Do What you love to do as long as you can.

Hello, my blogging friends and others who might stop by,

My hectic life has been made brighter by teaching a memoir class in June. I have five delightful students and one of them had a poem accepted for publication today. I am always happy when my students get something published.

I remember how long I dreamed about seeing my writing in print. The first thing I wrote and sent to our local newspaper, The Albany Herald, was a travel article. The editor called me and seemed excited to have my article. I was out of my mind with joy. I was in my late twenties at that time. But when the newspaper arrived at my house, I was upset. Because my article was a little too long for their space, the end of my piece was simply left out. So anyone reading it would wonder why I wrote an article that ended abruptly before it was finished. 

After I had some more experience with writing for newspapers, I learned to check for word length before I submitted anything. I found once I moved to NC and joined the NC Writers' Network West, there was much to learn about the craft before submitting to any publication. They all have guidelines or rules you must follow to be accepted and each one is different. 

Soon after moving to my mountain home, I began writing for the Clay County Progress, our local newspaper. I wrote about the artists in our area. I interviewed visual artists, painters, wood carvers, published writers, and met many interesting people. One lived on my street, a few houses down from mine. Another was an author of books for middle school kids, who spent her summers in our mountains but lived on the Georgia coast. She had lots of books published and many were popular in foreign countries and printed in their language.

While in our region she taught a writing class at the John C. Campbell Folk School and I registered for that weeklong class. I am still surprised that I got up the nerve to ask her for an interview, but she was gracious and later told a friend that my article about her was one of the best ever. I have written about her in another post.  

Rosemary Royston is teaching here in August. Check out her class.  You will love taking classes at JCCFS.   https://folkschool.configio.com/pd/2270/creative-writing-across-genres?source=search&returncom=productlist&st_t=2077&st_ti=2516&cid=2527

Oh, how I long to do that kind of work again. With my life filled with medical appointments almost every day, I seem to have little time to do the things I really enjoy. But I hope to continue to teach classes every month or so. I teach on Zoom and if you like to write true stories of interest about you, your family, and your hopes and dreams, join us when next I hold a course of three classes online. The fee for the classes is very nominal as I do this because I love to see writers emerge and find they can write entertaining and informative truths even when they thought they could not.

Thanks for coming by and I hope you will leave a comment. You are welcome to write anonymously but please leave your first name in your comment because I might know you.

I am grateful to you who read my words and especially to those of you who leave a comment.