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| Saturday morning staff: Lorraine Bennett, Carroll Taylor, Marcia Barnes. We were happy to meet many new writers in the area who want to become members of NCWN-West. |
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| Glenda Beall with Gene Vickers, author of several books you can find in local bookstores. Gene lives in Young Harris, Georgia. This was his first Festival on the Square. We will have more photos to share from this day and Sunday at the Festival. |
Going through files on my computer, I find gems that I shared long ago. This is one I like.
Hello Friends,
This came in my Inbox this week and I think it makes sense. I read Stephen King’s book On Writing and it is a great book for writers. So I am sharing this with you. Glenda Beall
1 – Take one little step.
When I read Stephen King’s book On Writing, I noticed something. I noticed that when Stephen King gets an idea, he writes it -- Immediately and imperfectly.
Most people get an idea.
Then they sit there.
They wonder if it’s a good idea.
Then, they wonder if it’s a good idea some more.
Stop doing this.
Next time you get an idea…
…do something tiny. Write a paragraph, pick up the phone, make an outline. Do something.
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We are all guilty of this. We think the idea will stay with us and later, when we have time, we will write about it. Sadly, those good ideas are fleeting. They fade away like morning fog, and we can’t remember them, no matter how hard we try.
Did you have a good idea this week? Did you do something?
The following poets were included in this book: Karen Paul Holmes, Janice Townley Moore, Brenda Kay Ledford, and Maren O. Mitchell.
You may contact Stacy Savage at: savagepoet39@gmail.com
The book is available at: www.amazon.com
The proceeds from this book benefit the Arbor Day Foundation.
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| Lorraine Bennett |
Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature journalist and writer Lorraine Martin Bennett on Wednesday, July 13, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.
The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow
presentation. Bring a poem or short prose piece (two to three minutes) to
participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network West (NCWN-West),
which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in
Georgia.
Lorraine Martin Bennett is a professional print, web and broadcast
journalist and copy editor who grew up in Murphy, North Carolina, graduated
with her high school class journalism medal and received a scholarship to UNC
Chapel Hill where she earned her degree.
Her career began on the Atlanta Journal where she
wrote features, covered news, including the state legislature, and met her
husband. She was hired by the Los Angeles Times and became the
newspaper’s first woman to head a domestic bureau. She joined Ted
Turner’s fledgling CNN as a news writer, becoming copy editor, producer and
editorial manager before ending her career at CNN International.
She retired to Murphy in 2006
and, with her late husband Tom, built a farmhouse on her family’s land. She
writes poetry, flash fiction, essays and still practices her craft by copy
editing and writing occasional articles for the Clay County Progress.
Her first novel, a psychological thriller titled Cat on a Black Moon, will
be published by Austin Macauley Publishers later this year.
Coffee with the Poets and
Writers will meet every second Wednesday from July until December 2022. Masks
are optional. Please do not park in the Library Store parking lot.
For more information, contact joanhoward121@gmail.com.
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Yesterday I received Scott Owens' new children's poetry book, WORLDS ENOUGH, Poems for and about Children (and a few grown-ups).
As a retired Early Childhood educator, I was very impressed with this outstanding book. The poems are wonderful with rhythm that will make you clap your hands. I can just see children pantomiming the poems. The imagery gives a wonderful journey into the exciting discoveries of the world through the eyes of youngsters.
This book is not only for children. Adults will savor the poetry, too. It will bring you back to the magic of childhood. It's a happy book, uplifting and holds your attention from the first page to the last.
Also, the illustrations by Missy Cleveland are magnificent. Her bright, colorful photos capture your attention and foster the imagination.
After I read the book, I mailed it to my great-niece. I'm sure she will love every poem and will dramatize them with enthusiasm.
This book is a magical trip through childhood and I think it is the best book Scott Owens has written.
You may order this book at:
redhawkpublications.com
www.amazon.com
Saturday morning at 10 AM, three of our members will staff the booth. They will meet and talk to anyone who comes by to say hello. They are authors of books that will be available for purchase. On the tables will be brochures that explain what we are and who we are. These authors will answer questions about how to join NCWN-west and what new members can expect to have offered them.
Our purpose for being there is to expose writers and readers to what local writers have written and have on sale. This tri-state area is brimming with very good writers and poets, published and unpublished.
We are also there to introduce our professional organization to anyone who is interested. Often people don't realize that NCWN-West is welcoming and wants to embrace new writers and help them follow their dreams. A number of our members found NCWN-West at the Festival on the Square. Carroll Taylor, author and poet, as well as Marcia Barnes, author, columnist, and poet discovered this organization while at the festival and now both are in leadership positions helping others and publishing their work.
This annual festival has been ongoing for forty-one years and is sponsored by the Clay County Historical and Arts Council which is supported by the NC Arts Association. There is no charge to attend and the vendors open up at 10 AM on Saturday and on Sunday. Mountain music entertainers will be on stage in the Gazebo on both days.
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| Pat Zick, author |
NCWN-West will hold drawings to give away books and other writerly things several times each day. To register, write your name on a strip of paper with your phone number and email address. Drop it in the large bowl on the table in the booth. You will be called if your name is drawn. If you are not still at the festival, we will make arrangements to get the gift bag to you.
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| Joan Howard, poet |
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| Lorraine Bennett, author |
Sunday CarolLynn Jones and Joan Howard will sit at the table throughout the morning. Raven Chiong and Sandy Benson, will sit in for an hour. Pat Zick and Glenda Beall will be there in the afternoon with David Plunkett.
We invite you to come to the festival for a good time and be sure to stop by the NCWN West Writers Booth. Sign up for a free gift.
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| Carroll Taylor |
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| Brenda Kay Ledford |
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| Marcia Barnes |
Gene Vickers, authorThe large group of writers who attended Mountain Wordsmiths Thursday morning had the pleasure of hearing Joseph Bathanti read and talk for about thirty minutes. Then he answered questions and had dialogue with those who were eager to talk to him about his poetry, his writing program, and his environmental views about mountaintop removal.
One of the things I like best about Joseph is his casual demeanor and his genuine appreciation for his audience. We all felt we could speak up and join in the discussion. To purchase his latest book visit this link to LSU Press. His new book is Light at the Seams. Read more about it. You will want to own this book.
Carroll Taylor is the founder and leader of Mountain Wordsmiths and none of us knew it would be such a popular event for NCWN-West. Carroll's easy manner and casual ways make everyone feel comfortable. At this recent event, we had Ken Chamblee, noted poet, Pat Zick, author of novels, nonfiction, and now Netwest county Representative for Cherokee County in North Carolina. We had Jill Jennings from Florida sitting in with us as well as other writers from distant places.
Part of the enjoyment of this online group is seeing the poets and writers from the far reaches of the NCWN-West region gather to visit and share their views and their writing. Mountain Wordsmiths has brought our Netwest writers closer than ever. I used to try to visit the distant counties and meet with reps and members, but COVID put a stop to that. However, we will not be stopped.
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| Carroll Taylor |
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| Karen Holmes |
Please feel free to join us for these events you can only find on Zoom.
Contact Carroll at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com for Mountain Wordsmith's Zoom invitation. Contact Karen Paul Holmes at kpaulholmes AT protonmail DOT COM to receive your link for Writers' Night Out. You can ask Karen and Carroll to put you on their contact list and you will receive the announcement of the guests each month and the Zoom link.
If you have questions for me, Glenda Beall, about reading or attending, email glendabeall@msn.com.
About John C. Campbell Folk School
The Folk School transforms lives, bringing people together in a nurturing environment for experiences in learning and community life that spark self-discovery. Located in scenic Brasstown, North Carolina, the Folk School offers year-round weeklong and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, and writing.
NCWN-West is proud that the folk school advertises with us on our website and our blog. Please help us spread the word about this great place to learn about ourselves, learn a craft or an art, and meet so many terrific people. The writing program is excellent. Check out the classes you will find there.
JOSEPH BATHANTI
Mountain Wordsmiths writers are honored to have as our featured reader the distinguished poet, author, and former Poet Laureate of NC, Joseph Bathanti on Thursday morning, June 23, at 10:30 via Zoom.
The monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is continuing its online presence because local writers, as well as writers from other states and cities, are joining us each month on Zoom.
Bathanti is the author of ten books of poetry.
His novel, East Liberty, won the 2001 Carolina Novel Award.
His novel, Coventry, won the 2006 Novello Literary Award. His book
of stories, The High Heart, won the 2006 Spokane Prize. They
Changed the State: The Legacy of North Carolina’s Visiting Artists, 1971-1995,
his book of nonfiction, was published in early 2007. The novel, The
Life of the World to Come, was released by the University of South Carolina
Press in late 2014. His more recent book of personal essays, Half of
What I Say Is Meaningless, winner of the Will D. Campbell Award for
Creative Nonfiction, is from Mercer University Press. A new volume of poems, Light
at the Seam, is forthcoming in 2022 from LSU Press.
Bathanti is the McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Education & Writer-in-Residence of Appalachian State University’s Watauga Residential College in Boone, NC. He was named Poet Laureate of North Carolina (2012-14) and received the 2016 North Carolina Award for Literature.
He served as the 2016 Charles George VA
Medical Center Writer-in-Residence in Asheville, NC, and is the co-founder of
the Medical Center’s Creative Writing Program. Bathanti lives in Vilas,
NC, with his wife, Joan, and two children. He and his wife met while both were
working with the VISTA program.
NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing.
We will offer writing events and writing classes online until we can safely meet face-to-face again. Many writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because of the ability to join us from other locations.
Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.
If you live near Burnsville or can afford to go and stay all weekend, by all means, you should go. And if you do, please write an article about it that we can post here on our site for writers.
For Registration information visit this site.
https://cmlitfest.org/2022schedule/
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Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet and writer Marcia Barnes on Wednesday, June 8 at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.
The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentation. Bring a poem or short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network West (NCWN-West), which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.
Coffee with the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022. Masks are optional.
Marcia Barnes earned a Bachelor’s degree in fine art, with a concentration in drawing, from the University of South Florida, Tampa. She grew up in Washington State near Puget Sound and in sight of the mountains.
Barnes writes poetry and has authored three published books. Currently, she writes feature articles and reports on local news for the Clay County Progress. Barnes says that the degree she received did not lead to her earlier career, and that career did not cut a path to writing.
After a series of nondescript jobs, while finishing college and raising four children, she had a 20-year career in the commercial flooring industry. Working from an office in Tampa, she traveled west to Fort Worth, south to the Bahamas, north to Kentucky, and many places in between.
In March 2004, her husband’s engineering work moved the couple to middle Georgia. Barnes took a part-time job with a designer in Perry, then started writing and never stopped.
Two of her published books were written while living in Warner Robins, “The Little Book of Secret Family Recipes” and “Tobijah,” illustrated by Doreyl Ammons Cain. Barnes was awarded the Georgia Author of the Year Award in the Children’s Book Category for “Tobijah” in 2017, by the Georgia Writers Association.
Barnes’ second children’s book, “A Day with Tobijah” was published in 2019, after a move to the North Georgia Mountains.
Her poetry has been published by Negative Capability Press, Poem, Slant and appeared in Poetry and Prose Anthologies published by Old Mountain Press.
Barnes says that she is still not completely sure how she got from there to here, but friends who write, and the North Carolina Writers Network, and the people she works with at Clay County Progress have been a huge help.
Barnes lives in Clay County, N.C., with her lively cat Celeste. For more information, contact Joan Howard, joanhoward121@gmail.com,
www.westendpoetsweekend.com
These poems are in memory of her brother, Harold, who was a veteran of the US Army and served in the Vietnam War.
The late poet Thomas Lux once called Catherine Carter’s poems “oddball”.
He wasn’t exactly wrong. And the sticker on her office door that reads, “I like poetry, long walks on the beach, and poking dead things with a stick” isn’t entirely a joke.
Sign on Catherine’s office door
Catherine’s parents are a master gardener and an estuarine
biologist, so she’s spent a lot of time poking dead things with sticks. Her poems’ subjects include buzzards (the
family totem), water-witching, an unexpected appearance by the Greek goddess
Artemis to Appalachia, and an ode to the humble anus.
That’s because Catherine’s writing tries to illuminate the immanence of what’s right in front of us all the time, especially in nonhuman nature. Things don’t have to conform to human standards of prettiness or align with human values to be sacred, or to be marvelous. That’s one reason the collection she’s currently completing, By Stone and Needle, centers around the figure of the witch.
It’s a way to explore how the ideas of witchcraft and monstrosity are used to subdue women. It opens up some of the ways that women remain and become themselves in the fires of menopause. And it connects both of these to the burning of the earth in an era of accelerating global warming. While that may sound depressing, these are in fact poems of often fierce praise and rejoicing in the marvels all around us here and now. They’re poems of joy even in an era of profound injustice and ecological collapse. The poems locate hope in resistance and in praise.
These days, Catherine is a professor of English at Western Carolina University. She lives with her husband Brian Gastle in Cullowhee, NC.
On a good day, she can roll a whitewater kayak and re-queen a beehive. On less good days, though, she collects stings, rock-rash, and multiple contusions. She has served for the past six years as the Jackson County representative of NCWN-West where she has supported and encouraged writers and poets.
By Stone and Needle, if her editors accept it, may arrive in fall 2025. Catherine’s prior collections of poetry with LSU Press include The Memory of Gills (2006) The Swamp Monster at Home (2012), and Larvae of the Nearest Stars (2019); she has one chapbook with Jacar Press, Marks of the Witch.
Catherine offers a variety of workshops and topics on both writing and teaching poetry, and she welcomes the opportunity to meet with students and adult writers. Visit her website to learn more.Catherine Carter's poetry has won the North Carolina Literary Review’s James Applewhite Prize, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Award, Jacar Press’ chapbook contest; it has also appeared in Orion, Poetry, Ecotone, RHINO, North American Review, Poetry South, Southern Humanities Review, Poetry South, Tar River Poetry, and Ploughshares, among others.
Books
You can purchase Catherine's books through your favorite independent bookstores. They are usually available at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC, which will also ship books to customers if you call and order them (828) 586-9499); and through LSU Press at https://lsupress.org/authors/detail/catherine-w-carter/
Catherine will be the featured guest for Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Moss Memorial Library, in Hayesville, NC on August 10, 10:30 AM. The meeting is open to the public.
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| Kenneth Chamlee |
Mountain Wordsmiths is honored to have as our featured reader, distinguished poet Kenneth Chamlee, on Thursday morning, May 26, at 10:30 via Zoom. Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is continuing its online presence because local writers, as well as writers from other states and cities, are joining us each month on Zoom.
Chamlee is a 2022 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet
for the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poems have appeared in The
North Carolina Literary Review, The Greensboro Review, The Asheville Poetry
Review, Ekphrasis, and many other journals, including several editions
of Kakalak: An Anthology of Carolina Poets. He has two
contest-winning chapbooks, Absolute Faith (ByLine Press)
and Logic of the Lost (Longleaf Press), and has done
residencies with the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative
Arts, and the Hambidge Center.
Chamlee has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and in 2017 was a finalist for the James Applewhite Poetry Prize. An Emeritus Professor of English at Brevard College, NC, he was the first director of the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, held annually in Brevard.
He holds a Ph.D. from the University of North
Carolina-Greensboro and teaches for the Great Smokies Writing Program of
UNC-Asheville. His new collection of poems, If Not These
Things, will be published in the fall of 2022. His poetic biography of
19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, The Best
Material for the Artist in the World, is forthcoming in 2023. Learn
more about him at www.kennethchamlee.com and @kenchamlee on
Twitter.
NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using
technology to share our writing. We will offer writing events and
writing classes online until we can safely meet face-to-face again. Many
writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because
of the ability to join us from other locations.
Mountain Wordsmiths will continue its online presence. For those who enjoyed attending Coffee with the Poets and Writers which met at Moss Memorial Library, exciting news is coming soon!
Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.
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