Thursday, February 13, 2020

Literary events in Sylva!


Tonight--February 13th--at 7:00 p.m., NCWN Swain rep Ben Cutler is hosting an open reading at Nantahala Brewing of Sylva: "Pints, Prose, and Poetry" with a special Valentine's Day love/anti-love theme.  Come out to tell your stories, drown your sorrows, and celebrate love well won at 5 Grindstaff Cove Road in Sylva.

Next Friday, February 21st, is Open Mic at the incomparable City Lights Bookstore on Spring Street in Sylva, hosted by City Lights, the Jackson branch of NCWN-West and Jackson rep Catherine Carter.  Come out again for wine, dessert, and a supportive crowd to cheer for your work!

Monday, February 10, 2020

Want to be a better writer?

March 26 - Carol Crawford - instructor
He Said, She Said:  Tackling Dialogue in Prose
This interactive workshop will help you bring your characters to life with dialogue that is authentic, clear, and compelling.  Capture the flavor of personality, place, and culture through speech that sounds real.  In-class exercises will cover word choice, tone, action beats, what to leave out, and format.
Fee: $40



April 23 - Catherine Carter
Description:
Bracket and Hinge: Strengthening Poems’ Sonic Level. In this 2-hour lecture/workshop, Catherine Carter will use contemporary poems to discuss a few of the ways in which a poem can be built around the sounds of single words, model one possible process for revising a poem in this way, and encourage participants to do this with their own works. Participants should bring hard copy of one or two of their own short poems to work on.
Fee: $40

June 25 - Patricia Zick
Patricia Zick's workshop, "The Road to Publishing" will explore the different choices for publishing a book. Then she will delve into the step-by-step process for self-publishing a work of nonfiction or fiction using Amazon’s publishing platform. Ms. Zick, the author of twenty-five published books in a variety of genres, will demonstrate how to prepare a manuscript, provide definitions for publishing jargon, and walk through the process for uploading a book for both Kindle and paperback publication to the online retail site. 
Fee: $40

Registration must be made ten days before class date.
Contact glendabeall@msn.com
Send check, $40.00, made to NCWN West 
Mail to: PO Box 843, Hayesville, NC 28904

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR




The deadline for nominations for the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Awards has been extended to February 15. Please see the details below for the submission guidelines.

The 56th Annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards Guidelines

Please carefully review these guidelines before submitting a nomination.
Nomination Fee: $60 per nomination
Deadline: February 15, 2020
Eligibility:
-Chapbooks and books published within the 2019 calendar year (January 1 to December 31). Reprints and second editions are not eligible.
-Books that underwent a selection process with the publisher, in which the author was subject to acceptance or rejection.
-Books that were were professionally edited during the publication process and the book did not require the author to pay for the publication.
Electronically published books on a major platform (Kindle, Nook, or iPad) are also eligible. For electronic books, a URL and ISBN must be provided as well as one print copy of the text for judges to review.
Books will not be considered nominated if any of these guidelines are not met and materials and payment are not postmarked by February 15, 2020. First- and second-place winners will be announced at the Georgia Author of the Year (GAYA) ceremony on June 13, 2020.

Required Materials
The nomination form, fee, and two hard copies of the nominated book must be received on or before Saturday, February 15, 2020 (postmarked). Please complete and submit the nomination form and pay the $60 fee here.
Two hard copies of the nominated book must be mailed to:
Georgia Writers Association
Georgia Author of the Year Awards
440 Bartow Avenue #2701
Kennesaw, GA 30144

Definition of a Georgia Author for the 56th GAYA
To be considered a Georgia author and thus eligible for nomination for GAYA, an author must meet one of the following criteria: the author must have been a resident of Georgia when the nominated book was written, though she or he may have since moved out of state; or the author must be currently living in Georgia when the book is nominated.

Definitions of GAYA Categories and other information for the 56th GAYA can be found here
Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

Nominations can be submitted here


Tuesday, February 4, 2020

CRITIQUE YOUR MANUSCRIPT, YOUR POEMS, YOUR SHORT PROSE


BLUE RIDGE WRITERS' CONFERENCE - APRIL 3 AND 4

Just a reminder for those of you who might want to have work critiqued at the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference in Blue Ridge, Georgia, April 3 and 4, 2020.  The deadline to submit work for critique is February 28.  Here's the link:


We have a great slate of speakers this year and we hope you will join us!


Carol

--
Phone:  706-633-6497

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Welcome to young writers who follow and use this site.

Often our members fail to subscribe to or  read our blog page. Keeping this site relevant takes much of my time and that of others. I know when you don't read or subscribe because you ask me questions that are easily found on this page. As a serious writer, it would benefit you to subscribe and keep abreast of what is offered here.

I am sharing an email I received this week, and I hope those of you who don't support your own website and blog will realize why we continue to take time and energy to write here, many times at the expense of our own work.


Good Afternoon Ms. Beall,

I volunteer with a creative writing club for children and we wanted to let you know how helpful the NCWN West "writing resources" page, https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/p/writing-resources.html , has been for us!

We meet on Wednesdays & work on writing prompts, and the kids bring in poems or short stories that we all go over... It's a lot of fun! Lately we have been working on longer narratives, and we've been getting a ton of use out of resources we found on your page.. especially the Writers Digest site.

I have a girl in the group (Carley, one of the youngest we have, actually) who suggested we say thank you! She's already quite a talented writer, and she wanted me to share a resource that she found about becoming an author. She brought it to our meeting for everyone to check out, and she thought you'd be interested in it too... https://www.zenbusiness.com/info/writing-careers/

I was wondering if you might be able to add it to your resources? Carley was really excited to see what you thought so I'm guessing she'll be thrilled to see her suggestion up on your page. Hopefully it helps other aspiring writers who are using your page, like us!

Thank you again, Glenda and if you decide to add Carley's link I can show her at the next meeting :-) Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your week .

Happy Writing,
~Michele Wilson (and the BPL Young Writers Club)

We have listed Carley's link in our Resources for Writers list. Thank you so much, Carley, for sending this link and for using our blog and website to help you become an even better writer. 
Congratulations to Michele Wilson and the BPL Young Writers Club, and we would like to invite you to send us some of your writing to post on this page. We need young people who like to write and who will become the thinking and inspiring writers of tomorrow. 

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Writing Classes in Clay and Cherokee County NC - Register now

Tri-County Community College
Register with Lisa Long, Director of Community Outreach, by calling 828-835-4241 or email her: LLong@tricountycc.edu

Creative Writing with Glenda Beall





A class at John C. Campbell Folk School before writing classes were held
at Orchard House

John C. Campbell Folk School Classes at Orchard House in Brasstown, NC
www.folkschool.org 



Mining the Mother Lode - Making the Most of Your Material



Date: Sunday, Mar 1 - Friday, Mar 6, 2020
Subject: Writing
Instructor: Darnell Arnoult
Share:
https://classes.folkschool.org/images/mail_envelope_Grey_icon.gif


One of the great lessons we learn as writers is that we almost always write about the same things over and over. Characters, places, and plots may appear different, but we are driven by the same passions, questions, and obsessions - the same vein of ore. Use exercises and assignments to dig deep into personal experiences, curiosities, and knowledge to strengthen your writing. This class is beneficial to beginning and experienced writers of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction.  To register for this class, please call 1-800-365-5724.


Vicki Lane 
Sunday, June 7 - Saturday, Jun 13, 2020




Moss Memorial Library - Hayesville, NC  

March - August, 2020 - once each month on
4th Thursday afternoons - 1:30 - 4:30
Contact: Glenda Beall - glendabeall@msn.com

March 26 - Carol Crawford - instructor
He Said, She Said:  Tackling Dialogue in Prose
This interactive workshop will help you bring your characters to life with dialogue that is authentic, clear, and compelling.  Capture the flavor of personality, place, and culture through speech that sounds real.  In-class exercises will cover word choice, tone, action beats, what to leave out, and format.





April 23 - Catherine Carter
Description:
Bracket and Hinge: Strengthening Poems’ Sonic Level. In this 2-hour lecture/workshop, Catherine Carter will use contemporary poems to discuss a few of the ways in which a poem can be built around the sounds of single words, model one possible process for revising a poem in this way, and encourage participants to do this with their own works. Participants should bring hard copy of one or two of their own short poems to work on.

June 25 - Patricia Zick


Patricia Zick's workshop, "The Road to Publishing" will explore the different choices for publishing a book. Then she will delve into the step-by-step process for self-publishing a work of nonfiction or fiction using Amazon’s publishing platform. Ms. Zick, the author of twenty-five published books in a variety of genres, will demonstrate how to prepare a manuscript, provide definitions for publishing jargon, and walk through the process for uploading a book for both Kindle and paperback publication to the online retail site.