Wow, Wish I'd Been There This Weekend

Jerry Cowling, Florida based storyteller and writer

A cousin in Florida sent me a bit of info on one of their local writers.
His website http://www.jerrycowling.com/ gives information on his writing and his storytelling, and you can watch his YouTube video. Check out Jerry Cowling and you might want him to entertain your group with his stories or you will want to order his historic based novel.

Tiger hides behind the monitors

Tiger the bob-tailed cat is not happy with me.

Write Your Family Stories

Leave a Written Legacy,
Write Your Family Stories
February 21-27, 2010 -- Instructor: Glenda C. Beall

Recover old memories using family photos and keepsakes. Write stories and personal essays about your unique life experiences for your children and grandchildren, and then fine-tune your work by sharing with classmates in a safe, comfortable atmosphere. Beginners to intermediate writers - join us to get your start or for motivation and ideas to organize your work.

Contact John C. Campbell Folk School for registration information.
Ask for local discount if you live in Clay, Cherokee, Towns, Union, Graham counties

Rocky loves Tiger and kisses her ears. She loves for him to lick her ears and begs for his attention. Who says cats and dogs can't get along?

Tiger the curious cat wants to help me write.

2010 classes for JCCFS have been published on their website.

I took this photo behind Orchard House where our writing classes are held.

The John C. Campbell Folk School has published classes for next year, 2010, on their website and in their new catalog.
See the sidebar of this post to find my classes for 2010. I will teach in February and again in December of 2010. We are nearing the end of 2009.
Register for 2010 classes.

Nancy Simpson, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, Dana Wildsmith, and many other good writers and poets will be teaching at JCCFS next year. If you haven't taken a class at the Folk School in Brasstown, NC, you are missing a wonderful experience.

Arts Expo in Hayesville

The Arts Expo in Hayesville last Saturday was a fun-filled day with many artists and crafts people and a goodly number of Netwest writers on hand.
Shirley Uphouse read from her book, My Dogs, My Friends, and Paul Donovan read his poetry from Ramblins of an Idiot. Carole  Thompson helped man the booth and shared her story from Clothes Lines, the anthology based on a theme of clothing.

Jo Carolyn Beebe, one of the authors in this book, read a short piece. On our table were books by Nancy Sales Cash, Ritual River and Patterns of the Heart, and the anthology Christmas Presence, an anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, that came out last year.

Karen Holmes, our Netwest editor and publisher of the Netwest News, was a huge help to me in taking down the booth after the long day. Karen is also published in Clothes Lines and participated in reading and signing books.

We were happy to have Sonny Boyer from Blairsville, GA join us at our table. Sonny, like many writers, has published an excellent historical novel, but is finding that marketing his book is difficult.

I was delighted when my students Ash, Nadine and Ginny came to hear me read. They had their books in hand and I was most happy to sign them.
Ash, whose essay was published in our local newspaper for Veterans Day, was persuaded to come up and read his story. I learned later that someone came to our table and asked how to get in touch with Ash to ask him to speak to their group.

This was the first Arts Expo held here in Hayesville, but I hope it will be an annual event. We found it to be an excellent opportunity to reach a new audience of listeners, readers, and possible writers. We hope to be invited again.

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Arts Expo - Saturday, Nov. 7, Hayesville, NC

Saturday, November 7, the Clay County Historical and Arts Council is hosting an Arts Expo in Hayesville, NC. Our writing organization, NCWN West (Netwest) will have a booth there and we are invited to read and sign books during the event.
The hours are 10 AM until 4 PM.
Our readings will take place at 11:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m.
We hope we have a good group of listeners so please come out to the Truett Memorial Baptist Fellowship Hall downtown Hayesville and support our arts. You will enjoy your visit and meet writers and artists of all kinds. Rob Tiger and some of his group will be playing music during the day.

Tell your friends to come. I'd love to meet them and sign my brand new, hot off the press, poetry book - Now Might as Well be Then - Published by Finishing Line Press and edited by Leah Maines. Great people to work with at Finishing Line. My book is lovely and I am quite proud.

Those who ordered books from me will be receiving them next week. I am also taking orders on Saturday and will have books on hand for folks to pick up for those extra Christmas gifts. The price is $12.00 and I will be so happy to sign one for you.

Veteran's Day Story in Clay County Progress

Once again I am proud of one of my students, Ash Rothlein, who wrote an essay that will be published this week in our local newspaper, The Clay County Progress. Ash served in WW II and has begun (in his mid-eighties) to write his memories This story is most fitting for Veterans Day.

While he never hesitates to shower me with appreciation for his beginning to write, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to know Ash. A gentleman, the like seldom seen in today's world, he shepherds his classmates to meetings held about every three months, as they share new memories. Unlike some war veteran who never want to speak of the war, Ash decided to tell of  his recollections in touching and sometimes humourous stories.

We learned more about the kind of man our friend was in his youth, and our eyes filled with tears when he took us back to a battle field in Europe and the sentiments he continues to feel about that day.

If  you live in the Hayesville, NC area, pick up the Progress and read Ash's story. And if you have memories you have been meaning to share, get out the paper and pen or get to your keyboard. Don't wait another day. No more excuses. Write now.

Wildacres Spawns Another Writer

While I did little writing at Wildacres this past week, my sister Gay proved what I'd known. She is a writer as well as a sculpter and artist. With only a little coaching to get her started, she produced some funny stories that I hope to share with you here on this site.

She told me on many ocassions that she was not a writer. She had no memories and she had nothing to write about. I remembered the poetic letters she wrote back in the sixties, when she lived in San Francisco and I was a newlywed on the farm in Georgia. I read her letters over and over, trying to imagine myself living in a fascinating city on the Pacific Ocean. She was young and she was brave, I thought, to head out on her own. While I taught children in the same town where I had lived all my life, she experienced life in a way I never would.

Here is a photo of Gay at Wildacres.

   
 We meet for lunch about once a month and always have some good laughs.

Mrs. Patrick Swayze Interview on TV

Today I watched the widow of Patrick Swayze on TV. She laughed when she spoke and seemed to be trying too hard to put on a happy face. She and her husband wrote a book together while he was dying. Yet she said they never spoke of what was happening to him - to them. While I could not relate to the false cheery attitude, I could relate to her effort to keep a positive attitude when she was with Patrick. She said she never let him see her cry except the day she told him the diagnosis. I understand how she felt. Oh, if I could do it over again, I'd cry with him and he'd cry also. Instead, we both forced oursleves to be strong for each other. But we do the best we can to keep ourselves together to care for our loved ones. We have to.

How sad that Mrs. Swayze had to go out so early in her mourning period to sell that book. Did her publishers insist she do this? After all, now is the best time to sell the book. A year from now it might not be such a hot item on the book store shelves.
My heart goes out to her. She is suffering like anyone who has lost the love of her life. The interview answers seemed forced, and many of her remarks, along with her laughter and painted-on smile, were pitiful to me. No one should have to go on television with millions of people watching and give deep personal information about the death of her husband of over thirty years. Not so soon after his agonizing death from pancreatic cancer.

Poet of the Month on Above the Frost Line

Glenda C. Beall chosen by Nancy Simpson, Above the Frost Line, for poet of the month. 

Nancy Sales Cash is working on her next novel

My friend, Nancy Sales Cash, author of Ritual River, a novel set in the south western mountains of North Carolina, is hard at work on a new novel. The setting is the same mountains but look for an unusual new story.

I met Nancy when Ritual River was first released. She read at the John C. Campbell Folk School and I was impressed with her presentation. Many fiction writers choose one section of their book, perhaps a chapter from the middle of the book, and read for twenty minutes. Sadly, the intense hours of writing the story, finding the best words, building the characters and plot, are lost within a few minutes as the audience drifts off in thought. Without building up a mystery or question in the minds of the audience before the reading, the listeners quickly loose interest before they hear the excerpt.

Nancy Sales Cash did not waste her moments reading a chapter. She spent much time enthralling her audience with how she researched the facts for the book. As she told about a particular piece of truth she used, the audience began to wonder why was this important. Then she read a short piece showing why she researched the subject. The time flew past so quickly I was amazed and I bought the book right off.

Nancy is in process of building and updating her website for her new book. She will also begin a newsletter for those who want to know more about her and her books, both past and future.
Her most recent work can be found in the anthology, Clothes Lines, published by Catawba Press, edited by Celia Miles. Last year one of her short stories was published in the popular book, Christmas Presence, also edited by Celia Miles.

Nancy and other authors will be reading and signing Clothes Lines throughout western NC in the next three months.

Contact Nancy at nancysalescash@charter.net or contact me, writerlady21@yahoo.com, if you want to receive her Newsletter.