CONGRATULATIONS TO NANCY SIMPSON

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

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

A Big Thank You to Our Echoes Distributors



Lana Hendershott

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

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

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

Nancy Purcell

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

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

JC Walkup from Canton, NC

The Power of Memorization

--Rosemary Royston

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

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

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

GATHERING OF POETS IN WINSTON-SALEM

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

Read About What You Missed at AWP

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

Meet Glenda Beall

--by Paula Canup

Glenda Beall cannot remember a time when she didn’t love to write. “As a child, I loved getting school supplies so I could write on my fresh new paper,” she says. She began her writing career with stories about horses.

Now she writes poems, essays, and fiction inspired by family and neighbors. Her writing often revolves around themes of deep pain, loss, and injustice. In 2009, Finishing Line Press published her first poetry chapbook, entitled Now Might as Well Be Then. She has had personal essays, memoirs, and a short story published in various magazines. In addition, she writes newspaper articles and especially enjoys writing about unique people.

Glenda also maintains three different blogs online. Her many projects keep her busy, writing several hours each day. “The most difficult thing about being a writer,” she says, “is having the self-discipline to complete a project – to go back day after day and work on the same thing. Writing is fun, but rewriting is often not so much fun.” Another difficult aspect of being a writer is having to market her work – the business end of writing. Many excellent writers are never published because they don’t want to go the trouble of submitting their work.

Glenda is an active member of North Carolina Writers Network – west (Netwest). She helps with publicity for the organization and sometimes does articles about other writers in the group. Her best advice for aspiring writers is to get involved in such groups and participate in as many conferences and workshops as possible. Writers can learn a great deal from networking with other writers.

One of Glenda’s greatest accomplishments as a writer is teaching others to write. She holds classes in her home studio. Glenda especially loves encouraging older people to discover their writing ability. She believes all of us are continually changing throughout life, and we should never be afraid of new challenges. It’s never too late to make dreams come true!

Glenda contributed to Netwest’s latest anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, edited by Nancy Simpson and published by Winding Path Publishing The book is available at local bookstores and on-line at www.ncwriters.org and at www.amazon.com.

Asheville Poet to Read in Hiawassee

This month, Writers’ Night Out features poet Tracey Schmidt in an evening of literary and musical entertainment. The event takes place at Green to Bean Coffee House in Hiawassee on Friday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m. Those who’d like to share their own poetry or fiction can participate in the Open Microphone portion of the program which follows Schmidt’s reading. Music will be provided by hammered dulcimer player Mary Sparks.

Schmidt’s first book of poetry, I Have Fallen in Love with the World, has just been released. She has taught creativity at Julia Cameron’s (author of The Artist's Way) Taos Creativity Camp and continues to teach in the Asheville area, where she now lives. Schmidt attended college in Atlanta, studying literature and photography. At the age of 19, she moved to Japan to live in a Buddhist monastery. Her spiritual practices there awakened a desire to return to the U.S. in search of a tradition that was as authentic and indigenous here as Buddhism has been in Japan. Her photography exhibit, The Awakening of Turtle Island: Portraits of Native Americans was the result. It opened in Atlanta for the Olympics and has toured over 16 museums in the southeast, including the Cherokee Museum of the American Indian. It will begin a national tour in 2012.

Writers’ Night Out takes place the second Friday evening of each month. Green to Bean Coffee House is located at 538 Bell Creek Road in Hiawassee, next to the Humane Society Thrift Shop and across from McDonald’s. Come early to get a seat: The event has been well attended by enthusiastic audiences. The evening is free and open to the public. Light snacks and refreshments, including coffees from freshly roasted beans, are available for purchase.

Those interested in reading at the Open Mic may sign up at the event. Each writer will have three minutes to read. For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Green to Bean at 706-896-4524.

Poetry Contest from Carolina Wren Press

2011 Poetry Book Contest

Carolina Wren's next poetry book contest will take submissions with a deadline of 2/15/2011. The final judge for this contest will be Lee Ann Brown and we anticipate results in September 2011. The new postmark deadline is February 15, 2011. This will give you time to visit our booth at AWP and pick up something special from us (hint hint!).

Download full guidelines.

Blue Ridge Writers' Conference in its fourteenth year

Blue Ridge Writers' Conference will be held in Blue Ridge, Georgia just south of the Western NC line on April 1 and 2 .

Go to their beautiful website to see the schedule of presenters and to complete an application.
http://www.blueridgewritersconference.com/

Some Netwest members will be signing books at the Friday evening Reception which is a special Meet and Greet event for writers to meet the presenters.

Carol Crawford, one of the leaders of Netwest years ago, leads this conference each year and brings in outstanding speakers. This year Hope Clark of Funds for Writers will be on hand to personally give us some of the advice she doles out in her newsletter and on her blog. Scott Owens, poet from Hickory, will speak about online journals and talk from his experience as an editor.
For other presenters, visit the website.

Meet Maren Mitchell

Thanks goes to Paula Canup, who intereviewed several writers in NCWN-West and has provided transcripts. Featured today is Maren Mitchell.

Maren O. Mitchell started writing poems when she was eighteen-years-old. Friends and family encouraged her to keep writing. She eventually taught poetry at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, NC. Her poems have appeared in such publications as the Red Clay Reader, The Arts Journal, Appalachian Journal, and Journal of Kentucky Studies, and Southern Humanities Review.

A native of North Carolina, Maren has lived in France, Germany, and throughout the southeastern United States. She has worked as a proofreader, served as the house manager of a group home in Brevard, NC, and cataloged at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC. She now resides in Young Harris, GA, with her husband and two cats.

Maren does not limit herself to poetry. She has a non-fiction manuscript, children’s stories, and essays she hopes to publish in the future. She has other interests besides writing. For the past twenty years, she has taught origami, the Japanese art of paper-folding.

“The most difficult part of writing is continuing to believe that what one has to say is worth hearing. Once you have that licked, stop worrying about what others might think, it’s a lot easier and much more fun,” says Maren. She writes one to two hours every day. She benefits from the feedback she receives from critique meetings with the North Carolina Writers Network – west (Netwest), Shallow Enders in GA, and one-on-one with individual writers. Her advice to aspiring writers is to “just write – at great length and in detail about all you know, wish to learn, and can imagine.”

Maren recently contributed to Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, edited by Nancy Simpson and published by Winding Path Publishing. The book is available at local bookstores and on-line at http://www.ncwriters.organd at www.amazon.com.

THE COMMON CUP TV PROGRAM

Brenda Kay Ledford will appear on the program, "The Common Cup," over Windstream Communications' channel 4 cable television.

The program will feature Brenda for two weeks: Monday, January 31--Friday, February 11, 2011. The show airs three times each day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at: 9:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.

Jim Geer is the host of "The Common Cup." He interviewed Brenda about her book, SIMPLICITY, that she co-authored with her mother, Blanche L. Ledford.

Windstream Communications is a local cable TV station that covers northern Georgia and western North Carolina. It also provides Internet and telephone service. For information, go to: www.windstream.com

Brenda and Blanche's book, SIMPLICITY, is available at the Book Nook, Blairsville, GA; Cherokee County Museum, Murphy, NC; and Phillips & Lloyd Book Shop, Hayesville, NC; or online: http://catawbapublishing.com/bookstore/book/179.

Coffee with the Poets, Hayesville NC

Coffee with the Poets meets the second Wednesday of each month at Phillips and Lloyd bookstore on the square in Hayesville, NC. This event, sponsored by NCWN West, features a local poet and opens the floor to anyone in the community who wants to read an original poem. Begun in 2007, Coffee with the Poets is popular with those who write poetry and those who come to listen and enjoy coffee, tea and delicacies from Crumpett’s Dessertery.

Featured on Wednesday, February 9 at 1:00 p.m., will be Linda Smith, poet and writer from Hayesville. Her poetry is inspired by the mountains that surround this area. Her inspiration also comes from memories of the past. Linda has published poems, essays and fiction in various anthologies such as Lights in the Mountains, Mountain Time, Sand, Sea and Sail, the Freeing Jonah series, and in Night Whispers and Looking Back. Her work also appears in the new anthology Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Linda Smith is the new publicity chair for Netwest.

Coffee with the Poets provides a comfortable and casual atmosphere for meeting writers and poets and sharing news and information about literary events in Clay, Cherokee, Towns, Union and surrounding counties. Come and join us at Phillips and Lloyd books.

Poets Meet for Lunch

The best  cure for cabin fever in the dead of winter is to meet for lunch with fellow poets. That is what some NC Writers Network Poets did today. They met at the Copper Door in Hayesville, NC, shared a delicious meal and shared some of their recent publications.

Rosemary Royston, NCWN West Program Coordinator (below)

Janice Townley Moore Leader of the Monthly Poetry

Critique Group, Nancy Simpson co founder of Netwest,

and Linda M. Smith Publicity Chairperson. (below)

 

Glenda Beall former Program Coordinator and 

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge Marketing Manager

(below)

Carole Thompson NCWN West Georgia Representative

(below)

Peg Russell monthly Prose Group leader and Linda M. Smith scheduling readers 

for Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories, at John C. Campbell Folk School

(below)

The poets passed around copies of their most recent poetry publications.

(below)

Maren Mitchell shared her recent publication in Southern Humanities Review.

(below)

More pictures www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com

Randall Jarrell Poery Competition Open!

2005 JARRELL WINNER TO JUDGE 2011 JARRELL CONTEST

Poet and editor Dan Albergotti, the winner of the 2005 Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition, will judge this year’s Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition.

Submissions for this year’s Jarrell contest are now open, until the March 1 deadline. The winner will be announced in May.

A graduate of the MFA program at UNC Greensboro and former poetry editor of The Greensboro Review, Albergotti currently teaches creative writing and literature courses and edits the online journal Waccamaw (www.waccamawjournal.com) at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. He is the author of The Boatloads (BOA Editions, 2008), selected by Edward Hirsch as the winner of the 2007 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Pushcart Prize XXXIII: Best of the Small Presses.

The Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition honors the work and legacy of the poet and critic Randall Jarrell, who taught at what is now UNCG for nearly eighteen years. The contest accepts one-poem submissions. The winner receives $200, publication in The Crucible literary journal, and an invitation to read his or her poetry at UNCG’s Founders Day activities.

The competition is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network and administered by Terry L. Kennedy and the graduate program in creative writing at UNCG, and is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of the NCWN. Questions may be directed to Kennedy at tlkenned@uncg.edu. Full guidelines are below.

Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition
Postmark deadline: March 1 (annual)

Eligibility and Guidelines
• The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of NC
or a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.
• Submissions should be one poem only (40-line limit).
• Poem must be typed (single-spaced) and stapled in the left-hand corner.
• Names should not appear on the poem but on a separate cover sheet along with address, phone number, and poem title.
• Poem will not be returned. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a list of winners.
• An entry fee must accompany the poem. Multiple submissions are accepted, one poem per entry fee: $10 for NCWN members, $15 for nonmembers. You may pay member entry fee if you join the NCWN with your submission. Checks should be made payable to the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Send submissions, indicating name of competition, to:

Terry Kennedy
MFA Writing Program
3302 MHRA Building
UNC Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170

Save the Date - Brevard Writers Group

Save the Date-Brevard Writers Group,
Tuesday, January 4th,
3:00-5:00 PM, First Presbyterian Church

Remember, we agreed to talk about query letters at this meeting after we have had our readings and reviews, bring one to share if you have it. Also bring rejection letters to share if you have one. I will have some guidelines for query letters.

Join us.

Wayne Drumheller, writer, photographer, storyteller
NCWN-Western North Carolina Board Representative
260 Frank's Cove Road
Brevard, NC 28712
Phone 704-287-9806 cell
Phone 828-877-5133
Email mystory@citcom.net

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER GIVE BOOK SIGNING

Brenda Kay Ledford and Blanche L. Ledford will sign copies of their book, SIMPLICITY, at Mountain Regional Library in Young Harris, GA on Saturday, January 15; 11:00 AM—2:00 PM.

Step back to a simpler time with this mother and daughter. Meet the folks they loved, capture the beauty of Appalachia, feel the old-time ways. Experience planting by the signs, storytelling on the front porch, possum hunting, wearing sinful red shoes, shindigs, and mountain politics.

Their work has appeared in Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Southern Mist, and other publications.

Brenda is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. She received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her three poetry chapbooks.

SIMPLICITY was released by Catawba Publishing Company of Charlotte, NC in December. For more information, go to: http://catawbapublishing.com/bookstore/book/179.

You Show Up -- Inspiration Provided!

Sing and Paint with Words, JC Campbell Folk School
Jan 30 – Feb 5 ($546/ask for half price!)

Our very own talented Karen Paul Holmes is teaching the class Sing and Paint with Words. This class will inspire your writing through music and other arts. You’ll hear music that ranges from Beethoven to Elvis, you will view paintings by Monet or Finster, and read literary masters or contemporary writers - all to generate ideas for poems, fiction, or essays. You'll receive editing tips and one-on-one critiques to make your work stronger and more readable. This class is open to anyone who needs inspiration and help perfecting the art of writing.

Karen Paul Holmes, an award-winning writer, has work published in business magazines, literary journals, and anthologies. Her enthusiasm for teaching has given her top ratings for her writing workshops at international conferences. She also taught poetry to students through the Georgia Poetry Society's "Poets in the Schools" program. Karen is a writing coach, poet, freelance writer, and the editor of the North Carolina Writers' Network's Netwest News.

Want to Nominate a 2010 Poetry or Fiction Book For an Award?

To all of you who value southern poetry and fiction please consider nominating books you have read and want to honor that were published in 2010. 

Readers can nominate a book by listing a book store that is a member of Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance  (SIBA) such as City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Poetry was dropped from awards last year,  but this year the general public can nominate.  If you care about poetry, please take the time to nominate your favorite poetry book of 2010.

http://www.sibaweb.com/siba-book-award/nomination-form

CONTEST DEADLINES - GET YOUR SUBMISSIONS IN SOON

BYRON HERBERT REECE SOCIETY POETRY CONTEST

Deadline: June 4, 2011

Open to poets from North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia

The Byron Herbert Reece Society is having its first-ever poetry contest. The Byron Herbert Reece Society exists to preserve, perpetuate, and promote Appalachian writer Byron Herbert Reece. Guidelines on website.


ROSE POST CREATIVE NONFICTION COMPETITION

Postmark Deadline: January 5, 2011

Submissions accepted November 15-January 5

The Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition encourages the creation of lasting nonfiction work that is outside the realm of conventional journalism and has relevance to North Carolinians. Submit an original and previously unpublished manuscript of no more than 2,000 words, typed (12-point font) and double-spaced. Full contest guidelines: http://www.ncwriters.org/


THOMAS WOLFE FICTION PRIZE

Postmark Deadline: January 30, 2011

Submissions accepted December 1 - January 30

Submit an unpublished fiction story of 12 pages or less, double-spaced. Full contest guidelines: www.ncwn.org