Local Writers to hold Therapeutic Writing Workshop on Saturday, April 7, 2018

Mary Rose Workshops

 You are invited to the premier presentation of Therapeutic Writing Workshops for Women, by Mary and Rosemary (Mary Rose).

The First Mary Rose Workshop will be held 4/7/2018. It will be led by:

Mary Ricketson

Rosemary Royston

Mary Ricketson, (left), published writer of poetry, and Licensed Professional Counselor.

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Rosemary Royston, (right), published writer of poetry and prose, Master of Fine Arts, Lecturer at Young Harris College, GA.

The theme of this workshop:

Therapeutic writing, any genre:  crafting your own poem or prose

Schedule:

Saturday, April 7, 2018:

When:

10 AM – 4 PM                        $50 per person             limit 12 participants

What to bring:

A bag lunch, notebook and pencils/pens.                  Healthy drinks and snacks will be provided.

Where:

447 Pet Lane, Murphy NC 28906  

Directions will be provided upon registration.  Count on a 20 minute drive north of Murphy NC.

Arrive at a cabin in a quiet wooded setting.

 Details:

Expressive writing about your own experience, including trauma, even for only 15 minutes a day, is known to be helpful to the immune system, stabilize blood pressure, calm the body and mind, and contribute to overall good health.

This workshop is geared toward writers of intermediate and advanced levels.

Expect informative sessions, time to write, read your own words, receive and offer critique.

Break times will allow for indoor/outdoor seating, walks, conversation or quiet solitude.

Register by:

Contact Mary or Rosemary:

maryricketson311@hotmail.com

rosemary28rr@gmail.com 

Fees may be paid by cash or personal check.

Congratulations to Betty Reed of Transylvania County

We are happy to announce that Betty Reed had three poems accepted for the 7th issue of Eno Magazine (Duke University).Eno is about connecting with the natural world through artistic mediums.
Betty encouraged a new member of the Transylvania Writers Alliance to submit a poem and his is also going to be published.
Betty said, "He was encouraged and he submitted to a literary magazine in Mississippi. Two more of his poems now will be published."

This is an example of how our mountain writers reach out and help other writers. I'm sure Betty was as happy for the new member as she was for herself. Be generous toward other writers. We should not be in competition with each other. Let's help promote our fellow writers and do what we can to help them get their work published.

 

Betty Jamerson Reed, a native of Western North Carolina, enjoys playing with words. Her poems have appeared in Lucidity Poetry Journal, Living with Grief, and Friends Journal, as well as anthologies such as Echoes across the Blue Ridge, (2010), It's All Relative: Tales from the Tree (2016), as well as in the special "Signature (2016) " and "Windows (2017)" anthologies of River Poets. Two of her poems appear in Mountain Mist (2017) 

 

She is also the author of two award-winning works of nonfiction: The Brevard Rosenwald School (2004) and School Segregation in Western North Carolina (2011).

Writers' Night-Blairsville Begins on April 13

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 Writers’ Night Out Announces 2018 Schedule

We begin our eighth season on April 13 and continue the second Friday of the month through November. Featured readers present their work at 7 p.m., and an open microphone follows, where audience members can share three minutes of their own poetry or prose. The event is free and open to the public and takes place at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA.

 2018 schedule of featured readers from North Carolina and Georgia: 

April 13: Mike James and Michael Walls

May 18: Jennifer Lux and Rupert Fike

June 8: Michelle Castleberry and Karen Paul Holmes

July 13: Joan Howard and Jane Simpson

Aug 10: Kimberly Simms and Mary Ricketson

Sept 14: Robert Kendrick and Janice Moore

Oct 12: Danielle Hanson and Loren Leith

Nov 9: Glenda C. Beall and Estelle Rice

April reader, Mike James, is the author of eleven poetry collections. His most recent books include: Crows in the Jukebox (Bottom Dog, 2017), My Favorite Houseguest (FutureCycle, 2017), and Peddler’s Blues (Main Street Rag, 2016.) His work has appeared in over 100 magazines throughout the country in such places as Tar River Poetry, Soundings East, and Laurel Review. He has also been active as an editor for The Kentucky Review, Autumn House Press, and his own Yellow Pepper Press. After years spent in South Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, he now makes his home in Chapel Hill, NC with his large family and a large assortment of cats.  James will also teach a poetry class on April 14 at Writers Circle in Hayesville, NC. For more information, visit http://www.glendacouncilbeall.com/ .

Michael Walls has had poetry published in a variety of journals and magazines including The New York Quarterly, South Carolina Review, Atlanta Review, Chattahoochee Review, Poetry East, The Midwest Quarterly and others. His chapbook is The Blues Singer and his full-length collection is Stacking Winter Wood (Kelsay Books/Aldrich Press, 2017). His poems and articles have also appeared in law reviews and journals. He is a retired labor lawyer who now spends his time working as a volunteer on environmental and other issues, hiking, hanging out with friends and family, writing poems and letters to the editor, and listening to rock and roll, blues and jazz. He spends time in Atlanta and the North Georgia Mountains.

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. The Union County Community Center is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092. Food is available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 6 pm to get served.  For more information on Writers’ Night, contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers' resumes 3/21/2018, with Bob Grove and Kathleen Knapp, in Hayesville, NC

The North Carolina Writers’ Network–West will hold the first meeting of Coffee with the Poets and Writers for the year of 2018. Poets and writers will gather at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at10:30 AM. The public is invited and there is no cost to attend. Refreshments are served and non-writers are welcome. Many of those present adjourn to a local restaurant for lunch after the meeting.

This month two members of NCWN-West, Bob Grove and Kathleen Knapp, both residents of Clay County, are featured. Bob is known for his humorous stories and Kathy writes memoir. Bob will make you laugh and Kathy might provoke a tear.

                                                  

  Bob Grove was born in Cleveland, OH. He earned his Bachelor of  

Arts at Kent State University and his Master of Science at Florida Atlantic University. His diversified curriculum enabled him to teach courses in English, journalism, creative writing, physics, chemistry, biology and psychology.

Now retired after 35 years as founder of Grove Enterprises, Grove has more time to write. Most recently, he published a mystery novella, Secrets of Magnolia Manor, his memoir, Misadventures of an Only Child, a collection of children’s stories Adventures of Kaylie and Jimmy, and has written several flash fiction stories.

Grove has been awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals in the Silver Arts Competition in the Cherokee County, NC senior games, in their literature competition. You are invited to visit Bob on his website at bobgrove.org.

Kathleen (Kathy) Knapp was born into a military family. She spent most of her childhood living abroad. She draws on those cultural experiences to write her entertaining memoirs. As a creative person, with a degree in Graphic Arts, Kathleen has embraced this new venue and is memorializing her late family’s history for future generations. It is her ultimate dream to publish books for children.

Kathleen also enjoys volunteering for the Hurlburt-Johnson Friendship House, Inc. in Murphy, NC, using her writing skills to promote through the newspaper, awareness of the county’s only homeless shelter. As a member of North Carolina Writer’s Network West, she enjoys challenging writing classes, attending conferences, and nurturing her newfound craft.


To participate in the Open Mic session, those attending are requested to limit their reading to one or two poems or no more than three pages, double-spaced, prose writing.

NCWN-West is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, one of the largest state literary organizations in the country.

Contact Glenda C. Beall, NCWN-West Program Coordinator, at: glendabeall@msn.com<mailto:glendabeall@msn.com> 

for more information or phone: 828-389-4441.

Joan M. Howard's Poetry book, Jack, Love, and the Daily Grail is available on Amazon.com

Jack, Love, and the Daily Grail, is a modern hero's attainment of the grail revealed in his widow's seventeen year long poetic journey. This is a love story of daily heroism, marriage and miracle.

Joan Howard’s poems, crafted like finely cut jewels, reflect a joyful and sustaining force in the natural world, even as the poet confronts a major loss. Whether she is kayaking on the lake “I glided into diamonds” or noting a solitary clematis blooming on her late husband’s birthday, she presents a remarkable tapestry of all our lives, in which, as William Blake wrote, “Joy and woe are woven fine.”

--Janice Townley Moore, author of Teaching the Robins

Joan Howard’s collection is pure music: love songs, laments, hymns. She has an incredible ear for sound, including rhyme and meter. This, coupled with an eye and heart for discovering the sublime in nature, gives her poems a classical feel—a formality that ups the poignancy while keeping sentimentality at bay. These are short poems, packed with grief and wonder: “Let me go,” you said, and divine / ownership took you in a breath. Howard has written a profound tribute to her beloved. It is their story and her story: the hard and beautiful necessity of moving on while never forgetting.

--Karen Paul Holmes, author of Untying the Knot

Poetry written in beauty leaves the reader with nourishing aftereffects. Happily, Howard’s sonnets, such as “Time Travel,” “The Secret,” and “Grace” shimmer with superb craft, evidence of a clear and powerful intelligence. Like those of Gerard Manley Hopkins, her use of word links: lake wed, these now years and life hearts on, create new meanings and illuminations.

--Maren O. Mitchell, author of Beat Chronic Pain, An Insiders Guide

How refreshing to find a new collection of poems filled with sincerity that takes you through a deeply moving love story. With exquisite imagery, Joan Howard reveals the beauty of nature around her before piercing the heart with human truths.

--Glenda Barrett, Visual artist, author of When the Sap Rises, and The Beauty of Silence

Joan M. Howard earned a B.A. in German Literature at Indiana University, an M.A. from the University of Oregon. She studied in Munich, Germany, and at the University of Georgia. Howard is a former teacher and lives in Athens, Georgia, and on the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee, who enjoys birding, walking and kayaking. She is a member of North Carolina Writers Network, North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and the Georgia Poetry Society.

Jack, Love, and the Daily Grail, is Joan M. Howard's second publication. Her first poetry book is, Death and Empathy: My Sister Web.

Joan’s husband was a professor of Medieval German at the University of Georgia. This book was written chronologically from 2000—2017.