CONNOTATION PRESS FIRST ISSUE NOW ONLINE

    John Hoppenthaler has just notified me that the first online issue of Connotation is up.  This is a free-wheeling e-zine that features drama, essay, poetry, fiction, as well as visual art.  Give it a looksee.  One of the poets in this first issue is Catherine Carter, 3rd place winner in Netwest's Environmental Writing contest.  Her three poems are well worth your reading time.  Catherine is a Roanoke-Chowan Winner; one of her poems won the recent Randall Jarrell Poetry Award from NCWN.  She teaches at WCU.  

    If you to to the Guest Editor section, you will find a couple of my poems, one for my father, the dedicatory poem in my new manuscript.

     Enjoy!  And submit to Connotation.   (www.connotationpress.com)

Connotation Press accepts submissions in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, play writing, screenplay, graphic or visual arts, interview, book review, music review, video (for spoken word or music or…), etc. Basically, we′re looking at virtually every genre or crossover genre you can create.

Connotation Press only accepts online submissions, and we read submissions all year long. We generally will respond to submissions within six weeks; if you don′t hear back from us by then, feel free to inquire about the status of your manuscript. Please wait for a response before sending a second submission in any one genre.

We encourage simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

We only accept original, previously unpublished work. Translations should be submitted with original texts. Indicate that you have copyright clearance and/or author permission.

If your work is chosen for publication, we may ask for a brief interview, conducted by one of our editors, in addition to or in lieu of a traditional author′s bio, and a photograph.

What Digital Formats We Accept

Text Submissions: .doc, .pdf or .rtf files.
Visual Art Submissions: .jpg, .png, .pdf
Video Submissions: AVI, MPG, MP4

Guidelines by Genre

POETRY: Please submit not less than three and not more than five poems per submission.

FICTION: Please submit one short story or chapter at a time, or 1-5 flash fiction pieces.

CREATIVE NONFICTION: Please submit one piece or segment of a piece at a time.

DRAMA: Please submit one complete play, act, or segment thereof.

SCREENPLAY: Please submit one complete screenplay, act, or segment thereof.

GRAPHIC/VISUAL ART: If sending Images - Send at 72 DPI and no wider than 800 Width.

INTERVIEW: Submit a short treatment about the subject before submitting

REVIEWS: We will read all unsolicited reviews. However, if you would prefer to submit an inquiry first, we welcome that as well.

VIDEO: Please submit one at a time due to file size restrictions on attachments.

UNDERGRAD: For the undergrad section we are asking writing teachers around the world for their best and brightest new writers. Our hope is that the teacher will nominate the undergrad and work with the undergrad to compile a submission. For some new writers this will be their first submission process, and we gratefully welcome those writers.

When documentation is required for any submission, please use MLA style format.

Connotation Press holds first serial rights for material that we publish. The copyright automatically reverts to the author upon publication. We do not require that material be copyrighted prior to submission. 

Go to Connotation Press for more guidelines.

Second Place winner of the Netwest Environmental Contest

Peg Russell of Murphy, NC is the second place winner of the Netwest Environmental contest.

THINK OF A FOREST

Think of a forest,

Not a foreboding evergreen forest past decaying cabins, but

Light green leafed hardwoods so tall they could be masts for ocean sailors.
Think of a vaulted cathedral forest
So thick with trees there is only filtered sunlight,

No sunny meadow or grasses.
Think of boulders,
Boulders big and strong enough to hold back a glacier
Yet an ideal place to sit and listen

for deer
for a small bubbling stream
or a wild turkey to come by,
so cool you put on a mid-June jacket.

Think of a forest floor
So piled with leaves that it's clean to walk in,
With a scattering of brave hardwood seedlings,
a few hardy ferns,
three holly bushes.

Think of forest beauty worthy
of being preserved for a nation.
Eden's address is Ebenezer Road, Murphy.

Peg and Mike live in a Hanging Dog area log cabin. She compiled a history of Murphy Presbyterian Church, is active in Murphy Library Writers Workshop and Richard Argo's NetWest Prose critique group. She will teach an OASIS mythology class in September and will read at the John C. Campbell Folk School November 19.

POETRIO: SEPT. 13 at Malaprops

On Sunday, September 13, 2009, 3:00 p.m., Malaprop's Bookstore/Café

(55 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville, NC) welcomes poets Terri

Kirby Erickson, author of TELLING TALES OF DUSK; Linda Annas Ferguson

reading from DIRT SANDWICH; and John Hoppenthaler with ANTICIPATE THE

COMING RESERVOIR.

A North Carolina native who now lives in Charleston, South Carolina,

Linda Annas Ferguson has published five collections of poetry,

including BIRD MISSING FROM ONE SHOULDER (2007), STEPPING ON CRACKS IN

THE SIDEWALK (2006), LAST CHANCE TO BE LOST (2004), and IT'S HARD TO

HATE A BROKEN THING (2002).  She serves on the Board of Governors of

the South Carolina Academy of Authors, was recognized as the 2005

Poetry Fellow for the South Carolina Arts Commission, became a

featured poet for the Library of Congress Poetry at Noon Series, and

was named the 2003-04 Poet-in-Residence for the Gibbes Museum of Art

in Charleston, S.C.  She is also a former recipient of the South

Carolina Academy of Authors Poetry Fellowship.  Her work is archived

by Furman University Special Collections in the James B. Duke Library,

and her poetry is included in several anthologies.  Linda Annas

Ferguson's most recent book, DIRT SANDWICH(2009), is a Tom Lombardo

Poetry Selection from Press 53.  Fellow poet Chris Forhan writes of

DIRT SANDWICH, "[Linda Annas Ferguson's] work exists at the shimmering

mid-point between an urge to celebrate the world's beauty and a pained

recognition that this beauty is mutable. . . . She has given us a book

of tender, clear-eyed, complex meditations, a lovely book by a poet

whose vision we can trust."

Another poet North Carolina born, Terri Kirby Erickson has traveled

extensively and lived for a time in Louisiana, Virginia, and Texas,

but she has spent most of her life in North Carolina.  Her first

collection of poetry, THREAD COUNT, was published in 2006.  Her

writing has appeared in numerous literary reviews and other

publications, including Pisgah Review, the Christian Science Monitor,

Paris Voice, Smoking Poet, and Wild Goose Poetry Review, among several

others.  In 2006 and 2007, The Northwest Cultural Council selected her

work for an international juried poetry exhibit; and in 2009, her poem

"Oak Tree" earned a 2009 Best of the Net nomination.  Pisgah Review

editor Jubal Tiner has praised Terri Kirby Erickson as "an exciting

new voice in American poetry."  He admires the fact that "Her subject

matter spans the width between a lone Ferris wheel at a county fair,

where 'Coal dust fine and black as pulverized midnight, / covers

everything for miles,' to the vagaries of aging in the face of youth

. . . Erickson's verse is filled with spot-on similes and metaphors,

dotting its distinct and lucid structure with apt and artful

alliteration, telegraphing image upon finer image to the nexus of who

we are."

John Hoppenthaler's career in letters began when he served for several

years as personal assistant to Toni Morrison, whose work has been

recognized with both a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize.  John Hoppenthaler

is currently a member of the writing faculty at East Carolina

University, and he served as poetry editor of Kestrel for eleven

years.  His reviews, interviews, and essays are widely published, and

his poems frequently appear in such distinguished The Southern Review,

Virginia Quarterly Review, Kansas Quarterly, The Laurel Review, and

Chautauqua Literary Journal, among many others.  He has frequently

earned prestigious writing fellowships and grants.  His first book of

poetry, LIVES OF WATER, was published in 2003, and his second poetry

collection, ANTICIPATE THE COMING RESERVOIR, appeared in 2008.  Poet

Natasha Trethewey makes the following observations about his recent

book: "In this aptly titled new collection, ANTICIPATE THE COMING

RESERVOIR, John Hoppenthaler grounds an exploration of longing and

loss in a firm sense of place.  From upstate New York to the Florida

coast, to the landscapes that exist only in memory and dream,

Hoppenthaler knows well the geographies he traverses, and he maps the

lives of the people who inhabit these places with tenderness."

Poetrio: Terri Kirby Erickson, Linda Annas Ferguson, John Hoppenthaler

Sunday, September 13, 2009, 3:00 p.m.

Malaprop's Bookstore/Café

55 Haywood Street

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 254-6734

www.malaprops.com

SHADOW BOX: Fred Chappell

CITY LIGHTS BOOKSOTRE (http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/bookPages/9780807134528.html) Four years ago Fred Chappell sent me a beautiful broadside of The Foreseeing, telling me that it was a new kind of poem he was now exploring, the "embedded poem," or a poem within a poem, and that it was devilishly difficult. In this poem, the voice of the woman is embedded in that of her partner, who is beginning to realize that she is in love again. The two voices work with and against each other, forming a whole. Call it poetic counterpoint. The "inlaid" poem. Better yet, call it stunning, an enviable achievement. Now these poems, at which Fred has been working since The Foreseeing, have been gathered into a new collection from LSU Press: its title appropriately enough is SHADOW BOX. Last night, August 7, at City Lights Books in Sylva, NC Fred read from SHADOW BOX, with his wife Susan presenting the woman's voice in the poems. The two of them gave a haunting, at times beguiling, performance. (Joyce Moore introduces Fred to the audience in the bookstore's Regional Room.) Spotlight The hamlet sleeps under November stars. Only the page of numerate thought toils through The darkness, shines on the table where, askew And calm, the scholar's lamp burns bright and scars The silence, sending through the slot, the bars And angles of his window square, a true Clean ray, a shaft of patient light, its purview Lonely and remote as the glow of Mars. Brian's wife, the poet Catherine Carter, gets acquainted with Dana Wildsmith, who drove several hours from Georgia to be with Fred and Susan. Catherine's first book, The Memory of Gills, won the Roanoke-Chowan Award two years ago and was highly praised by none other than---Fred Chappell. Dana Wildsmith, a long-time friend of the Chappell's, has published several collections of poetry, as well as numerous essays, the most recent being in The Sun, published out of Chapel Hill. She lives in Bethlehem, Georgia. Fred will be on hand for the NC Literary Festival in Chapel Hill in September, as well as at the Smoky Mountain Bookfair in November, to name just a few opportunities for hearing him and Susan read from his new book. This new collection by the author Lee Smith calls our "resident genius," deserves all the readers it can get! City Lights contact information: more@citylightsnc.com phone: (828) 586-9499 web: http://www.citylightsnc.com

GREETINGS FROM YOUR NEW PROGRAM COORDINATOR

First, I want to thank Glenda Beall for what she has done for Netwest during her tenure as Program Coordinator.   She kept this organization  and its blog going under great personal stress, and I'm grateful to her.  I will be keeping this blog going and invite you to send us posts.  Here is one about a poetry contest that I hope Netwest members will thinking about entering.

I will be going to the NC Literary Festival next week in Chapel Hill and will spread the word about Netwest.  

Poets:

Are you interested in compiling a book of your poetry and submitting it to a contest?  Check out the links below.

 

Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest: $250 and Publication

Postmark Deadline: November 1

The 2009 Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest is now open. Please submit your manuscripts online at www.coalhillreview.com. Reading fee: $15 to be paid via PayPal (major credit cards accepted). Submit 10-15 pages of poetry, either a group of poems or one long poem. Poems may be previously published. Include an acknowledgements page.

The winning chapbook will be published electronically in Coal Hill Review, as well as in a paper edition. All finalists will be considered for publication in Coal Hill Review. The final judges for the competition are Anna Catone and Philip Terman, poetry editors of Coal Hill Review (see bios). Please address any questions to msimms@autumnhouse.org with the words "CHAPBOOK COMPETITION QUERY" in the subject line.

MYSTERY WRITERS WORKSHOP

BUILD YOUR WRITING SKILLS

All Writers All-day Skill-Building Workshop

from Mystery Writers of America,

Southeast Regional Chapter

Location: Raleigh, NC, Cameron Village Regional Library, 1930 Clark Ave. Directions Mapquest.

Date: Saturday, October 3, 2009.

Time: Doors open at 10:00 am. (A coffee bar is on Library premises.) Program ends at 4:30 pm.

Program: Welcome by KAREN MCCULLOUGH, president of the Southeast Regional Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. McCullough is the Eppie Award-winning author of 9 mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, and romantic suspense novels, including SHADOW OF A DOUBT.

ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF

"Film Techniques for Your High-Concept Novel." Learn pacing, suspense, character arcs, and more to use in writing and pitching your fiction. Sokoloff is an experienced screenwriter, winner of the Thriller Award, and author of 3 novels: THE HARROWING, THE PRICE, THE UNSEEN. www.alexandrasokoloff.com

J. D. "DUSTY" RHOADES

"Build Setting and Mood to Take Readers to Another Place." Rhoades is an attorney and the Shamus Award-nominated author of the Jack Keller Southern Crime series: DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND, GOOD DAY IN HELL, SAFE & SOUND, and BREAKING COVER. ("Masterful"-Chicago Tribune). www.jdrhoades.com

CHRIS ROERDEN

"Develop Your Voice and Survive the Submission Process." Enjoy interactive exercises to expand your options and boost your odds of being read. Roerden is a book editor who wrote the Agatha Award-winning triple-nominated DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY and the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Award-winning DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSION.www.writersinfo.info

AUTHORS-AUDIENCE DISCUSSION

"What Else You Need to Know About Writing and

Selling Your Work."

POETRY OUT LOUD: CALLING ALL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE NETWEST AREA

THIS NATION WIDE PROGRAM DESERVES OUR SUPPORT. OUR STATE FINALS HAVE HAD ONLY ONE STUDENT FROM OUR REGION PARTICIPATE, SARAH TRAMPER OF CHEROKEE.  IT'S TIME TO HAVE OUR NETWEST COUNTIES REPRESENTED, AND TEACHERS HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 18 TO REGISTER.  PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR HIGH SCHOOLS AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION.  OUR MOUNTAIN STUDENTS NEED TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD!   THE PAGE BELOW, TAKEN FROM THE ARTS COUNCIL WEBSITE, GIVES THE INFORMATION NEEDED.  THANKS.  

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Teacher Registration Open for North Carolina Poetry Out Loud 2010 08/27/2009 Contact Info :  Bridgette A. Lacy Email :  bridgette.lacy@ncdcr.gov Phone :  919-807-6520 High school English and theater arts teachers across North Carolina have until Friday, Sept. 18 to register for the statewide Poetry Out Loud recitation contest, coordinated by the North Carolina Arts Council. An initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation and coordinated by state arts councils across the country, Poetry Out Loud is educational, fun and provides students the opportunity to win scholarships and prizes for their schools. "Watching high-school students engage so earnestly with Poetry Out Loud over the past four years is rewarding to me and for all of us involved," said Linda Bamford, arts in education director for the North Carolina Arts Council. Mimi Herman, poet and educator, is contracted by the Arts Council to implement the program. As a teaching artist, she travels the country instructing educators to use the arts throughout the curriculum. Poetry Out Loud encourages students to memorize and recite poetry while mastering public speaking skills, building self-confidence and learning about literary heritage. In 2008, Poetry Out Loud reached more than 100 schools in N.C. -- the second highest participation in the country with more than 11,800 high school students participating at various stages of the program -- the fifth highest number in the country. Last year's winner was Orange County student Nadia Nasir of Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough. She recited "Snow Day" by Billy Collins, "Blackberrying" by Sylvia Plath and "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman. The Endowment provides teachers with free multimedia curriculum materials -- a poetry anthology, audio guide, teachers' guide, posters and a comprehensive Web site, www.poetryoutloud.org, all aligned to national standards and intended to augment the schools' regular poetry curriculum with poetry recitation and a school-level competition. The contest starts at the classroom level and proceeds to the school and district levels. Coordinators at both the school and district levels may include English teachers, theater arts teachers, school counselors, administrators, parents, PTA/PTO organizations and volunteers. Winners from the district level advance to semi-final and final state level competitions. Winners at the state level receive $200 and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the national championship. The national contest is scheduled Sunday, April 25-Tuesday, April 27, 2010 with the state finals scheduled for Saturday, March 6, 2010 at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. High schools interested in participating should visit the Art Council's Poetry Out Loud Web site atwww.ncarts.org/poetryoutloud for more information. Participating English and theater arts teachers should register online by Friday, Sept. 18. About the North Carolina ArtsCouncil The North Carolina Arts Council works to make North Carolina The Creative State where a robust arts industry produces a creative economy, vibrant communities, children prepared for the 21st century and lives filled with discovery and learning. The Arts Council accomplishes this in partnership with artists and arts organizations, other organizations that use the arts to make their communities stronger, and North Carolinians—young and old—who enjoy and participate in the arts. For more information visit www.ncarts.org. The N.C. Arts Council is a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina's arts, history and culture. www.ncculture.com

 

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The North Carolina Arts Council is a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency. 
Linda A. Carlisle, Secretary; Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor

 

The majority want to keep the photo of the lake

photo: Barry Beall

CONDOLENCES TO SHIRLEY UPHOUSE, PAST PROGRAM COORDINATOR FOR NETWEST

Our membership is saddened today to hear of the passing of Warren Uphouse, Shirley's husband of 37 years. To send condolences, you will find Shirley's address on your membership list. No service is planned.
Shirley served NCWN West as Program Coordinator for several years and was responsible for holding the Lights in the Mountains writing conferences in 2005 and 2006. She also was co-editor of the first NCWN West anthology, Lights in the Mountains, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

DOLLS REMEMBERED

Christensen, Madonna Dries. DOLLS REMEMBERED. Bloomington, IN: i Universe, 2009. 172 pages, trade paperback. $16.95.

As touchstones to the past, dolls validate childhood, a span of years that often seem like a fragmented moment in time. With their life-like faces, blemished complexions, and snarled hair, childhood dolls hold sway with a magical power that rarely wanes, and often grows.

This charming anthology, DOLLS REMEMBERED, features more than 60 reminiscences and readers will learn that dolls can make or break friendships. Dolls are enjoyed alone or with a friend; they fuel creativity and imagination. Dolls teach sharing, nurturing, and loyalty; they assuage loneliness and hurt feelings; they calm fears and keep secrets. Dolls teach values and lessons--to adults as well as children. Dolls share adventure with their owners, and without them. When one girl outgrew her favorite doll but kept it under her bed, her friends "dollnapped" it. For years, the doll showed up at unlikely events.

Separately, two girls brought a treasured doll with them to America when they fled Nazi Europe with their family. Another girl lost her doll to that war. One girl disowned the doll she received for Christmas, while the same type doll was yearned for by others. More than one doll met an untimely fate. A childhood doll softened a poignnant reunion between two sisters after a rift had kept them apart for several years.

In the vignettes revealed in this anthology, not all dolls are pretty--except in the eyes of the beholder. Not all dolls were wanted; some were disappointing; not all became favorites, but each is memorable.

This book is available online through www.iUniverse.com and www.amazon.com. All royalities go to Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia.

Book reviewed by: Madonna Dries Christensen.

Brenda Kay Ledford's story, "Finding Dottie," appears in the anthology, DOLLS REMEMBERED. Brenda became reunited with her childhood doll through a serendipitous circumstance. Brenda is a member of North Carolina Writers' Network-West.

Dana Wildsmith

Tonight on Facebook, I learned that Dana Wildsmith has been chosen for the 2009-2010 Artist-in-Residence Programs for the National Parks. She will be at the Grand Canyon National Park. Below is an interview I did with Dana a couple of years ago. I thought our new members and readers might like to read it.


Dana Wildsmith is a fine poet, writer and teacher. Recently I discovered Dana's poetry on Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's Poetry Parade and commented with enthusiasm about my appreciation of this poet's work. I was delighted to have Dana respond to me with a thank you email. From there we have become email friends, and I'm delighted she agreed to take time to give me an interview for this site. You can find her books listed on her website, http://www.danawildsmith.com/.

Glenda: Dana, you grew up living in different places because you are a preacher's kid. How did that affect your writing?

Dana: I loved being a PK, and moving around. I loved moving to a new place and having everyone already know who I was and why I was there. Even as a small child I got excited about the possibility inherent to moving- that idea of starting over (as if a seven-year-old has anything to start over from!). I think the moving made me more aware of my surroundings and more attentive to differences. I became a person who notices by habit, and that is a good trait for a poet.

Glenda: Where did you live the longest as a child? Where was your favorite place to live?

Dana: I didn't live anywhere the longest. My daddy was transferred every five years, so my inner time clock still starts thinking about moving on after four and a half years. MY favorite place while I was growing up was definitely Savannah. I loved Savannah from the first time I saw it. I loved being part of all that history and I loved the somewhat self-centered air of assurance Savannahians have from birth. My mother says I was born secure, so I guess I felt at home with the sense of assurance of place and role among the old families of Savannah. And, of course, I loved the beauty of the place.

Glenda: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer or poet? When did you begin to realize you actually are a writer?

Dana: I don't know if I always wanted to be a writer, though I have always written. To me, words and playing words was always tied in with music. I am a singer and need music in my life at all times.

When did I realize that I am a writer? The flip answer would be to say- the first time someone gave me money for words I had written. That's partly true, though. I consciously think of myself as a writer whenever someone else thinks of me in that way. Otherwise, I think of myself as writing, which is a whole other attitude.

Glenda: I have come to believe that many writers are insecure about their work until someone they respect validates them by telling them they are indeed a writer or a poet. What do you think about that?

Dana: I think there's a lot of truth to that. But I also think it's not limited just to writing, Any time we are investing huge amounts of time and energy into something that doesn't (at least at first) come with a paycheck as validate, we need some other form of validation that we aren't being foolish or wasting our time- and the validation which seems to hold the most weight is affirmation from someone more established in the art.

Glenda: You and your husband are now living on a family farm outside Atlanta and you are feeling the impact of developers buying up properties and making subdivisions all around you. We face that here in the mountains and feel helpless to stop this destruction of mountain tops. What are you and your husband doing to make a difference?

Dana: We are doing the same things my friends involved in the fight against Mountain Top Removal are doing- we're fighting. We don't give in to any changes which are needlessly harmful without questioning, and then- if need be- starting the process of taking any possible civic or legal action to stop the harm. We are attentive, constantly, to what's going on around us. We don't let anyone get away with anything.

Glenda: When did you publish your first poem and where?

Dana: I truly don't remember. But I know that one of my very first acceptances was from Yankee magazine- a commercial journal whose poetry editor I greatly admired.

Glenda: What advice do you have for beginning writers or those who have been writing a long time, but have trouble getting published?
Is it really all about "who you know"?

Dana: It helps to know people, but the happy secret is that the more you plod along, sending things out and getting rejections, the more you get to know people- and they, you. All you can do is keep on keeping on. And commiserate with other strugglers. I remember going to a writing festival and running into the quiet successful poet Michael Chitwood, who told me he'd just started having a few things accepted after a year of rejections. He had no idea how much this cheered and heartened me!

Glenda: Why do you think so many writers and poets are self-publishing now?

Dana: Two reasons:
- Because it is so possible now. It's relatively easy to turn out as fine or nearly as fine a product as many publishing houses do.
- and because the book market is so tough right now that this may be their only way to get published without a long wait.

Glenda: What place do you think the Internet has in the future of publishing? Do you have a website or a blog?

I think it is firmly established to the extent that any writer who wants to keep on seriously being published and in the public eye needs to keep this medium in mind.

I have a web site: http://www.danawildsmith.com/ It has proved invaluable to me, and has put me in touch with people who otherwise would have had a tough time finding me.

Glenda: I know you are on faculty for the John C. Campbell Folk School. What do you most enjoy about teaching there? When is your next class at JCCFS?

Dana: What I love most about teaching there (besides the food- seriously!) is the space of time I have to get to know my students and their work. We have all day, for five days, with each other. It's a great luxury which affords us the chance to make leaps forward in our writing.

My next class there will begin on Sunday, August 17th and go through that week. It's entitled:Beyond Memoir. In this class (which will be fine for writers of all levels of experience), we'll work on taking the facts of our lives and using them to create writing which moves beyond the mere recording of facts, into a larger purpose.

(Dana will teach Beyond Memoir again in 2010. Contact the folk school to register for the class.)


Glenda Beall writes, teaches and manages this blog from Hayesville, NC.

Last Day in Norway with Nancy Sales Cash

We have enjoyed the posts by our guest, Nancy Sales Cash, as she travels on board the Queen Mary 2. Thanks so much, Nancy, for taking us vicariously along with you. Glenda Beall

On our last day in Norway aboard the Queen Mary 2, we went to the small town of Alesund, which was totally destroyed by fire in 1904 and completely rebuilt in the then-cutting-edge style of Art Nouveau. It's an interesting, albeit watered-down version of Paris' and Brussels' exuberant examples of the architectural style.The photo, above, in black raincoat and red hat, shows me frowning at the stiff wind atop Alesund's lookout point with the ship far below. After two weeks in cool, windy weather in 50 and 60 degrees, I am ready for some of those hot August nights you're having back in WNC. For writers, there was an interesting lecture on the ship about Norwegian and Icelandic (Norse) Sagas.The earliest ones are among the world's oldest literature, and can be found in translation. The first ones were family sagas, then came romantic sagas. Some of these are called Njal's (Niel's) Saga, Loxdaela Saga, Valsunga Saga. But the most interesting thing was that the lecturer maintained these contained most of the basic elements of drama that we as writers still use, and that have been used throughout history by people such as Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, the Brontes, etc. They are the forerunners of Moby Dick, the Forsyte Saga, and even Dallas! So, next time I'm stuck for a plot, I'm going to look up some of those old Norse Sagas, and maybe I'll come out with another Jane Eyre or Rebecca. All of the Sagas, the lecturer pointed out, have a dark 'father' who is lovable but heartless and egotistical (think Mr. Rochester), and a foreboding woman (Mrs. Danvers?) whom the lecturer equated to the trolls: whimsical, perverse creatures from the Sagas.I happened to be reading an interesting book, "Daphne," by Justine Picardie (Bloomsbury Press, 2008), a fictional account of Daphne du Maurier's life and writings which told how much she borrowed from the Brontes. In this book, the Brontes and du Mauriers and J.M. Barrie ('Peter Pan') are all mixed up, and there's a literary mystery you might enjoy reading; I did. Just goes to show: there's nothing new under the sun, and as writers we can only hope to find a new way of saying it. Finding these earliest influences on writers and writing was, I thought, a fitting end to a wonderful trip to interesting places. Hope you've enjoyed these posts for the Netwest blog; I've really enjoyed writing them, and it has helped me put the trip into a writer's perspective. Best regards, Nancy

NANCY SALES CASH grew up in Murphy and lives in Murphy and Asheville. Her short story, 'Talking To Mama,' will be published in Netwest's new anthology, 'Echoes Across The Blue Ridge,' which will be out soon. She also has a short story in Celia Miles' new anthology, "Clothes Lines,' due out in September, and was in Celia's 2008 anthology, 'Christmas Presence.' She has two published novels, 'Ritual River' and 'Patterns of the Heart,' both available from The Curiosity Shop in Murphy and Andrews and Phillips & Lloyd in Hayesville.

Netwest Contest First Place Winner

Janet Benway's poem, Childhood of an Environmentalist, is our first place winner in the Netwest Environmental Contest. Theme for this contest was showing a love for the environment in which we live, the land where we live, the earth.





Childhood of an Environmentalist

Raised in a playworld of cowboys and Indians,
he did not understand
my act of slipping the fish
back into the stream.

He appealed to parents; there were reprimands--
at ten, I had done wrong to someone younger.
Yet I saw the fish gasp
wriggle
struggle
fight
flapping her tail relentlessly against the walls
of a tin can filled with water.
And when the fish reached her natural element,
I thought I heard--above the little-boy tears--
a song of joy.

Years later, he's a hunter,
killing deer and birds for sport.
Years later, I'm a poet with Earth's wonders to report.
Two lives diverged from a common source
of family and town.
While he still kills, the fish is free,
and I must write that down.



Janet Benway is happily transplanted from Connecticut, where she was an editor and college English teacher. Now she sometimes teaches creative writing in the Creekside program at Brevard College. Her poetry has been published in magazines such as Lucidity, Bereavement, and Long River Run.

NETWEST CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

NETWEST recently held a contest asking members to write a poem, story or essay that is environmentally focused. The work should evoke a love of the land.

Lana Hendershott, our representative in Henderson County, volunteered to manage the contest. She accepted the emailed entries and forwarded blind copies of them to our judge, Robert Kimsey, a former Netwest member who was our representative in Georgia.

Lana Hendershott, Henderson County, NC








We are happy to congratulate the winners of the contest.
The winning entry “Childhood of an Environmentalist”, was submitted by Janet Benway of Brevard, NC.
The second place poem, “Think of a Forest”, was submitted by Peg Russell of Murphy, NC.
The third place poem “Swarm”, was submitted by Catherine Carter of Cullowhee, NC.

All of the submissions were excellent and I'm sure choosing the winners was difficult. We will post all the winning entries here and in the Netwest News in the coming months.
Thanks to those writers who submitted work. We hope you all will continue to enter the contests held by Netwest in the coming months.

Nancy Sales Cash on Queen Mary 2 - sails the fjords

We spent the morning sailing on Queen Mary 2 down the Norwegian coast to Geiranger Fjord from a small village called Hellesynt to another small town called Geiranger. Some of the younger and fitter passengers got off at the first stop and either hiked or bussed along incredibly steep, rocky mountains. As you can see from the photo, I chose the lazy way and stayed on the ship. The sides of the fjords (see background of photo) reach about 6000 feet and are solid - and I mean solid - granite. Their tops are lost in the mist and remind me of home and the Smokies. It's empty, desolate country with lots of waterfalls and the occasional tiny chalet brings incredulity as to how one would reach it. Thank goodness fjords are even deeper that the ocean, otherwise the Queen Mary 2 could not navigate them. Best, Nancy

NANCY SALES CASH grew up in Murphy and lives in Murphy and Asheville. Her short story, 'Talking To Mama,' will be published in Netwest's new anthology, 'Echoes Across The Blue Ridge,' which will be out soon. She also has a short story in Celia Miles' new anthology, "Clothes Lines,' due out in September, and was in Celia's 2008 anthology, 'Christmas Presence.' She has two published novels, 'Ritual River' and 'Patterns of the Heart,' both available from The Curiosity Shop in Murphy and Andrews and Phillips & Lloyd in Hayesville.

TRAVEL WITH NANCY ON THE QUEEN MARY 2 IN NORWAY

Continuing our travels on the Queen Mary 2, today we went to Bergen, Norway and found the first reference to writers. It was the home of Ibsen, and there are various statues of him and theatres named for him. Indeed, Bergen would have been a thriving arts scene a century or so ago, as Ibsen was great friends with Greig, whose home was also in Bergen. Just looking at the remote location and imagining it under many feet of snow for half the year explains a lot about Ibsen's dramatic viewpoint!Here's a photo of the Queen Mary 2 in Bergen harbor, taken from the 1000-foot high Mt. Florien observation point reached by funicular. All best, Nancy

NANCY SALES CASH grew up in Murphy and lives in Murphy and Asheville. Her short story, 'Talking To Mama,' will be published in Netwest's new anthology, 'Echoes Across The Blue Ridge,' which will be out soon. She also has a short story in Celia Miles' new anthology, "Clothes Lines,' due out in September, and was in Celia's 2008 anthology, 'Christmas Presence.' She has two published novels, 'Ritual River' and 'Patterns of the Heart,' both available from The Curiosity Shop in Murphy and Andrews and Phillips & Lloyd in Hayesville.

NEW WEBSITE TARGETS POETRY SKEPTICS

Netwest member Jayne Jaudon Ferrer has launched a new website designed especially for people who don't like poetry. Unlike existing poem-a-day sites, http://www.yourdailypoem.com/ is targeted specifically at those who may need to be convinced to read poetry at all, much less on a daily basis. "A lot of people have a negative attitude toward poetry," concedes Ferrer, author of four books of poetry and a resident of Greenville, South Carolina. "Either they've had a bad experience with it in school or what they've been exposed to is very limited. They're shocked to discover that poetry is as diverse as any genre in its subject matter and style."

It's precisely that diversity that motivated Ferrer to launch http://www.yourdailypoem.com/, an outgrowth of an e-mail "poetry parade" she's done in celebration of National Poetry Month every April for the past eight years. What started as a challenge by her brother and brother-in-law, to find poems they would bother to read, turned Ferrer into a "poetry missionary," as she refers to herself. "I looked for the most amazing, outrageous, gut-punching poems I could find and, at the end of the month, they had to admit they'd read them all. They didn't like them all," laughs the author of four bestselling gift books for women, "but they read them—and that was the point."

Ferrer's annual poetry parade now goes out to more than five hundred subscribers, many of whom commented over the years that they would enjoy receiving poems daily instead of just during Poetry Month. This year, the comments multiplied and turned into pleas; one subscriber even sent a donation to support the cause. Thrilled at the enthusiasm of these former skeptics, but hesitant because of the amount of time she feared would be involved in researching copyrights and finding worthy poems, Ferrer ultimately decided to make the commitment. "It's taking as much time as I expected," she admits, "but the number of subscribers has tripled since the site launched on June 1st, and I've had wonderful support from the poets featured thus far." Those poets include Philip Dacey, Marge Piercy, Frank Asch, Gregory Orr, who called Your Daily Poem "quite wonderful," Netwest poets Brenda Kay Ledford and Glenda Beall, and many others. Santa Cruz poet and workshop leader Ellen Bass lauded the goal of the new site, saying, "My belief is that people really do love poetry, but they need to be given the poem they'll love."

Toward that end, Ferrer invites you to submit your most "lovable" poems. "This is not a venue for the morose or oblique," she cautions. "The point of Your Daily Poem is to show the pleasure and accessibility of poetry and to encourage people to make it a regular part of their lives; think Robert Frost, not Sylvia Plath. A happy ending's not mandatory, but a modicum of hope would be nice." Ferrer suggests browsing the site's archives to get a feel for the tone of poetry preferred.

Submissions to Your Daily Poem should be sent in the body of an e-mail to http://www.yourdailypoem.com/. Copyright information and publication details, if applicable, should be included along with an author bio of 100 words or less. A few personal facts are preferable to a detailed list of awards. “Only academics care that you won an award,” says Ferrer. “The general public is more intrigued by knowing you were inspired to write by your fourth grade teacher or that you collect comic books in your spare time. Familiarity with the poet makes it easier to embrace the poem."

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Netwest Author Publishes Seventh Novel

William Reynolds has published his seventh novel, "Murder in the Okefenokee." Visit his website to learn more about this book.


On Tuesday, September 1, 2009, at the Ducktown, TN branch of the Polk County Library, Reynolds will be signing books and possibly giving a reading between 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.


Anyone who reads the Smoky Mountain Sentinel newspapers has seen the weekly columns by William Reynolds. Read them online.

NC WRITERS NETWORK WEST'S 18TH ANNUAL PICNIC WITH OPEN MIC READING

ALL WRITERS WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE ARE WELCOME

Mark your calendar now for the 18th Annual NC Writers Network West Picnic on September 13, 2009. 2:00pm

The picnic will be held on Lake Chatuge at the Clay County Recreation Park, near Hayesville, N.C. Clay County members will host this picnic and will supply all of the plates, cups, and untinsils. Clay county writers will supply the ice and drinks.

Picnic coordinators: Vickie Ellis and Linda Smith. If you live in Clay County, ask how you can help.

WHAT TO BRING?

1) Good Food to share - a covered dish or dessert

2) A lawn chair

3) A short sample of your writing to read in the open mic reading. (5 minute limit or less)

Our special guest reader this year will be author Ed Southern, the Executive Director of NCWN.

The afternoon will features an open mic reading where everyone is invited to share a short sample of their writing.

At the annual picnic this year, we will recognize our retiring Program Cordinator Glenda Beall for her years of service.

There is usually a table of Books By Members for sale. If you have a book, please contact the picnic coorinator.

The Annual Picnic is the one meeting per year when all of members and county representatives gather to share a meal and to talk all afternoon about writing. Some of our best ideas have been hatched at the annual picnic. For many of us, it is where we first met.

It is also our favorite time to invite all writers with in driving distance, whether they are a member or not, to come and join us. Inive all of your writing friends. It's a good time to invite your family too.

Second Post from Queen Mary 2 by Nancy Sales Cash

We're still floating around the Norwegian fjords on the Queen Mary 2 (such a hardship, ooh, no pun intended). Yesterday we stopped at Stavanger, and the ship was the tallest building in town. Stavanger became wealthy almost overnight in the 1970's due to the discovery of North Sea oil. Americans who dominated the Norwegian oil industry chose Stavanger as their headquarters and the Oil Capital of Norway over Trondheim and Bergen because Stavanger had a golf course! (It's called getting your priorities right.)

Stavanger is also the story of two bishops. The first one was in the 12th century. He was English, and had ambitions to build a fine new cathedral to honor St. Swithin, whose actual arm the bishop had brought from England. (In those days you had to have such an important 'relic.' ) His cathedral, however, would have been small had it not been for the King, who wanted to divorce his wife and marry a younger woman but had been refused by all the other bishops in the country (Norway, like the rest of Europe in the 12th century, was Catholic).

The English bishop, however, managed to find a way to fulfill the King's wish. The result was, aside from a new Queen, the largest cathedral in the kingdom. It seated 800 people despite the population of Stavanger being only 100.

The other bishop is a recent, Lutheran one, whose son cheated and gambled away millions of borrowed money on the Internet. It caused a national scandal and the bishop's resignation because, he said, although he loved his son, he could not forgive him; therefore he could not set the right example to his parishioners. He went to South Africa as a humble missionary.

Well, it's off now to have our fourth meal of the day, and it's only 3 p.m.

Nancy



NANCY SALES CASH grew up in Murphy, now lives in Murphy and Asheville, and is a member of Netwest. Her short story, 'Talking To Mama,' will be published in Netwest's next anthology, 'Echoes Across The Blue Ridge,' due out soon. She also has a story in Celia Miles' new anthology, due out in October 2009, and was in Celia's 'Christmas Presence' anthology in 2008. She has published two novels, 'Ritual River,' and 'Patterns of the Heart,' available at The Curiosity Shop in Murphy, NC and Andrews, NC and at Phillips and Lloyd in Hayesville, NC.