Gary Carden Muses on Mountain Changes

FEW RANDOM EVENTS

Plagued by insomnia, I got up around 6:00 one morning last week and went out to sit on my deck so I could watch the fog rise in my garden. In the dim light, I saw two young foxes playing in the freshly plowed dirt.They reminded me of kittens as they tumbled, wrestled and rolled in mock combat. Then, a plank in my deck creaked under my foot and they froze. They stared at me for an instant and then vanished, melting into the fog and undergrowth.
For a moment, I felt very privileged … even honored, you could say. Last year, while I was visiting a friend on the ridge behind Wal-mart, I came on a flock of wild turkeys standing quietly in a large grassy field. As they moved slowly across the field finally vanishing into the woods, I noted that in the background I could see clouds of dust, and I dimly heard the grind and thunder of bulldozers that were altering the shape of land along#107, converting meadows and farmland into acres ofconcrete. I asked my friend about the turkeys.
“They have no place to go,” she said. “This ridge is completely surrounded by development.”
Recently, another friend of mine told me that he had been vainly searching for “the smoke hole” in the Tuckaseigee community. “It used to be a kind of tourist attraction forty years ago.” He wondered if perhaps it had been bulldozed out of existence and that troubled him.
“You know, it was sacred to the Cherokees who believed that the smoke rising from the hole had curative powers. They said that the smoke came from an underground townhouse belonging to the Nunnihi, the immortal ones who are “protective spirits” of the Cherokees.”
He went on to note that in the old Cherokee myths, hunters who stood near the smoke hole in winter when the warm air melted the snow for a distance of five feet around the hole – those hunters claimed they heard drum beats and distant laughter.
“So, to stand there was to stand on the boundary of two different worlds – the temporal and the immortal.” Finally, he said, “I don’t think you can destroy places like that without paying for it.”
Just across the road, my neighbor has erected a huge sign that announces the sale of 34 acres of land. Who will buy it? What will they do with it? How will it affect my life? Two years from now, will I recognize the ridgeline of the woods across the road, or will it be transformed into condos, summer homes and convenience stores? Will the smell of honeysuckle and the trill of birds be replaced with the aroma of charred meat and the din of traffic?
Sitting on my deck, watching the shift of light from night to day, I have the definite feeling that we are all – foxes, wild turkeys and my neighbors – standing on the boundary between two worlds…. And we are facing eviction. Where will we go?

An Award and a Story by Peg Russell

The Award:
Great news from Oceanview!
We are pleased to announce that four Oceanview titles are among the winners of the 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards, a prestigious national awards program recognizing excellence in independent publishing.
Among this year’s winners are:
Stuff to Die For by Don Bruns – Winner, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Category
Egrets to the Flames by Barbara Anton – Winner, General Fiction Category
The Castro Gene by Todd Buchholz – Award-winning Finalist, Mystery/ Suspense/Thriller Category
Ladykiller by Lawrence Light and Meredith Anthony –Award-winning Finalist, Mystery/Suspense/ Thriller Category
When we founded Oceanview in 2005, we endeavored to create a tradition of excellence in independent publishing and we are both humbled and proud to have four of our titles among the winners of the 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards.
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners! Oceanview Publishing Where great books are always on the horizon


And now the story:
Barbara Anton was one of my writing group, the Hotsies. She had written a novel, and sent it around, but it got nowhere. One reply said there was no market for a book about sugar cane growing in the Everglades. She put it in a drawer and left it there.
Barbara wrote many published articles, her plays were performed off, off Broadway, she, who had no college degree, was teaching writing at USF New College.
When we would mention her novel, she shrugged it off, declaring she wasn't going to work on it any more.
Another writer mentioned Barbara's novel to her publisher, who requested a copy and over a lunch, Barbara signed the contract.
Then our editor Hotsie told Barbara that she must see a doctor, she looked terrible. Pancreatic cancer took her within a month of the diagnosis. She died with two Hotsies holding her hand and stroking her hair.
Her memorial service was at Florida Studio Theatre, and included actors readings and Hotsie singing the song she wrote, Proud to be an American.
Barbara's novel was published after her death.

Peg Russell is a member of Netwest and lives in Murphy, NC. Before she came to the mountains she was an active member of the Sarasota Fiction Writers, the Hotsies writing group, Selby Poets, and led a Summer Light Verse Workshop every year.
She was commissioned to write a booklet for the Sarasota Historical Society, Dreamers of Our Past, and she co-authored a Beginning Genealogy booklet for Selby Public Library. Her poetry and light verse have been published in the Florida English Journal, Robert Wallace's Light Years, The Tampa Tribune, and the DogGone Good Times. Her features and interviews have been published in the The Sarasota Herald Tribune, Peppertree Literary Magazine, and the Cherokee Scout. Reminisce Magazine bought one of her articles. Her one act play, Kate Howe, had a public reading during the Fogarty Cafe Summer Festival, and her short play, Star Spangled Duo, was a winner in the Florida Studio Theatre Summer Shorts contest. Now a full time resident of Murphy, she is active in Richard Argo's Prose Critique Group and Friends of Murphy Library Writers Workshop.

The Price of Fame

Some writers just can't be pleased, it seems. The following from Poets and Writers, is one example.

Doris Lessing, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, has added to her collection of controversial sound bites, telling the BBC last month that receiving the award was "a bloody disaster" because it shifted her attention away from writing. "All I do is give interviews and spend time being photographed," she said.

Words for Beginning Writers by Glenda Beall

Persistence plus Patience equals Publication

Some of us send out poems on a regular basis, keeping something in the mail at all times. I know of more than one writer or poet who uses the rule of twelve. Keep twelve submissions out at all times. By doing this you are almost assured that one of them will be accepted.

When you receive a rejection, don’t assume that poem or story is no good. Choose carefully another market and submit your work immediately. Don’t let it spend the night at your house. Send it right away.Whether submitting online or via paper, be sure to include your full name, address, phone number and email address. Make it as easy as possible for the editor to contact you.

If you send a cover letter, make it brief. Most editors are not as impressed with where you have published, but want to be impressed with your writing. Scott Douglas of Main Street Rag doesn’t want any references as to where you have been published. He wants to judge your work, not your references.

Follow guidelines explicitly and know your market’s preferences. Check their website for the latest information such as the name of the present editor. If you don’t know the name of the editor, you aren’t very familiar with the magazine.

Editors cringe when they receive poetry written in elaborate fonts, on colored paper or decorated with butterflies and angels. Some editors are turned off before they read the poetry because the envelope has a return address label bearing photos of cute animals, flowers, and cherubs. Make your envelope and the work inside look professionally prepared. You are dealing with a business and they want to know you are a professional at what you do.

Don’t send anything until you have edited for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Let another pair of trusted eyes read to check for errors. Send three to five poems because the editor wants to see the range of your work. I once sent a poem about a dog to a publication asking for poems about dogs. The problem was, I only had one poem about a dog so I only sent that poem. The editor wrote a nice note on my rejection slip. “I’m sure you must have more poems than this one. Send me more and I will consider your work.”

The hardest part of publishing for beginning writers is the waiting. We submit and two weeks later we expect to hear something. We want to know if it is accepted or if it is not. Just let us know so we can celebrate or send that batch of poems out again. But publishing doesn’t work that way. We must be patient. I found the best way is to continue writing or sending more submissions and forget that you have work out there. It can take months. Most publications will say in the guidelines the approximate time you can expect a reply. However, you can not be sure of that, either. If you wait what you think is a considerate amount of time and hear nothing, then by all means call or write and ask the status of your piece. Above all, be polite when you call. Editors are swamped with submissions these days and the manuscripts pile up. Your getting angry and being rude does nothing to help you and could hurt you in future endeavors not only with this editor but with other editors she knows. They talk.

Even after your work is accepted, it could be up to a year before the work is published. Until you see it on a printed page in a book or magazine, you still cannot be sure it will be published. One of my essays was accepted by a magazine and I worked with the editor to make changes, but my story did not come out in the next issue. Three month later it still had not been published. My essay was kept for a year and it was never published. I received a note with a check for half what I’d been promised telling me the magazine was going in another direction and could not use my work after all.

Anyone can become a published writer at anytime whether in a newsletter, newspaper, online on a blog, or in a self-published book. To be published all you have to do is make your work available to the public. But if your goal is to be published in successful magazines or journals, you must read to find your market. Researching markets is the least favorite thing for most writers. When you find, through the Writers’ Market or other directories, the type of publication that prints your kind of material, you should send only your best work and be sure to follow the guidelines which you can usually find on their website.

No matter how many rejections you receive, don’t give up. Persistence is the key. What one editor rejects, another might find to be the perfect poem or story for his next issue. But he won’t find it if it is lying buried in a drawer in your office. Keep submitting, and be patient. The more rejection slips you receive the closer you are to being accepted. And while you keep your work out there looking for a home, continue to write, write, write.

Glenda Beall is a writer and poet. Her poems and essays can be found in numerous journals and anthologies. Her articles in several newspapers. She also teaches writing and serves as the Program Coordinator for Netwest.

An Interview with Poet, Nancy Simpson, Resident Writer at John Campbell Folk School

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview poet, Nancy Simpson, former Program Coordinator for the North Carolina Writers' Network West. Although I’ve known Nancy for thirteen years and always admired her, I had some questions about her writing and NCWN West. As you will see, her answers are most informative as well as candid.

GB: Nancy, you have been a practicing poet for thirty years. What inspired you to be a poet?

NS: As it happened, the N.C. Arts Council in Raleigh sent some poets to read at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville. I remember there was also a local poet on the program, Janice Townley Moore. Before that night I had only written rhyming poems. When I heard those poets read free verse poems, it changed my life forever. Something clicked. I remember thinking, Oh. That is what I have heard in my head all these years. I came to believe that poetry is a slanted way of seeing the world. When those quirky thoughts came, I started writing them down. That is how it began. I started studying free verse poetry immediately. I took classes with Dr. Steve Harvey, and I consider him my beloved teacher and mentor. I traveled far and wide to every writing workshop I could find. I went to hear every poet I could. I bought and listened to the great poets on tape. I could not get enough. Now, after all these years, I still can't get enough. Practicing, studying, and teaching poetry is my life.

GB: You earned your MFA at Warren Wilson College. Was that before you became Program Coordinator for NCWN West?

NS: I earned my M.F.A. in Writing in 1983. I began working with Marsha Warren, then Executive Director of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, to establish N.C.W.N. West in 1991.

GB: Early in your writing career you published with the best journals such as the Georgia Review and Prairie Schooner. How often has the Georgia Review chosen your poems, and what other fine journals published your work?

NS: I had three poems in The Georgia Review when Stan Lindberg was editor. I had five Poems in Prairie Schooner. Other poems were published in four editions of Southern Poetry Review, and recently SPR chose to reprint "Grass" in their upcoming 50th Anniversary Issue. Some of my poems have been in Indiana Review, Florida Review, Seneca Review and New Virginia Review. I've also been pleased to have poems in Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Heritage and Journal of Kentucky Studies.

GB: I know several of your poems have been chosen for anthologies and reprinted in books.

NS: I had poems reprinted in four editions of Anthology of Magazine Verse, Writers Choice, and Word and Wisdom - 100 Years of N.C. Poetry. My poem "Night Student" has been published and reprinted, upon request, nine times. It was recently included in Literary Trails of N.C. Seven poems were reprinted in the new anthology of Appalachian Poetry from McFarland Press.A new poem, "Carolina Blue Birds" is included in the anthology, The Poet's Guide to the Birds, forthcoming in 2008 from Anhinga Press.

GB: You published Across Water, a poetry chapbook and a full length collection, Night Student. Tell how that came about.

NS: The editor and publisher of State Street Press, Judith Kitchen, asked me if she could choose some of my poems for a chapbook manuscript. I had just met her in the M.F.A. Program at Warren Wilson College. I didn't know she owned a press. She chose and arranged the poems and published Across Water.
Two years later Judith Kitchen asked to see my manuscript again. After reading it, she called and said she had the title -- Night Student--and that although State Street Press published only chapbooks, she intended to publish my full-length collection. I was fortunate. I was very happy. To me, it is amazing. As years passed, Judith Kitchen became a dear friend. The biggest honor is that she asked me to be her best woman at her marriage ceremony.

GB: You dedicated many years to the NCWN West and, as Program Coordinator, mentored writers here in the mountains. Many have gone on to publish their work. However you continued publishing your own poems in literary journals, and you edited Lights in the Mountains, the NCWN West anthology published in 2005. How did you find the time when you also held a full-time job as a public school teacher?

NS: True. I taught in Clay County public schools for 26 years. After I earned my MFA, I taught 11th grade English and I taught English Composition part time at Tri County College. Later I switched to Continuing Ed so I could teach creative writing. At the same time, I co- founded N.C. Writers Network West and took on the job of Program Coordinator. I then was asked to serve as Resident Writer at John C. Campbell Folk School. At one time I was teaching full time and had three paying part-time writing related jobs. At the same time, I kept writing poems. I kept submitting them and getting them published. I do not know how I did it. It was not hard. Writing consumed my life.

GB: In recent years you lost a sister and a son. How has your writing helped you deal with your grief?

NS: I believe practicing poetry is a way to learn how to live. Yes, writing helped me deal with death and grief. Losing my sister was hard because we were close and most of my life she lived near enough that we could talk every day. She prodded me to write a specific historical novel and, before her death, she handed over all of her research. Every day I look across the driveway at her empty house. At night, it seems darker on the mountain without lights in her house. I honor her best by writing the novel. Sometimes when I get stuck, I imagine her telling me where to find the answer on which page of her research. Sometimes I imagine her saying, “Only 127 pages! Get to work!”

The death of my son from Cancer last summer was the hardest thing I've ever had to face. I was with him through surgery which took place during Christmas week at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. I thought he soon would be coming home, but his progress stalled and he stayed in the hospital. His brothers, who live in Atlanta, promised to take good care of him. One was employed as a nurse at Emory and checked on him often. I talked with my son two or three times a day, but grief set in. I became depressed. I had two completed poetry manuscripts that were circulating among the poetry presses, but I did not think about that very much. One day I found myself shuffling the manuscript pages, shifting poems from one manuscript to another, changing page numbers, even changing the title of one of the manuscripts. When I told a good friend what I was doing she said, “Oh No. Don't do that.”
I know she was concerned that in my depressed state, I might ruin the manuscripts. I stopped and thought about it. I knew I was doing the right thing. Other than the life of my son, there was nothing that could keep my mind focused. There was nothing else thatmade me want to get out of bed in the morning. Your question is how has my writing helped me deal with grief? Practicing poetry at the most dreadful time sustained me. When my son came home to Hospice, I put my poems away. I did not need them because I had my son, and I had an important new job to learn - how to be his nurse.

GB: As Writer in Residence at the John C. Campbell Folk School, you are in contact with writers and teachers all over the United States. What do you look for in choosing faculty for the Writing Program at JCCFS?

NS: In the John C. Campbell Folk School Writing Program, I look for a writer who has book publications or is widely published in good magazines. Second, I want someone who has teaching credentials, who has taught writing before or has teacher training somewhere in their background. Third, and most important, the instructors who come to teach at JCCFS must fit into the non competitive environment. We have "no hierarchy and no lowerarchy." The best teachers can sit in a circle with their students and teach them well. Lectures go over like a lead balloon at the folk school. We now have a lovely set up with classes held in the living room of Orchard House and in the new writing studio which is attached to Orchard House. I will not say the teaching style we want is casual. No. A week at the folk school is the most intense kind of learning. But, it is not similar in any way to college classroom and never shall be. We only have 18 writing classes a year now and the schedule is filled through 2009. Still, I am always on the look out for good writing instructors.

GB: You have two new poetry manuscripts finished. Give us the names of each and tell us the themes of these works. Have any of the poems in these manuscripts already been published?

NS: One is LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE. The other is INTO THE HEART OF THE GLACIER.The poems were written over many years. I took a NCWN Advanced Poetry Class with Kathryn Stripling Byer. What she read was one manuscript with 150 poems. Kay said it should be two different manuscripts, and she advised where to break them apart. I will always appreciate her direction. LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, which was first titled Accounting, is written in the voice of a woman who lives alone on a remote mountain in Appalachia. Her concerns focus on specific values: Worth of Persons, Family and Concern for our planet. Nineteen of the poems have been published.INTO THE HEART OF THE GLACIER is also written with the same southern voice of a woman living alone on a mountain. Glacier is a love story, the ancient Eurydice story turned backward and set in our time. Twenty-two of the poems have been published.

GB: On June 7, you will teach your first poetry workshop for NCWN West. You have taught at Tri-County Community College, John C. Campbell Folk School, and the Institute of Continuing Learning at Young Harris College. How did it happen that you never taught a class for NCWN West?

NS: Thanks for inviting me. I can hardly wait to teach this Netwest Saturday Poetry workshop on June 7. To answer the question, I was the Program Coordinator and my main job was to help the representatives in each county get the kind of writing programs they wanted. At that time NCWN sponsored four Saturday workshops a year in the Netwest region. I was eager to teach, but it would not have been ethical to do so at the time I was on the NCWN payroll. I was busy editing and producing an anthology. Each county had character and ideas of its own. I worked hard at setting up critique groups, if that was what they wanted, or Saturday writing workshops. I was busy keeping two Netwest representatives in each county. It would not have been appropriate for me to teach a Netwest workshop.

I am happy to say that over the years, NCWN invited me to be on their Fall Conference program three different times. NC Women Writers invited me twice to be on their program; once when held in Asheville, and later when held in Greensboro. You can see I stayed busy, but now, yes now, I can say I am a happy woman to be invited to teach a Saturday Poetry Workshop for NCWN West.

GB: .What do you expect students to take away from this coming class, Advance Your Poetry?

NS: ADVANCE YOUR POETRY is an all day workshop for practicing free verse poets. My goal is to focus on their poetry and their poetry writing process. We will talk about how they started writing poetry, where they are now in their writing careerand what is their next step, and the next, and the next. I expect the students to take away direction and a folder marked in bold letters: MY POETRY CHAPBOOK COLLECTION.

GB: Nancy, I’m delighted you took the time to answer my questions so our visitors on http://www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com/ can know more about you and about NCWN West.

NS: Glenda, thank you for asking.

Well Blow the Tannery Whistle!!

Gary Carden's performance this past Friday night at the PAC was amazing!! He told his story of the Tannery Whistle, a wonderful tale that unfolds like a huge black snake on hot pavement, full of crazy characters and hilarious anecdotes. Gary's stories link together so seamlessly that it is impossible to detect where fact leaves off and fiction begins. And that's the fun of a Gary Carden story, his rare ability to take events from his life and embellish them with wit and insight until they sparkle like a North Carolina stream!

The Performing Arts Center was packed. I was glad to see so many people take advantage of coming out to hear one of the funniest and most gifted storytellers around, as well as one of this area's most prized treasures! Everyone laughed so hard, that when Gary finished, there was not a dry eye in the house. If you haven't heard Gary Carden tell a story, you are missing out on an extraordinary experience. He is a natural teller and delightful humorist. I hope to see more of him on stage soon!

Lonnie Busch

Joan Medlicott, a western NC author

Tonight while browsing ncwriters.org I came across the name Joan Medlicott, which I had heard recently. She lives in western NC near Asheville and is quite a successful author. I took the liberty of lifting some of her words which should give all of us inspiration to "go for it" no matter what we are told by others. No matter that we live in a society that implies life is over after fifty.


"It had never occurred to me to write professionally. All my writing had been for organizations. Then, in 1989, a friend and I decided that there was a problem out there in America — many women were living in sexless marriages. We decided to write a self-help book on the subject. We had no clue how to begin, but fools rush in where... you know what. We did just that, learning as we went along. In 1992 Celibate Wives: Breaking the Silence was published. It was not marketed by its publisher, and went nowhere. But, by then, I’d been bitten by the writer’s bug.I knew nothing about novel writing. In fact, my then agent said that non-fiction writers could not switch to novels. I thought, you wait and see. I was certain that I could learn. I took classes, hired an editor, read copiously and kept on going. It never bothered me to be the least knowledgeable writer in a writers group, or to take criticism. I discovered there was a craft to be mastered, and I set out to do that through writers’ magazines, workshops, classes, writing groups.The idea for Ladies came to me in the bathtub and persisted until I sat at the computer to put down my thoughts. I never stopped. When I did not know what came next, I soaked in the tub and the next chapter or twist of plot would come to me. I am grateful to the universe for its guidance.My life is full and active. Besides my writing, I volunteer at a local library sorting, pricing and selling the used books at our annual used book sale. I am on the library board and for the last two years have a been co-manager of the 1st and 2nd annual Western North Carolina Book Fair."



Recently at a workshop, I was surprised to find several people who said they were writing a book. Most of them had written very little and published nothing. Like Ms. Medlicott, we must study the craft of writing, take every opportunity to learn from others who have made it, but it is never too late to begin.

If you have read Joan Medlicott's books, let us hear from you. What do you like about Joan's books? email: writerlady21@yahoo.com

Rare and Powerful Stories

Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand by Louise Hawes
Hardcover: 224 pages, from Houghton Mifflin


Book Review by Lonnie Busch

Lush, Buoyant, Terrifying, and Heartbreaking. What Hawes has accomplished with her new collection of stories, Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand, is nothing short of Brilliant! This is not just a retelling of the oldest and most cherished fairy tales you heard as a child, but a bold and breathtaking re-envisioning of such memorable stories as The Pied Piper, and Hansel and Gretel. Through Hawes’ powerful imagination and stunning prose, these stories have “grown up,” infused with a mature and wondrous new charm.

At first glance you won’t recognize the names of the stories in the Table of Contents; Hawes has chosen to rename her tales. But for those of you intimately familiar with these unforgettable classics, you will not be far into Hawes’ first story, “Dame Nigran’s Tower,” before you recognize the theme of Rapunzel. But what’s different is that Hawes has chosen to tell the story from the witch’s point of view, and not the horrible witch from the original tale who was so easy to hate and fear with her warts and pointy nose and bony hands, but a beautiful witch who risks her magical ability to fly, for a chance to experience the power of human love. These are compassionate, sophisticated stories that will hold you spellbound for hours, long after you’ve put the book down.

But be warned: not everyone in these stories lives happily ever after. Through the vehicle of these re-imagined tales, Hawes’ artfully exposes human nature in all its forms—at once raw and devastating, then beautiful and courageous—unwilling to take false paths for happier solutions. Hawes stays true to the story she’s fashioned, committed to the characters she’s shaped, faithfully following them through the dismal, dank forest if that’s where they lead. But even at their darkest, these stories manage to lift you up with their boundless energy and daring, their genius and empathy, their unwavering heart and soul.

Hawes is known for her virtuosic writing and her ease of transitioning between genres, producing YA Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Picture Books, and several short fiction collections. Her work has garnered awards from the Children's Book Council, the Young Adult Library Services Association, the Center for Children's Books, the New York Public Library, and the International Reading Association. It is due to her amazing command of language and literary genius that Hawes is able to imbue these mature stories with fairy tale magic. Through the enchantment of Hawes’ magnificent prose, I was transported back in time, not to my own childhood, but a realm where time has never existed, and yet, in terms of human spirit, not so different from today.

Brenda Kay Ledford at Coffee With the Poets

Brenda Kay Ledford is the featured poet this month at Coffee with the Poets, Phillips and Lloyd book store in Hayesville, NC

Wednesday May 28, 10:30 a.m.

All writers of poetry whether free verse, formal or writers of children’s poetry are welcome to come and share a poem.

Those who enjoy poetry and just want to listen and visit with the poets are cordially invited as well.

Brenda Kay Ledford, poet, writer and storyteller from Clay County, will read from her award-winning chapbooks Shewbird Mountain and Patchwork Memories. She might tell a story as well.

Coffee with the Poets is held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. This event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network West as a means of fellowship among writers and to promote poetry and poets in western North Carolina, North Georgia and East Tennessee.
Elizabeth Rybicki offers, from Crumpets Dessertery, coffee, tea and delicious dessert at a special price to attendees of this event.

2008 Poetry and Essay Contest in Murphy, NC

NCWN West member Paul Donovan, right, organized Cherokee County Contest

Awards for the 2008 Poetry &, Essay Contest were presented on Tuesday, April 22, at Shoebooties Restaurant in Murphy. Students with winning entries were presented with savings bonds from the following sponsors: Curiosity Shop Bookstore – $100; The Daily Grind & Wine – $100; N.C. Writers Network West – $75; Reiki Mountain Center of Natural Healing – $75; Blue Moon Elise – $50; First Citizens Bank - $50. In addition, Shoebooties gave each winner a free dinner.

NCWN West is honored to have been be a part of promoting writing in the schools for several years. Click on the site for the Cherokee Scout newspaper to read the work of the winners. http://www.thecherokeescout.com/

Begin in the Middle!

A look at Ron Rash’s new collection of fiction, Chemistry and Other Stories

Book Review by Lonnie Busch

In Chemistry and Other Stories, Ron Rash’s most recent collection of short stories from Picador, Rash does exactly what Aristotle suggested to young writers over 2000 years ago; he starts his stories in medias res—“In the middle of things.” Aristotle knew that for a story to be successful, it had to focus on the main conflict immediately. Rash executes Aristotle’s idea flawlessly in this fine collection.

The spring my father spent three weeks at Broughton Hospital, he came back to my mother and me pale and disoriented, two pill bottles clutched in his right hand as we made our awkward reunion in the hospital lobby. So begins “Chemistry,” the title story of Rash’s collection. Rash drops the reader in the middle of things by cutting to the heart of the conflict in the first sentence. He follows “Chemistry” with “Last Rite.”—When the sheriff stepped onto her porch, he carried his hat in his hands, so she knew Elijah was dead.

If you study Rash’s lead-ins closely, you’ll see a pattern emerge; Rash always starts with characters—characters at the edge of peril, conflict, or confusion, characters with their bare toes curled over the precipice of change. Lately, it seems, fiction in some of the finest literary journals attempts to entice readers into its fictional web with initial offerings no more challenging than weather reports, bird nests, and hammered metal bells. Rash understands the structure of effective storytelling and how to imbue a tale with urgency. He starts so precisely, it’s hard to imagine his stories could begin anywhere other than where they do. His lead sentence always elicits questions and evokes mystery. Once his story’s in full swing, Rash sketches in supporting events and backstory with the deft of a magician, never releasing the spell he casts with his initial image.

I met Lee Ann McIntyre on a date suggested by my wife. From Rash’s story, “Honesty.” How can bird nests and metal bells possibly compete with lead-ins like these? Or the first sentence of “Dangerous Love.”—When Ricky threw his knife and the blade tore my blouse and cut into flesh eight inches from my heart, it was certain as the blood trickling down my arm that something in our relationship had gone wrong. This is powerful writing and exquisite storytelling. Let’s not forget, Rash is also a poet. He knows about economy of language and writes like he has to pay for each and every word out of his own pocket. John Gardner, author of October Light, Mickelsson’s Ghost, and many other titles, once remarked that every line of poetry should be “red meat.” Rash obviously knows to stick to the main course, serving it up hot from the inception.

When Pemberton returned to the North Carolina mountains after four months in Boston settling his father’s estate, among those waiting on the train platform was a woman pregnant with Pemberton’s child. From “Pemberton’s Bride.”

Like a riptide, Rash’s openings sweep the reader into the story, making compelling promises to his audience, and delivering on those promises each and every time. These aren’t tricks, or slight of pen; this is solid storytelling at its best. After the second time his hardware store had been robbed, both times at night, Marshall Vaughn bought a pistol. That from “Deep Gap,” and this from Rash’s O. Henry Award winning short story, “Speckled Trout.”—Lanny came upon the marijuana plants while fishing Caney Creek. This, like many of the other beginnings in this collection, is simply elegant and astonishingly provocative. Chemistry and Other Stories is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable collections I’ve read in a long time, and could serve as a valuable primer for new writers and veterans alike, a precious reminder of how powerful story beginnings can be.

Thirteen Moons on Audio

Some books are better listened to than read. I never thought I’d say that until I heard Will Patton read Charles Frazier’s Thirteen Moons. Frazier’s use of language compells me to listen to every word. I’m not sure I’d have waded through all the description and wordiness while reading it, but I have savored every detail I heard from Will Patton, my favorite reader on audio books.
Cold Mountain was an easy read, and the book haunted me for a long time. I even thought the movie was excellent. I had heard that Thirteen Moons was not as good a novel as Cold Mountain, and I’m not caught up in the actual story as much as I was in Frazier’s first book. But I find myself writing down phrases I hear on the audio version such as “beans basined in her apron.” Frazier paints the image I remember of my own mother who gathered beans or peas and made a "basin" with her apron in lieu of a bucket or pan.
With a life too full to have time for my own writing, I find myself seldom having time to read as much as I'd like. Books on CD are perfect. I spend much of each day driving. That time is not wasted if I am listening to a good book. Like my friend Estelle, I plan to make comments and mark special places in the margins of Thirteen Moons, the printed version. She does that with books by Terry Kay and Howard Bahr.
I only have one question I’d like to ask Mr. Frazier. He tells of cooking quail over an open fire, and he mentions using butter. He describes the meal and use of herbs, but I don’t understand how men who are on horseback riding day after day in search of Indians, manage to keep butter in their bags. Surely it would melt since there was no ice. Maybe I missed something and didn’t hear Will Patton explain this.
Charles Frazier and Will Patton. That's a fine combination.

Writers in Henderson, Transylvania and other counties in the Netwest area are invited to the Henderson county library, Monday, June 16, 5:30 pm. Ed Southern, Executive Director of the North Carolina Writers' Network and Glenda Beall, Program Coordinator of NCWN West will be there to talk and answer questions pertaining to the Network and Netwest. Nancy Purcell, Netwest Rep for Transylvania County, and Al Manning, Rep for Haywood County plan to be on hand to talk about what Netwest members and writers are doing in their areas. This is an effort to learn what writers want and how NCWN can help them meet their goals.

Kathryn Byer in North Johnston County with students

John Foster West, North Carolina poet, writer, teacher, mentor and activist

John Foster West taught English and creative writing for 42 years at three different colleges; Elon College, N.C., from 1949 to 1958, Old Dominion College in Norfolk, Va., from 1958 to 1968 and, in 1968, Appalachian State University (ASU) until he retired, professor emeritus, in January, 1991.

At ASU, along with teaching, he was writer-and-poet-in-residence and mentored hundreds of aspiring writers and poets throughout the years. After retiring, he traveled extensively to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Professor West was born December 10, 1918, in Wilkes County, N.C., to John Wilkes and Elvira Foster West during the flu epidemic of that year. He attended Mars Hill College in 1941, where he met his future wife, Nan Elizabeth Love.

He served in the Army Air Corps from 1943, where he learned to fly and taught airplane mechanics, until World War I ended. He was discharged in 1945.

John Foster West graduated with a BA in English from UNC, Chapel Hill in 1947 and a MA in 1949. As an undergraduate, he was involved in establishing the "Carolina Quarterly," a literary journal still in existence today. He also did doctoral work in English and Journalism at Chapel Hill and the University of Iowa.

His wrote his first book of poetry "Up Ego" while he was teaching at Elon College in 1951.

In 1965, John received wide acclaim for his first novel, "Time Was" published by Random House. The publishers submitted his novel to be considered for a Pulitzer Prize.

Other books were: "Appalachian Dawn," 1973 a sequel to "Time Was," the "Ballad of Tom Dula," 1990 and the Appalachian Consortium's Appalachian Fiction Award, "The Summer People" in 1989.
In addition to varied contributions to magazines and other periodicals, books of poetry include: "This Proud Land," photography by Bruce Roberts, "Wry Wine" and "High Noon at Pompeii."

John received many awards and acknowledgements during his prolific career. He has appeared in "Who's Who in the South and Southwest," "Who's Who Among American Scholars," "Contemporary Authors" and the "Dictionary of International Biography." He served as past president of the NC Writers Conference, NC Folklore Society and Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism fraternity.

Professor West, 89, died Friday, May 2, 2008. John will be remembered most as a North Carolina writer, poet, historian and activist for the preservation and ecology of his beloved mountains. John Foster West was a fascinating, eccentric, brilliant, caring, introspective man and he will be missed by all who knew and loved him. John was preceded in death by his wife, Nan, who died in 1966.

A memorial service to celebrate his life was held on Friday, May 9 in Boone, NC. Memorial donations can be made to the John Foster West Scholarship Fund, care of the English Department at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.

The information for this article was excerpted from his obituary in the High Point newspaper.

Clarence Newton, NCWN West poet and writer

A Man of Wit and Wisdom
by Glenda Beall

I enjoy seeing white-haired Clarence Newton arrive at Netwest readings because I know I will learn a bit about something I didn’t know or learn to see in a different way, something I already knew. While reading his essays or poetry, Clarence holds his audience in the palm of his hand.

Clarence seems younger than his 82 years, and his poetry and newspaper columns give evidence of a long life spent in careful observation of the world we have made for ourselves. His keen observations of birds and their habits, rueful observations on marriage, men and women, are all subjects he is adept at boiling down to a few succinct verses in a poem or an essay. He had a long career in aviation as well as years of studying law, a stint in the Navy, and in retirement -- the study of writing. He also teaches a course in driver’s safety for seniors. Self-effacing, Clarence will likely be embarrassed that I have made him the subject of this article.

I first met Clarence through the pages of the Towns County Herald, local newspaper in Hiawassee, GA where Clarence and his wife, Lorraine, live. Reading his column I got a kick out of his tongue in cheek views of politics or his shedding light on the absurdity of problems the media shouts at us daily. His essays have appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Smoky Mountain Sentinel and the Gainesville Times.

Those of us who attend Coffee with the Poets, where Clarence is a favorite participant, welcome his well-crafted lyric poems, or narratives which often end with a wry final verse. He leaves us either laughing or crying, but always applauding. As far as I know, Clarence has never submitted a poem for publication. I hope he will compile his poetry into a book. I will be the first in line for my copy.

John C. Campbell Readings May 15, 7:00 p.m.

Brenda Kay Ledford and Shirley Uphouse are reading this month at John C. Campbell Folk School.

Brenda Kay Ledford, a native of Clay County, North Carolina, writes about what she knows best; life in Clay County and the people of the Appalachians. Her work has a warmth that is only achieved by experience and a keen awareness of her surroundings. Her first poetry chapbook, Patchwork Memories, received the 2005 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians.

Previously, Ledford's writings have appeared in Pembroke Magazine, Asheville Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Appalachian Heritage, Cappers, Our State Magazine and other journals. Shew Bird Mountain also received an award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Her books are available from Amazon.com and local book stores.

See her website http://www.brendakayledford.com/

Shirley Uphouse, former Program Coordinator for Netwest, of Murphy, North Carolina, writes essays and short ficiton. She has taught Creative Writing at Tri County Community College for several years and has been an AKC dog show judge for twenty years. Her interest in purebred dogs is the subject of articles published in magazines geared toward dog enthusiasts. She is presently working on a book about her life with her dogs.
Both writers are members of the North Carolina Writers Network West (Netwest), which sponsors the monthly readings at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.

Book Review by Gary Carden

Turnback Creek by Lonnie Busch
Huntsville: Texas Review Press $12.95 – 65 pages

In reading the works of major Southern writers in recent years, a singular theme repeatedly emerges: the protean nature of water. In the novels of Ron Rash, water appears as both lethal and life sustaining (Saints at the River); while in One Foot in Eden the building of a dam obliterates a small farming community. At other times, water is an agent of renewal or teasing mystery. In the writings of James Dickey (Deliverance) and William Gay (Provinces of the Night), water sometimes brings violent transformations. Lonnie Busch’s slender novella, Turnback Creek, manages to embody many of these diverse themes in this skillfully crafted work - only 65 pages – a truly amazing accomplishment! In essence, Turnback Creek represents a kind of literary distillation in which the author has stripped his story to a polished crux.This accomplishment has not gone unnoticed. Turnback Creek has received the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize and the praise of his peers, many of whom stress the work’s resemblance to a parable of life, death and redemption. The book’s protagonist, Cole Emerson, is a man who is in the process of “coming to terms” with his misspent life. Now in his 70’s, Cole finds himself living on a small farm in a remote section of Missouri. He has lived a heedless, nomadic existence as a heavy equipment operator, often bragging of pulling down a white-collar salary operating backhoes and tractors. He has little to show for it. At the end of his life, Cole, now a widower and estranged from his daughter, spends his days tending a dying sister. At night when the sister is sedated, he fishes a tributary of Hartman Lake called Turnback Creek and ponders the past. It is here that he first encounters Hannah, a naked fourteen-year-old girl, who emerges from the darkness one night, driving a backhoe through the moonlit woods adjoining the lake. Is she real? Is she perhaps a projection of Cole’s yearning for his own lost youth? Regardless, the naked girl behaves like a demonic sprite as she struggles to control the backhoe. The old man is transfixed by the girl’s antics. Further, Cole senses that she knows he is watching her, and when he turns his boat towards home, he sees the moonlit figure on a cliff above the lake. The next night, he is back, hoping she will appear again. In time, Cole comes face-to-face with the girl and learns that her name is Hannah. Despite daylight encounters that reveal Hannah to be a troubled and angry teenager with an alcoholic father, the old man continues to perceive her as a near-supernatural being. Cole becomes obsessed with Hannah and finds himself plagued by guilt and foreboding. He begins to brood about his former jobs – removing coffins from graveyards that are destined to be flooded, constructing dams and diverting rivers. When Hannah asks Cole to teach her to operate the controls of the backhoe, he discovers that she intends to dig a hole near her home … a hole deep enough to “bury a man so that he will never be found.” Finally, Cole perceives a disturbing parallel between Hannah’s irresponsible father and his own sire – another heedless, undependable man who mysteriously vanished one day as though “the earth had swallowed him.” There is much to admire in Turnback Creek. The beauty of Busch’s descriptive passages are noteworthy, especially those that capture the haunting imagery of a lake at night, the sheen of moonlit water and the plop of a lure. Reading these passages brought to mind, Any Cold Jordan by David Bottoms, another midnight fisherman who can capture the soft whistle of a cast line and the splash of a moon-drunk bass. Lonnie Busch is currently serving as co-editor (with Jubal Tiner) of the quarterly literary magazine, Pisgah Review, which is based at Brevard College.

Tired but Inspired in Greensboro

I sit here in Greensboro, NC tired, but inspired after spending all day at the Elliot Center at the UNC-G campus. NCWN held the 2008 Spring Conference here and it is the first time I've attended the annual spring conference. I usually make it a priority to register for the Fall Conferences in Asheville and last November we drove to Winston-Salem.
Most presenters for the conference today were on faculty at UNC-G.
My favorite part of the day was the Publishing Panel consisting of Scott Douglas of Main Street Rag, Kevin Watson of Press 53, Jeanne Leiby of Southern Review and a man from the Georgia Review, but I never understood his name. After a short talk by each member of the panel, I realized once again how important it is to know your market. Read the guidelines carefully and follow them. While the writer may not know it, the guidelines are specific for a reason. Douglas said it is a matter of resources. He hires editors to read submissions therefore, he makes it clear he does not want simultaneous submissions. The reason is obvious. After he has paid an editor to read work that he cannot publish because it has been accepted somewhere else, he is out that money with nothing to show for it. I can't blame him. Although Scott has grown MSR into quite a good business over the years since I first met him, he says he still sweeps the floors and binds the books. "It is easier to find a person to read submissions than to find someone to bind books," he said.
I didn't know until today that he prints books for a number of other magazines. He is still a rebel in this business and not so snooty as the Georgia Review. Their representative said don't send your poetry to them unless you don't mind letting them "meddle" with it. I got the impression that they "edited" or "meddled" with everything that goes in the magazine.
Scott, on the other hand, wants the work you send him to be ready for the printer when he gets it. He doesn't want to have to rewrite or work too much to make changes to a submission. And don't try to make changes after he has it ready to print.

Listening to some of the stories they told today made me a little more understanding of the editor's and publisher's problems with writers who are inconsiderate and hard to work with, who won't follow guidelines and seem to have no understanding of how a book is made..

This panel covered everything a writer wants to know about submitting and publishing. I sat in on about an hour of Ed Southern's session on publishing and found a good discussion going there. I wish I had been there for the entire session.
Congratulations to Ed Southern and Virginia Freedman for the work they put in to bring us this great conference. Even though they had some challenges, no one knew it and things went off well.

I worked with Virginia and Ed at the registration tables and enjoyed meeting the writers, greeting them and seeing friends like Valerie Nieman, Katherine, who was in my JCCFS class in March, and Marlyn who came to Hayesville for our Lights in the Mountains conference and stayed four days. I enjoyed meeting Jan Parker and hope she is reading this blog now. I wish more of our Netwest members would attend the NCWN conferences. They are always interesting and fun.

Folk Drama

NET WEST FOLK DRAMA??
Almost one hundred years ago, a remarkable man named Fredrick Koch began teaching drama at the University of North Dakota. Within a decade, his accomplishments were noted by other universities, including the University of North Carolina and he was “invited” to design and launch a Carolina-based theatre program.

Koch pulled up stakes and came to Chapel Hill. The results changed American theatre forever. Koch encouraged his students to write one-act plays based on events drawn from the history of their home towns, their state and regional folklore. The results were remarkable. Over the next decade, his students wrote hundreds of plays on subjects ranging from ghost stories (Elizabeth Lay’s “When Witches Ride”) moonshine and bootlegging (Herbert Heffner’s ‘Don Gast Ye Both”), legends of outlaws (Paul Green’s “The Last of the Lowries,” and Thomas Wolfe’s “The Return of Buck Gavin,”) and the birth of Abraham Lincoln (“Nancy Hanks, Bondswoman.”)So began the Carolina Playmakers, one of America’s greatest theatrical movements. In time, these fledgling saw their plays produced and toured throughout the state. In the process, the Playmakers learned to build portable sets, design costumes and create essential lighting. Eventually, Koch published eleven volumes of folk drama and the folk drama movements spread, eventually taking root in other countries.

Many school children in North Carolina (circa 1920-1940) saw their first plays when the old Playmakers van arrived at their school. (I was in the 5th grade when I saw“Lost Horizon” and went back stage to see the airplane that flew over the town at the play’s conclusion. (It was a piece of cardboard pushed into an electric fan). Since the primary goal of the Playmakers was to promote an interest in theatre, their productions stressed simplicity – plays that could be done with a minimum of resources. Playmaker productions were often done in gyms, cafeterias and classrooms. The benefits were impressive. In addition to seeing a dramatic work, students learned about their region’s history and culture. Assuredly, the children who participated in these events found their lives immeasurably enriched and the memory of the Playmakers’ visit gave them a sense of pride in who they were and were they lived.

Which brings me to this conclusion. I think it is time to do it again. Is it within the realm of the possible that Writers Network West could be instrumental in launching a new “folk play movement”? Are there students in the high school in Hayesville or the Community College at Blue Ridge Community College who are capable of writing a one-act play? Could Writers’ Network West nurture this movement by monitoring progress? Arranging for productions of student-written play, planning a festival?
Comment, please.
Gary Carden

Gary reviews books at www.blogholler.blogspot.com