Blue Ridge Writers Conference in Blue Ridge Georgia - Friday Night Reception

Tonight I sat with Robert S. King and Carole Thompson at a book table upstairs in the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Center in Blue Ridge, Georgia. The room was small, but besides our long table loaded with Robert's many poetry books, copies of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Now Might as Well be Then, my poetry chapbook and Carole’s new book, I think 8 other writers were displaying their novels.

Glenda Beall, Scott Owens (standing in back) Robert S. King

I found that several of them were new in the area. I used this opportunity to tell them about NCWN and NCWN West. I gave out brochures with the application form on them, but the phone number for NCWN on the brochure is incorrect. We need to update our literature.

I feel sure we will soon have three new members. One of them is an author who lives in Macon County NC. I had friended her on Facebook. (Friended- what a weird word) Her name is Linda Rue Quinn, author of The Cyrano Game and another book soon to be in bookstores. She is trying to get some writing events started in Macon County, and I hope she will soon be a member of NCWN West.

Linda Rue Quinn and her husband

Another lovely author who is new to our region, only been here a few weeks, is Sharon. She has a novel and I’ll tell more about it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I am in bed trying to get rid of the terrible headache I developed from sitting near someone who wore perfume. Having MCS makes it very difficult to attend writing conferences.

I am also ready to get back to Southern Fried Lies by Susan Snowden. So far, I am really enjoying this novel.

Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center Visit

For those who have not visited the Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center outside Blairsville, GA, this is a wonderful time of year to spend an hour or more learning about life in these mountains as it was 100 years ago, and to learn about the interesting poet, Byron Herbert Reece. He grew up here and lived on the farm where the center has been built. He taught at Young Harris College. His story tells the story of this land, of Choestoe, where he was born in a cabin in 1917.

The anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, is dedicated to Reece and several of his poems are in the book. I was fascinated to read Reece's actual letters and the newspaper articles I found at the center. The lost art of letter-writing is a window to the writer's heart. My appetite has been whetted and I want to read all of them.
On the day I visited the center, Mrs. John Kay was there and filled our heads with interesting facts about the noted poet.

My guests and I watched a video about Reece's life told by poets, Mildred Greear and Bettie Sellers, and other well-known people of this area. I hope to get back over to continue my tour and purchase some of the books on sale at the gift shop, but I must go soon. They will only be open a few more weekends.

(from the Reece website)
The remaining days of fall


We’re back to clear blue skies, and while the wind was hard on the leaves, it’s still lovely at the Reece Farm and Heritage Center. We’ll be open just a few more weekends, so be sure to stop by soon. The Gift Shop is full of unique items for gift giving, and Shelley will be glad to guide you through the selections. The Farm and Heritage Center is located south of Blairsville on the Gainesville Highway (Hwy 129), just north of Vogel State Park. Watch for the signs! We’re open the remaining weekends in November, including the weekend following Thanksgiving, on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00.

Mary Ricketson on the Program to Read at CWP June 13

Coffee with the Poets will have two Netwest featured readers this month, June 13, 10:30 a.m. Mary Ricketson is also on the program Wednesday with Maren Mitchell.

Mary Ricketson’s poetry has been published in her chapbook, I Hear the River Call My Name, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Freeing Jonah IV, Freeing Johah V, and Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Your Daily Poem, various magazines and blogs, and in Disorgananza, a private collection distributed among family and friends. She won the gold medal for poetry in the 2011 Cherokee County Senior Games/Silver Arts and silver medal for 2012. She won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest national poetry contest.

Mary writes a monthly column, Woman to Woman, for The Cherokee Scout. She is a long time member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. Mary says she writes to satisfy a hunger, to taste life all the way down to the last drop. She gains perspective from family and friends, her Appalachian home, and her life’s work as a counselor. Writing poetry places her in kinship with her own life.

Mary Ricketson is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Murphy, North Carolina. She brings more than thirty years experience to her work, with twenty-five years in private practice. She is a founding board member of REACH. She has a special interest in women’s issues, victims of abuse, and family and couple relationships. She offers innovative ways to effect change in difficult life patterns, including Journey to Intuition and Neurofeedback. She is listed in Who’s Who in America.

Come out to hear Mary and Maren share their delightful poetry at Coffee with the Poets on Wednesday, June 13.

On Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's Your Daily Poem.com, I clicked on her Poetry News page where I found this article.



Poetry doesn't come out so well on an e-reader, it seems. I finally succumbed and bought a Kindle when they came down to a more reasonable price. So far, I'm not impressed, but then I've done very little with it. Now I read that Billy Collins was less than impressed with the way the e-reader destroyed the forms of his poetry.



"I found that even in a very small font that if the original line is beyond a certain length, they will take the extra word and have it flush left on the screen, so that instead of a three-line stanza you actually have a four-line stanza. And that screws everything up," said Collins, a former U.S. poet laureate whose "Ballistics" came out in February.



Now, I wonder if we want Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, on Kindle after all. We have excellent poetry from numerous poets in this anthology. How will they feel if their poems are changed due to the inability of the technology to hold the words on the proper lines, keep punctuation in place and keep the integrity of the poem intact?



What do you think? If you are a poet, please let us know by leaving a comment.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/19/BUN21EFS7H.DTL#ixzz126qxVEOz

NC WRITERS NETWORK 19th Annual Picnic will be held at Western Carolina University Picnic Grounds in Cullowhee, NC.

NC Writers Network West's annual picnic will be held Sunday Sept 12, 2010 beginning at 3:00 at Western Carolina University Picnic Grounds.

N.C. Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers will be our special guest reader and an open mic will follow. Limit your reading to 5 minutes so that we can hear everyone who wants to share their writing.

NC Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers is the featured guest reader.

The picnic is open to all writers. You do not have to be a member of NCWN West to attend. Bring your family and friends. Bring a covered side dishes or desserts to share. Meat and tea will be provided. The Jackson County Netwest members will provide paper plates, etc. Bring a folding chair. Kathryn Stripling Byer, Program Coordinator will host the event. A table will be provided for books for sale by members. Those with books bring copies. Copies of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge will also be be for sale.

DIRECTIONS and a Campus Map.

THE ANNUAL FALL PICNIC WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY,SEPT. 12 AT THE WESTERN
CAROLINA UNIVERSITY PICNIC GROUNDS BEGINNING AT 3:00 P.M. YOU WILL FIND DIRECTIONS TO THE GROUNDS AND PICNIC SHELTER AT THE LINK BELOW.IF YOU COME IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE, YOU WILL GO AROUND THE TRAFFIC CIRCLE TO THE LEFT, TAKE THE FIRST LEFT AFTER THAT(THE TRACK WILL BE TO YOUR RIGHT) AND KEEP GOING. YOU WILL SEE THE PICNIC GROUNDS. WE WILL HAVE SIGNS UP, OF COURSE. SEE YOU THEN!

CATHY SMITH BOWERS, OUR NEW POET NC POET LAUREATE, WILL BE OUR GUEST.

http://www.wcu.edu/546.asp
CAMPUS MAP

BLUE RIDGE BOOKS IN WAYNESVILLE, NC HOSTS ECHOES AUTHORS

Reading and Book Signing at Blue Ridge Books, Waynesville, NC, August 28, 2010

Blue Ridge Books in downtown Waynesville will host a reading and book signing for the new anthology "Echoes Across the Blue Ridge," from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 28.

The anthology includes a variety of stories, essays, and poems by writers living in and inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The list of authors includes Kathryn Stripling Byer, Gary Carden, Thomas Rain Crowe, and many others.
Best-selling author Lee Smith has praised the book as a "dynamite collection-strong and surprising." Author, poet, and Western Carolina professor Ron Rash writes of the book, "Anyone who enjoys Appalachian Literature will be delighted by this excellent anthology, particularly because it introduces the reader to a number of our region's gifted though lesser-known writers."
Local authors scheduled to appear on August 28 include Dick Michener, JC Walkup, George Ivey, Glenda Beall, and Jane Young.
The book is now available for sale at local bookstores, including Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, City Lights in Sylva, and Malaprop's Bookstore and Café in Asheville. For more information, go online to netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2010/01/echoes-across-blue-ridge.html.

ECHOES FEATURED IN SYLVA HERALD

New anthology includes work by Byer, Carden, Crowe By Lynn Hotaling A new anthology of Appalachian writings includes work by several local writers. “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge,” a collection of poems, stories and essays from the southern Appalachians, features poems by former N.C. Poet Laureate Kay Byer of Cullowhee; stories by Gary Carden of Sylva; and an essay by Tuckasegee writer Thomas Crowe. A celebration of the book’s release from Winding Path Publishing is planned this Sunday, Aug. 8, from 5 until 8 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore. The volume was published with sponsorship and support from the N.C. Writers Network West, a chapter of the statewide N.C. Writers Network. “Netwest members conceived this anthology, raised funds and brought it to fruition,” according to Nancy Simpson, the collection’s editor. The anthology’s introduction is by author Robert Morgan, and its cover holds compliments from noted Southern writers Ron Rash and Lee Smith. A new anthology, “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge,” a new poetry and prose collection, includes work by several local writers. A special book celebration is planned at City Lights Bookstore on Sunday, Aug. 8, from 5 until 8 p.m. “Anyone who enjoys Appalachian literature will be delighted by this excellent anthology, particularly because it introduces the reader to a number of our region’s gifted though lesser-known writers,” Rash writes. “Straight from the land of sky, song and story, another dynamite collection – strong and surprising – these mountain writers know how to howl at the moon,” adds Smith. In addition to Byer, Carden and Crowe, local contributors to “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge include James Cox, Carl Iobst and Arnie Nielsen. The remaining writers and poets reside within the nine counties south of Asheville, on the Qualla Boundary and in bordering counties of Georgia and South Carolina. In his introduction, Morgan says the anthology, which places the writing of poet laureates like Byer and former Georgia Poet Laureate Bettie Sellers with the work of newcomers, gives him renewed confidence in the future of Appalachian literature. “Beyond the storytelling, the ballads, the songs, the fiddle music, there is something profoundly poetic about the Southern Appalachian Mountains,” Morgan writes. Byer, Carden and Crowe all said they are pleased with the book and proud to be among its writers. “This anthology is a labor of love by Netwest, especially by Nancy Simpson, the editor,” Byer said. “This project took two years to bring to completion, and the effort was well worth the time. Here we have a diversity of voices ranging from the well known to the relatively unknown. Robert Morgan’s introduction is stellar, and the testimonials by novelists Lee Smith and Ron Rash hit the bull’s eyes, especially Lee’s: ‘These writers know how to howl at the moon.’ I hope Jackson county lovers of the word will come out on Aug. 8 to hear these literary howls echoing across the mountains.” Crowe said he appreciates the anthology’s role in allowing new voices to be heard. “One of the things that this highly inclusive anthology does is bring new voices (and they are many with both natives and ‘new natives’ sharing their stories and talents during a period that can only be seen as a kind of renaissance of writers here in these hills and surrounds) before the general public and to the fore in terms of chronicling the new life of our region as well as delineating the work to be done to preserve and protect the beauty and sustainability of Western North Carolina for future generations,” Crowe said. “Having spent the majority of my life in these mountains, I am very pleased to be counted as one of the members of this writers community who writes passionately about this place.” For his part, Carden termed the book “an impressive collection” and said he intends to invite its writers to read their work at the Liar’s Bench, his monthly storytelling and mountain culture event. In addition to contributing several of his stories to “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge,” Carden donated the proceeds from a special production of his play “Birdell” to NCWN West to help with costs involved in publishing “Echoes.” Carden said he was glad to help. “It’s wonderful when art nurtures art and produces another kind of art,” he said. The anthology is dedicated to the memory of Appalachian ballad poet Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958) whose poetry collection, “Bow Down in Jericho,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1950. “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge” includes several of Reece’s poems. Participating writers will read from “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge: Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains” during Sunday’s City Lights event.

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Order online from Double Eagle Enterprises

NCWN West thanks member, William V. Reynolds, author and publisher, for listing Echoes Across the Blue Ridge on his website,
Double Eagle Enterprises.
This is one more place online to order the anthology which sells for only $16.00. William Reynolds has a listing of his many novels and other products from his online store. Click here.

NC Writers' Network West Will Celebrate the Publication of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge.

The big publication party will be held at City Lights Book Store,

Sylva, North Carolina,

August 8, 2010, 5:00 pm.

NC Writers Network West Program Coordinator

Kathryn Stripling Byer

will host this event.

My heart wants to celebrate our mountain writers.

I hope to see you there.

--Nancy Simpson

Poet Maren O. Mitchell will Read at Coffee With the Poets

Coffee With the Poets, a monthly program of NC Writers Network West, will feature poet Maren O. Mitchell reading her original poems at Phillips and Lloyd Book Store on the town square in Hayesville June 9th, 2010 at 10:30.

After the featured poet reads, there will be an open mic reading, so come and bring one of your poems to read. Coffee, tea and morning sweets are offered by The Dessertery for $2.50.

Maren O. Mitchell's poems have been widley published in American literary magazines including Red Clay Reader, Appalachian Journal, The Journal of Kentucky Studies and a new poem is forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review. She also has a poem forthcoming in Echoes Across the Blue Ridge -

Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Maren taught poetry writing at Blue Ridge Community College, Flat Rock, NC and she catalogued at the Carl Sandburg Home.

Want more information about poetry? www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com

Here is Why it Takes Forever to Get Your Book Published

If anyone wonders why it takes months and sometimes more than a year to publish a book, please read this post. The author is Debra Dixon  of Bellebooks which published Maggie Valley, NC author, Kathryn Magendie's
novel, Tender  Graces.  I've followed Kathryn's blog as she wrote her first book, and kept her readers up to date on her publishing process.

On the post titled Why Does it Take So Long to Publish a Book, Debra gives us a list that is mind boggling and opens eyes to why it takes forever, after a writer finishes a manuscript, to get it into the hands of the reader.

Makes me even more appreciative of the work being done by Nancy Simpson and other members of NCWN West as we put together what promises to be an excellent anthology of work by writers living in and inspired by the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Cover for Echoes Across the Blue Ridge

After many hours spent pouring over the photos submitted for the cover of the NCWN West anthology, this photo by Philip Sampson of Young Harris, Georgia fits the recommendations of our book sellers and others who insist this book will jump right off the shelves into hands of readers when they spy this cover. The reflection of the mountains in the lake echoes the scene and fits the title ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
The book was titled by the editor Nancy Simpson. The cover design is by Katja Holmes.
Glenda Beall is marketing manager and is already promoting the book. A list of contributors will be posted here very soon. Read poems from the book on the blog of Nancy Simpson.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the book will not be released until after the first of the year. Continue to watch this site for more information.

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge

Submissions for the cover art for the Netwest anthology, Echoes across the Blue Ridge, Poems, Stories and Essays by writers living in and inspired by the southern Appalachians, have been most impressive. We will continue to accept photos, 8x10 please, until July 4.

We accept submissions only from the Netwest area. Be sure contact information is on each submission. We hope to have a selection made by August 1.

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge: Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.


Above is the title for the new Netwest anthology. It is appropriate for the vast number of poets and writers whose work is included.

Nancy Simpson, editor of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, has worked long hours night and day to choose the absolutely best work from around nearly one hundred submissions.

We hope to send out acceptance letters in the coming week to those who sent an SASE informing them of the protocol expected when sending in their revised copy on disk.

Now that we have a title, we need submissions for cover art. If you are an artist, or a photographer and want to send an 8 X 10 color photograph, we welcome submissions from anyone living in the Netwest area. After acceptance, the photo will need to be sent on disk or jump drive as a jpeg file.
Keep a copy of your photograph as we will not mail them back.
Photo credit will be given in the anthology.

Mail submissions to Glenda Beall, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904
Be sure you include your contact information including phone number and E-mail address.