Saturday, November 7, 2015

Polly and Tom Davis to read from their memoirs at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, NC, On Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, at 3:00 PM



Polly and Tom Davis will read a He Said She Said from their memoirs at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, NC on Sunday, November 15, 2015, at 3:00 PM. Polly’s memoir is a companion book to Tom's memoir and covers the same time frame, so now you can hear what happened back on the home front while he traipsed the world having the most fun he ever had with my clothes on. According to Polly, it wasn’t a picnic.  

Read about both memoirs at: http://www.oldmp.com/davismemoirs/


View Old Mountain Press eBooks for Kindle and NOOK at http://www.oldmp.com/e-book

Available to Order: Tom Davis' Memoir, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On: A March from Private to Colonel. http://www.oldmp.com/davismemoirs


Polly Davis did something she thought she never would do. Marry a soldier. A Green Beret even. Polly started out as a military wife with a BS Degree from the University of Georgia and over the next thirty years raised two children, numerous dogs and cats, attained a Masters and a Doctorate. All while tramping the world with her soldier husband. Often alone in strange and uncertain circumstances, she not only rose to the occasion, she excelled in everything she ever did. She has taught at every level from pre-school to college, served as the head of the English Department and Director of Research and Planning for Fayetteville Technical Community College, and served in numerous leadership positions within the various communities in which she has lived.


Tom Davis is a writer and the publisher of Old Mountain Press, a company that assists authors in self-publishing their work. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. Tom entered the Army as a private and retired a full colonel. His short stories, articles, and poetry have been published in Poets Forum, Winston-Salem Writers’ POETRY IN PLAIN SIGHT program for May 2013 (poetry month), The Carolina Runner, Triathlon Today, ByLine, Georgia Athlete, The Saturday Extra (magazine section of the Fayetteville Observer), A Loving Voice Vol. I and II (anthologies of read aloud stories), and Special Warfare (a professional military journal published by the Special Warfare Center). Many of his short stories have received honors in writing contests sponsored by ByLine Magazine. Tom has written and published the following books: What Would You Like on Your Mashed Potatoes, The Long and the Short, The Life and Times of Rip Jackson, The R-complex, The Patrol Order, and a children’s coloring book entitled Pickaberry Pig illustrated by artist Becky Lee.




Staci Lynn Bell to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Wednesday, November 18, 2015, at 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC


Coffee with the Poets and Writers, note new time and date, will meet Wednesday, November 18, 10:00 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. This group meeting since 2007 is part of the North Carolina Writers’ Network West which supports the literary community in western North Carolina and bordering counties, Towns, Union, Fannin and Rabun in Georgia.

Staci Lynn Bell of Clay County, published poet and essayist, is featured this month. Bell, a Chicago native, has lived in Western North Carolina for the past 5 years. Having moved many times as a child, her best friends were her imagination, books and animals. Staci attended University of Wisconsin, Madison majoring in Communications. She relocated to SW Florida, gaining notoriety as a 25 year radio and television personality and animal advocate. She has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, 234 Journal and has both a poem and short story in the forthcoming second annual “Wolf Warriors: The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Anthology.” Staci is a member of North Carolina Writer's Network West (NCWN-West).

All writers are invited to bring a couple of poems or a short story or personal essay, no more than 1200 words, to share at Open Mic. The poets and writers invite the community to attend and enjoy the readings. There is no charge. Social time after the meeting is often continued by going to lunch at a nearby restaurant. Visitors are welcome.

NCWN-West, a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network is a non-profit organization and appreciates the hospitality of the Moss Library staff. For more information, contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com .


Glenda Beall
Clay County Representative for NCWN-West

Monday, November 2, 2015

Brenda Kay Ledford Receives 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award



Brenda Kay Ledford received the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her poetry book, CREPE ROSES.

This poetry book was published by Aldrich Press last year.  It is available at the John C. Campbell Folk School Craft Shop and Amazon.com.

For more information:  www.ncsocietyofhistorians.org/2015_Winners.php

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Bill Ramsey's new book, What Do You Think?, now available!





Bill Ramsey’s new book, What Do YOU Think? is available today from Amazon in paperback, and on Kindle e-books. Be sure and click on the “LOOK INSIDE” tab just above the cover to read the table of contents and several sample essays.

This is Ramsey’s second book of concise and original essays. The first was his 2013 collection: Now That I Think About It.

In his career, Bill Ramsey wrote technical manuals, magazine articles and business newsletters. Now retired, he enjoys writing about "life and the way real people choose to live it."

Bill is on the board of directors of the North Carolina Writers Network and the Blue Ridge Community College. He is a founder of the Blue Ridge Bookfest, celebrating its 8th year in April, 2016.

You can find Bill's books, and his blog at:
www.authorbillramsey.com
www.billramseyblog.wordpress.com

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Gary Carden will speak at Mountain Writers in Haywood County, Waynesville, November 10


Merry Elrick, Haywood County Representative for NCWN-West invites all who live in the area to attend the meeting of Mountain Writers on November 10 at 1:00 p.m. at Blue Ridge Books, 152 S Main Street in Waynesville, NC.


Gary Carden, storyteller and playwright
Gary Carden, legendary storyteller in our region and an award-winning playwright is the special guest. Among the many other awards he has received is the 2006 Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society and the 2012 North Carolina Award for Literature. Carden has an honorary doctorate from Western Carolina University for his work in storytelling and folklore.
The public is invited to enjoy this great speaker and meet other local writers. 

Learn more about Gary Carden on his blog:  http://hollernotes.blogspot.com/

Monday, October 26, 2015

Exerpt from Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Hayesville, NC on 10/21/2015 with Joan Howard reading

This past Wednesday, Joan Howard read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, at Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC.  Here is an excerpt from her reading.

 



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Poetry class with Karen Paul Holmes on November 7, 2015, 1:00 - 4:00 PM, Hayesville, North Carolina



Karen Paul Holmes, the author of Untying the Knot, and many other published poems in literary journals, will teach a writing class on November 7, 2015, 1:00 - 4:00 PM, at Writers Circle, in Hayesville, NC. The class is called: Borrowing from Your Favorite Poet.

Attendants should bring a poem inspired by a favorite poem. using a line from the favorite poem as your title, an epigraph, or a line within your poem.

Your poem will be allowed to take on its own life -- it does not need to be about the same subject as the original. You’ll also receive some prompts inspired by other great poets, so you can go home and write even more great poems of your own.

Don’t miss the opportunity to study with this award-winning poet and teacher. For more information, contact Glenda Council Beall, at: www.glendacouncilbeall.com.



Three Autumn Poems by Deanna Kingel

Piedmont Autumn

A scent in the air
Freely wafting
No longer smothered under a blanket of humidity and labor’s sweat.
It’s still hot.

Long days of summer’s white hot light
Shift to shorter days of dawn and dusk

The scent haunts.
Rolls of hay
Bales of straw
Stubbled fields of corn
Pumpkins simmer in the field
The lonely watermelon begs for more time, clings, tenacious, to its withered umbilical vine, tethered forever to the season.

Needles once supple and green, drop like rain into rusty heaps
Dry and brittle under the tall pines that give life to the Piedmont.
Leaves, months ago buds of youthful anticipation
Sway, wrinkled and dry, a final tango with summer
Until a traitorous wind out of the North cuts in.

Box turtles burrow deep beneath the privet.
Monarchs and migrants all gone.
The Piedmont is quiet.
Waiting
To be stirred by the cold hand of winter.

Ninety Minutes, Nine Days

Ninety minutes ago I left my home
Winding and curving my descent to I-40 Eastbound where I’ll spend much of the day
Tires on the pavement, already monotonous
Passing Asheville I glimpse a parting view of our mountains
Deep purple silhouette
From every ridge white wisps of sprite-like cloud reach upward
Absorbed into the new day

Rain clouds torn apart reveal ragged patches of blue
Like a lacy shawl over the chilly shoulders of the Blue Ridge.
I feel the magnetic tug.
This vision will be mine nine hours from now when I unpack my car
The magnetic pull will nudge every day I am away.

Nine days from now in late afternoon
I will pass this place again on I-40 Westbound
Passing Asheville my first glimpse of our mountains
I’ll know that in my absence fall arrived in full
The silhouette painted crimson red
Hickory and Poplar pin gold brooches to the breast of our mountain.

She is stunning.
The magnet pulls from the core of the mountain to the inner core of me
Tires on the pavement hum
Near breathless with anticipation
Winding, curving my ascent begins
Back up to the plateau I call home
Hidden deep in the Blue Ridge

Morning Mist in the Gap

I pass Cumberland Gap early in the day
I hear the haints say s-stay s-stay
I see them rise into the air
Thin wisps of fingers
Come, come if you dare

I see Dan’l Boone hiking the ridge
Whistling a tune
Leading pioneers
Unaware of doom

Women, children, adventurous men
Haints in white gauzy attire
Walking, creeping, crawling, falling
Down into the ridge as they tire

Cherokee haints pass slow in grief
Translucent hands raised
In disbelief
Kneeling, praying, dying, along the clouded ridge
Knowing not what’s across that bridge.

The sun rises warm and releases the haints
To stillness and silence from their secret place
To return in the night and hide in dark
Until daybreak when they wander again



Deanna K. Klingel, Author

Booksbydeanna.com















Change of time for November Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Hayesville, NC, we will now meet at 10:00 AM, the third Wed.of the month, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Please note that Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) has a change of time, starting in November, at the Moss Memorial Library venue, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, 28904.  We will meet on Wednesday, November 18th at 10:00 AM, so as not to conflict with another writing group.

Friday, October 16, 2015

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.