Writers' Night Out

NEW DATES FOR WRITERS’ NIGHT OUT: March 18 and April 15--Karen Holmes

March 1, 2011 – Writers’ Night Out is becoming the place to be on a Friday night in Hiawassee! In February, 31 people filled Green To Bean Coffee House for fun, literature and music. Normally on the second Friday of the month, Writers’ Night Out will take place on the third Fridays in March and April at 7 p.m.
On March 18, the program features Janice Townley Moore, award-winning poet and Young Harris College professor. The April 15 event features prose writer, Ron Salzer of Hayesville, NC. Beginning on May 13, Writers’ Night Out will resume on the second Friday of each month.

Those who’d like to share their own poetry or fiction can participate in the Open Microphone portion of the program, which follows the featured writer’s presentation. Those interested in reading at the Open Mic may sign up at the event. Each writer will have three minutes to read.

Writers’ Night Out takes place at Green To Bean Coffee House at 538 Bell Creek Road in Hiawassee, next to the Humane Society Thrift Shop and across from McDonald’s. Come early to get a seat: The February event had standing-room only. The evening is free and open to the public. Light snacks and refreshments, including coffees from freshly roasted beans, are available for purchase.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Green To Bean at (706) 896-4524.

# # #

Contest from Poetry Council of North Carolina

The annual Poetry Council of North Carolina contest is now open through May 31, 2011, for adult and student poets with a North Carolina connection. Rules for the 2011 competition are posted at http://www.poetrycouncilofnc.wordpress.com/.

Adult and student poets, as age appropriate, may enter the following categories: 1) Oscar Arnold Young Contest for a Book of Poetry;
2) Charles Shull Traditional Poetry;
3) James Larkin Pearson for Free Verse;
4) Ellen T. Johnson-Hale Light Verse;
5) Performance Poem to be judged during a live performance on Poetry Day, October 1st , at Catawba College;
6) Charlotte Young for Elementary School Students;
7) Carol Bessent Hayman for Middle School Students; and
8) Sam Ragan North Carolina Connection for High School Students; and Gladys Owings Hughes Family Heritage Contest for Free Verse. Questions about the contest and PCNC may be e-mailed to edcockrell@hotmail.com, or call Ed Cockrell, president of PCNC, at 919.967.5834.

Rosemary Royston's Award Winning Poem

Read Rosemary Royston's award winning poem HERE

Congratulations, Rosemary.

Writers Night Out Reminder

For the Hiawassee/Blairsville/Hayesville area: A reminder that our next Writers' Night Out will NOT be the second Friday in March, but will be the THIRD Friday, March 18. Featured reader is Janice Moore, award-winning poet and a professor at Young Harris College.

We had standing room only in February, so plan to arrive early to get your seats and drinks before we start. We will have more chairs due to our great turnout last month!

April's event will also be the third Friday, April 15, featuring Ron Salzer. In May, we'll be back to our usual second Friday -- May 13 with Robert Kimsey.

Thanks for your enthusiasm and support. This is becoming the "happening" place to be on Friday night in the mountains.

Writing Advice from Stephen King

--Rosemary Royston, Program Coordinator

A Netwest member recently loaned me her copy of Stephen King’s On Writing. Even though I’m not a fiction writer, I’m always ready to learn, and I’m also a huge Stephen King fan. In a nutshell, the book blew me away. It is a “memoir” of the craft of writing, and King makes no bones about how he feels about anything. Not only does the reader learn about King’s life as a child and what shaped him as a writer, but she also learns specifics on what makes a good sentence, good dialogue, and a strong character. The advice in this book is simply excellent, and because of King’s tone, I found myself laughing quite a bit. He is brutal, honest, and wastes no words (in fact, he detests adverbs). One tidbit I found most interesting, not being a fiction writer, is that King is not a fan of “plot.” In fact, he warns writers against having a plot from the beginning and instead encourages them to have a situation, and then let the characters take the situation to its next level. For me, this was quite surprising, as I had the idea that most fiction writers thought of a plot first, and then shaped the characters around it. Not so, at least for King. Whether you are a poet, memoirist, or fiction writer, you will learn invaluable advice from this book. Borrow it, beg for it, check it out of your local library. You will not regret it.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Guidelines for submitting articles and photos for CLAY COUNTY PROGRESS "Sesquicentennial Souvenir Edition:

Use word document program.

E-mail: publisher@claycountyprogress.com

If you submit a photo, note at top of the article: "Photo attached." Also identify the photo with a cutline.

Include your name at the top of the article.

If the article has been published before, include the title of the publication in italics at the end of the story.

Length of article: 500 to 1,000 words.

Do not submit fictional stories. Articles should reflect on the county's history anytime throughtout the 15 decades.

A page will be devoted to poems about Clay County depending upon the number received.

Note in the subject line: 150th anniversary edition.

Photos should be sent in jpegs.

Stories will cover the following subjects: medical history, business community, railroad and transportation, agriculture, faith community, education/athletics, family life, government, organizations and service clubs, culture of Clay County such as the Peacock Playhouse and the John C. Campbell Folk School.

The Clay County Progress Sesquicentennial Sovenir Edition will be printed in August, 2011.

For more information, contact Becky Long, publisher, CLAY COUNTY PROGRESS at: 828-389-8431,

Mark Your Calendar Now

Quick Update-- Mark your calendar for NCWN's Spring Conference, Saturday, April 30, at UNC Greensboro. The fall 2011 conference date has not yet been set, but will be held in the Asheville area. As Program Coordinator, I plan on attending both events, and will put out a call for anyone who'd like to travel together to do so. Happy spring and may your pens fly across the page!

Submissions for Anthology of Love (in all its shapes and sizes)

(Photo by Catherine Beyler)

Jacar Press is calling for submissions for its poetry anthology on LOVE. What a large focus! Surely Netwest members can help Richard Krawiec out by submitting some poems. Go to the Jacar site, http://jacarpress.com/submit.html, to find out more about the submissions guideline.

At this very moment I love looking out

my window and seeing sunlight

on winterized rhododendron leaves.

Snow melting on brown grass,

weary winter trees readying themselves

for the bustin' out, the bursting forth,

the flourishing, the glorious full

in your face SPRING!

Meet Janice Moore, teacher and poet

by Paula Canup

The area in which we live is blessed, not only with natural beauty, but with a wealth of literary, musical, and artistic talent. Music has always been a part of these mountains. Now writers and artists come here to find inspiration and solitude for their work.

Janice Moore is one of those writers who moved here from Atlanta many years ago. She is now a full-time English professor at Young Harris College. In her spare time, she writes poems inspired by family, childhood, and life in the mountains. Her work has appeared in such prestigious publications as The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, and The Prairie Schooner. Her poetry chapbook, Teaching the Robins, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2005.

Janice began writing poetry as an English major in college. Friends and fellow writers offered support for her work. She also attended workshops at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta where guest poets offered helpful advice.

Her greatest challenge as a writer is finding time to write! Her job at YHC keeps her busy, but she often finds inspiration for a poem in the classroom.

What is Janice’s best advice for aspiring writers? “Do not get discouraged by rejection slips!” Every writer experiences them. She says that writers should just keep sending and sending to various publications, and eventually they will find one that will publish their work.

Today, Janice finds encouragement as a member of the North Carolina Writers Network west, better known as Netwest. This group sponsors monthly critique groups for both poetry and prose. Janice finds that the critique group, which she facilitates, motivates her to have at least one new poem ready each month to share with the group.

Recently, Janice’s poetry was included in a Netwest anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, edited by Nancy Simpson and published by Winding Path Publishing.

CONGRATULATIONS TO NANCY SIMPSON

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE New and Selected Poems by Nancy Simpson has been nominated for a 2010 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Poetry Award.

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE New and Selected Poems by Nancy Simpson has been nominated for The Weatherford Poetry Award 2010.

A Big Thank You to Our Echoes Distributors



Lana Hendershott

I want to thank some members of Netwest who have been exemplary volunteers the past year. Our representatives in each county acted as distributors and marketers for Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, the anthology we published in 2010. They called on bookshops and gift shops throughout western North Carolina, South Carolina and North Georgia. They manned tables and signed books at festivals. We could not have already sold nearly 1000 books without the hard work and diligent record-keeping of these people. Each Representative originally received 100 books delivered to their homes.

Nancy Purcell from Brevard, NC sold out of her first shipment quickly and requested more books. She and the others also found each contributor in their county and gave them a promised free book. We sent out a list of people who donated money to Netwest for the printing of the book. Each of them received a free book.

Lana Hendershott is our Netwest Rep in Henderson County. She has done a remarkable job keeping book stores stocked and selling to members and others who wanted a copy of Echoes. If you live in Henderson County contact Lana if you know of any place that would like to carry Echoes Across the Blue Ridge.

Nancy Purcell

JC Walkup of Haywood County did a terrific job of selling Echoes. She brought copies to meetings of Mountain Writers, she sold books at the Farmers Market, and she keeps Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville supplied. She has also sold books in Asheville and filled orders for Malaprop’s.

These three Netwest members held readings in libraries, put articles in newspapers and did all they could possibly do to get our book out there. And they were successful. We can't thank them enough for giving of their time and making the extra effort required to make Echoes Across the Blue Ridge a big seller this past year.

JC Walkup from Canton, NC

The Power of Memorization

--Rosemary Royston

As your Program Coordinator, I challenge you this month to do some memorization. Like diagramming sentences, I believe memorization is becoming a lost art….(am I the only one who actually enjoyed diagramming sentences?). However, keeping our brains active throughout our entire lives is healthy, and I’m prompted to share this challenge with you in light of our upcoming poetry month (April). Wouldn’t it be wonderful to “testify” to the power of poetry by quoting a poem to your family and friends? I can still quote from memory the first poem that ever moved me – “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost (you may read it here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19977). Frost’s poem was in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and it was a very appropriate poem for the subject matter of the book – young men whose golden youth slipped away too fast and too violently.

If you recall your own days of primary and elementary school, there were other great pieces of literature or history that you likely memorized. Ms. Burton of Elbert County Elementary School (Georgia) made our entire fourth grade class memorize and recite Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. I can still recall the scent of the ink and the dampness of the paper from the mimeograph machine (where all the ink was purple, not black). I was overwhelmed and fearful of learning such a long and important speech, but the skills I gained from memorizing and then reciting to my classroom peers are skills I still use today. I’ve also found that when I get a line to a poem it helps for me to let it simmer. While I always carry a journal to jot things down, sometimes I force myself to memorize and hold onto the poem before doing so. I once wrote a poem in my head driving from Atlanta to Blairsville. I memorized it before putting it down on paper, and it’s one of my best poems.

So give your mind a workout. Memorize a poem or your favorite section of a prose piece. Share it with someone you care about. A good place to begin: Shakespeare’s sonnets. There’s a reason poems were written in rhyme…they were easier to memorize. Pick a sonnet (or write your own) for your Valentine and recite it – definitely a unique and touching gift!

GATHERING OF POETS IN WINSTON-SALEM

On April 9, Press 53 and Jacar Press (in Durham) are sponsoring a day-long gathering of poets, featuring workshops with Fred Chappell, Val Nieman, Alex Grant, among others, and a faculty reading in the afternoon, including Isabel Zuber. I will also be doing a workshop. This sounds like a lot of fun, so please visit http://www.press53.com/GatheringofPoets2011.html to view the schedule and sign up to participate in this collaborative effort for the cause of poetry in our state!

Read About What You Missed at AWP

If, like me, you did not make it to the AWP Conference in Washington D. C. this weekend, you might enjoy this site where a writer is sharing her experience there on her blog.
She is writing about the sessions she attends each day and I found her posts very interesting. Today she found that creative non-fiction is still a mystery to most writers.