Reading and Writers

I was very happy today to get a good report from my favorite doctor, my cardiologist. I have been a bit depressed due to my chronic pain in my hip and leg, but I was told that I am physiologically younger than my chronological years, and while I might need to slow down my intensity, I should not stop doing what I enjoy. I can do that. 

As a senior adult with the usual stresses, I was thinking about making major changes and walking away from writing, Netwest, Writers Circle around the Table, and teaching. But today I decided to rethink my future. 

A writing class at Writers Circle around the Table

In the past week, I have received calls and emails from local people who want to know when I will teach again, where can they go to take classes in writing.
I am reminded of why I began my Writers Circle studio. I like to take writing classes and I like to teach beginning writers. I like to give them the chance to see what they can do, to instill confidence in them, to give them the opportunity to pursue their dreams in a safe environment where they cannot fail.

I was reading a post on the site of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press,
about the benefits of reading for older adults. Writers are important to society in general, and often they don't get the respect that visual artists and musical arts receive, especially in their local areas. How we would miss writers if they were not working all the time to bring us books, stories, facts and news we want to know about.

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. My house is filled with books, so many I don't have room for all of them and I am giving away books all the time. I subscribe to a couple of magazines also and enjoy browsing through them. 

Reading takes us out of our present and puts us somewhere else for a time. The writer on Progressive Rising Phoenix Press explains this in the quote below:

The Health Benefits of Reading

Life of a senior can indeed be stressful. Health problems and family worries wear a person out. And at an advanced age, stress can be costly. To the rescue comes the book, which is a real treasure during difficult times. 

A good novel can take you to different places and different times and distract you from your worries. It helps you to take a deep breath and face problems calmly.

Many studies have shown a connection between reading and mental health. Reading as an everyday activity can reduce memory decline by 30%. The scientists have also discovered that brain stimulation provided by learning or solving puzzles minimizes the probability of having Alzheimer’s disease. 

Another excellent benefit of reading is that it improves the quality of sleep. Anxiety, pain, and side effects of medications can make falling and staying asleep very difficult. Reading before bedtime is a perfect way to help your brain slow down and tell your body that it’s time for its well-deserved rest.

We writers must continue with our work, our passion, to write the words that others need to read. 
We don't have to write the next great novel or the most praised play or memoir. We can write whatever pleases us and share it with the world. A book of short stories, a poetry book, a self-help book---someone out there wants to read what we write. I enjoy writing for my blogs. Some people leave comments and some write emails to tell me how much it means to read my blog posts. My page views are often from foreign countries. And many people read what I write but never tell me. 

I would love to hear from you whether by comment or by email. See the Contact Form on the sidebar of this blog. Go there and follow directions to write your thoughts and send them to me. Let me know you read this blog. 

Have We Lost the Message of Thanksgiving?

We have a new column by Roger Carlton today. Roger is a columnist for the Graham Starr in Robinsville, NC. We enjoy his well-researched and well thought out words and ideas.

This is Thanksgiving and Roger gives us food for thought.

Regaining the Lost Message of Thanksgiving

When 102 brave Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, these intrepid travelers had no idea of the hardships they would face. By the end of the first winter only 51 survived.

If it wasn't for the Wampanoag Native Americans showing up in a friendly manner, the survival of the colony might have been in question. A festival of sorts lasted two days in which the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims shared venison, vegetables, beer and liquor. The men held games while each group struggled to understand the language  of the other. A treaty was struck which lasted nearly 50 years. 

This first get-together morphed into a variety of celebrations. The federal government was hesitant to name a national holiday because the original intent of the celebration was to give thanks to God for the positive events of the previous year. Many people objected to the federal government sponsoring a holiday that incorporated a religious foundation. 

The editor of a popular magazine "Godey's Lady's Book" campaigned for a national holiday. On October 3, 1863, during the height of the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be held on Thursday, November 26th.

President Franklin Roosevelt tried to help the Depression era economy in 1936 by moving the holiday to the third week of November thereby extending the shopping season. Thus began the commercialization of Thanksgiving. Many states refused to change the date and Roosevelt's attempt to boost sales failed after two years.

So has Thanksgiving morphed into nothing but a starting point on the Black Friday to Christmas Eve lunacy that the great American marketing machines have created?

I fear that is the truth. With appreciation for the many people who work hard to prepare a wonderful meal to celebrate the holiday, are there discussions regarding the benefits we receive from our threatened democracy? 

• Are there thanks offered to a higher power which takes many forms in our diverse country? 
• Are we rushing to complete the meal to beat the crowd seeking the Black Friday early deals at our local retailer? 
• Do we ask how many turkeys the President will pardon politicizing even that great tradition.

We should all revisit the meaning of Thanksgiving and rejoice over the wonderful place in which we live.

Let's give thanks for what we have and what we can become.
My best wishes to all for the holiday season.

Literary Hour Finale for 2019 starred three outstanding writers.

Thursday evening was our last Literary Hour at the Folk School for 2019. Three NCWN members were featured. 

Meagan Lucas from Hendersonville, NC who is also our NCWN-West Rep from Henderson County led off the program with excerpts from her debut novel Songbirds and Stray Dogs. Some in the audience said they came especially to hear from a fiction writer. We hope to hear more from Meagan in the coming months. Her book has been very well received by readers and she has been acclaimed as a bright new southern writer.

Linda Jones is a teacher at Young Harris College, but,she is also an outstanding and provocative poet. She said she went through a bad divorce a few years ago and still finds inspiration for poetry in that experience. As with most good poetry, the author finds not only the somber, but the humorous in life's challenges. 

LINDA JONES, JANICE MOORE, MEAGAN LUCAS

Janice Moore, Clay County Representative for NCWN-West, taught for many years at Young Harris College. We were happy to see others who were on faculty there present for this reading. Janice should be a model for how to give a good poetry reading. Between poems she knows just what to say to pique the interest of the listener, and she might poke fun at herself or her poem before she reads.
Those of us who have known Janice and attended the critique she leads each month have been greatly influenced by her comments on our work and by her own writing.

Mary Ricketson

Mary Ricketson, former County Rep for Cherokee County, said this was her last evening to host the Literary Hour at the Folk School. She is extremely busy these days promoting her newest poetry book,  " Mississippi, The Story of Luke and Marian", a book of memory, conflicts and resolve. 

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the event on Thursday evening at the John C. Campbell Folk School. We are happy to promote the folk school in any way we can, and we appreciate their support of  writers in our state. 

Thanks Janice, Meagan, Linda and Mary for sending us out with thoughts to ponder as we made our way home through the mountains under the stars. 

Teaching again in March 2020

Instructor: Glenda Council Beall

Creative Writing: Perhaps you want to write about yourself or other people you know, places you have been or family history. Perhaps you have always had stories wandering around in your brain and you want to write fiction. Not sure? Your questions will be answered to help you discover your writing niche. This class is for aspiring writers or others who need some motivation to put words on paper.

Join this informative class and learn from Glenda Council Beall who lives in the mountains of western North Carolina and whose work has been widely published since 1996 in numerous journals, magazines and online reviews.  

Eight hours of instruction, Mondays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Tri-County Community College   $50.00

Register by calling or emailing Lisa T. Long, Director of community Outreach/Assistant Director of Foundation.   828.835.4241
Email: LLong@tricountycc.edu  

Glenda says:
I am happy to be returning to TCCC for a four week class in March, 2020.
Please help get the word out. The class has to meet the minimum in order to make.

Tuition to this class would make a wonderful Christmas present for the writer in your life.

Order: Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins by Glenda Beall and Estelle Rice now as an e-book on Kindle.  Order a Kindle edition at: https://tinyurl.com/yaer6vsd

What is deficit spending? What is the real problem with deficits?

Guest post by Roger Carlton:
Sorry to say that most of us are guilty of deficit spending. If you have a mortgage, car payments or credit card balances you are a deficit spender. If you borrow to go to college, you are a deficit spender. My liberal friends look at these "deficits" as investments. 

One of the key stories that got lost in the news regarding the impeachment process going on in the House of Representatives and the termination of the ISIS leader Baghdadi was the growth of the annual Federal deficit to nearly one trillion dollars.

It is important to understand that a trillion is a million-billion and a billion is a million-million. If that doesn't have you lost, assuming that you can afford a $50,000 F-150 pick-up, there are 20 of those in a million, 20 million of those in a billion and too many to contemplate in a trillion.

My conservative friends think negatively about deficits to the point that some are called deficit hawks. Sorry to say that most of us are guilty of deficit spending. If you have a mortgage, car payments or credit card balances, you are a deficit spender. If you borrow to go to college, you are a deficit spender.

My liberal friends look at these "deficits" as investments. Only time will tell if either view is correct. As George Will asks of conservatives, "What are you trying to conserve?"

The 2018 Federal deficit rose to $984 billion, which is a 26 percent increase over the previous year. 
The most amazing element of the deficit is the $380 billion that is spent on interest necessary to fund the borrowing cost of all previous deficits. In times of war, we need to deficit spend to protect ourselves. When the Great Depression and Great Recession happened, we needed to deficit spend to stimulate the economy by keeping critical companies and banks from failing. When the economy recovers those "loans" are usually repaid at a profit to the Treasury.

Politicians love to blame the deficits on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. These programs actually run a surplus and if the economy is growing and we are at full employment revenues are increasing. The law governing the situation requires that the dollars needed to fill the general fund deficit pot be funded in part by borrowing from the surplus in the entitlement pots. So, we are borrowing from ourselves.

The debt will eventually be repaid with interest...we hope. This political blame shedding is really a way to avoid alienating the recipients of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid by suggesting higher payroll deductions or heaven forbid lower benefits.

The real problem with deficits is Congress' inability to work out compromises on spending and revenue. Do we really need a multi-billion dollar wall? Should we increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid? Should we spend to harden our communities against the impacts of climate change? Should we subsidize charter schools? Did we really need a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations during very strong economic times just to name a few of the many demands on the Federal budget. Said another way, where is the line between needs and wants?

On the subject of deficits, perhaps Groucho Marx' comment on life says it all. "Whatever it is, I am against it."

Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star.

A place to submit your work

Check out Chattahoochee Review, published by Perimeter College at Georgia State University.
The poetry editor is Michael Diebert, a friend of Writers Circle around the Table.

The review publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and more. See their submission page for guidelines.
http://chattahoocheereview.gsu.edu/journal/submit/

http://chattahoocheereview.gsu.edu/what-inspires-you-onaiza/

Networking at a Writers' Conference

If writers don't attend the big writing conferences, they are cheating themselves of much that will improve their work and help them as writers and poets.

Over the past 25 years, I have attended several conferences held by North Carolina Writers' Network like the one to be held November 8-10, at the Doubletree by Hilton Asheville-Biltmore. I remember when locals complained that the conferences were all too far away from us so no one could go. At that time, one had to travel to Raleigh because all the conferences where held there.

But anyone can make the trip to Asheville (except me). Go for the day, attend the entire conference, Friday through Sunday, or just go and hang around, meeting agents, publishers, presenters and learning all you can about publishing. The cost to "hang out" is a smaller fee than attending the sessions. 

Every day I read about one or two of the presenters and long to sit in those classes. I can't go because of my health issues with fragrances, air fresheners, and chemicals I would run into in the hotel. I would pay if they could ever put those sessions online where I can learn right here at home.

I hope many of our members and local writers will take advantage of this event that comes here to the mountains every three years. How fortunate we are that the staff of NCWN can give us such a high quality three day conference. Some of my favorite memories of the conferences I have attended are the friends I made. Pat Davis, author from Brevard, and I met standing at the elevator in a hotel in Winston-Salem. She lived in Pennsylvania at the time, but we became good friends and are still friends today.

So many of the outstanding writers and poets I call friends today were presenters at conferences. And I am grateful for every one of them. 

Some of you attended our Day for Writers in August in Sylva, NC. Some told me they had never been to a conference and were delighted to know that the fall conference would be in Asheville.

I invite anyone who attends the NCWN Fall Conference to contact me if they would be interested in writing a post for our blog. Those who don't get to go would find it interesting to hear what is done, what attendees liked and the benefit gained from going to the conference. What connections did you make at the conference?

The article below gives you excellent ideas of what to do to make your time worthwhile. Read it carefully and need the advice.

https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/10-tips-for-effective-networking-at-a-writers-conference

Last WNO for 2019 November 8

I missed Writers' Night Out for October, but I surely hope to attend on November 8 when Rosemary Royston and Diana Anhalt will be featured. Check out their online information.

After the planned program, the floor is open to writers who want to share a poem or short prose piece. Those reading at Open Mic sign up when they arrive and this is always an interesting part of WNO.

This is the last one of this year. From December through March, we take a break due to the weather here in the mountains. 

I hope all our local friends will come out on Friday night, November 8, 7:00 PM.  If our sponsored events are not well attended, we might lose them for good.