Read the call to action on NCWN blog

Because I care about funding for arts in North Carolina, I suggest that my NC readers go to this site: http://www.ncwriters.org/whitecross/

See how you can help. The NC Arts Council funds NCWN which funds NCWN West (Netwest). 

We need to urge our state senators to meet the budget proposed by the House.

All the information needed is on this site:

http://www.ncwriters.org/whitecross/

Thank you.

We have Carol Crawford to help us with our memoir, essay, short story

Carol Crawford, writer and poet, mother and wife,
Director of the Blue Ridge Writers Conference, will teach at Writers Circle on July 9, 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

I hope all of you within driving distance of Writers Circle in Hayesville, NC will take the opportunity to be with us when Carol Crawford teaches a class for prose writers, fiction and non-fiction, that will help us prepare our manuscript for submitting to a journal or anthology, and that will give our work the best chance to be selected for publication.

Big Picture Revision

Never mind the commas – there are often bigger things to think about when you finish a first draft and begin the work of revision.  
In this workshop we will take a piece you have written and look at it with fresh eyes, finding its natural trajectory and structure.  We will clarify what’s confusing and emphasize what’s strong, so that you can write the story you want to write. 
"Please bring a short (1000 word) essay, story or excerpt for us to work on during the class."

 Carol's essays, fiction and poetry have been published in the Concho River Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Southern Humanities Review, the Journal of Appalachian Studies, and others.  She is director of FLAG Adult Education and volunteer coordinator for the annual Blue Ridge Writers' Conference.  Carol is a graduate of Baylor University, and a native of Texas, but she lives in the north Georgia mountains now.

This is our first time to have Carol teach at Writers Circle, but I hope it won't be the last. While we seem to have a large number of poets as instructors, we want to also hold classes for non-poets or those, like me, who write both poetry and prose.

Register by calling 828-389-4441 to reserve your place, or mail your check for $30.00 to Writers Circle 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904

DEANNA KLINGEL  author of several young adult novels will read at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC June 27, at 7:00 p.m. in the library of the Keith House. 

Lessons Learned by writing and selling her own books

Read this post by Deanna Klingel for some of the best advice for authors of fiction, non-fiction and especially self-published books although she her books are published by traditional publishers.

Deanna has written and sold a number of books and shares some important knowledge she learned along the way.

She knows how to market her books and that is the business of writing - the hard part.

http://booksbydeanna.com/6/post/2013/06/1.html

Carole Richard Thompson reads at Writers Night Out Friday, June 14.

My friend and fellow Netwest member, Carole Richard Thompson published a lovely book of poems this year. The title is Enough. Haven't we all said that at times when we can't take anymore. That is not Carole's sentiments, however.

Carole is retired and lives with her retired husband in Blairsville, GA. The cover of her book is a painting by Carol done in 2012. This poet and writer is one of those extra-talented individuals.

Recently Carole and I read our work at the John C. Campbell Folk School. I have always been a fan of Carole's essays, short stories and poetry since I met her years ago. The last poems in her book are particularly poignant as she writes about the simple things shared between a long married couple, over fifty years, and declares them enough.

Here is one of her poems that touches me most:

Sitting on the Side of the Bed

He loves the morning as I do

in our sacred bedroom,

before the phone rings,

before we must dress,

when sleepiness still slows

our movements. We put off

thoughts of the day ahead,

sitting on the side of the bed.

He shuffles off to get coffee;

I raise the blind to the view,

pull sheet and quilt over pillows,

smoothing out the side of the bed.

The room welcomes our waking.

We're rested and happy here,

sharing secrets, facing problems,

sitting close on the side of the bed.

Mama says it ruins the mattress

if you sit on the side of the bed.

I used to feel guilt, but no more.

No, I would not trade this splendid hour

for a perfect mattress, unspoiled,

putting off thoughts of the day ahead,

sitting here on the side of the bed.

Enough by Carole  Richard Thompson, published by FutureCycle Press, www.futurecycle.org

Mineral Bluff, Georgia, USA

ISBN 978-1-938853-28-9

I Give You Scott Owens

Since 2009, after I resigned as Program Coordinator for our local writing organization, I brought writers together at my studio at my house. My guest instructors come and hold three hour workshops for a very small fee. My guests, both instructors and students, have seemed to be very pleased with this arrangement. Anyone who knows me knows that I am making hardly enough off this venture to pay for the overhead, certainly not making tons of money. I am happy when I make enough to pay the expenses for the teachers. I enjoy the classes and enjoy bringing good writers and poets here for the writers in our area.

My Gift

I think of Writers Circle as something I can do for the writing community in my area. It is my gift to my friends and fellow writers, and it is a gift that I enjoy as well. We have some of the best poets and writers teaching here. Recently, my long time friend and heralded poet, Gene Hirsch, spent a Sunday afternoon in the studio with six poets who found the time together exhilarating and stimulating. My friend, Mary Mike, and I enjoyed lunch on her sunny porch recently and discussed our notes on that class.

On Saturday, June 15th, we will have with us, Scott Owens, one of North Carolina's most important poets and also one of the busiest poets I know. Scott teaches at Catawba College in Hickory, NC.
His workshop title is: The Essential Practices of Writing.
This workshop will focus on four habits all writers need to foster in practicing their craft. Some time will be given to invention strategies, hopefully resulting in the creation of at least one new piece and students are encouraged to submit a short piece ahead of the workshop for possible review and critique. 

All questions and topics for discussion are welcome.
Call me at 828-389-4441 for registration information or visit here.

June Peacock and her book is Window in the Wall.

What a nice day I had with my friend Dot who accompanied me to City Lights bookstore in Sylva, NC where a delightful woman spoke and read small parts of her memoir. She is one of those seniors who have had an interesting and good life. She began her memoir when she was 89 years old. Now, this lady is not your ordinary elderly lady. She said her son told her ten years ago that she was in her dotage. Now she says he tells her she is in her post-dotage. She was funny and quite personable. The room was packed and everyone enjoyed this lovely lady. She encouraged all older people to write about their lives for their families. 

Her name is June Peacock and her book is Window in the Wall. June doesn’t type so she recorded or dictated her words for someone else to type.The book was written in response to a request from her daughter who gave her explicit guidelines to go by.
It was to be for her family, and will be treasured by each. However, it reaches beyond simple life experiences to be shared with family into the depths of struggle, reinvention, and joy that speak to the resilience of the human spirit. For all who read this, there is an honesty that will encourage each of us to seek a full and meaningful life, to welcome and accept new challenges of creativity and reflection, to look forward to the future, no matter our age. 

She was the first woman stock broker in Florida and one of only three women brokers in the country. She said she had what they were looking for when she got the job. She was a woman. At that time the feminists had prevailed and their demand for equal rights for women paid off for June. 

She lives in Raleigh in the winter and in her cove in the mountains of western North Carolina in the summer. She is not frail and seems to have all her faculties in good shape. I enjoyed speaking with June and look forward to reading her book. Oh, by the way, she said her 80th birthday was twelve years ago. 

To reserve a copy of her book, please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499. 

New Bookstore in Hayesville

Our independent bookstores have fallen like dead leaves off a tree in the past couple of years, and we lost our beautiful bookstore in Hayesville, NC where I live.

Well, today I found a terrific substitute for Phillips and Lloyd. The Friends of the Library bookstore is now in the main library building on the corner of Main and Tusquittee, and it is set up with everything neatly displayed and marked clearly. Within minutes I had found three books, May Sarton's At Seventy, published in 1984, Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, an Oprah Book Club pick, and another how-to book on cutting carbs. All three books cost 8 dollars.

Interesting display of books in Friends of the Library store

You'd never know this was a used book store

I like the warm and welcoming entrance on Main Street

Most used bookstores are dusty and cluttered, and the books are not well-organized. But this book store where the profits go to the library itself, is pleasant and I didn't want to leave. There was even a group of books on the craft of writing. The children's section is filled with books that kids love. A little girl was there today and she seemed to be completely absorbed by what she found. 

I can't wait to have time to browse this store for an hour or two. I don't feel so deprived now that I see we do have a bookstore in town and it is decorated nicely with plenty of light. Congratulations to our Friends of the Library volunteers and the library staff who are responsible for this improvement to our town.