Reminder: Coffee with the Poets and Writers to meet at 10:30 AM, Wed., October 21, 2015, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Please remember that Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) has a change of venue to Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, 28904.  We also have a changed CWPW) from the second Wednesday of each month to the third Wednesday.

Joan Howard, well-published poet, is our featured NCWN West member this month.

Don't forget Open Mic after Joan's reading. Bring a  couple of poems or short, 1500 word, prose piece.

Tell your friends about CWPW and join us next week at the library in Hayesville, NC.

Fellow members, please send us one of your poems or short pieces that speak to you of Autumn!

Photo by Joan Ellen Gage

Fellow members, let's have some fun and share one of your poems or short pieces that speak to us of this glorious season!

Meanwhile, here is a link to the Poetry Foundation with a selection of poems for Autumn. Enjoy!
 
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/178167?gclid=CK_O-L3QtcgCFQiPaQodikIMiQ

Poem from fellow NCWN-West poet, Kathleen A. Stilwell

Here is a poem from fellow NCWN-West poet, Kathleen A. Stilwell.

Streams of Silence


A river of words flows silently
Submerged in a cavern of questions
Resting like bone fragments
On the sand beneath the flow
How did I get older than the president?
A decade evaporated
Like sea foam in the valleys
Hanging in the air like memories.

No longer ripe with potential
Now only ripe with hope
For a long enough life
To be useful
Create memories
Preserve memories
Capture sunlight
Save the monarch
Feel the waves and particles.


Silent river, whispered phrases.
Scratching across the pages
Fragments and glimpses
Uprooted plans,
ambitions discarded
Aborted missions,
connections unplugged.


Now it seems I'm listening,
simply listening
For the song of the forest,
the chorus from the woods.

http://graceplays.blogspot.com/2015/09/streams-of-silence.html

This is part of a recent project entitled Affair with a Forest--Streams of Silence in honor of trees. A Print copy is available here

Photographs and Poetry - a post from the past

This is a post from the past by William Everett. He is author of Red Clay, Blood River (2008) and TURNINGS: Poems of Transformation

He blogs at www.WilliamEverett.com.

Click  here and read the work on this blog by this outstanding poet who lives here in the WNC mountains. 

Reading in Murphy October 24

FREE TO THE PUBLIC!

MURPHY PUBLIC LIBRARY

   

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2:00 PM

FEATURING:

DAVID BROWN

Award-winning publisher of the Cherokee Scout

CAROL CRAWFORD

Author of Remember Who You Are

An inspirational and instructional look at writing

DANA WILDSMITH

Finalist of Georgia Author of the Year

Open mike readings will follow as time permits

Sponsored by Ridgeline Literary Alliance

The Rain, a Poem by Martha O. Adams

  This Rain

Listen

This rain

Warmed before bonfires of stars

Rides on night’s black tides

Ghostly, flows slowly into day

Cycles in circles through time

Singing of morning’s shine

And the night’s cold shoulder

Old gray gown

Tailored for sleep

And the dreams of seeds

MarthaO. Adams 

1.22.13

Link to NCWN's Book Buzz for Buried Seed, a book by Martha O. Adams

Please find a link to NCWN's Book Buzz for the book, Buried Seed, by Martha O. Adams, at: http://www.ncwriters.org/2014-01-07-18-35-09/book-buzz/6853-buried-seed-by-martha-o-adams

NCWN-West--What I see in the future, by Glenda Council Beall

NCWN-West – What I see in the future

What a remarkable organization Marsha Warren built in western NC in the early 90s. Eight counties with representatives in each one, counties in bordering states where writers needed a community, and one person to head the group.

That was twenty years ago, and many of those early writing groups are still active here in Clay and Cherokee counties. Because of the program Warren created, beginning writers went on to publish poetry books, novels and memoirs. 

But we are in the twenty-first century and changes have taken place in society, even here in the Appalachian Mountains. The under-fifty folks research online, take courses online, seek all kinds of information from where to publish to how to publish. They find hundreds of sources for their questions. But there are no guarantees that what they read online is fact or correct. Recently I read an article on how to prepare a manuscript. Comments following this article disagreed with half of what the article said. “Today it is done this way…” “That is the old way. Nobody does that now.”

What are we to believe? Confusion reigns with all the various opinions on the Internet. Without experienced writers and poets to share accurate information, new writers can spend hours making mistakes with their submissions and all things concerning getting their work out to the public, the major goal of most of us. I am asked many times over and over, how do I prepare a manuscript, can you help me with a cover letter, what is a query letter and what should I say. Or I am asked, where can I take a class for beginning writers, is there a class around here for someone who has retired and is finally ready to begin writing which I always wanted to do?

NCWN-West has the experienced published writers throughout the region. We have qualified instructors for all genres. But how to get the word out is the question now. Few want to travel many miles to attend an all day workshop, it seems, although the opportunity to discuss writing, questions and answers, should be a priority. We learn so much from each other when we get together. But we must beware online groups where some of the people who give advice are not accurate. I have seen incorrect writing advice given online to unsuspecting newbies.

The future of NCWN-West, I believe, is bringing in men and women who have computer expertise. People who know how to set up meetings on Skype so writers all over the region can participate in discussion of the best ways to provide local writers with what they need here in the mountains.

We have a Facebook page for NCWN West that has been dormant for several years until this week.  We have well-qualified writers who want to teach online classes for NCWN-West members. But who will make that happen? We need members who understand the Internet and can help us get those classes online. These are our future leaders. In ten years there will be new opportunities and we must be ready to jump in.

Those of us who worked for many years as part of NCWN-West are ready to turn it over to perhaps younger, but definitely energized people who move us forward to the next level. Who will do that?

Help us find those who are willing and able to carry on our mission, but take us up a step.

Glenda Beall
glendabeall@msn.com
828-389-4441

Steven Harvey, Beloved Teacher & Writer at Writers' Night, Blairsville, GA

Don't Miss this Special Guest

Friday, October 9

Dr. Steven Harvey

Writers’ Night Out features retired Young Harris College professor, Steven Harvey, PhD, on Friday night, October 9. An open microphone will follow for those who’d like to read their own poetry or prose. The event takes place at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville and is free and open to the public. Food and drinks are available for purchase. The program begins at 7 p.m., but attendees should arrive by 6 p.m. if they plan to eat.

Harvey’s most recent book is The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about coming to terms with the suicide of his mother. It was published by Ovenbird Books as part of the “Judith Kitchen Select” series.  A section of the memoir appeared in The Best American Essays 2013.  He is also the author of three books of personal essays, A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove and edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood.  Harvey is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at Young Harris College, a member of the nonfiction faculty in the Ashland University MFA program in creative writing, a senior editor for River Teeth magazine, and the creator of The Humble Essayist, a website designed to promote literary nonfiction.  He lives in the north Georgia mountains.  You can learn more about Steven and his work at his web site:  www.steven-harvey-author.com .

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and takes place on the second Friday of the month, April through November. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. In its fifth year, the event draws audience members from four counties. The Union County Community Center is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course, 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Eighth Annual Blue Ridge Bookfest

Save the Date for the 8th Annual Blue Ridge Bookfest! Mark your calendars for Friday, April 22 & Saturday, April 23, 2016.  Don't Miss Out! Join our Newsletter List and receive monthly updates from  Western North Carolina literary circles.

How to Apply to Participate as an Exhibitor, Speaker or Workshop Author Applications for the 2016 Blue Ridge are open.  We had over 100 applications for 40 author spots in 2015. Be sure to get your application in early.  Click HERE for application guidelines and click HERE to open the online application form.