Spring Conference Time is Near

Seeing the announcement of the NCWN Spring Conference created an excitement in me to go to this gathering of successful writers and poets. I want the inspiration and motivation I always receive when I am with writers. 

Ed Southern at City Lights Books. Photo by Barry Beall

I like to learn and I can tell there is much I could learn here. One of the things most of us need is the sessions by Ed Southern and his wife, Jamie, both knowledgeable about the book business. That is what we have if we make an effort to publish our writing, a business we need to work at just as we work at our writing. 

At times our book business takes too much of our time, or it seems to. We want to spend our time writing, not building a platform or reputation with readers, or getting our books into book stores, checking on their sales and even picking up books that are not selling. I was told that many writers, enthusiastic about their new novels, travel far and wide to sell book store owners on the idea of carrying their books. But, book store owners say often authors never come back. They never even contact the book stores. 

When our local book store closed the owner said she had contacted all the local authors whose books she carried, but very few came back to get their books. I ended up with many of them because I was asked to take them. Elizabeth didn't want to just throw away the books, so I give them as door prizes in our writing groups or donate them to Friends of the Library book store. 

The book business is important to learn. I want to attend Ed and Jamie's sessions. If anyone in WNC or north Georgia wants to go to Greensboro to the Spring Conference, I would like to have a companion for the trip. 

Keeping our Blog and Website going

I know we are all sorry that Joan Gage has resigned as our blog and webmaster for NCWN-West. She did a terrific job of keeping our events and our publishing success out there for all to see. 

Joan will continue as a member and will continue to do publicity for the Literary Hour, the monthly reading at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Many of our members have come to know Joan through this blog and through her own blogs. 

She is and has been a very busy person who was a tremendous help to me in the past. I hope I can still call on her from time to time to share her talents with us.

For now, I will resume posting here and try to keep up with everything, but I would very much appreciate one of our members stepping up to help with the blog. 

I learned about blogging and the success writers were having starting a free site to make their books known to the public when I attended a NCWN Fall Conference in 2007. I came home and tried my hand at creating one. I was delighted that our members liked the idea.

During the next year, I taught blogging classes at the Moss Library and several of our members set up their own blogs. One became an internationally known food blog. 

Brenda Kay Ledford and her mother, Blanche

Brenda Kay Ledford, author of many books and articles has two or three of the best blogs where she shares her poetry and writes about the history of Clay County. She has attracted a wide audience and Brenda has won a number of awards. Nancy Simpson also learned to blog at that class. I think her blog is still open and is great to read. 

I hope that you, our members, will follow us, if you do not already, and will send some of your work to post here. This site belongs to all of us, members of NCWN-West, and it is read by lots and lots of people here and around the world. Make your voice heard right here on www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com