Let's talk - Thursday evening at JCCFS, 7:00 p.m.

If you are in the neighborhood, please come to John Campbell Folk School on Thursday, November, 18, the Keith House - where Jennifer McGaha and I will read and chat and sign books at Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories. The fun starts at 7:00 p.m. and lasts for one hour. You don't want to be late.

We will have copies of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge and I'll bring copies of Now Might as Well be Then, (if my order arrives in time).
Be sure to pick up a book for a Christmas gift. I'll discount my poetry book for that evening only.
I look forward to seeing you there.

DECEMBER 5 - 11

Have you visited the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC ?

This is one of my very favorite places on earth. I began taking classes there in 1995 and I've studied with many, many writers, authors and poets, over these fifteen years. Some of them are Julia Kate Howard, Darnell Arnoult, Steven Harvey, Vickie Hunt, Maureen Ryan Griffin, Ruth Zeufus, and , of course, Nancy Simpson, resident writer at JCCFS and editor of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Some other teachers I've had the opportunity to study with at JCCFS are past poet laureate of North Carolina, Kathryn Stripling Byer and poet, R.T. Smith. Google these names if you don't already know them.

Dr. Gene Hirsch, founder of the writing program at JCCFS is one of the instructors. His poetry classes are extremely interesting. Look for him at http://www.folkschool.org/ under instructors.

For those new students who register for classes within the next couple of months, click here to see how you can save $100 on tuition.

I will be teaching Writing Your Holiday Memories December 5 - 11, using as a text the anthology Christmas Presence edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. We will go back in time to those special days and times you will never forget, the stories you heard from your parents about Christmas and special holidays around Christmas time.

December is an excellent time to come to the Folk School when the Keith House is decorated in old fashioned style and music is everywhere.

In our writing classes we often form friendships that last long after we leave the writing studio. I hope you will come and be a part of this writing class.

Get into the spirit before the holiday begins.

Photos From Your Life - Your Stories

Dr. Don Benson, student in our class in May 2009, sent excellent photos he made during class and at the closing ceremony in the Keith House.

Below, Toni and Kay, after becoming familiar with the computers, type their memories into a story.

Theresa and her friend, Chigger, listen intently as a classmate reads.

Theresa, left, smiles as she remembers Aunt Inez and her sudden desire for baptism. Theresa said the folks who saw the event probably wondered why all those people were trying to drown that elderly woman in the Ohio River.

At the end of the week, the group displayed their stories and anecdotes in an inviting exhibit. The cameras came out to capture their handiwork.

Don wrote, "My wife and I are returning to Campbell in August. I'm scheduled to take Maureen Ryan Griffin's class "Write Like a Genius" while my wife will take Anne Lough's "Beginning Dulcimer"class.

Once again, thank you for re-introducing me to the magic world of writing. I downloaded stories on 'why I write' by Mark Twain, George Orwell and Steven King to my Kindle, so I can read any time - really interesting stuff. I've also started a pocket vocabulary file to catch new, fun words when I find them. I really don't have time for a local writers group right now, but I'm planning on taking at least two courses such as yours each year till I have more free time. I'm excited about moving ahead. Thank you again for re-opening this really wonderful door."

Thank you, Don, for sharing your photos and I'm glad you didn't leave us Sunday evening.

Writing Class at JCCFS

Writing class at JCCFS

2006







I am looking forward to teaching a weekend class at John C. Campbell Folk School January 23-25. My students will be coming from North Carolina, South Carolina, the north Georgia area and from Atlanta.

A weekend class is a bit more intense than a week-long class. We begin Friday evening after a delicious dinner served family style. You never know who you will meet at meals or where they have come from to take a class at John Campbell. You might sit with knitters or blacksmiths, or cooking enthusiasts. The only thing you know about your table mates, at first, is the name, city and state listed on their name tags. But if you ask a question, most folks are friendly and eager to talk.

What stories I've heard just from sitting with someone at a meal at JCCFS. Maybe it is the ambiance of the campus, the openness and friendliness of instructors and staff, but for the time we are there, we share like children at camp. We play and work together and often become life-long friends.

I am finalizing my lesson plans, printing handouts, and getting ready for a weekend of writing, talking, writing some more, and sharing stories --emotional, funny, poignant, sad, strong, regretful, and sincere. All the unique stories of individuals who have something they want to say about their lives, and together we will learn the best way to say it. I can't wait!

A New Year and New Beginnings

2009 , tonight less than one hour old, is as new and as innocent as this beautiful baby.

It is now 2009 at 12:35 AM. No one is awake but Tiger the bob-tail cat and me. Barry was determined to make it till the Ball Drop in Times Square, but I didn't need to see a ball drop, a peach drop or as they do in Brasstown, a possum drop, to know another year has flown by and still, I have so much yet to do.

Today was windy, cold but sunny and that lifted my spirits which are not the best on New Year's Eve. I even gave myself time to be pampered with a good long massage by Linda at Murphy Mountain Therapeutic Massage and now I feel more prepared to face a new year, with new challenges and new hopes and new goals. Always new goals. Last year my goals were more for NCWN West than for me, but in 2009, my goals are more personal.

Number one is to help my husband and partner heal and be well. Secondly, I want to submit more of my writing and possibly publish a book. This will take more discipline, more time given to myself, and a writing schedule such as Kelly L. Stone advises in her book, Time to Write..

When the Christmas tree, the few decorations I put out and the cards are put away, I look forward to beginning the new year with my class at the John Campbell Folk School in January. February will hopefully mean the end of Barry's chemo treatments and the beginning of a few weeks in Florida. We will both be ready for that down time.

March brings on the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference in Blairsville. I have not missed this annual conference since it began and I've enjoyed every one. My good friend Carol Crawford has created an excellent event for writers.

April weather inspires me to garden even though my planting usually takes place on my deck with pots of geraniums and in my yard, impatients line the bed beside the driveway. Thanks to Robert, a wonderful man who does the heavy work, our daylilly beds, our shade bed and our azaleas will pop with color and our twenty five dogwoods will brighten our wooded areas like left over snow mounds.

So now I go to bed and wake up in a brand new year. I will open my new journal and begin, January 1, 2009 and I hope and believe I will fill this journal with good things, things of which I'm more appreciative than I was last year. At the top of each page of this journal I will list what I'm grateful for and why. The more we emphasize our blessings, the less we dwell on our hardships. The more we give, the more we receive and the happier we are. This year with our shortage of cash, we plan to live a more frugal life and dispose of much we have that others can use.

I know what it is to do without. I saw my parents sacrifice and I can do the same if need be. Material things that have no active purpose are unnecessary if we need food and shelter. I see the country moving away from the greed and keeping up with the Joneses, and embracing a simpler life which will make for a kinder more compassionate society.
Happy New Year to you, my readers , to those who leave comments and let me know you enjoy this blog, a special thanks.

May all the best be yours in 2009.