In case you missed Karen Paul Holmes & Bill Ramsey at Coffee with the Poets and Writers on June 15, 2016, enjoy some video excerpts

 

 Karen Paul Holmes reading at CWTP&W on June 15, 2016

 

Bill Ramsey reading at CWTP&W on June 15, 2016 

You can find other videos of these writers, and other NCWN'West writers, on the network's YouTube page, at: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu63wy0hyAFhgTPRo7by4og

Ronald Moran and Jonathan Rice entertained at Writers' Night Out, NCWN-West event, June 10, 2016, at Blairsville, Georgia

Ronald Moran

Jonathan K. Rice

Ronald Moran, former Clemson professor, dean, and a Fulbright
Lecturer, joined Editor Jonathan K. Rice at Writers’ Night Out on Friday, June 10 at the Union County Community Center in the heart of Blairsville. Moran read first, not only featuring published poems from Eye of the World, but also recently written ones. Quite a bit of his work was witty and met with laughter and acknowledgment. Rice followed and read from Shooting Pool with a Cellist (Main Street Rag), and Killing Time (Main Street Rag). Rice’s love of music was apparent in his poems, as was his keen eye. The poets were followed by open mic, where several writers in attendance shared both poetry and prose.

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by NC Writers' Network-West and takes place on the second Friday of the month. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The Union County Community Center hosts the event at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092. Food is available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 6 pm to get served.
Rosemary Royston

https://theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com/about/

John C. Campbell Folk School Reading June 16th, 2016, will feature Jo Carolyn Beebe & Brenda Kay Ledford

JOHN CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This is held on the third Thursday of each month unless designated otherwise. The reading is free of charge and open to the public. Brenda Kay Ledford and Jo Carolyn Beebe will be the featured readers, both of whom are accomplished poets and writers and well known in the area.. Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. An honor graduate of Hayesville High

Brenda Kay Ledford

School, she earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and was editor of "Tri-County Communicator" at Tri-County Community College. She holds a diploma of highest honors from Stratford Career Institute in Creative Writing.
Ledford's prose and poetry have appeared in many publications including "Angels on Earth Magazine," "Our State," "Asheville Poetry Review," "Poem," "Woman's World Magazine," "Chicken Soup for the Soul," "Country Extra," "Blue Ridge Parkway Celebration," "North Carolina Civil War Museum," and 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies. Finishing Line Press published three award-winning poetry chapbooks. Aldrich Press printed her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that won the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. She has received the Paul Green Award seven times for her literary works and collecting oral history. She was featured on the "Common Cup" on Windstream Communication's cable television. Ledford blogs at: Blue Ridge Poet. Jo Carolyn Beebe is a native of Mississippi. Many of her poems and stories are based on her recollections of

Jo Carolyn Beebe

conversations with her grandparents. Her Grandmother Anderson said, "The Bartletts are kin to Daniel Boone. They came through the Cumberland Gap with him." Great-grandfather Ricks showed her a greasy circle in his front yard where no grass would grow. "This is where the Indians cooked their food," he told her. Beebe also has her own memories of life in a small, rural town. Her story, "The Way You Hypnotize a Chicken," really happened when she and a friend hypnotized one of Grandmother's hens. And where else but in a small town could two little girls play in the funeral home and pick out their everyday casket and their Sunday casket?
Jo Carolyn has been published in "Main Street Rag," "Clothes Lines," "Women's Spaces Women's Places," "Lonzie's Fried Chicken," "Lights in the Mountains," Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, and by Abingdon Press. She has been most gratified with her family history book THE BEEKEEPERS AND SONS OF ANDER. Beebe is a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, and has been a resident of Towns County for 21 years. 

In case you missed him, here is a video of Bob Grove reading a selection of his prose at Coffee With The Poets and Writers, May 18, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC.

Bob Grove

Here is a video of Bob reading a selection of his prose from the May 18, 2016 meeting of Coffee With the Poets and Writers, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. This program was sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network-West.

Prose writer Bob Grove to read at Coffee With the Poets and Writers, at the Moss Memorial Library, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at 10:00 AM

This month, Coffee With the Poets and Writers welcomes Bob Grove. Bob is very entertaining, and will read some of his prose on Wednesday, May 18th, 2016, at 10:00 AM.


Coffee With the Poets and Writers meets every third Wednesday at 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, at 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. The reading will be followed by open mic and the public is invited to attend.

North Carolina Writers' Network-West sponsors Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Please be sure to attend and to bring a friend! Coffee and cookies will be provided. For more information, please call Glenda Beall at: 828-389-4441, or the Moss Memorial Library at: 828-389-3734.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Bob Grove now lives in the mountains of North Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at Kent State University and his Master of Science at Florida Atlantic University. His diversified curriculum enabled him to teach courses in English, journalism, creative writing, physics, chemistry, biology and psychology.

Bob has been an ABC-TV public affairs director, an on-air personality, and the founder and publisher of Monitoring Times magazine. A prose critique facilitator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network and an officer with the Ridgeline Literary Alliance, he has published seventeen books and hundreds of articles in sixteen national magazines.

Now retired after 35 years as founder of Grove Enterprises, an international supplier of radio communications equipment, Bob has more time to write. Most recently, he has published a mystery novella (Secrets of Magnolia Manor), his memoir (Misadventures of an Only Child), a collection of children’s stories (Adventures of Kaylie and Jimmy) and has written several flash fiction stories as well as some forgettable poetry. He has been awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in the Silver Arts literature competition.

Bob’s public readings are popular as a performance art form, typified by his annual December reading, in costume and dialect, of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

His collected writings on technical topics (Antenna Basics, Antenna Anthology and Ask Bob) are now available, as is his informative overview of deviant mental behavior (Abnormal Psychology) which he uses as a teaching text in continuing education classes.

All Bob’s publications are available on Amazon Kindle, and you are welcome to visit him at bobgrove.org.

 

Poetry & Prose reading sponsored by Ridgeline Literary Alliance & North Carolina Poetry Society, featuring poet Shelby Stephenson, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC., Sat., May 7th, at 2:00 PM

North Carolina’s Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson returns to the western mountains of NC to read his award-winning poems. Local writers David Brown, multiple-award-winning publisher of the Cherokee Scout and associated newspapers; and Bob Grove, founder and publisher of Monitoring Times Magazine and prose critique facilitator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network, will follow with their original works.

At the conclusion of the scheduled readings, an open mic session will be available for RLA members and anyone in attendance who wishes to read.

This exciting literary event is scheduled for May 7, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street in Hayesville, NC, and will run from 2:00 p.m. through approximately 4:00 p.m. There is no cost and all ages are welcome. Complimentary snacks will be provided. Contact Moss Memorial Library for directions: 828-389-8401.

For complete details of this event, download the PDF flyer at https://goo.gl/Obq3fH

Old Mountain Press accepting submissions for anthology

Old Mountain Press (OMP) is accepting submissions for They Stood Alone from
PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTORS ONLY OR SOMEONE RECOMMENDED BY A PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTOR. 

Each contributor whose work will appear in this anthology can recommend ONE person to submit to this anthology. Someone whose work you would like to see included with yours–maybe right beside yours:-).




See http://www.oldmp.com/anthology/theystoodalone.htm here you will also find guidelines and the link to an online submission form.

View camera ready copy of all submissions accepted so far at http://www.oldmp.com/anthology/review/stoodalone.pdf

NOTE: As always this anthology may fill up before the close out date so don’t procrastinate.

They Stood Alone’s  THEME: Nature


OMP willl accept submissions until 12:00 15 November OR when I have at least 90 to 100 pages (includes table of content and authors’ bios 75 words or preferably less please) of quality poems and short shorts WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. 

If you wish to be considered for inclusion in this anthology, do not procrastinate. Get your work in now! Since this is a very wide topic, I expect the anthology to fill up well before the close out date.

There is no reading fee, no entry fee, and no requirement for a contributor to purchase this anthology. As always, contributors will be able to purchase copies at a reduced rate.

Old Mountain Press is owned by Tom Davis, a member of NCWN-West, and a supporter of WNC writers. 

Can Writing Be Taught?

I have spent a lot of time in the past trying to figure out why some very intelligent people cannot write very well, whether we refer to poetry or prose. On the other hand, I’ve met a lot of poorly educated people who shine as wordsmiths.

Obviously, “writing talent” is the first criterion for determining whether one can write effectively. But what does that mean? I’ve met some people who seem to have substantial talent, but they have never learned to harness it in order to write well. I suggest that those folks are the ones who can be taught to write.

What are some of the elements of writing talent? Not necessarily in this order or all-inclusive, I’d say 1. A way with words; 2. A sense of humor and irony; 3. A sense of and skill at using metaphors, including the vision to see connections between unlike things; 4. Enough experience with life to have something to write about; 5. The ability to improve what you’ve already written (revision); and 6. Curiosity.

You may be able to add other elements as well. I think curiosity is most important of all because it is the catalyst for the other elements. Contrary to the popular axiom, curiosity does not kill the cat. It is a vital organ for a writer.

There are many permutations of curiosity (you can fill in any blanks): 1. Interest; 2. Studiousness; 3. Compassion; and 4. The courage and desire to know truth, even if it hurts. In my experience with classes and workshops, and with one-on-one interaction with others who consider themselves writers, I observe that lacking a significant number of these elements and/or permutations renders you ineffective as a writer. I say that if you inherently lack enough of these, you will never be a writer of any note.

Admittedly, some skills can be taught. You can teach someone to make subjects and verbs agree, but these are mechanical devices, not talent. It is true, however, that mastery of the mechanical skills can aid in developing more advanced skills. You may even be able to teach someone how to use metaphors, but I’d say only if that person possesses the appropriate sensitivity (i.e., talent).  To be a writer, there has to be more power under the hood than just a mechanical engine.

I could blame a lot of things on our societal lack of communication skills and growing illiteracy: 1. Terrible and decaying public schools; 2. The greater prevalence of broken homes; 3. The cost of living that favors the rich, in that more and more only they can afford an education. These are largely factors that have impeded our growth, even as writers, but they don’t address the key issue. That is, a writer must possess a certain spirit, perhaps his/her unique spirit, that goes far beyond knowing when to use a comma or a semicolon. The same is true for artists, musicians, or anyone creating what we recognize as art.

Perhaps we could label the list of elements and permutations collectively as “power.” Sometimes the power to write is there, and the owner of that power does not know it. Someone may recognize potential in that person but could not honestly label him/her as a good writer. Maybe that person will never develop further. Or maybe the light will go on. I have seen this happen. Thankfully, it happened to me as well.

Even at a young age, I was always interested in words and exercised that interest at least on an occasional basis until I got out of the Navy and went back to college. I took a creative writing course and quickly discovered that my puny attempts at poetry did not see the world as others saw it. I recognized that I did not know how to communicate through poetry. Thankfully, the professor did not try to dictate how I should write. He did not suggest that I go to an MFA factory. Instead, he gave me a reading list, at the top of which was W. S. Merwin’s Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment. After reading this book, the light went on. I understood the compactness of poetic language, the subtlety of metaphor, and the unique voice that every worthy poet must eventually develop. This book did not make me a good poet, but it made me want to write and read. It turned on the power switch within me and allowed my skills to develop around that power. I knew then who I was and that I could do it.

So, if the power is already there, one can become a writer. I won’t speculate on the possibility of the power coming in to where it did not exist before. Perhaps such miracles do happen, but you don’t have to wait for a miracle. Instead, read and write long enough to see if the light comes on. The light is an awareness of one’s talents. It’s the knowledge where you feel certain that “I can do this.” It’s also the eagerness to do it, the curiosity that gives a cat new life.

WRITING CLASS IN HAYESVILLE

Estelle Rice

Writers in this area know Estelle Rice, a long time member of the North Carolina Writers Network West. She will teach Writing from the Spirit Within at Writers Circle in Hayesville, NC Wednesday, July 18, 10:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Rice says, "All of us have treasures stored within our memories that can jumpstart the writing process. Some of these memories are so deeply hidden we are surprised when they come to the surface. In this class we will investigate nature, people, places and things to discover their essence. This technique will bring depth to our writing whether poetry or prose."


Estelle Rice is a native Tar Heel, born in Rocky Mount, raised in Charlotte, and now lives in the mountains in Cherokee County. She received a BA degree in psychology from Queens University and an MA in counseling from the University of South Alabama. She studied writing at Faulkner Community College in Fairhope, Alabama and the University of South Alabama, Mobile.

She enjoys writing poetry, fiction and personal essays. She published a book of spiritual poetry, QUIET TIMES.  Her short stories have been published in Appalachian Heritage Journal, the Kentucky Journal, and anthologies, LIGHTS IN THE MOUNTAINS, and ECHOS ACROSS THE BLUERIDGE as well as other publications.
Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com for registration information.

Submissions - Send it out

Main Street Rag has updated its submission guidelines for poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction and reviews. Please review these changes before submitting your work, especially fiction.


Main Street Rag has announced three themes for next year’s anthologies –
1) The List
2) Just Tattoos
3) Secrets.
Click here for more information and updates on submission.



MoonShine Review accepts prose and photography submissions year round but only read after the Spring (deadline March 1) and Fall (deadline September 1) deadlines., click moonshinereview.com
 
 
(from WordPlay Newsletter by Maureen Ryan Griffin)