A WRITING COMMUNITY HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA

Writers in North Carolina are extremely lucky to have North Carolina Writers Network, and we in the southwestern part of NC are fortunate to have NCWN West or Netwest as we often shorten the name of this chapter.
Tonight I read the article by Maureen Sherbondy http://www.ncwriters.org/news/553-why-i-belong-to-the-ncwn ,on how NCWN made such a difference in her writing achievements from learning to write to publishing and marketing her book.
I could write that article on NCWN West and NCWN. I had been writing all my life, but it was not until I joined NCWN and automatically became a member of NCWN West that I really became a writer. In my hometown I never knew a writer. I didn't think any writers lived in our town.

I once saw in the newspaper where a writing class was being offered at the junior college. I gathered up my courage to register. I was a young adult who had not shared my work with others and certainly never spoke of my goal of being published one day.

The night of the first class I sat near the back but could clearly see the pompous young man who sat in front of a room half full of wannabe writers. I only remember his smug expression and his words: Most of you won't come back next week, and half of you who do will leave here crying.

It didn't take a brain surgeon to know that this was not going to be a learning experience, but an opportunity for this jackass to wield power over those who had the gall to stay in his class. I left and did not go back.

Many years later I moved to North Carolina and joined NCWN where I met Nancy Simpson, Program Coordinator for NCWN West. That was a major turning point of my life.

I urge anyone who wants to write, whether for a hobby or for more serious reasons, to join a supportive writing group and attend writing conferences, workshops, take classes with good teachers, and stick to your dreams.

The NCWN Spring Conference is coming up April 24. Go to http://www.ncwriters.org/ and look at the schedule of presenters for that day. Go for the classes, but go for the opportunity to meet other writers and vendors, publishers and authors, new and old. Sometimes I think only writers understand other writers. I know that writers love to gather and talk about writing.

Here in North Carolina we are extremely lucky to have a terrific writing community. If you live anywhere nearby, take advantage of it.

The NCWN Spring Conference is over for this year. I enjoyed every minute, but now I'm back in my room after eating a steak dinner.
Barry has faired well, and I think he even enjoyed the trip.
One of the sessions I attended at the conference was led by Ed Southern, Executive Director of NCWN, who is also an author with a background in publishing. The subject was editing non-fiction. A packed room held mostly memoir writers. Ed stressed the importance of telling the truth in autobiographical writing. But he also spoke on the subject of chronological writing. As in fiction, we don't have to begin our life stories with "I was born in 1950 in Franklin, NC."
In fact, we can begin our memoir with the climax of the story if we want. Then we return to the beginning events and go forth.
I teach students to write in episodes, telling a complete story that can be filed under the title of a major turning poit. For instance, one folder will be titled Childhood, another titled College, etc. We can write stories from any part of our lives and file them in the correct folder.
Later we can pull out our stories and compile them chronically to form a book.
I am in process of combining a number of personal essays to form a small memoir. It seems that small presses would rather publish a book of short pieces than a novel or autobiography.
Maybe this book won't be too difficult to get published.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is calm tonight

I sit in a Hampton Inn in Greensboro tonight hoping I can get up and over to UNC-G by 8:00 AM tomorrow for the NCWN Spring Conference. I am to work the registration table which opens at eight o'clock. However, the doors won't open until 8:00, so I hope Virginia and Ed will have things set up ahead of time. Seems to me it might be better to have registration begin at 8:30 so that those of us who need to be there to set up will not have a line waiting already.
I feel like I'm in Florida. Temperature tomorrow is going to be 82 degrees. I don't do well in hot weather and I pray the Elliot center will be cool.
As usual when I travel, I had to call ahead and impress the staff at the motel with my multiple chemical sensitivity. I was skeptical when Keshia, the lady who made my reservation promised she would tell housekeeping that the room must be cleaned with vinegar and water and no chemicals, no sprays and nothing smelly. Today I called ahead and asked to speak to Housekeeping. I've learned that most requests made at the desk never reach the people who need to know.
Keshia once again answered the phone. She remembered me. When I asked to speak to housekeeping, she said my room was ready and waiting and "we even went out and got vinegar to clean with" she said. And she promised me no harsh chemicals or chemical smells were in our room.
We drove for five hours and I was anxious about what I'd find when I opened the door to the room. Wow! A motel that did what they said they would do! Only a very faint hint of "air freshener" remained and in just a few minutes of running the AC I didn't notice the odor. All the staff insisted on helping us with everything, giving us directions to restaurants, and asking us to call them any time we needed anything.
As the bell boy left our room he said,"we're having a survey and we could use some tens."
Now, I know what all the red carpet treatment is about.
I will give them "tens" but I will also tell each one personally how much it means to have people who go the extra mile to insure their guests comfort and well-being.
I can tell already. I'm going to enjoy this weekend. My driver and good buddy didn't have any problems being on the road all day. He is one sweet man. So I'll get off the computer and let him get some sleep.