This weekend was good medicine for me.

Gay and I drove up to the mountains and I attended a poetry workshop lead by Rosemary Royston. After the class ended, some of us had lunch together at the Sundance Grill on Main Street in Hiawassee, GA.

In our NCWN-West local group, Murphy and Hayesville NC and in Young Harris and Hiawassee, GA we have two poetry critique groups, and three meetings for readings and Open Mic. I am told we have too many writers' events each month and some cannot attend them all. I understand, and no one is expected to attend them all. I couldn't when I lived there. We have a very active group of writers who have been successful in publishing, and we have many eager new writers who feel very welcome and happy to be a part of this mountain program.

You might notice our one man in the photo above. David Plunkett is our publicity coordinator and we held the workshop Saturday at his office in Hiawassee. He is a very important person who is always willing to volunteer and help when needed.

On the left in the photo is Carroll Taylor who is the Georgia Representative for NCWN-West, and she holds an online gathering each month for writers, Mountain Wordsmiths on Zoom. She is one of the people I depend on, who works well with me, and helps keep our program working. She welcomes writers and those who just want to listen to poems and stories. Contact her and she will send the link so you can join us.

In the back of the photo, in pink, is one of the original members, excellent poet, Janice Moore. She and Nancy Simpson, poet and teacher, led our early poetry critique groups in the 90s. 

Others in the photo are on the right, Lorraine Bennett, Rosemary Royston, and Mary Ricketson. On the left side, next to Carroll, is Donna Beal, who treated Gay and me to dinner, and Cynthia Francis. All of these folks write poetry or novels. 

Out of the photo, my sister, Gay sat beside me as I made the photos. Without my dear sister, I could not have been with my old friends at this time. She enjoyed them, she said, and I know they all think the world of her.

I am inspired to get my writing out of my computer and submitted to publishers in the coming weeks. Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me hear from you in the comments or elsewhere.

Stay safe in this hot, hot weather, and keep your pets safe, also. The heat and hot pavement is bad for our pups.

Glenda Beall, 

co-author of Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins

Author of Now Might as Well be Then.

gcbmoountaingirl@gmail.com

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW

As I recover from shoulder surgery, I have had to cancel my ZOOM writing classes. We had six students who were writing and bonding and I look forward to continuing later this year, maybe in April or May.

Meanwhile, I look forward to meeting with writers and poets who knew Raven Chiong, when I return to Hayesville in March.  

In April I plan to read at the Literary Hour at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.

Our special guest that evening is Scott Owens, a wonderful poet, from Hickory, NC.

The date is April 18, Thursday, 7:00 PM in the Keith House.  

Friday, April 19, Scott will hold a workshop for poets at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC.

donations requested.

Want to write poetry? Take this workshop with poet and professor, Catherine Carter

 Saturday, September 11^th, 1:30-3:30 PM

Poetry Workshop with poet and professor, Catherine Carter

Fee is only $25 and beginners, as well as more experienced poets, are welcome.

Carter will teach a two-hour workshop for NCWN-West via Zoom from 1:30-3:30 on Saturday, September 11^th.  Wherever you live, if you can get Zoom on your computer, you can participate in this class.

The workshop focuses on using the addition of internal slant rhyme to poems to echo off existing keywords and increase poems’ music, along with close attention to the impact of lines’ end words. 

For the first hour, poets will look at published poems and the ways in which their sounds enhance their content. 

For the second hour, participants will work on enhancing the sounds in a short poem of their own and, if they like, share the results with the group. 

Participants are asked to have on hand a HARD COPY of a draft of a short poem of their own, less than one page long, for this activity.

To register: Send a check or money order for $25 made to NCWN-West, %Glenda Beall, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904. We need to receive the fee by September 6, and we will then send you the link to the class. 

Poetry with Karen Paul Holmes

Our first workshop of 2014 will be with poet, Karen Paul Holmes, of Atlanta and Hiawassee, Georgia. We are pleased to have her teach once more at Writers Circle.

She has taught writing at national conferences and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She has a full-length poetry collection, Untying The Knot, forthcoming from Kelsay Books (August 2014) and recently received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant for poetry. Publishing credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia (Texas Review Press). 

To support fellow writers, Holmes originated and hosts a critique group in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Yong Harris, GA. A former VP of Communication at ING, a global financial services company, she says she now leads “a kinder, gentler life” as a freelance writer, poet and teacher.

March 22, Saturday afternoon, 1 - 4 p.m. - Karen Paul Holmes - Fee $35

Express Yourself Through Poetry

Some of us are better than others when it comes to expressing emotion. Yet the feeling in the poem is what connects it to the reader. In this class we'll explore how to free yourself by expressing yourself in third person or through a persona. We'll look at examples of heartfelt poems that do not cross the dangerous bridge of sentimentality. 

We'll also learn how humor can help communicate serious emotions -- like anger, grief, regret --  in poems that are both salty and sweet, that touch readers' emotional cores while also making them smile. 

Class will include an optional prompt ahead of time, so you can bring a poem of your own to share.

For registration information,
contact nightwriter0302@yahoo.com or call 828-389-4441 for more information.
You may send a check for $35 to Writers Circle, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904 

Will Wright teaches The Sound Textures of Poetry

Will Wright 

The Sound Textures of Poetry

 Saturday, August 10,  10:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Fee $40.00

Location: Writers Circle Studio Hayesville, NC