Excerpts from Col. Don Long reading at CWTPW, Wed. August 17, 2016

In case you missed Col. Don Long reading at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, on Wed., August 17th, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC, you can hear him, here:

Donald E. Long, MS, ISASI, CSE,  was born and raised in Sebring, Florida. After two years of college, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. In 1980 he retired as a Lt. Colonel. He began a second career with the U.S. Federal Government as a Safety Professional, retiring a second time in 2000. During his two careers, he lived in, or visited, over 20 countries.

Starting in his teen years and all throughout his adult life he has written poems, mostly for his consumption, but occasionally on request, for personnel at special occasions during his careers. For a short while after retiring from the Army he had a business called “People Poems” writing poems for others for a fee after they provided him with pertinent information. Although the business was doing well, his second career necessitated that he close it.

He writes poems for personal reasons, prefers for them to rhyme, and says of himself, “I guess I missed the revolution”. One of his poems, “I’m Glad It’s Mine” has been used during citizenship swearing-in ceremonies in central Florida and for central Florida Flag Day ceremonies. Another poem about being a Vietnam Veteran was featured at the 2013 Florida “Convention” for Vietnam Helicopter Pilots. One story about his Vietnam Experience has been published in two different military related anthologies, The Harsh and The Heart and Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories, Volume 2.

Since his second retirement, he has split his time between Winter Park, Florida and Murphy, North Carolina. He has been married for 37 years to Marti, has six children, and ten grandchildren living in central Florida and north Georgia. In addition to writing, his other hobby is genealogy.

December 16, 2015, 10:00 AM – Coffee with the Poets and Writers – Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

 

Coffee with the Poets and Writers will have their annual holiday program on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC. It will be open mic, so bring your Christmas or holiday poems, short stories, or essays of your original work.

Refreshments will be served.

Everyone will take home a gift. This is the time our members can sign up to read for next year. We will not meet in January and February.

JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE TO READ AT COFFEE WITH THE POETS AND WRITERS IN HAYESVILLE, NC, AUGUST 12, 2015 10:30 AM

This month we are happy to have Janice Townley Moore as featured reader at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Joe’s Coffee House, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. We meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 12.

Janice facilitates the NCWN-West Poetry Critique group that meets monthly at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC. An Atlanta native, Janice recently retired from Young Harris College in Georgia where she was a professor of English for many years. Moore taught creative writing and poetry at YHC, and her special areas of interest include contemporary poetry and Southern literature.

In addition to her teaching duties, she was chair of the YHC Humanities Division for eight years and served 12 years as poetry editor for the Georgia Journal. Moore claimed first prize in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards and was awarded first place in the Georgia Poetry Society's annual competition in 2011.

Her work has appeared in more than 60 esteemed journals, anthologies and textbooks, including The Georgia Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia, Contemporary Georgia Poets, Women Writing in Appalachia and the Southern Poetry Review.

Janice Moore is author of Teaching the Robins, a poetry chapbook, published by Finishing Line Press in 2005. She is co-author of Like a Summer Peach, a great little book of recipes and poems.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers includes an Open Mic session. This is open to the public and anyone with an original poem or short prose piece is welcome to share it. We ask that prose pieces be no longer than 1500 – 1800 words.

Joe’s Coffee House is known for various kinds of coffee and tea. Water, soft drinks and bagels are available as well. Plan to stay for lunch with us at Angelo’s across the street. We want to get to know you.

Call Glenda Beall 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com for more information

Glenda Council Beall

Clay County Representative for NCWN West

Coffee with the Poets and Writers July 8 at Joe's Coffee House

The NC Writers’ Network-West will hold the monthly Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Joe’s Coffee House, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. This group will meet Wednesday, July 8 at 10:30 a.m.. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open to the public at no charge. Bring a poem or short prose, 1000 words or less, and read at Open Mic. Joe’s Coffee House serves fine coffees and teas, as well as bagels and snacks. Cindy and Norma make all feel very welcome at Joe’s. Two local members of NCWN-West, Estelle Darrow Rice and Glenda Council Beall are featured on the program this month. Estelle Rice Estelle Rice is a North Carolina native who has lived in other states but came back to spend retirement in the mountains in Cherokee County. She holds a BA degree in Psychology from Queens University, Charlotte, NC and a MA degree in counseling from the University of South Alabama, Mobile AL. Her short stories and personal essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. Her book of spiritual poems, Quiet Times, was well received and highly praised. She has taught writing for NC Writers’ Network-West and for Writers Circle around the Table in Hayesville, NC. Glenda C. Beall Glenda Council Beall began Coffee with the Poets and Writers in 2007 and continues to facilitate the event. Her poetry and prose have been published in newspapers, anthologies, online and academic journals, and in her chapbook Now Might as Well be Then published in 2009. She published a family history book Profiles and Pedigrees, Thomas C. Council and his Descendants, in 1998. She is a Georgia native, a graduate of the University of Georgia and a former elementary school teacher. She now teaches writing for adults at Tri-County Community College in the community enrichment program and at her home studio, Writers Circle, in Hayesville. Beall maintains two personal blogs, www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com and www.glendacouncilbeall.com Her poetry is inspired by memories of the past, her large family and her impressions of what she sees and hears in the world around her. She writes about everything from growing chickens to dealing with grief. The community is invited to Joe’s to listen to the readers, to read, to mingle with the writers and poets, and all are welcome to join us for lunch across the street at Angelo’s. Contact NCWN-West Representative, Glenda Beall, at 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com  for information This is a program of the state literary organization NC Writers’ Network.

COFFEE WITH THE POETS AND WRITERS

We had an interesting mix of writers and poets gather today at  Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill for our last meeting of the year. We don’t meet in January and February because the weather is questionable in this area during those winter months. We will begin in March on the second Wednesday, at 10:30 a.m. and our featured Netwest member will be Bob Grove, author of several books, including his memoir, Misadventures of an Only Child. Visit him online at bobgrove.org.

We had visitors today from Murphy, NC and from Blue Ridge, GA. I was happy to  see two writers from my classes at Tri-CountyCommunity College in Murphy, Kim Delaney and Larry Weas. I look forward to teaching again in March 2015 at TCCC. The title of the class is Write Your Life Stories. We will meet from 6 – 8 p.m. on Tuesday evenings. See www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com for more description of the class.

We gave away five or six door prizes today – books and writing magazines. We talked about how, as writers, we bond when we share our poems and stories with each other. We get to know each other in a way that non-writers do not. Maren Mitchell said when she first read her work in public her knees were shaking but now she could read before a thousand people and it would not bother her. I hope all our beginning writers and poets hear that and know that one day all their fears will disappear, and they will enjoy sharing their work with others.

The program was all open mic today and we heard stories, poems and essays from those gathered around the table. I read a poem from Christmas Presence, an anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. The poem, Southside Diner by Cecily Wells, showed a glimpse of the loneliness of some people at Christmas time and made us all feel grateful.

Some photos of our day:

From left: Kim, Totsie, Maren, Joan, and Bill

Linda, Joan and Jim

Not pictured,  but present: Larry Weas and Louisa, Jim's wife.

Paul Schofield, novelist, reads at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Coffee with the Poets and Writers meets the second Wednesday of each month. Murphy resident, Paul Schofield, novelist, is featured November 12 at 10:30 a.m. at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill on the corner of Hwy 141 and Hwy 64 in Cherokee County, NC. This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (Netwest), and the community is welcome. Visitors are invited to participate at open mic by signing up to read a short prose piece or a couple of poems. 

Paul’s vocation is architecture, but he is also a writer. He has written The Trophy Saga, an action-packed, pure science-fiction trilogy, in the classic style. The Saga features time-travel, chase and battle scenes, fusion powered star-ships, a computer-controlled society, tender moments and scary episodes. Exciting and refreshing to read, the Saga is free of explicit sex, profanity, graphic violence and paranormal themes.

Born and raised in Montana, immersion in the natural world around him was inevitable. As he grew up he learned the complexities of language, and the joy of humor, by the daily exchange of witty puns with his father. An avid reader, Paul’s favorite genre was science fiction.

His interest in the night skies sparked a love for amateur astronomy. Coming of age during the time of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Babylon V, his love of science fiction grew, and his desire to craft and share his own stories was ignited.

When he became chilled to the bone in Montana, he moved to Florida, where he became quite well done…seasoned. Now he and his wife Ellen live in western North Carolina with their highly intelligent cats, contentedly fulfilling their role as “halfbacks.” Learn more about Paul Schofield and his books at his website, http://www.paulmschofield.com/

For more information about Coffee with the Poets and Writers, call 828-389-4441. Visit the NCWN West website, www.ncwriters-west.org 

Coffee with the Poets and Writers in Far Western North Carolina

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly literary event held at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill, 30 NC Hwy 141, Murphy, NC will hold a reading at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 10 by two outstanding published poets, Carole Thompson of Blairsville and Peg Bresnahan of Transylvania County NC. The public is invited. Carole Richard Thompson and her husband moved to Blairsville, in the North Georgia mountains, 21 years ago. After being a portrait artist for many years, she began to study writing, and joined the North Carolina Writer’s Network. She credits her love for writing to her friend and mentor, Nancy Simpson, whose classes in creative writing and poetry have been her greatest source of inspiration. Her first short story, "A Bag of Sugar for Paula," was published in The Liquorian Magazine, and also the anthology, Christmas Presence, published by Catawba Press. Her story, "The Uniform" appeared in the anthology, Clotheslines, published by Catawba Press. Her essay, “The Common Thread” won the 1991 NSDAR Best of Show and National Gold Honors Award in their National Heritage Committee, Literature and Drama Division Contest. Carole’s poetry has appeared in anthologies, A Sense of Place, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, and Women’s Spaces, Women’s Places as well as in poetry journals. In 2013, her poetry book, Enough, was published by FutureCycle Press. The title poem, “Enough,” is a compliment to a long marriage which endured ups and downs. She recalls wartime partings, letters, and phone calls – never enough. But in the later years, being together every day is now enough. Peg Bresnahan’s second poetry collection, In a Country None of Us Called Home, was recently published by Press 53. Peg is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. She received her MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpeliar. Her work has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies.  She lives in Cedar Mountain, NC with husband, sculptor, Dan Bresnahan. She says she moved to the mountains of western North Carolina and the land of waterfalls from the Door County Peninsula of Wisconsin, exchanging what she thinks of as the horizontal water of Lake Michigan for water that is decidedly vertical.  Kathy Smith Bowers, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina said of Peg’s latest book, "This is one of the most beautifully crafted and moving collections I have read in a long time."

Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open to the public at no charge. Bring a poem or short story and read at Open Mic. Those attending are invited to join the writers and poets after the event as we pull tables together and enjoy a social hour.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network West. Contact NCWN West Representative, Glenda Beall, at 828-389-4441 or gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com  for information.

Staci Bell will read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers August 13

Each month the North Carolina Writers’ Network West sponsors Coffee with the Poets and Writers and invites the public to attend. Staci Lynn Bell, accomplished writer, will be featured on Wednesday, August 13, 10:30 a.m. at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill located at the intersection of Highway 64 and Highway 141 in Cherokee County, NC.

Bell began writing commercials, editorials and public service announcements for TV and radio. In 1988 her environmental essay won statewide acclaim in Florida. More recently her short stories and nonfiction have been published in the online journal, 234, and in Show Dog Magazine. Her poetry has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, a popular online literary journal.

Staci Lynn Bell will read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

For twenty-five years, Staci Bell worked in radio and television as a broadcaster, host and emcee for numerous events and concerts. Originally from Chicago, today Bell lives in Murphy, NC with her husband and three dogs. She is a member of NCWN West and the Ridgeline Literary Alliance.

An Open Mic session follows the featured reader, and anyone who brings an original short story or personal essay or poem, is invited to sign up to read. This event is open to all who like poetry and enjoy short prose whether or not they are a writer. Visitors are also invited to join the writers as they  pull tables together and eat lunch. A drawing is held for door prizes.

GlendaBeall, Clay County Representative for NCWN West, facilitates this event. Contact her at nightwriter0302@yahoo.com or call her at 828-389-4441 with any questions.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers Schedule for 2014

The Hayesville/Murphy Coffee with the Poets and Writers will not be held in January and February because we can't depend on the weather. This past week has been proof of that. As most things slow down and stop these two months in the mountains, we can stay in and compose more poems and work on our writing.

We will meet 10:30 a.m. March 12 at Blue Mountain Restaurant for our first meeting of 2014.
Netwest member, Deanna Klingel from Cashiers will be featured. Bring something for Open Mic and plan to stay for lunch.
Most of the schedule was filled at our December meeting, but we still have a few places left if anyone wants to sign up as a second reader or for August. Contact me, nightwriter0302@yahoo.com to be put on the schedule.
See the present CWPW Schedule below.

March 12 -- Deanna Klingel
April 9 -- Brenda Kay Ledford
May 14 -- Lucy Gratton and Joan Howard
June 11 -- Estelle Rice and Staci Bell
July 9 -- Linda Smith
August 13 --
September 10 -- Carole Thompson
October 8 -- Mary Mike Keller and Bob Grove
November 12 -- Karen Holmes and Paul Schofield
December -- Open mic meeting

See you in March.