Scott Owens & Glenda Beall at Writers' Night Out, Sept 11

Join us for this dynamic duo on Friday evening, September 11 at 7 p.m.

Glenda Beall

Scott Owens

Dinner in The View Grill: please arrive by 6 p.m. or earlier*

Program in the Ballroom: 7 p.m. followed by open mic

Union County Community Center

129 Union County Recreation Center Road (near intersection of 129 and 76)

Blairsville, GA

map (note: the Holiday Inn on the map is now a Comfort Inn)

The readings are free and open to the public. 

Sign up at the door for open mic, limited to 3 minutes per reader. 

*Optional food/refreshments are self-pay. 

Hendersonville Open Mic Welcomes Guest

Patricia Vestal hosted the monthly Open Mic at the library in Hendersonville recently.

They had a special guest this month. Lisa Lopez Snyder, the current Writer-in-Residence at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock, read from her first novel, which she is finalizing.  

Pat thanks OM supporters Ken Fitch and Lana Hendershott who had met Snyder at a reception and told her about the event. Accompanying her, and providing some information on their program was a Ranger who works with the program. She is also a writer who is eager to attend and read at future OM events. For information on the program and Lisa Lopez Snyder go to http://www.nps.gov/carl/learn/news/wir.htm

Despite the smaller number of readers this month, the material read was excellent, some of it hilarious, some quite powerful, as is usually the case with this diverse group.

Announcements were made about the upcoming Bookfest at Blue Ridge Community College this week-end, April 24 and 25.  

The next Open Mic reading will be held at the library May 18.  To receive the monthly announcement for reader registration,  email opmiclit1@gmail.com.  Notices go out about a week prior to the reading which is the third Monday of each month.

Representatives for Netwest do a great job

The goal of the NC Writers Network West is to have at least one representative in each county of our region which includes nine counties south and west of Asheville. That person is given free membership in NCWN as long as they hold an event in their county – an open mic, critique, Writers Night Out, or some kind of gathering for writers and poets that is open to the public. 

Janice Moore and I (Glenda Beall) are reps for Clay County. Janice facilitates the monthly poetry critique group. I facilitate Coffee with the Poets and Writers which meets once each month on Wednesday morning. We have featured readers and open mic followed by a social time.

LUCY COLE GRATTON

KAREN HOLMES

Karen Holmes and Rosemary Royston are reps for the Georgia counties that border North Carolina. Writers Night Out, a monthly reading, has been a successful venture for several years hosted by Karen Holmes. 

Lucy Cole Gratton and Mary Ricketson are representatives for Cherokee County. Lucy does an excellent job of hosting monthly readings at the John C. Campbell Folk School. The monthly Netwest prose critique group is also held in Cherokee County at the Tri-County Community College.

NEWT SMITH

In Jackson County, Newt Smith and Kathryn Byer share the rep duties

and hold Coffee with a Poet each month at City Lights Book Store.

PATRICIA VESTAL

Henderson County representatives, Lana Hendershott and Patricia Vestal, hold a monthly open mic night that has become very popular with writers there. Having two reps work together and share the responsibility of the event eliminates pressure to always be present. Of course our members are usually happy to be the emcee if the representatives cannot attend. Staci Lynn Bell has volunteered to help with hosting Coffee with the Poets and Writers. She does a great job.

STACI LYNN BELL

It is not difficult to begin an open mic or other event for writers in your area. Find a coffee shop, restaurant, book store, or any place that will open their doors to the group for an hour. Send out word to all the writers in your area either by contacting NCWN or other writers you know in your county. Post a few flyers at the local library or other writerly places in the area.

LANA HENDERSHOTT

Those of us who have been doing this for many years will be very happy to help you get the event off the ground and going strong. An NCWN or Netwest sponsored group has the advantage of being a non-profit and that often eliminates having to pay for a venue.

If a group meets in a coffee house or restaurant, they should all purchase something to eat or drink. That is the courteous thing to do and builds a good relationship with the owner of the shop. Also, tipping the waitress goes a long way in making your group welcome at the restaurant.

We sit and write alone but we need community. We need to be with like-minded people to talk about our craft, to discuss our work and learn from each other. An open mic event might be the first time a budding writer gets up enough nerve to read his/her work out loud to an audience.

There are rules for open mic events and for critique groups that will ensure success. The representative in charge sets these rules and makes them known to anyone who participates. A time limit or word limit has to be set to give all those who sign up an opportunity to read.

A good critique group adheres to certain rules to keep writers from becoming defensive or from being too critical and losing members. We have a set of rules for critique that has worked for twenty years and has enabled local poets to help each other and become published.

Our representatives have done a great job for years. We need more people who will take a lead in their counties and promote the literary arts with an event for poets or writers or both.

We invite our representatives to leave a comment here and tell us what you do and why your events are successful.

KATHRYN BYER

Email www.gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com if you are interested in becoming a rep in a mountain county that doesn't presently have one. We will be happy to help you get started. 

Writers Night This Saturday: Scott Owens, Staci Bell

September 13

Featured on Writer's Almanac and winner of many poetry awards, Scott Owens once again travels from Hickory, NC to read for us. He'll also teach a workshop at Writers Circle in Hayesville on Saturday.

Joining him at Writers' Night Out on September 13, will be writer and former talk-show host, Staci Bell, from Murphy.
An open mic follows the featured readers. Sign up at the door.

We meet at the lovely Union County Community Center in the heart of Blairsville.  Come early for dinner and drink (optional, for purchase).

Important Update (/12/14): This month, we will meet in the A/B Conference Rooms on the ground floor where we were last month. Dinner is optional and served upstairs in the View Grill (great view of the golf course and mountains!). There will be complimentary iced tea and water served in our room. You can bring food and a drink (alcohol included) down with you if you'd like, but there will be no waitress service in our room.  

Program starts at 7:00, so please plan enough time to order/eat if you're having dinner there. The Union County Community Center is gracious enough to not enforce a minimum food order for our group, so you don't need to feel obligated to have anything (but the socializing is fun!).

For more info: kpaulholmes@gmail.com

Come Hear Lucy Cole Gratton, July 12 Writers' Night Out

Don't miss Lucy!

She writes poetry and short essays of interest and misadventures about activities around her property on Lake Apalachia. The program begins with a social hour at 6 p.m. (dinner available for purchase) and reading following at 7 p.m.. There’s also an open microphone for those who’d like to read their own writing (limit 3 minutes of prose or poetry).

Union County Community Center

129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512 

Behind Holiday Inn Express near the intersection of US 76 and Highway 129
phone (706) 439-6092

We usually meet in the upstairs ballroom (alternate location is A-B conference room on first floor). Click here for the map.

Henderson County Open Mic

Martha O. Adams reads her work

Congratulations to our Henderson county NetWest Reps, Lana Hendershott and Pat Vestal, who have recently organized an Open Mic in Hendersonville, NC. This no-cost NetWest sponsored event is held at the Henderson County Library, 301 N Washington St, Hendersonville, NC, 28739 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. on the third Monday of the month.

The library, conveniently located in the center of town, has an auditorium, just to the right of the main entrance, with ample seating. Non-messy snacks and drinks, such as bottled water, are allowed into the auditorium. The time of the event was chosen to allow for those who are at work to come to the Open Mic at the end of their work day, before they go home.

It's working well. Lana and Pat report that the event is well attended, and that writers in their area are happy to have this venue for reading their work.

Full details can be found on the NetWest calendar page here. For more information, or to sign up to read your work, please e-mail Lana or Pat at Henderson County Events, opmiclit1@gmail.com.

Photos from Coffee with the Poets in July

Carolyn Johnson and Estelle Rice, members of NCWN West, were featured poets this month. Compliments followed by those attending.

Barb Haynes, Mike Keller, Estelle Rice, Linda smith

Carolyn Johnson, poet and writer

Open Mic readers were Bob Grove who read a humorous essay, Linda Smith who read a poem. Barb Haynes, reading her work aloud for the first time, entertained us with a short essay. Mike Keller and Joan Howard also read poetry. Anyone who attends is invited to read a short prose piece or a poem.

Coffee with the Poets is held the second Wednesday of each month at Cafe Touche, Main Street, Hayesville, NC. The community is invited.
Contact Glenda Beall at 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com for more information.

Coffee with the Poets, Hayesville,NC, Wednesday, February 11, 10:30 AM

Kathryn Stripling Byer, Poet Laureate of North Carolina

will be the featured poet Wednesday, February 11, 10:30 AM for Coffee with the Poets at Phillips and Lloyd Books on the square in Hayesville, NC.

All writers and members of the community are invited. Open mic for poems and short essays or stories.