www.THELAURELOFASHEVILLE.COM
Reagan's Romps was published by Kelsay Books, January, 2021. This book is available at: www.amazon.com; www.kelsaybooks.com and locally in Chinquapins Gift Shop in Hayesville, NC.
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| Annette Clapsaddle photo by Mallory Cash |
Writers' Night Out featured novelist, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Friday evening. Fifteen people signed in for our Zoom meeting. I enjoyed talking with Annette who is a member of the Eastern Band Cherokee and lives in the mountains of western North Carolina.
She has published a debut novel, Even as We Breathe, set in the area around Cherokee NC and Asheville.
GB: Where were you born, Annette, and where did you go to school as a child?
AC: I was born in Qualla, NC. just outside of Cherokee. I went to Smokey Mountain Elementary and then Smoky Mountain High School. Yes, they are spelled differently—a detail that quite amuses me.
GB: We know you have degrees from two prestigious northern colleges. Tell us about that.
AC: I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies from Yale University, along with my Secondary English teaching license in 2003. I earned my Master’s Degree in American Studies from The College of William and Mary in 2004.
GB: What did you study there? What did you want for a career?
AC: As an American Studies major, my concentration in undergraduate and graduate school was in Native American Studies. I always knew I wanted to be an English teacher and writer, so I took many English courses and some creative writing within the American Studies field.
GB: Did you always like to write even as a child?
AC: I have written for as long as I can remember. I still have little stapled-together books from elementary school and half-filled abandoned journals from my childhood. I had a whole gaggle of make-believe friends, so I think it was inevitable. Either I would be a writer or need to work on my friend-making skills.
GB: When did you decide to write this novel, and how long did it take to get it ready to submit for publication? How did you know when it was ready?
AC: I quite honestly lose track of time and we all know that writing a novel is rarely on a linear trajectory. So, I’d say it took around four years or so from concept to publication acceptance. I was workshopping the novel at the Appalachian Writers Workshop while simultaneously looking for an agent. Because of this, I first felt it was ready for publication when Rebecca Gayle Howell (working with the new Fireside Industries imprint at University Press of Kentucky) requested it, read it, and asked to publish it.
Before that, I had resolved to keep working on it until I found an agent. Turns out, I did not find an agent until the novel was published. And in truth, I knew it was really ready when Silas House and I finished the editing process and it finally felt complete.
GB: I tell my writing students that they should expect to revise or re-write many times before sending to a publication, magazine, or review. What do you tell your students about that?
AC: I tell my students the same thing. In fact, I use my own process as an example and talk them through the steps when I am in the middle of a project. They sometimes get to read my rejection emails with me and I show them what editors’ comments really look like on the page.
GB: I heard that Silas House was your editor for this novel, and you appreciate his method of helping you. What was unique about his editing?
AC: Silas is incredibly insightful, generous, and tender as an editor. I know that last description is pretty unusual for an editor. When he returned edits for any given section, his notes would often be framed as
1. This line doesn’t work.
2. This is the reason why.
3. Here are some options for making it stronger.
4. But only if you choose to.
I am pretty sure I would not have had a similar experience with many other editors. He understood the project from the first day and helped mine the authentic voice I wanted to convey, not what a market might typically expect from a Native author.
GB: You have said that you learned to write from some of the most notable writers here in western NC. Can you tell us about that?
AC: I certainly learned to write in school. Of course, that was my first introduction to the craft and I had incredible English teachers growing up. But I do not have an MFA, so my adult writing education relies heavily on experiences in workshops like the Great Smoky Mountains Writers Program and the Appalachian Writers Workshop at Hindman, KY. WNC also has a wealth of incredible writers who are also willing to serve as mentors and cheerleaders. I am very fortunate to call many of them teachers and friends.
GB: Please tell us the difference between the Qualla Boundary and a reservation for native Americans?
AC: In short, both land bodies are held in trust by the U.S. government. However, with the Qualla Boundary, we bought our land back a couple of times. It is, of course, our traditional homeland, and then we have, in many instances, had to repurchase it after the Indian Removal. Reservations elsewhere are typically lands set aside by the U.S. government. We own our land and it is also federal land.
GB: I was touched by the comments from your students who said they finally could read about someone like them They related to this boy in your novel in a way others could not. Why is this important?
AC: Regardless of topic or subject, if I can’t relate to my students, I am not a teacher. I think writing is an extension of this. We read to understand ourselves or our environments better. So, it is the job of the writer to provide this sense of connectivity through whatever mode they choose. As humans, we crave that connectivity and clarity of understanding. To know any of my students find that in my characters is the most significant contribution of both my teaching and writing.
GB: Launching a new novel during the pandemic had to be more difficult than you had thought it would be. Do you find the virtual appearances satisfying and helpful in promoting your book?
AC: Luckily, I had no idea what to
expect from the publication process. Launching in a pandemic may have been
easier for a debut novelist like myself. Because it opened up new opportunities
through virtual events, I think I have probably said “yes,” way too much. It
has been a bit exhausting. However, I have been spared long travel. I am
grateful for all of it, though. I have been surprised to see the virtual events
sustainable over such a long period of time. Attendance continues to be steady
and strong. My publisher (UPK) and I have been pleased with sales, so I really
can’t complain. I just hope that Indie bookstores have been able to benefit
from these experiences as well. They have had to make incredible adjustments.
The Friends of the Gaston County (NC) Public Library publish a monthly newsletter, which always contains a Poet's Corner. NCNW-West member Karen Paul Holmes was the featured poet for April. Editor David E. Poston, who chose her poem says, "What a great way to begin National Poetry Month!"
The poem appears in Karen's second collection, No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin Books, 2018).
CHANGE OF DATE! Our original date of April 9th conflicted with the Writers' Night Out on April 9th, so we've moved back a week. The Jackson County branch of NCWN-West and City Lights Bookstore will host an April Open Mic night on April 16th at 7:30 via Zoom. We'll plan for an hour and a half, with length of time for readings determined by how many people want to read. For the Zoom link, please contact Jackson County reps Matt Nelson or Catherine Carter, or City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. We look forward to seeing some of you there!
Lorraine says, “The essay, Love in the Time of
Corona is about visiting my ailing mother through a closed window at her
nursing home. It has been published in
the Daniel Boone Footsteps Personal Story Publishing Project’s Spring 2021
edition.”
Lorraine’s essay first was submitted in the 2020
Senior Games Silver Arts Essay Category and won the first-place gold medal for
Cherokee and Clay counties in June. It took the silver medal in the statewide
competition in October.
We congratulate Lorraine and send our sympathy
and compassion for her as she travels the journey of grief at this time.
The Arts and Humanities Jury of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is pleased to announce the publication of a poem, “Calligraphy,” by Carroll S. Taylor in the DKG Gallery of Fine Arts, an online gallery of works of art and letters at www.dkg.org.
Taylor, a resident of Hiawassee, Georgia, and formerly a resident of Cataula, Georgia, is a member of Alpha Xi Chapter of the Psi State Organization of the Society. DKG is a professional honor society for women educators with more than 69,000 members. Established in 17 member countries around the world, the Society defines its mission as promoting professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. Society headquarters are in Austin, Texas, where Dr. Annie Webb Blanton founded the Society on May 11, 1929.
Carroll is assistant to the Program Coordinator for NCWN-West, Glenda Beall. She is hosting Mountain Wordsmiths on the fourth Thursday of the month, 10:30 AM on Zoom.
Contact her for the link to enter the meeting. vibiaperpetua@gmail.com
MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW FOR WRITERS' NIGHT OUT, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 7:00 pm.
Ron Rash said this about Annette's book:
“Even as We Breathe slowly builds from a seemingly simple tale of first love into a meditation on the deepest mysteries and contradictions of human existence.”Members of NCWN-West will receive a Zoom invitation for this meeting for writers. If you are not a member, email me at, glendabeall@msn.com and you will be sent the link.
Finishing Line Press
Announces the Publication of
Mary Ricketson's
Keeping in Place poems
of COVID, sheltered in place
Cover photo by Alex Peers
I’d love for you to have a copy
of my new poetry chapbook, written while I’ve been at home during the pandemic.
I made my way through COVID and the necessary quarantine.
You can order now, until early
May, for printing and shipping in July. I’m spreading the word now because the publisher bases the print run on the number of prepublication orders
received. So, please feel free to send this notice to anyone who might be
interested.
Reviews:
In Keeping in Place, Mary Ricketson pays homage to the natural world she loves, securing emotions she treasures. Her identity flourishes as she longs for the end of Pandemic…
Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, 2015-2018,
author of Slavery and Freedom on Paul’s Hill and More
Mary
Ricketson’s Keeping in Place is one of the first of a new generation of poems
inspired by the global pandemic of 2020, and it invites the reader to find
balance, if not solace…
Catherine Carter, author of The Memory of Gills, The Swamp
Monster at Home, and Larvae of the Nearest Stars, professor of
English, Western Carolina University.
Mary Ricketson with her intense love for nature and mountain life has found a way in her book to
interweave beautiful images with the seriousness
and isolation of the Corona Virus.
Glenda Barrett, author of When the Sap
Rises, and The Beauty of Silence
Keeping in Place is a
collection of poems where the speaker, stricken by COVID, turns her focus to
nature…Solo, ill, and counting the days since she’s been touched, the speaker
still makes the reader chuckle…
Rosemary
R. Royston, author of Splitting the Soil
Mary Ricketson lives in the Appalachian Mountains and maintains a private practice as a mental health
counselor. Her poems often reflect the healing power of nature,
surrounding mountains as midwives for her words. Her published
collections are I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and
Shelter, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and
Marian. www.maryricketson.com
Order online at: http://www.finishinglinepress.com, search for Keeping in Place, click to order.
or https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/keeping-in-place-by-mary-ricketson/
Or mail your order to Finishing
Line Press:
Please send me __ copy(ies)
of Keeping in Place, $14.99 per copy plus $2.99 shipping per
copy, 1.99 for extra copies.
Enclosed is my check or money
order (payable to Finishing Line Press) for $____________
Name_______________________________________________
Address___________________________________________
City/State/Zip______________________________________
Please send check or money
order to: Finishing Line Press Post
Office Box 1626 Georgetown, KY 40324
Karen Jackson sent this news.
June Rollins' debut novel will be published March 31, but I ordered the kindle version today for .99.
Sound like an interesting book. Read more about June and her book here You can read the first chapter and see if you want to purchase. Good luck to June and I know she will be supported by the members of NCWN-West.
