Open Mic Night at City Lights in Sylva, NC

As a new Jackson County Netwest representative, I'd like to announce an open microphone reading at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva on Friday evening, January 15th, at 7:00 p.m.  NetWest and non-NetWest members alike are welcome.  We'll have wine, water, and a few desserts upstairs in the bookstore; readers and listeners may also wish to go down to City Lights Café to buy coffee or dinner.  We'll sign up for a reading order beforehand, beginning at 6:45; unless our numbers are very small, writers may read for up to four minutes (please note that this limit is firm.  If our numbers are very large, we'll cap the event at two hours and ask all readers to be as brief as possible.)  We hope to see you there!  I look forward to hearing new work and to meeting other Jackson County members of NetWest and NCWN.

Polly Davis to present her memoir at City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC, Sat., Jan 9th, 2015 at 3:00 PM

Polly Davis will present Stumbling Toward Enlightenment on Saturday, January 9th at 3 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore. Married to a Special Forces soldier during the height of the Vietnam War, Polly Davis was a soldier’s wife with a difference: she often led, always followed, and sometimes fought alongside her Green Beret. Whether leaping out of airplanes, SCUBA diving off the coast of Massachusetts, hauling her family and their dogs over two continents, or battling a life-threatening disease, Davis’ life story is superbly rich with courage, compassion, and a sly humor that overcomes all obstacles. Failure is not an option with this warm and enticing tale.


Polly’s is a companion book to her husband’s memoir, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On: A March from Private to Colonel. Come join Polly and Tom for a He Said She Said reading. While writing their memoirs, they would compare notes and wonder if they were at the same place at the same time. The contrasting views of the same events are hilarious! To reserve copies of these memoirs please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499

Be Persistent say John Jakes and Nancy Purcell

“Be persistent. Editors change; tastes change; editorial markets change.  Too many beginning writers give up too easily.”  — John Jakes, Author of the North and South Trilogy

Do you get a rejection and mark that poem or story off your list to submit? Do you have spurts when you send out work and then submit nothing for months? 

One of our NCWN-West members, Nancy Purcell, submitted a short story over 100 times before it was accepted. Nancy is an excellent writer, but that is not the only thing required to have your work accepted in magazines and journals. Nancy is persistent also. She had to find the right editor, the one who liked her story or needed her story for their next issue. This is what Nancy told me:

The story, "The Unwrinkled Heart," is online now at Valparaiso Fiction Review. It's the Winter 2015 edition. They only publish 6 stories a season. 

It was invigorating to receive the editor's letter saying, "I pray you have not accepted any other Review for this work. I love your writing and this is a great story. By the way, it's a pleasure to read a manuscript that is clean." 

Nancy has published 26 pieces of short fiction and is working on a collection of short stories she hopes to publish in the coming year. 

Some gifted poets give up writing or submitting when they receive a few rejections. It often takes hours of our time to search for markets and submit to publications. That is all part of being a writer. As someone said to me after our panel discussion at the Moss Library recently, "I understand now. Writing and publishing is hard work." Yes, it is and only those who are determined and who grow a thick skin will continue to submit. 

If you are an experienced writer, what is your advice to new or beginning writers and poets who want to see their work published? Tell us in our comments section.




Nancy Purcell served as a North Carolina Writers Network/Elizabeth Squire Daniels Writer-in-Residence, Peace College, Raleigh, NC, teaches Creative Writing in the Brevard College Community Education program, and Quick Coaches aspiring writers. Studied Creative Writing at the Iowa Summer Program. Seven years as County Representative for the NCWN-West Writers. Presently serves as the Prose Judge for the Board of the Carl Sandburg Home Writer-in-Residence Program,
Publications: 26 Short Stories to include: RiverSedge, The MacGuffin, Pangolin Papers, Troika, LongStoryShort, The Square Table, DiverseVoicesQuarterly, The Final Draft and RCVRY among others.