CWP, March 11, is for the Birds

Are you a bird watcher? A Lover of the natural world? Nancy Simpson and Janice Townley Moore are two of the NC poets who had poems included in the new bird anthology titled THE POETS GUIDE TO THE BIRDS. Both of these poets live and write in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The anthology contains only bird poems, some of them by the most noted poets writing in America today. It was edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser and published at Anhinga Press, Tallahassee, Florida, 2009.

Janice Townley Moore's poem is "Teaching the Robins." This is the title poem of her chapbook Teaching the Robins published at Finishing Line Press, 2005.

Nancy Simpson's poem is a previously unpublished poem titled "Carolina Bluebirds."
The Poets Guide to th Birds is available at http://www.anhingapress.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, and at Phillips and Lloyd bookstore on the square in Hayesville, NC.

Both Simpson and Moore are featured readers of their poetry at Coffee with the Poets in Hayesville, NC at Phillips and Lloyd bookstore on March 11, 10:30 AM.

Poets reading at open mic are invited to bring their poems about birds. Everyone is invited to come and listen or read while munching on delicacies from Crumpets Dessertery.

NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS NETWORK WEST ANTHOLOGY
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
North Carolina Writers Network West is seeking the best short stories, essays, and poems by writers in the Netwest region. Our Goal is to collect the best writing and to introduce our writers to readers in the mountains and beyond.
Eligible Writers: Must live in and have a mailing address in· N.C. Counties: Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Swain, or Transylvania.· Georgia Counties: Fannin, Rabun, Towns, or Union.· South Carolina Counties: Greenville or Pickens.· Tennessee Counties: Blount or Polk.

Submission is open to NCWN members and non-members in these counties.
Theme: Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in or Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains. While we hope the work submitted will give a feeling and flavor of the mountains, please submit your best work regardless of the subject matter.
GUIDELINES: Submission can be an excerpt from your previously published book. It can have been published in a print or web magazine, if you own the copyright. It can not have been previously published in an anthology. ·
Enter one category only.
Mark your envelope: Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Poetry.· Identify your work. This is not a contest, therefore, no blind judging.·
To help with record keeping, please send a cover sheet with your contact info, and a 50 word bio.

For Fiction and Nonfiction send one or two stories or essays in 12 point type, double spaced. Combined limit total 3,000 words. On first page of manuscript write your name and contact information and the Word Count. On last page of manuscript, write name of publication if previously published.
For Poetry send one - three poems in 12 point type, single spaced. 40 line limit including title and stanza breaks. Put your name and the number of lines at the top of each page.
At the bottom of each poem, please write name of publication if previously published.
You will be notified if your work has been accepted. Send a SASE for the editor’s decision.Do not send your only copy. Manuscripts will not be returned. If accepted, manuscripts must be submitted on a CD as a Word Document in Times New Roman.
Everyone who submits will receive a copy of the anthology
DEADLINE: Your submission must be postmarked during December 2008, January or February, 2009. Enclose Reading Fee: $10.00 Members. $18.00 non members.
Make check payable to NCWN West. Mail to Nancy Simpson, Editor,472 Old Cherry Mtn. Trail, Hayesville, NC 28904

Editors of Christmas Presence offer new opportunity

We are soliciting
Material from women writers in western North Carolina
For a second book project

Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham want your stories, memoirs, essays/reflections, poems for an anthology about the garments we wear—metaphorically, symbolically, literally---from hair bow to bra to Birkenstocks, from christening gown to prom dress, from waitress uniform to nine-to-five stiletto heels.

We expect an October 2009 publication date, in time to market the book alongside the 2008 Christmas Presence.

General Guidelines

i Submit no more than 2000 words
i Previously published material is fine–as long as you provide acknowledgments
i You retain all rights to your material
i Send in an email attachment (or contact us)–in Ms Word or RTF
i Formatting for submissions:

Double space with one-inch margins
Left justify only
Center or left justify title

Use 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred) for body and title

i Editing is a “given,” but we will try to ask about changes
i DEADLINE: MAY 2, 2009
i In return for your effort and creativity, you will receive

A complimentary copy of the book
An opportunity to buy additional copies at reduced cost
A publication party and potential readings/signings

i Contact Information:
Celia Miles (277-6910)> celiamiles@fastmail.fm
Nancy Dillingham (254-3143)> nandilly@earthlink.net

We are excited about compiling an interesting and entertaining collection of theme-related work from women writers in this region. We know you’re out there! So, we invite you to look into your clothes closet (past or present), and if you have a story to tell, a memory to share, a point of view to espouse, send it along. We promise to treat it with care.

Mountain Voices meets in Sylva

Mountain Voices,

a writers' group for writers/poets/playwrights/storytellers in Macon, Jackson and Swain counties in NC will meet Thursday at 7:00 PM at Soul Infusion Bistro in Sylva. Members wll eat at 7:00 and readings will begin at 7:30. Writers interested in attending, should contact Gary Carden at: GCarden498@aol.com -Telephone: 828-631-5438

Some Valentin Thoughts

For me, Valentines day is a celebration of LOVE in all its manifestations-----finally (guess it's my age), I have crossed the great chasm of limiting the boundaries of love's need and expectation to having one special other. The shift wasn't easy and seemed to take forever but poetry and dreams and dear friends and seeing lovers glow feeds my soul and verifies connection and the ALL of love and loving.

A lot of times we just reach out
& expect nothing in return—& that...
that is so much more than enough.

~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Valentines Day to you all...........
Pat
~~~

Poetry & Essay Contest Middle School

I would like to thank Jayne and Glenda for volunteering to judge the Cherokee County Poetry and Essay Contest this year. This is a milestone in many of the students lives and appreciated by everyone involved from sponsors, teachers and parents.

I have been asked to extend this contest to the Cherokee County Middle Schools and the "Learning Center." I would like to do this, if, I can get two more volunteers, one for each category. I will make sure to obtain the sponsors, awards, publicity and facilities to present the awards.

If you have an interest to help promote writing for young people, please respond ASAP, as I need to set the dates of submissions and deadlines.

Much Thanks,

Paul Donovan

Poet Laureate, Kathryn Stripling Byer visits CWP in Hayesville, NC

Many thanks to Kathryn Stripling Byer for speaking and reading her poetry at Coffee with the Poets in Hayesville, NC today. The atmosphere was casual and comfortable in Crumpets Dessertery at Phillips and Lloyd Book Store in the historic little mountain town. Netwest members and others from the community filled the room.
Kathryn answered questions, and then said she wanted to hear from the local poets who had brought poems to read at open mic.

Mary Mike Keller hosted the session and gave each person a chance to share a poem with the Poet Laureate of North Carolina. Elizabeth Rybicki, owner of Phillips and Lloyd Books, served a delicious cake and candies all in Valentine's Day colors.

We look forward to another great day of poetry in March, second Wednesday, at Coffee with the Poets when Janice Townley Moore and Nancy Simpson will read. Their poetry is published in a new anthology edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser. The theme of the book is Birds and Nancy asked everyone to bring poems about birds for open mic.
Look for more details on Kathryn Byer's blog and on Nancy Simpson's site.

A Love Poem for Valentine's Day

THE GARDEN

By Nancy Purcell

Somehow I need to find a way to tell you

of the unfolding of myself since you are with me.

There always was a wellspring of love,

but it had to be hidden: life hurt.

Like a walled garden no one could see,

you found my heart and climbed inside.

I’m not sure how, but by some feat of magic,

you moved away yesterday, showing me tomorrow.

What key were you given no other ever used?

Or was it in the lock and no one ever turned it?

You’ve torn out weeds with simple words and touches,

making me free-flying but vulnerable.

Will you remove the wall and nurture the garden?

Or is the wall the challenge and the space only for leasing?

The last stones to be cleared are buried deep, buried yesterday.

If you clear them, you are honor-bound to stay.

Think carefully, for no chains will hold you fast.

But should you leave this garden,

Please close the door and take the key.

No one should ever walk in here but you.

NANCY PURCELL, North Carolina Writers' Network West Representative for Transylvania County, (828)862-8117; nansea@citcom.net

Nancy studied Creative Writing at Florida Atlantic University, served as a North Carolina Writers Network/Elizabeth Squire Daniels Writer-in-Residence, Peace College, Raleigh, NC, under the guidance of Doris Betts, and she teaches Creative Writing in the Brevard College Community Education program.

Her latest undertaking is Quick Coaching; motivating writers and those who wish to write through the use of prompt and various motivational techniques.
Publications: RiverSedge, The MacGuffin, Pangolin Papers, Troika, LongStoryShort, The Square Table, among others, including two anthologies. Her stories have been read on the "Writers' Radio Show" out of Chattanooga, TN.
Nancy is retired from a career in Marketing and Sales. She spends her days in the office writing and in the garden, relaxing and hoping her writing seeds will germinate. She holds a membership in the North Carolina Writers' Network and in PWA.

Mary Ricketson and her husband Bill Killen

Mary Ricketson, Murphy resident, served Netwest as treasurer for the past year and a half. She did a terrific job in spite of the busy life she leads. Mary is a mental health counselor and also the founder of the REACH program in Murphy NC. She writes a column for the local newspaper. Her poetry chapbook, The River Calls My Name, was published by Finishing Line Press last year.
Although her busy schedule means she had to resign as treasurer , she continues as the Cherokee County Representative for Netwest.
Thanks Mary for the great job you do for NCWN West.
With Mary is her husband, Bill Killen, artist.

Nancy Simpson, editor of the new NCWN West Anthology

Seven poems by Nancy Simpson were reprinted in the textbook, Southern Appalachian Poets, edited by Marita Garin at McFarland Press.

A new poem, "Carolina Blue Birds" was published in the anthology: The Poets Guide to the Birds at Anhinga Press, edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser.

Nancy Simpson's poem, "Grass" will be reprinted in Southern Poetry Review's 50th Anniversary edition in 2009, and two new poems are forthcoming in Solo Cafe, out of California with guest editor Lenard D. Moore.

More at http://www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com/

My Father, the farmer, lover of the Land

This poem is one I've written and rewritten, changed titles and almost discarded. But I have kept it and I'll share it today. The farmer is my late father who'd rather plant and grow than eat the fruit of his labors.

Farmer and His Dog

Once he cultivated vast acres, harvested bounteous crops.
Grey haired now, in a frayed lawn chair,
sweat staining his chambray shirt, pock-marked
with burn holes from his Pall Malls, he caresses
silky ears of Pat, his bulldog.

His stooped frame rests from a morning spent
spraying tomatoes, trying to murder small bugs
that battle him for his harvest.

Tall corn tassels. Green beans climb twine
strung on poles in rows equally distanced.
Piles of summer squash strewn on clean straw
hide under leaves large as sun hats.

The cigarette ash grows long. He hardly notices
the shortened smoke, the fire against his calluses.

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.

Be Careful About What is in Your Subject Line

This article from Writers-Editors eZine could help us keep our email submissions from disappearing before they are read:


Subject Lines in E-mails

More editors are telling me they prefer to receive queries via e-mail than postal mail. Yet just this past week three e-mails from members and others in my address book have gotten caught in the spam trapper I use. And my filter is not nearly as tough as the ones most publishers and corporations use! Plus, I do give my filtered e-mails a quick scan before deleting permanently, but many large companies do not bother with this step. So what can you do to get past the gatekeepers - especially when querying editors new to you who will not have your e-mail address in their approved lists?
Here are a couple tips gleaned from my own ISP's filtering rules:
* Be careful with the word "submission." One of the messages caught in my spam trap used this word in the subject line. Not only is it a writer's term, but it is used by many x-rated e-mailers, and thus is caught by some filtering software.
* Stay away from all caps. Frankly, I'm surprised to still see all-cap messages, yet one of the filtered messages had the subject line in all caps. Using capital letters in e-mail and on the Web is considered shouting. Spammers use all caps routinely. So filters will often toss messages with words, phrases, and subject lines in all caps.
* Similarly, use of exclamation marks in the subject line can send your message to spam purgatory -- and I see them used regularly. Instead of ignoring your spam mail, skim through a folder of these messages, and you will soon see repeated words, characters, and formatting - if something appears frequently, avoid it in your queries, and especially your subject lines. If you are querying about a topic frequently appearing in junk e-mails, and you do not receive a reply from the editor, it might not hurt to send a follow-up e-mail asking if your query was received.


Source: Writers-EditorseZine, © CNW Publishing. Sign up for a complimentary subscription at http://www.blogger.com/.CNW Publishing,

PO Box A, 45 Main Street, North Stratford, NH 03590, USA

Lady Banks tells the news

We think you'd enjoy reading up on what is happening in the world of southern writers, book stores, poets and poetry, and commonplace books. Her ladyship, provides much of interest for the literary world, especially in the south.

Great recipe for Black-eyed peas and ham soup - that is a surprise, but a good one.



http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/lady-banks

Kelly L. Stone, guest blogger

How To Find Time to Write Despite Your Busy Life
By Kelly L. Stone
When I tell people that I've written three books and started a freelance writing career while holding down a full-time job, their jaws drop. Then the inevitable question follows: how did you find the time? That is the basis of my book Time to Write: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing into Your Busy Life. In that book, I reveal how I and the other authors managed to find time to write and get published, all while holding down jobs, caring for families, juggling household responsibilities and managing to get sufficient amounts of sleep.
The bottom line is, we're all busy, sometimes to the point of feeling frantic. But finding time to write can be done, no matter how busy you are. Here are just a few of the tips from my book:
1) Make writing appointments. Making time to write is similar to any new activity that you are attempting to fit into your life; let's use exercise as an example. How do you do it? You plan ahead. You decide that you'll exercise for twenty minutes, three times a week. You might choose Tuesday and Thursday at four o'clock and Saturday at nine o'clock. It's the same idea with writing. Decide when you will write, and then jot it down in your calendar. Whatever time slots you choose, write them down and then.
2) .keep the appointments. Just like you won't reap the health benefits that come with exercise if you don't regularly break a sweat, you won't reap the benefits of consistent writing if you routinely blow it off. So work hard to keep that writing appointment. Treat it like it's "real," just like an appointment with the doctor or at your child's school. The only way to do this is to exercise self-discipline and make yourself follow through.
3) Stay Focused. When it's writing time, you should be writing. Don't let yourself get sucked into surfing the Internet, checking e-mail or making a grocery list.
4) Plan your work. When you make the weekly appointments, also plan what you'll be working on during that time: Monday you'll use your twenty minutes to create plot points, Wednesday you'll use the hour for writing freely on your draft and during Friday's thirty minute session, you'll revise what you did that week. Maximize the time spent at your desk by planning ahead how you'll tackle that day's writing session.
5) Set long range and intermediate goals. Knowing what you're striving for (long range goals) will help you decide how much time you need to write and how much work you should produce during that time (intermediate goals). For example, decide what date in the future you want to have your book finished. Then, work backwards to determine how much writing you should do every week to meet that deadline. If the draft of your novel will be four hundred pages and you want to finish it in a year, then you'll have to write thirty-three pages per month (four-hundred divided by twelve), or roughly eight pages a week (thirty-three divided by four). If you write three days a week, that's two to three pages each sitting. Break your writing down this way to make time management seem easier.
6) Make up lost time. Let's face it--life happens. If you miss a writing appointment because your kid gets sick or your car breaks down or there's a family function you simply must attend, cut yourself some slack, but do plan to make up the lost time the following week if possible. This means you might have to make four writing appointments instead of your usual three, or write two hours one day instead of just one. Make every effort to stay on track with your weekly goal.
7) Reward yourself. This is an important step because you want to associate positive feelings with that self-discipline you've been practicing. It reinforces the behavior and increases the chances that you'll do it again. So at the end of each week that you kept your writing appointments, do something nice for yourself. Take a bubble bath, get a pedicure, have a romantic dinner with your spouse or buy your favorite author's latest release. You can even reward yourself at the end of each writing session. For example: If I write for thirty minutes, I can watch General Hospital.
Finding time to write is a dilemma that every writer faces, published or not. The tips above are based on my interviews with over one hundred professional writers on how they do it, and there are a lot more in my book. Give them a try!

Kelly L. Stone (www.kellylstone.com) began a freelance writing career while holding down a full-time job. Her articles and essays have been published in Family Circle, Writer's Digest, Cat Fancy, Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cup of Comfort. Her debut novel, Grave Secret, was released in September. Her book Time to Write: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life is now in stores. Her next book, Thinking Write: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind, will be released in October, 2009 and demonstrates how to apply the power of your subconscious mind to your writing aspirations.