This weekend has been full and fun for me. Friday evening I
had the great pleasure of being a featured reader at Writers’ Night Out, hostedby Karen Holmes, in Blairsville, GA. We had an enthusiastic crowd of people including some students from
Young Harris College.
On the same program with me was Scott Owens, a favorite poetand teacher in our area. He has 12 or 13 books out now and all of them are big hits. His reading last night brought bursts of loud and
long applause.
For my reading, I included a couple of poems at the
beginning, one of which is in my poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then,
published by Finishing Line Press. Steve Harvey, essayist and memoirist, whom I
admire, said he particularly like the poem about the tractor. In the book it is
titled Clearing New Ground. I changed a few words for the reading, making the
poem more powerful, I think.
The surprise of the evening was the short story I read. It
is a humorous piece about a young man who came to work at the dairy barn early one morning hung
over with a pounding headache. I have not submitted this story for publication,
but many people suggested I should. I might send it out and see if it finds a
home. The audience found it funny. I don’t think many
people expect my writing to be humorous, but several of my short stories are
funny.
This morning Scott taught poetry at Writers Studio. He gave
us ideas of where we find poetry, how to find poetry and when to write. We had
a few short writing exercises that were helpful. I think everyone who knows
him loves Scott Owens. At least in my area they do. I hear nothing but
compliments for him from those who attend his readings and his classes.
Scott told me he is trying to get his popular online
journal, Wild Goose Poetry Review, running again, but he is extremely busy with
Taste Full Beans Coffee Shop in Hickory and teaching three classes each day. I
expect him and his wife to become even busier now that a post on Facebook about
their generosity has been shared hundreds of times and the hits keep coming. We
all want Wild Goose to continue to publish the great quality poetry it has in the
past.
After the class today, I took a long nap to be ready for my
night out with the girls. A dear writer friend treated me to dinner, and
another friend joined us at the Copper Door, one of the finest restaurants
anywhere. We three went over to the Peacock Playhouse later to see the
Songwriters in Concert. I’ll save that for another post.
I could feel Fall in the air today although it was still humid. A crisp breeze swept over my deck and I wanted to sit outside and enjoy it. Sunny and Smokie like the weather, running in and out. They can make me smile every time I look at
them.
I hope you had a good day wherever you are and thank you for
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