Interview with Dana Wildsmith

From Glenda Council Beall:

"Dana Wildsmith, highly published author and poet, took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to answer some questions for me and I want to share them with you.

Glenda: I notice that you have enjoyed the friendship of some great literary men including Terry Kay and the late poet, Jim Wayne Miller. Fred Chappell wrote the introduction to Back to Abnormal. How did these friendships develop and how have they affected your writing life and personal life?

Dana: Well, I’m friends with women writers, too, of course, and just as with the men, I’ve met them through writer events: workshops, conferences, and the like. I’ve found that one of the wonderful perks to becoming engaged in the practice of writing is the way it gains you entry in a new community, the community of writers. In the South, that community tends to be unfailingly inclusive and generous, so when I asked Fred if he’d write an intro for Back to Abnormal (it being every book-writers’ goal to splash known and attention-getting names across your book), he said, “Why sure, darlin’.” Fred is also my number one pen pal. We’ve exchanged letters twice a month or so for twenty years. Letter writing, by the way, I would recommend as possibly the very best writing exercise. Terry Kay lives just down the road from me so we see each other often. I admire his writing boundlessly and recommend To Dance with the White Dog as a book everyone should read, especially every southerner. And Jim Wayne was my writing mentor, if I have one. He sought me out, writing a letter to me about some of my poems and encouraging my writing in very specific ways. There is no way I could ever repay the debt I owe him, but keeping his name alive through references to him in my own writing is the one way I have of trying.

Glenda: I love that you write so much about your dogs. Max and Fred were subjects of a poem that you said most non-writers really like. It is one of the first of your poems that I fell in love with. Can you tell us about that poem and why it is so well liked?

Dana: My poem “Peopling” always makes people laugh because it first surprises them and then they think to themselves, Yes, that’s so true. Those two reactions back-to-back are the heart of humor. And all of us need more satisfying humor in our lives.

Glenda: Your ESL (English as a second language) students call you Teacher instead of calling you by name. You were not pleased, at first, but tell us what you learned that made you feel much better about being called Teacher.

Dana: As I have written in Back to Abnormal, I at first found it a little off-putting when my ESL students called me Teacher because it sounded so formal and distant. Then I discovered that in just about every part of the globe except the US, to call someone Teacher is the highest honorific. Now I love it. I have come to realize, also, that my experience with coming to an understanding of the depths of meaning contained in that title, could stand as example of the depths of meaning that should be written into our stories and poems. To learn how to get to the root of our world knowledge is perhaps the primary key to producing writing that will resonate with a large audience.

 

Thanks for your time, Dana. We look forward to your coming to our area to teach at Writers Circle and to read at Writers Night Out."

For details of Dana's class at Writers Circle, click here.

NetWest Writers Conference Course Descriptions

The NetWest Writers Conference, which will be held May 10, in Sylva, NC, is shaping up to be an exceptional day as seen by the course descriptions below. From memories to history to poetry to learning how to update your writing techniques, there will be something for everyone. 

Click here for complete information, including the fees and a registration form.

10:15 - 10:55: Keynote Address by Judy Goldman 

Using Details From Your Life In Fiction, Poetry, and Memoir

The choreographer, Judith Jamison, said, "If something is tugging at your life, you use it." Judy will show how she's used memories -- the things that really happened, the things that really mattered -- to create poetry, fiction, and memoir. She'll give tips for choosing the form that matches your sensibilities -- because, as writers, we must find what we do well and play it to the hilt.

11:10 - 12:00: Gary Carden and Newton Smith

History and Writing: the Cowee Tunnel Tragedy

Gary Carden, the winner of the 2013 Governor's Award for Literature, will begin the program by explaining how important local history is to writers and briefly talk about how it contributed to NC drama as well as fiction and poetry. He will give examples of how he used history in the process of developing some of his previous play and will recite lines from three of his historically based plays. He and Newton Smith, Chair of the Board of the Liars Bench, will then talk about the Cowee Tunnel tragedy and how history forgot the incident until the Liars Bench began its exploration. Gary is currently writing a play based on the incident and will describe where he is with its progress and recite sample lines."Tuckasegee Rising" is based on an historic disaster: the drowning of 19 chain-gang prisoners in the Tuckasegee River in 1882. Then Newton will read a couple of his poems also based on the incident and together they will talk about an anticipated anthology of writings inspired by the incident and other regional railroad stories.

1:00 - 1:45: Nancy Simpson and Kathryn Stripling Byer

Building A Readership For Your Poetry

The idea of building a readership for one’s poetry has not been discussed widely among poets. “Building a Readership” may be a task that does not come natural to poets, many of whom find it impossible to self promote their own poems. Two of our practicing Netwest poets known for their longevity, Kathryn Stripling Byer and Nancy Simpson, will get to the heart of the matter, sharing ideas that will help you get your poems out there and keep them out there in a number of different ways from the beginning of your poetry career to the end.

2:00 - 3:45: Workshops

Second Floor Conference Room: Judy Goldman 

What I Wish I'd Known Before I Wrote a Memoir 

In this workshop, geared to both beginning and experienced writers, Judy will explain how to find the focus for your memoir, how to use the techniques of fiction to make your memoir come alive, how to write a beginning that gives the reader goose bumps, how to use reflection, how to understand the difference between scene and exposition, and how to deal with loved ones who might have a problem with what you write. She will do one in-class exercise to help you find your most engaging material. 

First Floor Conference Room: Susan Snowden 

Brighten Your Writing

Whether you write fiction or creative nonfiction, this workshop will help you hone your skills. Author and veteran book editor Susan Snowden will discuss creating strong characters, writing believable dialogue, self-editing, and more. Come with pen, paper, and your questions for the Q&A period at the end of the session.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly literary event held at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill, 30 North Carolina 141, Murphy, NC, will celebrate poetry month Wednesday, April, 9, 2014 at 10:30 a.m.

Featured will be poet, Brenda Kay Ledford, from Hayesville, NC.  She is a seventh-generational native of Clay County, NC, and holds a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University.

She writes about her heritage and has done post-graduate work in Appalachian studies.  Brenda received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her books, collecting oral history, and blog:  http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.

Her work has appeared in Our State, Carolina Country Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Appalachian Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Country Extra Magazine, Blue Ridge Parkway Anniversary Edition Celebration, and many other journals.

Finishing Line Press published Brenda's award-winning poetry books:  Shewbird Mountain, Sacred Fire, and Beckoning. She co-authored Simplicity with Blanche L. Ledford.  These books are available at the John C. Campbell Folk School Craft Shop and www.amazon.com.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open to the public at no charge.  Bring a poem or short story and read at Open Mic.  Those attending are invited to join the writers and poets after the event as we pull tables together and enjoy a social hour.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West.  Contact NCWN West Representative Glenda Beall at 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com for information.

Poet Kevin Young to Visit Young Harris College

The Byron Herbert Reece Lecture Series presents:

a reading by poet 
Kevin Young
author of The Book of Hours.

Thursday, April 3
   
Q&A at 3:00 p.m.
Reading at 6:00 p.m.

Wilson Lecture Hall 
Goolsby Bldg.
Young Harris College



Born in 1970, Kevin Young is widely regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation, one who finds meaning and inspiration in African American music, particularly the blues, and in the bittersweet history of Black America. Lucille Clifton said of Young, “[His] gift of storytelling and understanding of the music inherent in the oral tradition of language re-creates for us an inner history which is compelling and authentic and American."  His many books of poetry include Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels (Knopf, 2011); Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008); For the Confederate Dead (2007); and Book of Hours (2014). Black Maria: Poems Produced and Directed by Kevin Young is a "film noir in verse," a playful homage to the language and imagery of Hollywood detective films.

Learn more about Kevin here.

Mary Ricketson's March 'Woman to Woman' Column

Cherokee County NCWN/NetWest Representative Mary Ricketson writes a monthly column for the local newspaper, the Cherokee Scout. She has graciously shared her March column with us:

"March is women’s history month.  We are amazing people.  I am inspired by literally every woman I meet.  Every one of us has something to offer the world in some dimension.  All of us are unique, no one like us in the whole universe.  But unless we are famous, our stories get lost in the shuffle. 

One way to inspire girls and women is to tell stories of accomplished women.  Famous women like the pilot Amelia Earhart and astronaut Sally Ride inspire all of us.  We should keep telling the stories of famous women and their accomplishments.  But we should tell our local stories too.  Women in our families and those next door, and in the next county leave footprints every day for the rest of us to follow.  Each of us leaves footprints.  We are known for our courage, self-sacrifice, accomplishments and sometimes for our cooking.  We are known for our brains, our smile, our guts, and our stubbornness.

I remember a story of my mother.  I was a little girl, and my sister was a toddler.  We were walking in the park on a sunny afternoon, and there was a duck pond.  This duck pond was very special and inviting, and the sun shined on the deepest spot.  Somehow my mother got distracted, looked away, and did not see my sister walk into the pond.  She wanted to pet the ducks.  Now, my sister didn’t know how to swim but my mother did not either.  Quickly my mother turned around to see her youngest daughter sinking in the water.  Mother, armed only with adrenaline, rushed right in that pond, grabbed her precious child, and got back to shore before either of them drowned.  My sister does not walk into duck ponds anymore, but she does walk daily into difficult projects with single minded determination.  And she learned how to swim.

This story gets told over and over, for the memory, for the laughs, for the courage, and for any other reason that comes to mind.  Most of our stories are not pilots, astronauts, politicians, or anyone famous.  Our stories are about women in our lives, salt of the earth women, women who keep life going anyway we can.

Let’s tell the history of women, our women, and keep ourselves inspired.  Let’s tell our stories to girls and also to boys.  Let’s tell stories of women with a spirit of respect and admiration.  We are not courageous all the time, and we are not perfect.  We are ordinary women, and special and wonderful and unique, every one of us.  Keep our stories alive."

Thank you, Mary. We also hope that women everywhere will be inspired.

Poet and Writer, Dana Wildsmith teaches at Writers Circle in April

 Dana Wildsmith 

Workshop at Writers Circle around the Table in Hayesville, NC

CHANGING FACT TO FICTION,

OR: CHANGING I TO US

   All we have to work with when we set out down fiction's road is the stuff of our lives, but that's enough. Every one of us has  a couple of horror-story-worthy relatives, and we've all lived through years of high drama in our lives. The material is there, for sure, but the rub lies in figuring out how to use that material when memoir is not our aim. In this class, we'll talk about ways to use those three crazy uncles of yours to flesh out one strong character for a story or novel, how to conduct and make use of interviews, and a little about scene-writing. This will be a class for all levels of fiction writers.

Bio:

Dana Wildsmith's  environmental memoir, Back to Abnormal: Surviving With An Old Farm in the New South, was Finalist for Georgia Author of the Year. She is the author of five collections of poetry, including most recently, Christmas in Bethlehem. Wildsmith has served as Artist-in-Residence for Grand Canyon National Park, as Writer-in-Residence for the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska, and she is a Fellow of the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. 

Writers Circle Studio, Hayesville NC

April 12, Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. 2014:

Glenda Beall - nightwriter0302@yahoo.com 

Fee: $45

Sharpen Your Pencils for the 2014 Silver Arts

Every spring, thousands of people participate in the North Carolina Senior Games. SilverArts is a major component of the traditional athletic competition of the Games, uniting athletes and artists in a program that recognizes the similarities of both endeavors: discipline, dedication, and pride in one's accomplishments.

SilverArts, "a celebration of the creative expression of seniors in North Carolina" provides a stage for the creative talents of the visual, heritage, literary, and performing artists. It's held locally between February 1 and June 15. 

The literary category for SilverArts is divided into these sub-categories: Essays, Life Experiences (autobiographical), Poems, Short Stories (fiction).

Qualifiers in each category are invited to participate each fall in the Senior Games State Finals held in Raleigh. Every two years, the State Finals winners qualify to represent North Carolina at the National Senior Games and 2014 is the National Qualifying event in North Carolina.

Each county or region facilitates a SilverArts competition in conjunction with the Senior Games. Because the dates vary, it's best to contact your county or region here, for complete information. 

So sharpen those pencils and get ready! Click here for complete guidelines for the literary arts category. And here for an informative booklet, including information on how to become a qualifier.

For a complete list of categories available in your county or region, click here. 

"Singing It Forward" With Kathryn Stripling Byer at the Lanier Library Poetry Festival

What: Lanier Library Poetry Festival

Where: 72 Chestnut Street, Tryon, North Carolina 28782

When: April 26, 2014

April in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is a beautiful month, one might even say pure poetry. So please join Kathryn Stripling Byer and other celebrated poets, including Joseph Bathanti, at the Lanier Library on April 26, 2014, for a day of inspiration, education and a sociable gathering of creative minds.

The Lanier Library in Tryon, North Carolina will be hosting a new literary festival celebrating one of the most beloved and advanced forms of literature in the history of the written word: POETRY.

They have invited some of the country’s most respected poets to lead a variety of writing workshops; to discuss poetry’s importance in our lives; to offer publication advice; and to give free public readings of their work and autograph their books.

A highlight of the day is a catered luncheon with honored guest Mark Doty. Doty has published eight collections of his poetry, including Fire to Fire, which won the coveted National Book Award in Poetry in 2008.  The festival concludes with a public reception at the Lanier Library to announce the winners of the sixth annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition (open to poets in North and South Carolina and Georgia). 

This year’s judge of the competition is current North Carolina Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti, who will speak at the reception.  In addition, the prize recipients will read their winning poems.  Hors d’oeuvres and wine will be served.

Registration deadline is April 15. For a registration form and full details: www.lanierlib.org/poetryfestival2014

NetWest Writers Conference

The NC Writers' Network-West is pleased to announce the NetWest Writers Conference on May 10, 2014 at the historic Jackson County Courthouse Library Complex in Sylva, NC. For more details, please click here or on the Conference tab on our sites.

To Do: A Social Media Spring Clean

In doing a cleaning out of my inbox, I finally made a category for posts from this blog, Catherine - Caffeinated,  which is always informative - and humorous. Here's today's post, with some good advice about an author's online presence. Enjoy! Ellen

URL: http://wp.me/pK3Dz-3vG

Special Presentation of POEMSCAPES on April 11

Carol Pearce Bjorlie will read, play the cello, and collaborate with photographer, Ruthie Rosauer at the Hendersonville, NC library on Friday, April 11, at 2:00 pm.

Carol and Ruthie have developed, POEMSCAPES, a landscape slide show/reading/performance event.

For more information, please contact Carol at:  bjorlie.carol@yahoo.com.

Author of Southern Fried Lies, Susan Snowden, on Fiction

Meet Susan Snowden, author and editor who will be a presenter at the Netwest Writers Conference on May 10 in Sylva, NC.

An Atlanta native, Susan Snowden moved to the mountains of western NC in 1995 to have more time to write. Since then her work—fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry—has been published in more than forty literary journals and anthologies. She has received seventeen honors and awards for her writing, including a gold medal in 2013 for her first novel, Southern Fried Lies (IPPY Award; Best Fiction, Southeast Region). 

Susan has taught writing at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and at Blue Ridge Community in Flat Rock, NC. She’s also worked as a freelance book editor since 1985, editing fiction and nonfiction for publishers and authors. (www.SnowdenEditorial.com).  

The conference will be a one day event at the beautiful public library of Jackson County. This building is the former majestic courthouse sitting on a hill that can be seen for miles around the picturesque little town of Sylva. Recently renovated, it is now the Jackson County public library and event center.

Registration information for the conference will soon be available at www.netwestwriters-west.org

Google+

This is a call for assistance to our Google+ savvy members. I've been trying to get up to speed so that we can have a workshop - trouble is, I'm kind of slow. So if any of you can help out, please let me know. 

Also, I've set up a page for NetWest, and I hope that you will check it out and add us to your circles. 

March Coffee With the Poets and Writers Features Deanna Klingel

On Wednesday, March 12, Coffee with the Poets and Writers features author Deanna Klingel, who lives in Sapphire Valley, NC. The literary event takes place the second Wednesday of each month at 10:30 am at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill located at 30 Hwy 141 in Cherokee County, NC. 

The public is invited to come and enjoy the author of five novels including Cracks in the Ice and the young adult series, Avery's Battlefield and Avery's Crossroads, based on a fourteen year old boy who lives during the Civil War era. Deanna will read from her new book to be released in March, Rock and a Hard Place, a Lithuanian Love Story, based on real people living today and she will talk about the truth in fiction.

The NC Writers' Network West sponsors this gathering of writers and poets and welcomes those attending to participate in open mic and to stay after to have lunch together. 

Contact Glenda Beall at 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com

Writers’ Night Out In New Location, March 15

Writers’ Night Out starts its fourth year by featuring two local writers: poet Mary Ricketson and novelist Paul M. Schofield. The event takes place on Saturday, March 15 in its new location, the Union County Community Center at Butternut Creek Golf Course in Blairsville, GA. A social hour starts at 6 p.m. with the reading at 7 p.m. and open microphone following. Writers’ Night is free (food available for purchase) and open to the public. Writers can sign up at the door to read poetry or prose for three minutes in the open microphone.

Ricketson, of Murphy, NC, has been writing for 20 years. She is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor. Her poetry has been published in her chapbook, I Hear the River Call My Name, as well as in Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Freeing Jonah, Red Fox Run, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Your Daily Poem, andJournal of Kentucky Studies.  She won medals for poetry in the Cherokee County Senior Games/Silver Arts, and won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75^th anniversary national poetry contest. Ricketson writes a monthly column, “Woman to Woman,” for The Cherokee Scout, is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, and is president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance.

Schofield’s three action-packed books make up The Trophy Saga, based on ideas that are theoretically feasible. They feature time-travel, chase and battle scenes, fusion powered star-ships, a computer-controlled society, tender moments and scary episodes. Refreshing to read, they are free of explicit sex, profanity, graphic violence and paranormal themes. Schofield was born and raised in Montana and now lives in Murphy, NC with his wife Ellen.

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by NC Writers Network-West and is now at its new location: The Union County Community Center, located 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  Come to the upstairs banquet room, which is accessible via stairs or the elevator. Starting April 2014, Writers’ Night Out will move to the second Saturday of each month. For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Ten Year Old Abigail Rose Cargo's Poem Featured on Rattle.com

Thank you to Lisa Cargo, proud mom, for sharing this information with us:

"Abigail's poem, "Firefly," is published in the 2014 Rattle Young Poets Anthology and is featured this week on the Rattle website.

If you go to the website, rattle.com, you can read her poem and author's note as well as hear her audio reading of "Firefly."  It will be the featured poem until next Friday, February 28.

When you visit the website, be sure to leave a comment for Abigail.  I'll print those out for her at the end of the week as a keepsake.

Help me spread the word by forwarding this information on to anyone else you think may be interested.  Thank you for supporting Abigail and the other young poets."

Congratulations to Abigail - we hope that you will keep writing.

Celebrate the Release of Deanna Klingel's New Book

Deanna has invited you to a literary soiree (aka book release party) Sunday afternoon 1-4 PM, March 9, 2014, St Jude Church, 3011 US Highway 64 East, Cashiers, NC, to celebrate the release of A Rock and a Hard Place, A Lithuanian Love Story. 

Enjoy Lithuanian food, beverage, music, book discussion, reading, signing and meeting the couple about whom the book is written. Bring your friends. 

If you can't be there in person, you can still be part of the party. Friday before the event go to www.BooksByDeanna. Use the tab Rock & a Hard Place to find recipes you can try at home. Sunday, the day of the event, go to Amazon.com and buy a book (available as of March 8), then send an email to deannaklingel@yahoo.com with your name and address. You will receive a signature and book mark for your book.  

Monday following the event enjoy the photos of the event at Facebook page, "Books By Deanna".

Those Who Do Not Read Books

NCWN/NetWest member Bill Ramsey (www.LifesWrite.com) sent us this observation "In recent conversations with young adults, thirty somethings, the subject of books came up. Perhaps I should not have been surprised when they told me they "never read books." 

While "too busy" was offered as an excuse, there is something else at work here. 

Enjoying reading is difficult for those who rarely do it. They can read the words but miss the message. Do we, as writers, need to speak to this growing situation in the young adult population? If yes, how can we do so?"

Do you have any suggestions? We'd love to get your comments.

Revised Website For NCWN

The North Carolina Writers' Network, of which NetWest is a chapter, has a newly revised website: www.ncwriters.org. This is a good time to familiarize yourself with it, because a guide for using it appears on the home page. And don't forget to bookmark it while you're there!

What Should We do? Deanna Klingel, author, answers.

We have as guest writer today, Deanna Klingel, successful author of five books published by different publishers with three more to be released soon. Deanna lives in Sapphire Valley, NC with her husband and a rescued golden retriever. She is a member of NCWN West as well as other literary organizations. She admits she was a late starter in the world of publishing, but she hit the ground running and was a quick learner. Her advice is for all of us who write and want to write. Take note.

“So What’s it Like to be a Writer?” 

My signing table was inside the Low Country Museum in Yemassee, South Carolina. I’d had a lot of fun that Saturday talking to families and signing books for their middle graders. During a quiet few minutes a chubby boy wrapped in his puffy winter coat and toboggan hat paused and looked at my table. I guess he was eight, maybe nine.

“So, what’s it like to be a writer?” he asked. He caught me off guard and I didn’t have a quick reply. The usual question from precocious kids is “Do authors make a lot of money?” for which there is a quick answer.

“Well,” I thought aloud, “I spend a lot of time alone listening to voices talking in my head.”

“Yes!” he said. “That’s how it is for me, too. Whenever I get sent to my room alone, my head talks to me. When I get mad, it even talks more. And loud.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Maybe when you get mad you should write.”

“I guess you’re right,” he said. “That’s what I'll do. Next time I get sent to my room and I'm mad I'm going to write me a book. How many pages should it be?”

How many pages should it be? Whose voice should it be? What style should it be written in? What font should I use? New writers all worry about should. Should I send it to a publisher? Should I staple it? Should I get a Mac?

Even accomplished writers who participate on the online writers groups are often still asking should I? Should I change genre, should I use a pen name, should I have an agent, should I blog, should my main character turn out to be a bad guy? Should I use semi colons?

I’m not exactly an old timer in the publishing field.

I only started writing with a thought to publishing around 2005. My first book published in 2010. In the next few weeks book six, seven and eight will be released, all different publishers. That still makes me a relative newcomer. But I've had enough experience now that I can share some "what-I've-learned-along-the-way" suggestions.

The first thing I think you should do, is unload your shoulds. You can make yourself crazy with the angst of shoulds. There is no should. Your writing is a result of your writer voice. There can be no right or wrong to it. You should not should over it. Just write it.

Then there are things you must do. You must finish it. You must edit it. You must have another edit it. Then you must rewrite it. Then you must submit it. These aren't things you should do, these are things you must do. To submit you must do it exactly the way the publisher you’re submitting to instructs; not should, must.

Writing is easy for a writer. Writing for publication is not. It’s tedious, it’s lengthy, it’s lonely, it can get frustrating. There are so many things to learn, the more you learn the more you discover things you need to know!

You must go to conferences, workshops, take writing classes. You must. But you can make it easier on yourself if you relax and enjoy the entire process and not worry about all the shoulds. The voice in your head is yours and it must be heard. You should let it. You must. That's what it is to be a writer.

Deanna will be sharing her work at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill on Wednesday, March 12, 10:30 a.m. This event is free and open to the public.