Contest Winner JC Walkup

We are happy to post the publishing success of JC Walkup whose short story, Sin, about the woman who got revenge on her milk-toast husband and his greedy son, won first place in the Haywood County Silver Arts Contest. Driving West, the post-apocalypse story, took Honorable Mention.

This the fifth First Place win and the first Honorable Mention since she began submitting to contests several years ago. She also has won Second Place three times.

JC Walkup is the author of a novel, Partners, about Texas and Texans.  She lives in Haywood County and served as Haywood County Representative for NCWN West for a number of years.

She speaks of how important it is to belong to a writing critique group. “I'm grateful to my faithful critique group for reading and critiquing both stories. It helps so much to have their support,” JC says.

As most writers know, the fun is in the writing. The work is in the submitting and marketing of your work. JC said, “It is so much more fun to write than it is to do the contests and marketing stuff. My husband, the constant support of my work, reminds me often that it is necessary to expose my work to the world to get better.”

Congratulations, JC for your publication successes, and send us all your good news in the future. 

Writers' Night Out Friday, May 8

Mary Ricketson to Read from Her New Book, Hanging Dog Creek

On Friday, May 8, Writers’ Night Out will feature Mary Ricketson of Murphy, NC reading poems from her second collection, Hanging Dog Creek (Future Cycle Press). An open microphone follows for those who’d like to share their own writing. The event is free and open to the public at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA.  Food and drinks are available for purchase, but attendees should arrive by 6 pm to allow time to be served before the program starts at 7 pm.

Ricketson has been writing poetry for 20 years. She says she writes, “to satisfy a hunger, to taste life down to the very last drop.”  Ricketson is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor. Her award-winning poems have appeared in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Freeing Jonah, Red Fox Run, and her chapbook, I Hear the River Call My Name. 

Friday, May 8
6 pm social hour (the View Grill is open with a new menu -- food and drink available for purchase -- and you can bring it to the ballroom if you like)
7 pm featured readers in the ballroom
7:45-ish open mike for prose or poetry, limit 3 mins (please time yourself at home and make us want MORE)

Union County Community Center (at Butternut Creek Golf Course in the heart of Blairsville)
129 Union County Recreation Rd.
Blairsville, Georgia 30512
here's a map but note that the Holiday Inn on the map is now a Comfort Inn

Netwest member, Laurence Holden publishes in Oregon journal

Laurence Holden, poet and visual artist, lives in north Georgia and has been a member of NCWN West for a number of years. It is always good to see what our members are up to. The following is an email he sent to us this week.

"Two of my poems, "We Are All Vagabonds," and "Channelling" appear in the upcoming Spring issue of Elohi Gaduga: Narratives for a New World, a journal in Oregon.

"Elohi gaduga" is their version of the Cherokee "e-lo-hi ga-du-hv" ᎡᎶᎯ ᎦᏚᎲ meaning the earth together in community.

I have read "We Are All Vagabonds" at many venues over the last several years, and it's one of my favorite ones to read before groups. It grew out of reflecting upon several day hikes to the Chattooga  River with Georgia Forest Watch where we would gather around a campfire at the river's edge for a poetry reading and some of Marie Dunkle's rousing Celtic fiddle playing. Around that campfire we were from many far flung places, and after our brief gathering around what was an ancient circle, no doubt we would scatter again to perhaps never to meet in just this way again. Every life is its own journey. We humankind have been doing this for millennia.


My poem "Channelling" explores a poignant moment I shared with my father in the last year of his life. I created an image to accompany this poem:

To subscribe to this journal go to http://egjournal.org/ "

Blue Ridge Bookfest in Henderson County this weekend

The  annual Blue Ridge Bookfest held at Blue Ridge Community College in Henderson County, NC promises to  be another  big success for  authors and attendees. The venue is perfect - large indoor space where simultaneous events happen all day Saturday. 

One of the writers you will see at the Bookfest this year is Karen White, a favorite of women who like "grit lit" or stories set in the south and geared toward women. I've read one of her books and really enjoyed it.  

 Karen White

• Saturday, April 25, 2015
• 10:00 - 10:45 am
• TEDC Classroom 311
• A Long Time Gone  

After playing hooky one day in the seventh grade to read Gone With the Wind, Karen White knew she wanted to be a writer—or become Scarlett O'Hara. In spite of these aspirations, Karen pursued a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a BS in Management from Tulane University. Ten years later, after leaving the business world, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a writer and wrote her first book. In the Shadow of the Moon was published in August, 2000.  Her books have since been nominated for numerous national contests including the SIBA (Southeastern Booksellers Alliance) Fiction Book of the Year, and has twice won the National Readers’ Choice Award.

Karen currently writes what she refers to as ‘grit lit’—southern women’s fiction—and has also expanded her horizons into writing a bestselling mystery series set in Charleston, South Carolina. Her eighteenth novel, A Long Time Gone, was published in June 2014 and debuted at #24 on the New York Times bestseller list.  Her next novel, The Sound of Glass, will be published in May 2015 by New American Library, a division of PenguinRandomHouse Publishing Group.

Karen hails from a long line of Southerners but spent most of her growing up years in London, England and is a graduate of the American School in London. When not writing, she spends her time reading, scrapbooking, playing piano, and avoiding cooking.  She currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two children, and a spoiled Havanese dog (who appears in several of her books), Quincy.

To see who else will be presenting on Friday and Saturday, visit this site

Brenda Kay Ledford Published in Angels on Earth Magazine

Brenda Kay Ledford's article, "Angels Over Iraq," appeared in ANGELS ON EARTH MAGAZINE, May/June 2015 issue.  This is a publication by "Guideposts."

www.guideposts.org/Angels-on-Earth/Magazine