So not only did you teach me about writing memoir, you also taught me about reading and thinking about how others write memoir. Thank you so much! Rebecca

Accepting what is to come

You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Scott Owens, Poetry and the Internet


Scott Owens writes an enlightening post on publishing your poetry online.

Scott is a regular Writers Circle instructor and edits the Wild Goose Poetry Review. Main Street Rag has added his next book, Eye of the Beholder, to their Coming Soon page.  Here is a link to it:  http://mainstreetrag.com/bookstore/product/eye-of-the-beholder/.

Hop on over to Scott's blog and read his post on Poetry and the Internet. 
Scott Owens of Hickory, NC


Sunday, July 28, 2013

What is your success?


Charles Fiore writes today on White Cross blog about the controversy of self publishing and traditional publishing. It is a decision writers must make and there is much to consider before doing either.

So much depends on what you consider success to be. I know people who would never think of self publishing anything. They take great pride in saying they have never self published. 

But I teach people who have wonderful stories to share and they are not professional writers. Most of them would never see their books printed and read unless they self published. 

I remember when I paid to publish my family history in 1998. It was a book for my immediate family and, even it it had been well written, it would not be published for me and sold on the market. It just wasn’t that kind of book.

However, I basked in the success of having my family express appreciation and delight in reading the stories of my grandparents and their ten children.
Even young people in the family enjoy owning the book and reading about their family history. 

I don’t entertain any goals of having a novel traditionally published, or even a memoir now. But I feel quite successful when one of my stories or essays reach the public or when my poetry is enjoyed by others. That is why I write. Not for fame or fortune -- just to communicate something to others. And when I do, I feel extremely successful.
What are your views on self-publishing? Traditional publishing?


Scott Owens of NC Poetry Society contests for adults and children

NC POETRY IS ALIVE AND WELL

Poetry is alive and well, and speaks to a multiplicity of voices out of an ever-changing culture. Thus concluded national Poet Laureates Howard Nemerov and Richard Wilbur and NC Poet Laureate Sam Ragan at the Duke University Poet Laureate Festival in 1989. Then, as now, one of the primary forces behind the vibrancy of poetry in NC, was the NC Poetry Society, co-sponsor of that festival and many similar landmark poetry events before and since.

The NC Poetry Society was founded in 1932, having at that time only 6 members, one of whom was Zoe Kincaid Brockman, editor of The Gastonia Gazette. The next year, the following objectives were officially adopted by the society:

to foster the writing of poetry; to bring together in meetings of mutual interest and fellowship the poets of North Carolina; to encourage the study, writing, and publication of poetry; and to develop a public taste for the reading and appreciation of poetry.
For the past 81 years, the members of the society, having grown now to 370 in number, have strived to achieve those objectives by coordinating meetings, workshops, readings, contests, and publication opportunities for poets young and old, new and renowned, across the state.
The Society’s 17 annual contests provide opportunities for poets from a wide range of backgrounds and interests to receive recognition for their work. All contests are judged anonymously by renowned poets and scholars to maintain objectivity. Current contests include the following:
  • Lena Shull Award – new manuscript of poetry by a NC resident;
  • Brockman-Kincaid Award – best published book of poetry by a NC resident from previous year;
  • Poet Laureate Award – single poem by NC resident; judged by NC Poet Laureate;
  • Thomas H. McDill Award – any subject, any form, 70 lines maximum;
  • Caldwell W. Nixon, Jr. – poem written for children 2-12 years of age;
  • Joanna Catherine Scott Award – any poem in a traditional form;
  • Ruth Morris Moose Award – sestina;
  • Mary Ruffin Poole American Heritage Award – poem on the theme of American heritage, brotherhood/sisterhood, or nature;
  • Katherine Kennedy McIntyre Light Verse Award;
  • Griffin-Farlow Haiku Award;
  • Poetry of Courage Award;
  • Poetry of Love Award;
  • Travis Tuck Jordan Award – students grades 3-5;
  • Joan Scott Award – poems about the environment from students grades 3-8;
  • Mary Chilton Award – students grades 6-8;
  • Sherry Pruitt Award – students grades 9-undergraduate;
  • Farlow-Griffin Haiku Award – students grades 9-undergraduate.

Most Society members consider the 6 annual events sponsored by the Society to be the highlights of its work. Meetings are held the third Saturdays of January, May, and September at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. The May meeting features presentation of awards and readings by winning poets from the Society’s annual contests. The September meeting is highlighted by recognition of the Brockman-Kincaid NC Poetry Book Award winner. The January meeting includes readings and workshops.
Weymouth is also the setting for the annual Sam Ragan Poetry Festival in March, where participants wear bow ties in the tradition of Sam Ragan. This event typically includes live music as well as poetry.
The other two annual events take place in the eastern and western parts of the state, both in April, and include readings, workshops, and roundtable discussions. Walking Into April is held annually at Barton College in Wilson, NC, and Poetry Day is held at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory. Poetry Day is highlighted by recognition of the Lena Shull Award winner.
Other regularly scheduled events sponsored by the NC Poetry Society include monthly readings at McIntyre’s Fine Books at Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, and the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. Since 2003, the Gilbert-Chappell series has matched a successful North Carolina poet with as many as three student mentees and one adult in each of the three designated geographical regions in the state. The pairs work together for the year, and at its conclusion, give a public reading in each student’s home library.
The Society’s regular publications include the annual awards anthology, Pinesong; its monthly online newsletter of opportunities and announcements, eMuse; and its print newsletter, Pine Whispers, published 3 times a year to keep members informed about issues under discussion, upcoming contests and workshops, and other poetry-related news and opportunities.
Additionally, over the years, the Society has published 4 anthologies of NC poetry: A Time for Poetry (1966); Soundings in Poetry (1981); Here’s to the Land (1992); and Word and Witness: 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry (1999). Publication of Word and Witness was followed by a Touring Theatre of North Carolina production of over 50 of the poems combined with original songs, adapted by TTNC founding director Brenda Schleunes. Titled This Is the Place Where I Live, the production was performed 38 times in 26 cities.
Anyone with an interest in writing, reading, or supporting poetry in NC should visit the Society’s website at http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org. Membership is only $25 per year and is undoubtedly the best way to both support and participate in our state’s rich poetic heritage.
Guidelines for NC Poetry Society's New Lena M. Shull Book Contest
Lena Shull Book Award
The Lena M. Shull Book Contest is an annual contest for a full length poetry manuscript written by a resident of North Carolina. The manuscript must not have been previously published, although individual poems within the collection may have been published elsewhere.
The entry fee is $25. Entrants may submit more than one manuscript, with a fee of $25 for each. The submission period opens September 16, 2013 with a deadline for receipt of manuscripts of November 15, 2013.
The winning manuscript will be published by a NC press, and the poet will receive $250, 50 copies of the book, and a reading at Poetry Day at Catawba Valley Community College in April 2014.
When you submit, please include the following:
Two copies of your manuscript (your name should NOT appear on any page of the manuscript).
Two copies of a separate cover page which must include your: name, address, phone number, email address, manuscript title, number of pages of manuscript.
Please send submissions to:
Malaika Albrecht,
2547 Doc Loftin Rd.
Ayden, NC 28513
The contest judge (non-NC resident) will be announced after the winner is chosen.
For more information, please contact Malaika King Albrecht at pomegranite8@hotmail.com

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Karen Holmes class on Poetry

Poet Karen Paul Holmes reading at Writers Night Out
Joan Howard and Carole Thompson at Writers Circle

Brenda Kay Ledford and Staci Bell study poetry with Karen Holmes

Friday, July 19, 2013

July Classes with Robert King and Karen Holmes

Saturday, June 20, 1- 4 p.m. Karen Holmes will teach a poetry editing class at Writers Circle. We have a full class and look forward to being with other poets and writers to learn and share with each other.


On Saturday, July 27, Robert S. King will teach a workshop at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC on electronic submissions. Every time I get with local writers I hear someone say they don't feel confident using the online methods to submit their work.

Robert King is proficient in this type of thing and can teach us how to best get our work out to the world to enjoy without the old familiar hard copy and SASE.
Maybe this class will get me going and submitting more of my work.

What about you? Are you being held back by the new technology and online submissions? Did you know that Boomers are the group who use most of the smart phones, I-Pads and other gadgets, not the young ones. We can learn what we need to learn, so sign up for Robert's class and send out your stories, essays and poetry.

Contact me, Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com, contact Robert at rskingpoet@gmail.com  or simply send a check made to Writers Circle and mail to 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC.
Do it now because space is limited in the computer lab at the library.


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Book Review

Read a nice book review of Maren Mitchell's book, Beating Chronic Pain, an Insider's Guide, in which she tells us the ways she has learned to cope with constant pain without using medication. 


http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/jul_13.htm#Health/Medicine

Friday, July 12, 2013

Visit us at Festival on the Square July 13 - 14

This afternoon we loaded up my car with a canopy, tables and chairs from my studio and other things to take to the Festival on the Square in Hayesville, NC, a lovely little town in the mountains of western NC. This event is held each year by the Clay County Historical and Arts Council. 

Saturday is the opening day and we will man our booth from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. We are sponsored by NCWN West. We will once again have our beautiful anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, for sale, discounted, along with books by Bob Grove, Maren Mitchell, Paul Schofield, Janice Moore, Wayne Newton, and others. 

Anthologies are popular because they include short stories, poetry and short non-fiction that makes it easy to pick up and read without getting bogged down in a full size novel.

Women's Places - Women's Spaces edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham will be on the table as well as a highly popular book, On Our Own, Widowhood for Smarties, Silver Boomer books. 

We will give away a free book each day, so we hope folks will come by and sign up for the drawing. 

Look for us right next door to the historic courthouse as you stroll through the shade and check out the 50 arts and crafts booths. We will be there all through the weekend until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.

If you are a writer or want to be a writer, pick up a brochure at our table. See how you can become a part of a large and growing literary community.