Writers' Night Out in Blairsville, Georgia

Each month on the second Friday evening, Karen Paul Holmes hosts a night for writers in Blairsville, GA. This event is sponsored by the NC Writers Network West, a program of the state literary organization created for the writers in the far western part of North Carolina and includes bordering counties of North Georgia.

Writers' Night Out: 

• Friday, Aug 10, 7-8:30 pm
• Featured readers: Mary Ricketson and Maren Mitchell
• Followed by open mic*
• Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA 
• Optional dinner or drink: The View Grill (arrive by 6 to order food)

*Note: We must vacate the room by 8:30 this year, so we reserve the right to limit the number of open mic readers to the first 10 who sign up at the door. Limit 3 minutes per reader. Please time yourself at home. This is normally 1 page of poetry or prose (12 pt Times New Roman). 

Maren O. Mitchell, an internationally published poet, has had poems in POEM, The Comstock Review, Slant, The Pedestal Magazine, Tar River Poetry, Poetry East, Hotel Amerika, The Lake (UK), Skive (AU), and many other literary journals. Her work is also included in The Crafty Poet II: a Portable Workshop; The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins; The Southern Poetry Anthologies, V & VII; Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems; and more. She has had two poems nominated for Pushcart Prizes and received a first-place award from the Georgia Poetry Society.

A North Carolina native, in her childhood Maren lived in France and Germany. Due to spinal cord surgery when forty, she spent many years learning how to live well in spite of chronic pain. She shares her experiences and advice in her nonfiction book, Beat Chronic Pain, An Insider’s Guide, (Line of Sight Press, 2012) www.lineofsightpress.comwww.lineofsightpress.com .  For over thirty years, across five southeastern states, Maren has taught origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

Mary Ricketson has been writing poetry 20 years. She is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor. Her most recent full-length collection is Shade and Shelter: Poems of Breaking and Healing (Kelsay Books, 2018).  Her poetry has also been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, Voices, and two other books: I Hear the River Call my Name and Hanging Dog Creek.  Currently Mary is using her own poetry to present empowerment workshops, combining roles as writer and her helping role as a therapist. Her writing and activities relate with nature, facilitate talk about a personal path and focus on growth in ordinary and unusual times. She also writes a monthly column, “Women to Women,” for The Cherokee Scout. Mary is Cherokee County representative for North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance, and an organic blueberry farmer.

Hope you'll come hear these two local poets. Come and read something of your own at Open Mic.

Why No More Anonymous Comments

Who can comment on this blog? Only users with a Google Account.

Why? To open the comments to everyone, I have to allow anonymous comments that are using my space for their purposes. They are what we call Spam.
They fill up my comment box with all sorts of ads and gibberish, most in  broken English. 

I hate to make it difficult for people to leave comments because I love hearing from my readers, but most people have a gmail account these days and if you don't have one, I suggest you get one. It is very easy to sign up. Since Google bought out Blogger, they make it necessary for people to use a Google (gmail) account.

Lately I am getting email in my gmail account from some strange looking names and with only very short messages that seem to want me to give them personal information.

It is sad that we have to be suspect of everyone we meet on the world wide web. We don't know who to trust when it comes to anonymous entities showing up in our lives. Just today I heard that Facebook has discovered more of what they think are anonymous accounts from Russians. I don't think it is just Russia. I believe the bad guys online are from everywhere. 

It is hard to inform those who are legitimate readers and friends without opening my doors to suspicious nameless people out there. I am careful, but like many, I have had to change my password and once I closed an email account and deleted my favorite email name. 

In my Stats page today, I had more page views from Russia than from the United States. This often happens and I'm not sure if they are bots or what. Just looks peculiar to me. 

Meanwhile, I am very happy with my number of followers and subscribers. Thank you for being a faithful reader, but remember, when you receive my blog in your Inbox, you cannot hit Reply and leave a comment.

You must go to the website: www.glendacouncilbeall.com and leave your comment at the bottom of the post. 
Thanks for visiting with me and have a great week.

Now taking registration for Creative Writing Class at Writers Circle around the Table

CLOSED


Creative Writing Class

Instructor: Glenda C. Beall

Tuesday afternoons, 2 - 5 PM 

August 14 - September 24

Six weeks of three hour classes at Writers Circle around the Table, Hayesville, North Carolina

Write small before you write large. We write 1500 word stories, both true and fiction, each week and get feedback from instructor and fellow students.

Learn the craft of writing. Basics will be taught that will make your prose stand out and get the attention it deserves. 
Most students praise the place and the knowledge they gain in my classes. Sign up now as space is limited.

For registration information, Contact Glenda Beall  
gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com

Phone: 828-389-4441

Fee  $48, includes handouts

Use PayPal or personal check.

  

These writers came to Carol Crawford's workshop today

Photo by Carol Crawford

It is a joy to take a class with Carol Crawford and to have her come to my studio is even better. The photo above was taken today, Saturday, at Writers Circle around the Table.
 From left is Anne Bowman, Carol Gladders, Me, Diane Payne on the far end, Jerry Stripling, Nancy Meyers and Ayer Gresham. All of these people have taken my classes at my studio. They said they enjoy coming and getting to know other writers as well as learning.

Carol's workshop was fun and full of good information. She gave us writing assignments to do in class that helped us get away from the cliché and made us think of the best way to describe someone without the every day "drivers license" description--five feet, two inches tall, with black hair.

photo by Glenda Beall
Carol is standing at the far end of the table by the board. 

The writing assignment spurred me on to write about a family member. This often happens in workshops. We find that we become motivated to write, to get those words on paper now. Some of my best poems have come to light in a poetry class.

Isn't that what we want, to be inspired to write? 
 
 

 NEW CLASS COMING UP

 

I decided I could work in another six week course at the studio beginning on August 14. We will meet Tuesday afternoons, 2 - 5 PM. This creative writing course is 18 hours of class time. We write something fresh and new each week and we share it with our classmates. We are taking registration now.

 

Contact me at gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com if you want to register and I will give you information for sending a check.

 

Visit www.glendacouncilbeall.com and click on the Studio Schedule page for a class description.

 

Note to Self

Poetry chapbook published in 2009 by Finishing Line Press. Can be ordered from press or from author.

Everyday I learn new things and relearn things I forgot. Today I am posting a note to self: 

• Look within yourself – what do you want to tell people? What is burning inside you that you just have to write about it? Write about something you really, really care about. 
• Do the work. Writing takes dedication and hard work.
• Ignore advice – Don’t revise according to negative advice from an editor. Only make changes when someone likes your writing and wants to help you make it better.
• If your book is not picked up, look into self publishing. Have faith in yourself.
• Go where the pain and pleasure are
• Persevere - even when you feel you want to throw out your writing and walk away. Don't .
• Make People Care
• Let your inspiration guide you
• Write two crappy pages a day. The good ones will follow.
• Write a certain number of words each day – keep doing it and one day you will have a book. Do it as a job, a regular job. A famous author stopped doing a daily quota and now does a weekly quota. He takes one day a week off and will not write on that day.
• Finish One Book. The first book is a learning experience. The second one will come easier
• Risk the rejection – submit your work to an agent or publisher. Just keep on sending out your manuscript – even if you have sent it out five or six times.  

 

These ideas came from listening to famous authors talk about writing.

 

I like to share good things with others, especially writers.

 Bobbie Christmas, editor and writer in Atlanta, GA has written some great books on how to write well. I have used "Purge Your Prose of Problems" for a number of years and can't praise the book enough.

All writers need to know how to write dialogue and this book has four pages about when and how to use it, as well as the proper punctuation for writing dialogue. Did you know you should give each speaker his/her own paragraph? Most of my students don't know that.


Recently I purchased another book by Bobbie Christmas. "Write in Style" is amazing! It has tons of good tips on ways to use the computer to help you edit your work.

Bobbie's trademarked Find and Refine method has been a great tool in finding the words I use too often in my writing. Two of those words are so and just. With Bobbie's Find and Refine Method, it was easy to make the needed adjustments to my manuscript. Because I use those two words in my everyday speech, I don't notice how often I use them in my writing.

I get no remuneration for recommending these books. I have only met Bobbie one time, but I find her books such a help I urge all of my writing students to add them to their library.

Order on Amazon.com:

Write in Style: Using Your Word Processor and Other ...

www.amazon.com › … › Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Author Bobbie Christmas teaches writers like us how to use the Find function on our word processors to track down and eliminate unstylish usages and write tighter, stronger sentences. Not only that, she is witty, clever and easy to read. She doesn't hesitate to poke fun at herself, which makes her teachings easy to swallow.

Linda and Brenda Kay - reading at JCCFS



Linda Grayson Jones

VISIT THIS LINK TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK.

https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/




Brenda Kay Ledford

A visit to Tom and Polly Davis' Tree House

I had the pleasure of spending some time with Tom Davis at his Tree House on the river. His wife Polly led me to the elevator, which I was happy to see, and we rode up to the living area of their beautiful home. I was enthralled with two special pieces of furniture. Tom said the colorful work was done by Bavarian artisanss. Tom spent thirty years in the military and while they lived in Germany, they acquired the large chests, and then had them turned into works of art.

Tom, publisher and owner of Old Mountain Press, took me to his compact office with a view of the tree tops in his shady front yard. I have known Tom for six or seven years, I think. I know I submitted to his early anthologies and was accepted. He publishes anthologies for poetry and short-short prose.
Some of our best known writers in western North Carolina and other parts of the state are included in these anthologies. 

I sent in a poem for Old Things, one of the most recent anthologies. When I received my copy of the book, I was delighted to see poetry by Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, Celia Miles, novelist and successful writer, Nancy Dillingham, poet and co-editor of several anthologies with Celia Miles, local poets, Mary Ricketson, Staci Bell, Brenda Kay Ledford, and Martha O'Quinn as well as  many other poets and writers known throughout the state.

I watched Tom at work on his computer and found that even he, who seems to whiz through scanning, cropping and moving text says that changes in technology might tempt him to hang it up. He has been doing this since 1992. He doesn't want to have to buy new expensive equipment and spend hours learning new programs. It would be a shame for Tom to quit what he does so well.

He began publishing when he wrote his first book and decided not to go through traditional publishing protocol. He is a man who wants what he wants when he wants it. He laughed when he showed me his first book with too many mistakes. The mistakes were due to his lack of understanding on how to design a book. Today, his books are professional in appearance. When a novelist would like to keep more of her income from her books, she might decide to send her manuscript to Old Mountain Press instead of a traditional publisher. Tom helps her by designing the book, helping with the cover and choice of paper. He knows what would work on glossy paper and what might be better on matt or another choice. He formats the manuscript so it is ready for the printer and that takes time as well as experience.

He has published 600 page books, and he has published small poetry books. The author must be sure the manuscript is edited and as perfectly polished as it can be because Tom does not do editing.
He takes the manuscript sent to him and he makes it into a book. The author decides how many copies he wants and Tom sends it to one of two printers he prefers.

The author works with the printer on ISBN and barcode issues. Tom has a price for his work and the printer has a price as well. The author deals with both individually.

Tom urges writers to edit, edit and have their work edited until there are no mistakes that anyone can find. Don't send Old Mountain Press a manuscript that is not ready for print. His job is not to correct your writing, and if you want to make changes after the formatting takes place, the author will pay extra for every page that needs a change. This is important to remember.

I have often heard new writers or those who are just learning the craft say, "Don't worry about punctuation. That's what editors are for."  WRONG!

Editing is expensive and often an editor will turn down a request because the writing is poorly done and will require far too much time. A writer should learn the craft and work on his manuscript until every sentence is as near perfect as possible. A terrific book to have on hand when you begin to edit your work is Purge Your Prose of Problems by editor, Bobbie Christmas. Another book that is also helpful is Write in Style, also by Bobbie Christmas. I think they are must haves for writers, beginning or experienced.

Tom has stories of writers who have had 600 copies of their book published the first time and when the finished book was in the author's hands, the errors jumped out at him. But then it was too late. To correct those errors required starting over with a cleaned up manuscript or corrections Tom could make in his book design. Those corrections usually cost 2 - 3 dollars a page.

Tom Davis and Polly Davis have both written memoirs about the thirty years Tom served in the U.S. Army.
Both writers have a sense of humor. Any man who has served in the military will relate and enjoy Tom's tales, both serious and funny. I didn't think I would have any interest in a book called, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On. I was wrong. While the military jargon was a bit much for me, I found other parts extremely interesting. Tom is from south Georgia, where I grew up, and Polly is from middle Georgia.

 

Comment about this book :
"Tom, I just finished your delightful book and my only regret is that it's over. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I love your style of writing. Perhaps it is somewhat because I was a Navy wife for 4 years, but I didn't even mind the military jargon. It made the stories even more creditable. You have a natural born sense of humor, instinct for leadership, daring adventure, as well as writing. Polly's excerpt from her memoirs leaves me wanting more as well."

 Polly's memoir theme is the life of a military wife and it is well-written with humor and pathos. Stumbling Toward Enlightenment sets the reader smack into life with a man who travels all over the world as his career requires, the ups and downs, the challenges and the nutty things a wife does to prove she can, like jumping out of airplanes. We see how she has to cope with raising children, her own diagnosis of an illness, and doing much of it alone.

This is an excerpt from Polly's book:
R&R HAWAII: I could feel his eyes taking in those of us left huddled there as if trying to decide how to approach. Shuffling forward, he asked for a young woman by her husband’s name. The one standing next to me leaned into him and slumped. Like the one with the message was The Devil himself, the rest of us backed off. Arms around her shoulders, he led her off to a building nearby. Sure enough, her husband had been one of the unlucky ones. She’d be left to deal with it. I swallowed back tears. And wondered if she had children.

Readers, visit the Old Mountain Press website and read all the information Tom gives for those who want to self-publish. He can save writers from making huge mistakes. Self-Publishing takes work and is not as easy as it seems, but Tom helps make it as stress free as he can.

If you have self-published a book, let me hear from you. What is the title and how did you find the process?  Email: gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com or leave a comment on this site.