friends and names for her newsletter.


Bob Greenwald and his group of volunteers conducted a full day of activities for writers and book lovers.Above is Kathryn Stripling Byer and Robert Morgan, author of the new novel Boone.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Natalie Grant, Nancy Simpson, Janice Moore, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, Glenda Beall at John C. Campbell Folk School, Thursday evening, November 20.

Poets and Writers reading Poems and Stories is a monthly event at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. Two Netwest members are featured. Natalie Grant from Topton, NC and Jayne Jaudon Ferrer of Greenville, SC presented a most interesting program to an appreciative group comprised of folk school students from distant states as well as local writers in the community.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories




Two Netwest Members featured at the monthly reading at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC


Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, of Greenville, SC turned a passion for poetry and a desire to stay home with her children into a successful career as an author. Her books include, A New Mother's Thoughts , A Mother of Sons, Dancing with My Daughter and She of the Rib: Women Unwrapped.
Jayne’s ability to connect with her readers was rewarded in 2004 with an invitation from ClubMom.com to become a "MomExpert." Nearly a dozen articles by Jayne, all focused on various aspects of parenting and family life, are now featured on the ClubMom site.

Jayne is the South Carolina Representative for Netwest and this will be her first time to read at the historic Folk School.

Natalie Grant of Nantahala, NC writes poetry that reaches out and pulls you along with its flow. She has the ability to reach into the heart of her subject and bring the trueness of it to the surface.
She says she was influenced by the stories and storytellers in her family and community. Natalie has a poetry book and a novel in the working stage. A high school English teacher, she also teaches part time at Tri-County Community College in Graham County.

The readings will be held in the Keith House at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC at 7:00 pm Thursday, November 20. The community is invited to come and enjoy this evening along with the folk school students from all over the United States.