As some of you know, I’ve been keeping a poetry website for the past fifteen months dedicated to promoting southern and Appalachian poets. It is free and all are welcome. It is not a formal web site but rather it’s a blog site with my main topic being poetry. It is called LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE. I set up this site during a NCWN West Saturday workshop in Oct. 2008. I had no grand goals then, no ulterior motives what so ever. I only wanted to promote the poetry of our poets writing in the mountains and some of them in other forgotten parts of the south. I was amazed at how easy it was to communicate with other writers, and I was thrilled by your response.
The growing seasons gets extended for those who dwell above the frost line. Extending the growth season is something I’ve experienced since first coming to Cherry Mountain in the southern Appalachian mountains. A companion idea is that one’s writing life can also be extended. It’s true. Never has it been more true than this year in December 2009. Just after the hard freeze, as the last of the flowers melted into the ground, word of my poems came back to me from the literary world.
Word came from Carolina Wren Press, Durham, North Carolina, that they will publish a collection of my poetry in the forthcoming spring titled Living Above the Frost Line - Selected and New Poems. It is to be the first book in their new Carolina Laureate Series and was chosen by NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer. The collection will span 32 years of my poetry writing career.
I signed my book contract on December 24th, and Janice Townley Moore, my long time poetry writing buddy, witnessed my signature. We met in the parking lot at Kerr Drug Store and sat there in my car laughing and saying “Who would have thought it?” and “On Christmas Eve.” Then I drove to the US Post Office in Hayesville and mailed the contract back to the press, imagining how on Christmas Eve, the contract might accidentally end up in Santa’s sled.
Today on the first day a the new year 2010, I find myself singing “Happy New Year” every time the phone rings, and I find myself more filled with hope than I have been in a long time.
Happy New Year and Best Wishes to all of you Netwest Writers and to others reading and writing in the mountains.
Please visit when you get the time. http://www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com/
No one could be happier for you,Nancy, than I am. We all will be the fortunate ones when we finally see this manuscript in print. Congratulations to Carolina Wren Press for choosing your work to launch this new line for their press.
ReplyDeleteYour new year is starting off in the best way, and I'm sure will continue to bring you joy.
What great news! As a transplant, I find it heartwarming to be able to think, "I know her!" for some of my newfound cyber-pals.
ReplyDeleteThank you both so much. I've had several phone calls too from fellow members. I am happy, filled with hope, and looking forward.
ReplyDeleteWe are so proud of you Nancy! This is why we bother to write, or paint, or to do anything with our natural talents. What a thrill, a thrill for you and for all of us who know you and write with you and read with you. And what a lift. Suddenly there exists: more faith in good things, faith in happiness and excitement, faith in the human race. How good does it get?
ReplyDeleteMary Ricketson and Bill Killen
Mary Ricketson said what I'd like to say, only she said it better. So I ditto what she said.
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to get my hands and eyes on your book, Nancy.
Thanks Mary and Bill, Thanks for celebrating the acceptance of my manuscript. I have to pinch myself and tell myself it is really going to happen. Yes, Yes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lift!
Congratulations, Nancy!
ReplyDeleteKaren and Kay, It's exciting. Thanks for sharing the joy. On the coldest night of the year, I feel a special warmth coming to me from my fellow writers.
ReplyDeleteYour blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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