Spring Conference Time is Near

Seeing the announcement of the NCWN Spring Conference created an excitement in me to go to this gathering of successful writers and poets. I want the inspiration and motivation I always receive when I am with writers. 

Ed Southern at City Lights Books. Photo by Barry Beall

I like to learn and I can tell there is much I could learn here. One of the things most of us need is the sessions by Ed Southern and his wife, Jamie, both knowledgeable about the book business. That is what we have if we make an effort to publish our writing, a business we need to work at just as we work at our writing. 

At times our book business takes too much of our time, or it seems to. We want to spend our time writing, not building a platform or reputation with readers, or getting our books into book stores, checking on their sales and even picking up books that are not selling. I was told that many writers, enthusiastic about their new novels, travel far and wide to sell book store owners on the idea of carrying their books. But, book store owners say often authors never come back. They never even contact the book stores. 

When our local book store closed the owner said she had contacted all the local authors whose books she carried, but very few came back to get their books. I ended up with many of them because I was asked to take them. Elizabeth didn't want to just throw away the books, so I give them as door prizes in our writing groups or donate them to Friends of the Library book store. 

The book business is important to learn. I want to attend Ed and Jamie's sessions. If anyone in WNC or north Georgia wants to go to Greensboro to the Spring Conference, I would like to have a companion for the trip. 

Don't Miss this Writers' Conference in Greensboro, NC Saturday, April 23

GREENSBORO—The fiction offerings at the upcoming North Carolina Writers' Network 2016 Spring Conference, Saturday, April 23, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will encourage attendees to build a firm foundation before choosing to zig when others zag by finding inspiration in the everyday and establishing a firm sense of place.

Spring Conference registration is now open.

Visit the website to see the excellent presenters at this annual conference. See the poetry, nonfiction and other topics on the schedule.

The price is right and if you live within driving distance this event is a bargain. 

SPRING CONFERENCE IN GREENSBORO

Kevin Watson of Press 53, 2008 Spring Conference

I hope to see many of our Netwest members at the NCWN Spring Conference in Greensboro on April 25. Although I've wanted to go all along, we could not make definite plans until today. I think the presenters will be excellent and it is always fun re-connecting with writer friends and making new friends.


I will be helping at the registration desk so when you come in, let me know if you are a Netwest member. This will be my last conference as Program Coordinator for Netwest and I'm so happy we will be able to make the trip.

See you there.

Glenda Beall

Top Ten Reasons I Have Enjoyed Being Program Coordinator for Netwest

1. I was able to bring onboard a corporate sponsor, United Community Bank, Inc..

2. I have been delighted to give something back to Netwest. We are steadily increasing our membership.

3. I’ve met and discussed Netwest with people throughout NC, and I’ve participated in exciting writing events and spoken to eager audiences of writers.

4. With the addition of Henderson County to our membership, I had the opportunity to meet the writers there, appoint a county representative and play a part in helping them build a writing community.

5. Working with our past and present leaders we revised a set of guidelines, drafted in 2003, which makes Netwest more independent without breaking from the North Carolina Writers’ Network. This was sorely needed.

6. One of the goals I had as Program Coordinator was to reach out to all the counties included in the membership of Netwest and let them know they are Netwest members just as much as members in Cherokee and Clay County.

7. For many years I had heard “we get nothing for our dues” from some members. I was able, in this past year, to give our members several low cost workshops by top writing instructors, to promote the work of deserving writers, to give computer classes to members at low or no cost, to start a Netwest blog and give our members’ work an outlet to the world.

8. I worked as a volunteer at the Spring Conference in Winston-Salem and found that NCWN needs volunteers and will offer an incentive to members who help out. I appreciate Ed Southern and Virginia Freedman giving me the chance to help with registration.

9. I’ve found working with Nicki Leone, President of NCWN, to be a joy and I admire her for her dedication to writers and to writing.

10. In my position as Program Coordinator, I now realize this is indeed a position which requires dedication and commitment. A PC must be visible, be active, and must respond to every phone call and email from members, possible members, writing instructors, from those who have published books, from those who want to publish books, from those who need the address of a fellow writer, from those who failed to check the calendar or just think it is easier to call the PC.

Part of the Program Coordinator’s job is to welcome new members, writers from out of town, make flyers, publicize and set up readings, contact and remind writers of the dates they read. Beg for volunteers to help when needed, work closely with all newspaper editors so they will happily print our news and calendar announcements, raise funds for special projects, and get to know our Indie book stores who are important to us as writers. And do all this with a smile. To many, the Program Coordinator is the face of Netwest.

10. The best part of being a Program Coordinator for Netwest is seeing our image, a mountain writer’s group, become respected and admired throughout the state of NC and beyond.
To see our members succeed and grow as writers, to see their work appreciated by others, to be their voices when they want to share good news, and know that I had some small part in making this happen, this is the best part.

Glenda Beall

Tired but Inspired in Greensboro

I sit here in Greensboro, NC tired, but inspired after spending all day at the Elliot Center at the UNC-G campus. NCWN held the 2008 Spring Conference here and it is the first time I've attended the annual spring conference. I usually make it a priority to register for the Fall Conferences in Asheville and last November we drove to Winston-Salem.
Most presenters for the conference today were on faculty at UNC-G.
My favorite part of the day was the Publishing Panel consisting of Scott Douglas of Main Street Rag, Kevin Watson of Press 53, Jeanne Leiby of Southern Review and a man from the Georgia Review, but I never understood his name. After a short talk by each member of the panel, I realized once again how important it is to know your market. Read the guidelines carefully and follow them. While the writer may not know it, the guidelines are specific for a reason. Douglas said it is a matter of resources. He hires editors to read submissions therefore, he makes it clear he does not want simultaneous submissions. The reason is obvious. After he has paid an editor to read work that he cannot publish because it has been accepted somewhere else, he is out that money with nothing to show for it. I can't blame him. Although Scott has grown MSR into quite a good business over the years since I first met him, he says he still sweeps the floors and binds the books. "It is easier to find a person to read submissions than to find someone to bind books," he said.
I didn't know until today that he prints books for a number of other magazines. He is still a rebel in this business and not so snooty as the Georgia Review. Their representative said don't send your poetry to them unless you don't mind letting them "meddle" with it. I got the impression that they "edited" or "meddled" with everything that goes in the magazine.
Scott, on the other hand, wants the work you send him to be ready for the printer when he gets it. He doesn't want to have to rewrite or work too much to make changes to a submission. And don't try to make changes after he has it ready to print.

Listening to some of the stories they told today made me a little more understanding of the editor's and publisher's problems with writers who are inconsiderate and hard to work with, who won't follow guidelines and seem to have no understanding of how a book is made..

This panel covered everything a writer wants to know about submitting and publishing. I sat in on about an hour of Ed Southern's session on publishing and found a good discussion going there. I wish I had been there for the entire session.
Congratulations to Ed Southern and Virginia Freedman for the work they put in to bring us this great conference. Even though they had some challenges, no one knew it and things went off well.

I worked with Virginia and Ed at the registration tables and enjoyed meeting the writers, greeting them and seeing friends like Valerie Nieman, Katherine, who was in my JCCFS class in March, and Marlyn who came to Hayesville for our Lights in the Mountains conference and stayed four days. I enjoyed meeting Jan Parker and hope she is reading this blog now. I wish more of our Netwest members would attend the NCWN conferences. They are always interesting and fun.