Local Writing groups to read at a fundraiser on Tuesday, December 18, 2018, for Valleytown Cultural Arts and Historical Society, Andrews, NC

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2018, at 6 PM, NCWN-West, along with Ridgeline Literary Alliance, will read original poetry and prose as the entertainment at a fundraiser for Valleytown Cultural Arts and Historical Society, Andrews NC. 

 www.vcahs.com  

https://www.facebook.com/Valleytown-Cultural-Arts-and-Historical-Society-37405918105/

This is a new adventure, to build an alliance between the writing community and the arts association in Andrews, NC.  

Six writers, all belonging to both Ridgeline and NCWN-West, will read their work:

Loren Leith

Mary Ricketson

Jim Davis

Natalie Grant

Joan Howard

Ryvers Stewart

The event includes a wine tasting and live music, at Valleytown Cultural Arts Center, 125 Chestnut St, Andrews NC 28901

Tickets will be on sale soon, $15 per person.

More publicity will be available from the arts association soon.

Please support this event, attend if you can, and spread the word.

Mary Ricketson, Rep for NCWN-West, Cherokee County

and President of Ridgeline Literary Alliance

maryricketson311@hotmail.com

Meagan Lucas is nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize for her short story, "Voluntary Action."

Congratulations to NCWN-West member, Meagan Lucas, who has been nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize, a prestigious American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in small presses over the previous year. Click on the link to go to http://www.stilljournal.net/ and read Meagan's nominated short story, "Voluntary Action."  

 

A Canadian who found home in Western NC, Meagan lives in Hendersonville with her husband and their two small children. Meagan writes literary fiction and teaches composition at AB Tech. 

Her work can be found in a variety of literary journals including:The Santa Fe Writers Project, The Penmen Review, The New Southern Fugitives, Embark Literary Journal, Attic Door Press and Barren Magazine. Her story “Kittens” is the 2017 Winner of the Scythe Prize for Fiction. Family life, the grey space between right and wrong, and the dark underbelly of the American Dream figure prominently in her work. 

You can read more at: www.meaganlucas.com  She tweets grudgingly @mgnlcs. When she's not writing or teaching, she likes to bake and haunt bookstores.

White Cross School - informative and interesting

If you aren't following the White Cross School blog on the NCWN website, you are missing important news for writers.

In this post 
 https://www.ncwriters.org/whitecross/2018/11/20/momlovesbest/ we learn why books should be in the homes of all children. If children are read to, they learn to enjoy books and will soon be reading them as well.

As a former elementary school teacher, I could tell which of my students were exposed to books in their homes. Some of them loved to read and were careful with books while others had no use for them. Those who liked books were usually the students who made better grades.

I think almost any subject can be taught in a way children will learn if there is a book written on that subject, a book that tells an interesting story. Text books are often dull and uninteresting. But story books grab a child's imagination and run with it. 

If you write for children or if you have children, read this blog post on the Whitecross blog.


Every writer is excited to get the first contract for publishing a book.

Before you sign that contract, make sure you’re as prepared as possible for just what you’re signing on for—and what you’re signing away.  

In this post, a book is recommended for writers to help them understand what they are signing when they get that contract. I'd say this is one of the most important things any writer needs to know. 

We are fortunate that we have the opportunity to read this informative blog and learn from it. As members of NCWN, we don't take advantage of what is offered to us. Visit the NCWN website and read the blog. You will get your money's worth, I assure you. 


Have you had a bad experience after signing a contract for publishing a book? Tell us about it in our comments section.

NC Poetry Society announces their annual NCPS Adult Contests are open for submission

 

The following information is for the 2019 NCPS Adult Contests for individual poems. Submissions will be accepted beginning November 15, 2018, and ending January 13, 2019. 

 

Judges will be the North Carolina Poet Laureate and distinguished poets residing outside North Carolina. The judge of the Bloodroot Haiku contest will be selected by the North Carolina Haiku Society.

Contest submissions this year may be emailed to jsabsherphd@gmail.com (See below for more detailed guidelines).  Fees for the Poet Laureate Contest and for non-members may be paid online using PayPal or credit card.

Winning poems (including honorable mentions, but excluding finalists in the Poet Laureate contest) will be published in the NCPS poetry contest anthology Pinesong. For more information about current and past issues of Pinesong, click here.

Winning poets will be invited to read their winning poems at Awards Day in May 2019.

Complete rules can be found here: https://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/adultcontests/.

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