Celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Gene Hirsch, poet

 

Those in the photo above met Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of the late Dr. Gene Hirsch who was the founder of the writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the early nineties. Because of his dedication to writing and writers, many poets, novelists, and creative nonfiction writers found their voices, and found the confidence and inspiration to write their stories in verse or in prose.

All of us present on Saturday told our story of how Gene influenced us. He was the most generous of people and taught poetry classes for free out of his cabin in Cherokee County NC.

He taught at the folk school every time he came down from his home in Pennsylvania where he worked as a geriatric doctor. Gene was a person who encouraged others. He never made anyone feel they were unworthy to call themselves poets and as a result so many people published their words that were found to be important to others. 

I am especially grateful to Gene Hirsch because the writing program at the John Campbell Folk School was where most of my writing education took place. I did not study creative writing in college but was once told I had an equivalent of a master's degree right here from the best writers anywhere. 

People like Valerie Nieman, Kathryn Byer, Darnell Arnoult, Steven Harvey, Carol Crawford, Nancy Simpson, and so many other wonderful teachers came to Brasstown NC, and taught us for a week and made a huge difference in our lives. 

I took one or two week-long classes every year for ten years and then I taught at the folk school. Thank you, Gene. You never knew how many people you touched because you convinced the director and the board of the folk school to include the craft of writing in their schedule.

Thanks to Mary Ricketson for organizing this memorial to Gene.

Have you visited JCCFS? Now is the time.

 My friends, if you have never been to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, you must put it on your calendar to spend time there.

The school began in the 1930s as a replica of Folk Schools in Denmark, Sweden, and other countries, but has grown tremendously since its birth when the natives of Clay and Cherokee County gave land and labor to build it. 

One of our NCWN members, Dr. Eugene Hirsch, who was from Pennsylvania, but owned a mountain cabin near Murphy, NC, was a poet as well as a renowned doctor. On one of his trips down south, Gene Hirsch spent a week taking a class at the folk school in Brasstown. Like most of us locals, he fell in love with the casual, friendly, and enthusiastic people there and continued to take classes, but he thought this would be a great place for a writing program. 

He talked to the director of the school and soon there were writing classes on the schedule. Our own Nancy Simpson served as Resident Writer and she brought some of the best poets, novelists, and nonfiction writers to the little town of Brasstown, a place they might never have heard of if not for the writing program at John Campbell. I am fortunate to have been a student there many times over the years and to have taught writing there. Some of my happiest times were at the John C. Campbell Folk School, and I met people who have become life-long friends.

This photograph is of one of the first classes I taught at JCCFS in 2008

I have never been able to put into words the feelings I had while attending and the feelings I had when I left. Your classmates or your students become like family as you share common interests such as weaving, painting, cooking, dancing, playing instruments, and writing. I am reading a memoir by Betty Brown, a fellow student I met in a writing class at John Campbell a decade ago. She is well known as a visual artist also. I find that she is an excellent writer. 

Below is the writing schedule for this year. I know most of these writers and some are long-time friends of mine. Make a pledge to yourself to spend a week or a weekend in a writing class with one of the fantastic writers who will be your instructor. You will stay in a comfortable cabin with other students. You will share meals from the dining room and you will attend gatherings outside now because of COVID. Visit their website and read the catalog. I promise you if you spend time there enjoying a craft of your choosing, making friends, and learning more about yourself, you will make memories that will be with you always.

For those of us who live in counties near the school, we can come home at night.  The tuition is half of the price paid by others.

Click on this link to see what is happening in the writing classes.

CLASSES WITH MEDIA CODES THAT CONTAIN WRITING

SUBJECT   INSTRUCTOR	CLASS TITLE	DATE
Writing Rosemary Royston	Creative Writing Across Genres	Sunday, May 8 - Saturday, May 14, 2022
Writing Annette Clapsaddle	The Body Keeps the Story	Sunday, June 12 - Saturday, Jun 18, 2022
Writing Pamela Duncan	Fiction Writing - Focus on Craft	Sunday, July 3 - Friday, Jul 8, 2022
Writing Dana Wildsmith	What's in Your Writing Folder?	Sunday, August 14 - Saturday, Aug 20, 2022
Writing Darnell Arnoult	Creative Nonfiction in a Flash	Friday, September 2 - Sunday, Sep 4, 2022
Writing Valerie Nieman	The Breath of Life: Discovering and Depicting Characters	Sunday, October 30 - Saturday, Nov 5, 2022
Writing Bobbie Pell	Poetry - The Wonders of Nature	Friday, November 18 - Sunday, Nov 20, 2022

A message from Travis Denton and Katie Chaple

From: Denton, Travis W 

Dear Friends—

Katie and I hope all’s well where you are, and that you and yours are all safe and healthy. (Katie continues to tell me to stop touching my face.) Right now, we’re all physically distancing ourselves, but I have an opportunity for you where we can be “virtually” together this summer and do the good work of poetry.

Katie and I are co-leading Manhattanville College’s Summer Writer’s Week Poetry Workshop in Purchase, NY coming up from June 22 to June 26. This is a wonderful and exciting program that we’re thrilled to be a part of. Now, the program is going to happen via Zoom (not in person, because of, well, you know) and that’ll work just fine. We’ll have a lot of fun, and do the good work of poetry. We invite each and every one of you to be a part of the workshop. Please do hurry to sign up—space is limited.

Our poetry workshop will be in the morning each day for about three hours, and in the afternoon there will be craft talks, and poetry readings in the evening. And if you sign up to join our poetry workshop, we will also offer each of you an hour’s worth of free one-on-one poetry/manuscript consultation. How’s that?

Here’s the link to the Manhattanville Summer Writer’s Week Webpage with all the info on how to join. http://mvillemfa.com/summer-writers-week/summer-writers-week-2020/ Feel free to share this link with anyone you think might be interested. If you have any questions at all or just want to be in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe, everyone!

Only Good Things Always,

Travis & Katie

Dana Wildsmith at City Lights Books on February 23

Dana Wildsmith will read at City Lights in Sylva, NC from her new collection of poetry, One Light this Saturday, February 23 with Susan O'Dell Underwood, author of The Book of Awe.

Wildsmith is author of a novel, Jumping, and an environmental memoir, Back to Abnormal: Surviving With An Old Farm in the New South, which was a finalist for Georgia Author of the Year. She is also the author of five collections of poetry. She has served as Artist-in-Residence for Grand Canyon National Park and for Everglades National Park. She lives with her family on an old farm in north Georgia and works as an English literacy instructor at Lanier Technical College.

Anyone who lives near enough to attend will enjoy these two poets. Dana often  teaches at John C. Campbell Folk School.  Visit her website here to learn more about her. 

Two Excellent Poets for A Day for Writers

A Day for Writers, May 6, 2017

Kathryn Stripling Byer

We are delighted that the first woman Poet Laureate of North Carolina, Kathryn Stripling Byer, widely published and highly praised member of NCWN-West, will teach a two-hour workshop at A Day for Writers, Saturday, May 6, 2017. 

 Her poetry, prose, and fiction have appeared widely, including  Hudson Review, Poetry, The Atlantic, Georgia Review, Shenandoah, and Southern Poetry Review.  Often anthologized, her work has also been featured online, where she maintains the blogs "Here, Where I Am," and "The Mountain Woman."  

Her body of work was discussed along with that of Charles Wright, Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell, Jeff Daniel Marion, and  Jim Wayne Miller in Six Poets from the Mountain South, by John Lang, published by LSU Press. Her first book of poetry, The Girl in the Midst of the Harvest, was published in the AWP Award Series in 1986, followed by the Lamont (now Laughlin) prize-winning Wildwood Flower, from LSU Press.  Her subsequent collections have been published in the LSU Press Poetry Series, receiving various awards, including the Hanes Poetry Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Poetry Award, and the Roanoke-Chowan Award. She served for five years as North Carolina's first woman poet laureate.  She lives in the mountains of western North Carolina with her husband and three dogs.

Catherine Carter

Catherine Carter, poet and teacher at Western Carolina University, will be a presenter at the conference giving us two of the finest poets in the region.  

“Catherine Carter’s unique poems are a joy to read and hear aloud, and they yield more and more subtle satisfactions the longer you live with them,” said Elizabeth Addison, head of the WCU English department. “It’s been an honor to share her department.”

A resident of Cullowhee, Carter coordinates the English education program at WCU. Her work has appeared in Poetry, North Carolina Literary Review, Tar River, Main Street Rag and Cider Press Review, among others.

She had work in the Best American Poetry 2009 anthology, and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first book, “The Memory of Gills,” won the 2007 Roanoke-Chowan Award.

“The Swamp Monster at Home is a most valuable collection of poems. Catherine Carter treats the sometimes scary materials she addresses with poise and wit, humor and frankness. Her self-possession is not armor plate; she is as vulnerable as you and I, as the deer that come to drink at the darkest river. She speaks with the kind of grace that is gained only after facing daunting difficulties with resolute courage. I admire everything about this book. Everything.”—Fred Chappell

Local poets and writers to read at Hayesville's Festival on the Square this weekend, July 9th and 10th, 2016

This weekend, Hayesville, North Carolina will offer their annual Festival on the Square.The festival begins Friday evening, July 8th, with a street dance. Music and many vendors will grace the square on Saturday and Sunday, July 9th and 10th. Included in this event will be our North Carolina Writers' Network-West booth, which will be on the North side of the square.

Several local poets and writers, members of NCWN-West, will be attending the booth, and will read periodically from their published works. Included in this line-up, are Tom Davis, Joan Ellen Gage, Mary Rickertson, Rosemary Royston, Marcia Barnes, Glenda C. Beall, Joan M. Howard, Bob Grove, and Lucy  Cole Gratton.

During the day, the booth will have books to give away. Please make an effort to come by and support the wonderful members, who are taking time to showcase our writers' network.


http://www.clayhistoryarts.org/
http://festivalnet.com/43539/Hayesville-North-Carolina/Festivals/Festival-on-the-Square

The North Carolina Writers' Network 2014 Fall Conference

The North Carolina Writers' Network 2014 Fall Conference will be held November 21-23 at the Sheraton Charlotte Hotel, in Uptown Charlotte. If you've already registered: thank you! If not, can you really miss an opportunity like this, happening in your own backyard?

The North Carolina Writers' Network 2014 Fall Conference offers something for almost every writer, at any level of skill or experience. Your best route to getting the most out of the weekend depends on where you are right now as a writer, where you want to go as a writer, and how you want to get from here to there.

Are you a NOVICE writer? Good workshop options for newbies include Chantel Acevedo’s “All Shapes and Sizes: A Workshop on Novel Structure”; “Poetry 101” with Anthony S. Abbott; and “First Impressions in the First Few Pages” with Sarah Creech.

Are you an EMERGING writer? You may want to mix some of the craft workshops—maybe “Poetry and Time” with Julie Funderburk; “Making Their Stories Your Own” with Rebecca McClanahan; or Zelda Lockhart’s “The Mirror Exercise: Producing a Whole Short Work in Less Than an Hour”—with some of the appropriate business-of-writing workshops like Sunday’s panel discussion on “The Many Paths to Publication” with Kim Boykin, John Hartness, and Karon Luddy.

Are you an EXPERIENCED writer? You may be ready to concentrate on the “business of writing” workshops: “The Art of the Pitch” with Betsy Thorpe and Carin Siegfried; “Crafting Your Message: Beginning an Interactive Publicity Campaign” with Priscilla Goudreau-Santos; “The Many Paths to Publication” panel discussion; maybe even “Creating a Poetry Community” with Scott Owens and Jonathan K. Rice.

And if you're an AUTHOR, well, why not register for the conference just to brag? And of course to enjoy the keynote address by Allan Gurganus; Saturday's luncheon featuring North Carolina's seventh poet laureate, Joseph Bathanti; and Saturday night's annual banquet featuring the inimitable Wilton Barnhardt.

The North Carolina Writers' Network Fall Conference changes locations each year, in order to better serve the writers of this state. We won't be back in Charlotte until 2018, at the earliest. We don't want to wait that long to see you.

Register now.

Keller and Gratton read at JCCFS October 16

Thursday, October 16^th 7:00 p.m.
John C. Campbell Folk School
Brasstown, N C

Mary Mike Keller and Lucy Cole Gratton
will read their poems and stories 

The reading is  free and open to the public.

Naming of new poet laureate stirred up controversy this week

The literary world of North Carolina has been buzzing the past week with the appointment of a poet laureate by Governor McCrory who did not go through the normal process of working with the NC Arts Council to selectthe best person for this important post.

Our own Netwest member and first woman poet laureate of North Carolina, Kathryn Stripling Byer spoke out online in numerous Facebook posts about the selection of Valerie Macon, poet from Fuquay-Varina whose literary credits seem to be two self-published books of poetry. 

Byer along with three other past poets laureate issued a statement criticizing the process used by the governor.
"Instituted and administered expertly and transparently by the North Carolina Arts Council - which has our unqualified support and loyalty - the process insured that the poet laureate, ultimately appointed by the governor, was indeed a poet and educator of singular accomplishment, someone not only with a literary reputation in North Carolina, but beyond," their statement said. "The fact that that process was not recognized in the most recent appointment has resulted in disaster."

Although Macon is an advocate for the homeless and writes about their plight, she is not considered by most poets yet worthy to hold this honor. Those who struggle to perfect verse that is accepted and published by highly respected presses, who win awards for their work and who are recognized as leaders in their arts community were shocked to see that someone who was relatively an unknown, had been chosen over more qualified people.

A great example of what a poet laureate should be is Kathryn Byer who is recognized nationally and internationally for her work. FredChapell, former Poet Laureate has been published far and wide and is known throughout the literary world. Cathy SmithBowers and Joseph Bathanti, two recent poets laureate, also have outstanding resumes.

Some wonder, was the selection of Ms. Macon, who has now resigned, a deliberate poke at the literary community at large or was it complete ignorance as the governor has claimed. He indicated he did not know about the protocol whereby poets are recommended through the Arts Council and their works carefully examined before any of their names reach the governor’s desk. He said it was not written on the walls, so how was he to know? 

I was told that the Arts Council sent the governor a packet of information informing him of the credentials of past laureates and the manner in which they were chosen. I assume he will be forced to follow protocol now that Valerie Macon has resigned. 

It has certainly stirred up the poetry community and made North Carolina look inept to those in the country who follow such things. I received calls from Netwest members and from the local newspapers with questions about the botched appointment. The larger newspapers in this state have carried articles on the subject.

 Below are some links you might want to read for more information.

Charlotte Observer,   Raleigh News and Observer

News Observer, July 14 

One of the best articles was by our Executive Director, Ed Southern on the White Cross School blog.

What do you think? Leave your comments at the bottom of this post.

Poetry Workshop by Dr. Gene Hirsch

Poets and writers in western North Carolina recognize Dr. Gene Hirsch as the founder of the writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School. 

He has taught poetry there for twenty-two years. Writers Circle in Hayesville, NC will host a workshop, Inspiration and Poets’ Block, by Hirsch on Sunday afternoon, May 25, 1-4 p.m.

Gene Hirsch is a former professor of Medicine with over 50 years background in teaching human experience, meaning and values and the emotional care of sick and dying people to doctors and medical students. He has conducted poetry workshops widely for health professionals as an expressive adjunct to their caring experiences, as well as for poets in Western NC.

His poetry has appeared in medical and non-medical journals such as Pharos (Medical Honor Society), Hiram Poetry Review, Pittsburgh Gazette, Journal of Medical Humanities, Fetishes (Univ. of Colorado), Journal of the American Medical Society, Human Quest.  He has written two books, Along the Rutty Pot Hole Road and You Shall Die Again No More.  Anthologies include Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Tyranny of the Normal, Crossing Limits (African Americans and American Jews).  He has produced five volumes of Freeing Jonah, poetry, from Western North Carolina.

Writers sometimes feel they must wait to be inspired before they can create a poem. Often they feel blocked and become frustrated with themselves.

Hirsch says, “Inspiration and writer’s block are two widely used, poorly understood antithetical terms.  In this class we will study and share your views and experiences with these concepts.” He asks participants of this class, limited to 8 students, to bring a poem to discuss in terms of inspiration and meaning to the poet, and bring 10 copies. 

Western North Carolina and North Georgia is an area where poets have flourished in the past twenty years due to knowledgeable teachers such as Dr. Hirsch and Nancy Simpson of Hayesville. Poetry books by local writers are published each year.

While writing is a solitary art, writers need community and coming together with others.  To register for this poetry workshop, contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or email glendabeall@aol.com . Find more online at www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com.

Glenda C. Beall Interviews Robert S. King, Poet, Editor and former Director of FutureCycle Press

GCB: I met you in Dahlonega, GA a few years ago, Robert, when you had just taken over as President of the Georgia Poetry Society. Then you came to Writers Night Out in Hiawassee, GA.  We were happy to find you had moved to the mountains and lived in NCWN West territory.

GCB: You were director of FutureCycle Press at that time.

Robert: FutureCycle Press began in 2007. However, I have also been editor or co-editor of several other presses, dating back to the mid-1970s.

GCB; How many books have been published by FutureCycle Press?

Robert: So far, 50 titles (books, chapbooks, anthologies), with 10 more in production

GCB: When did you begin publishing your poetry? Tell me again, how many of your own books have been published?

Robert: The first poem I published was in 1974, unless you count a short one printed in the church bulletin when I could barely write my name.
I have published six collections of poetry (three chapbooks and three full-length titles), with another full-length manuscript ready to seek a publisher.

Online Submissions Systems and Market Lists for Writers

GCB: On April 20, you will teach a workshop on the Nuts and Bolts Guide to Online Submission Systems and Market Lists for Writers 
Why is it important for writers to learn how to submit online and what will they learn in your class that they can't pick up on the Internet?

Robert:  Online submission is now the standard, no longer an exception to the rule. More and more publications are not only allowing electronic submissions but also requiring it.
Snail-mail submissions will be obsolete before too many years pass.

My class will not teach you anything that you couldn't learn on your own, but it will prevent you from having to go through the School of Hard Knocks, wasting your time.
It takes quite awhile to discover all the resources for submissions and no small amount of time learning how to use them. My class will jump-start your proficiency at selecting suitable publishers and sending according to their guidelines.

GCB: Is this class for experienced writers and poets or for beginners?

Robert: It's for any level of writer. Even many advanced writers don't know the resources available. However, beginning to intermediate writers will benefit most.

GCB: People know you as a poet. Is the class at Moss Memorial Library for poets only or for any writer?

Robert: The class is geared toward literary genres, including poetry, fiction, and essays. However, the resources discussed are comprehensive and suitable for any kind of writing, except perhaps cookbooks.

GCB: Thank you, Robert. You are always generous about giving of your time to help other writers. We all appreciate you.


To register for Robert's class contact Glenda Beall at nightwriter0302@yahoo.com 
or rsking@futurecycle.org


Glenda Council Beall (GCB) is an administrator of this blog, a poet and writer. See other interviews with Nancy Simpson, Scott Owens.
Visit Robert King's website to learn more about him and his poetry.

Wild Goose Poetry Review published Netwest Poets

Congratulations to Netwest member, Barbara Gabriel. Just a couple of years ago, she began studying the craft of writing with a serious bent toward accomplishment. See two of her poems in Wild Goose Poetry Review.
http://wildgoosepoetryreview.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/barbara-gabriel-mothballed/

While reading Wild Goose, you will find Robert S. King's poetry.
I love trees and I love this verse:

"Do leaves feel the weeping of wind and sky,
the pincers of insects, the saws cutting
through the nerves down to the roots?"
http://wildgoosepoetryreview.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/robert-s-king-the-language-of-trees/

Read another mountain poet, Michael Beadle. This poem sends a shiver up my spine.
http://wildgoosepoetryreview.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/michael-beadle-flesh-and-blood/
And congrats to Scott Owens, editor of Wild Goose, for another fine edition of the best online poetry journal.

NETWEST MEMBER WILL READ AT POETRY HICKORY

Poet and Netwest member, Robert King and poet Robert Kimsey will be featured tomorrow night, July 10,  5:30 p.m. at Poetry Hickory. Scott Owens, Regional Representative for NCWN facilitates this event each month. 

Open Mic readers will be John Bigelow, Dennis Lovelace, and Kim Teague.  Writers' Night Out at 4:00.  Everything takes place at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory, NC. 

Writers' Conference - Chock Full of Writers in Asheville

Although I didn’t attend even one workshop at this conference, I loved being there with all the writers, poets, publishers, editors and agents. Our  Program Coordinator, Rosemary Royston, had other duties including participating in a panel. My goal was to have our Netwest table to showcase Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, to sell books and to proclaim “We are here! Writers in the mountains have a voice.”

We arrived early and grabbed a great table near the entrance to the Exhibitor Area. Directly in front of us were JC Walkup and Penny Morse with a table for Fresh, their beautiful literary magazine. JC is distributing Echoes in the Waynesville, Asheville and Canton areas. She will be glad to sell a copy or two as she says storing them is a nuisance.

Joan Howard, Netwest poet from Hiawassee, GA and writer, quilter and knitter, Barb Haynes who lives in Murphy and is a Netwest member also, rode with me to Asheville. Great travel companions and good caretakers. Little did they know I’d become ill on Saturday afternoon. I missed all the fun on Saturday evening, the open mike readings and the happy hour gathering as I slept in my room.
I can never thank Joan enough for taking the early hours she logged in at the Netwest table. Bright and early Saturday and Sunday, she welcomed writers, handed out brochures and sold books. Our Netwest members came by to pick up their Netwest stickers to attach to their name tags.
Betty Reed manned the table on Friday evening while I had dinner. Barb also filled in when needed. Others who represented Netwest at the table were Mary Ricketson, Susan Anderson, Pamela Warr, Linda Smith, and Rosemary Royston, Program Coordinator. Many thanks to them from me and Netwest members for being there to help when needed. I feel sure all these writers enjoyed the conference because each time I saw them they had big smiles on their faces.

Networking with other writers is an important part of a writing conference. One lady said to me, “Do you think it would be Okay to ask Rob Neufeld to review my book?”
She saw the Asheville Citizen-Times book columnist across the hall. I told her to go for it.
Novelists and non-fiction writers came to find agents and publishers. Poets hoped to find the best place to submit a poetry book. And everyone wanted to chat about writing with other writers.


But I imagine most were looking to learn something from the accomplished faculty that would stay with them and be the spark to push their writing up a notch.
Because I was tied pretty closely to the Netwest Table when I was at the conference, I was delighted so many folks I know dropped by. One of our first visitors was Scott Owens, poet, editor, teacher, and very nice guy. I especially enjoyed meeting Netwest members who have recently joined or even some who have been members for a long time, but I’ve not encountered before. Betty Reed and Pamela Warr are two of those members I had not met, but learned more about them and their writing. Pamela Warr designed our most recent brochure and the new Netwest logo.

Bill Ramsey was promoting the phenomenal literary event, the Blue Ridge Bookfest at Blue Ridge Community College in Henderson County NC. Just a short time ago the first bookfest was a toddler, and now it is running and jumping. Bill says the college has come on board with the volunteers and can guarantee continuity of this well-attended showcase for authors. Netwest was a supporter of the first bookfest, and we have been there to help in any way we can each year. NCWN is a sponsor, too.

Scott Douglas’s Main Street Rag exhibit seemed to always have writers gathered there. I appreciated Scott coming over to chat. He has been quite successful with his small press and publishes some of the best authors in North Carolina. He told me to check out his site to see the books by other presses that he sells. Wouldn’t it be great if Echoes were listed there?

Kevin Watson from Press 53 and Keith Flynn with the Asheville Poetry Review seemed to be popular in the exhibitor’s center. People were talking about Keith’s interesting poetry presentation. His band also played Saturday night for the banquet. I didn’t hear them from my room on the third floor, but I’m sure they were entertaining.

Our own Netwest founder, Nancy Simpson, held a poetry workshop. I heard many compliments on that session. I'm sure those poets came out of that room wanting Nancy's book, Living Above the Frost Line, which has received awards and nominations for awards this past year.
The keynote speaker, Silas House, blew us all away with his talk. But I’ll write more about that in another post.

Ed Southern held a townhall meeting and updated us on the Network. As Ed said, NCWN is not the staff. NCWN is the members. To truly feel a part of this large writers’ network in our state, I think you should attend at least one Fall Conference. I always leave feeling motivated, energized and enthusiastic about my own writing.

I look forward to the next one -- Fall 2013.