Writers' Morning Out

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday,

December 8, 1:00 PM at Davenport & Winkleperry,

18A East Salisbury Street in Pittsboro.

Bring a short Christmas selection to read.

All writers, any genre are invited.

Local author:  Sheri Castle, local author, food writer and cooking instructor will be at Paperbacks Plus! with her new cookbook “The New Southern Garden Cookbook – Enjoying the Best from Homegrown Gardens, Farmer’s Markets, Roadside Stands & CSA Farm Boxes” on Friday, December 7, 11:00 – 1:00 PM.

There will be food samples, and the Siler City Mini Farmers’ Market will be on hand during the book signing.

Paperbacks Plus! is at 208 E. Raleigh St in Siler City. 

Phone 742-4033 or on Facebook.  

See our blog:   www.pittsboro-wmo.blogspot.com for

times and places for readings and book signings in our area.

See the North Carolina Writers’ Network website for

information about contests and submission opportunities:  www.ncwriters.org

Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Fall Poetry Contest

The winning entry in our Fall Poetry Contest 

on the theme of Halloween.

HALLOWEEN - 1950's style

We paw and rummage through the costume box -

accumulation of cast-off shoes and clothes.

My mother pulls out paper grocery bags

and makes us listen to the Halloween rules.

Our greedy hands atwitch with sugar futures

we know exactly what she has to say,

before a-ringing neighbors' chimes and doorbells

to Mister Stollmeiers's Pharmacy we go,

a UNICEF collection table where

the rows of half-pint boxes with a slot

assigned by name to lines of costumed children

who beg for pennies for a worthy cause.

We shake the box like make-shift castanet.

A dish of pennies alongside candy bowl

on tables next to doors that open wide

to Barnard five who know to stick together.

The bags and boxes heavy with their treasure.

A long walk back to drug store lies ahead.

At eight o'clock, the neighbors' porches dark,

we scuff along in shoes too small or big.

Mary Barnard

Writers' Morning Out, November 10, 2012

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday,

November 10, 1:00 PM at Davenport & Winkleperry,

18A East Salisbury Street in Pittsboro.

Note the time change 1:00 PM

All writers, any genre are invited.

New bookstore in Pittsboro.  Circle City Books and Music

 has opened at 121 Hillsboro Street. While they basically

are an outlet for used books, the owner, Myles Friedman,

says he will also consider new books by local authors.

Give him a visit.

See the North Carolina Writers’ Network website for

information about contests and submission opportunities:  www.ncwriters.org

Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the North Carolina

 Writers’ Network.

National Novel Writing Month

One month, 50,000 words.  That's the goal for National Novel Writing Month.  Anyone who completes 50,000 words by midnight, November 30 can upload their manuscript to the website for verification.

To get involved, visit the websites at:  www.nanowrimo.org  or www.durhamcountylibrary.org

Writers’ Morning Out Poetry Contest Rules

Writers’ Morning Out Poetry Contest Rules

Open to NCWN members or WMO members living in Chatham/Lee County.

Submission guidelines: 

• Any genre, any style. Check current WMO Meeting Announcement for theme, if any.
• Length not to exceed 40 lines, single-spaced, in 12 point type.
• Submit as an attachment (.doc   .docx   .rtf )
• Include name and contact information in the message.  
• Name must not appear on the poem.

Blind judging: 

• Your name must not appear on page. 
• Include name, title, word count and email address in body of email. 
• Check current WMO Meeting Announcement

Submit to: Chatham-Lee County Regional Rep: Carol Phillips

By submitting an entry, you are assumed to be granting us one-time reprint rights. Poem will be considered published by many editors.  If you do not wish a winning entry to be so posted, just let us know.

Judy Hogan's new book

Chatham County author Judy Hogan's book Killer Frost is due out today, September 1.
 Judy will be reading at::

Friday, Oct 5, 2:00 PM.  Goldsboro Library.
Tuesday, Oct 8, 7:00 PM. Durham County Library South.
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2:00 PM.  McIntyre's Bookstore.
Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 AM-1 PM.  Chatham Mills Farmers Market.
Thursday, Nov 8, evening. Regulator Bookshop.
Thursday, Nov 15, evening.  New Chatham Library.

Writers' Morning Out

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday,

August 11, 11:00 AM at Davenport & Winkleperry, 18A East Salisbury Street in Pittsboro.

All writers, any genre are invited.

At this meeting we want to explore the different venues for self-publishing that are available to local writers.

See the North Carolina Writers’ Network website for information about contests and submission opportunities:  www.ncwriters.org

Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

2012 Ultra Flash Fiction Contest Winner

What You Know

by Joe Mills

You can smell the smoke when he comes home, but you don’t ask.  He’ll just shrug and say, “You know the bar.”  If you don’t ask, he won’t lie.  Don’t ask.  Don’t tell.  It has worked for the two of you for years.  It’s what keeps you with him now.  You choose not to know what he does or where he goes or what he thinks when he sits and stares.  Whole parts of his life are blacked out like blank spots on a map.  You can live with this.  You have lived with this.  You don’t need to know. 

But you do know.  You can smell his breath.  You can smell the smoke on his shirt and coat.  It might just be from the air in the bar, or he might have just had one or two.  Or a whole pack.  And that’s that.  If you want, you can chart out how you feel and what you might say to what he might say.  It can all be done in the mind.  You don’t have to ask to know. 

But there’s a smell that’s not smoke.  A new one.  A strong sweet one.  One you don’t know.  One that’s not from the bar.  One that makes you more scared than the smoke.  Don’t ask, and he won’t tell.   Ask, and he still might not tell.  Or he might.  Do you want to know?  Do you need to know? 

But you do know.   You have known the truth for years.   You can smell it.

An Awesome Collaboration

Take some teen-age authors, mix them with an instructor, guide and confident, put them in a library that  thinks teens  have promise  and you get Aspiring Authors’ Workshop.  This program of the Chatham Community Library, started in January 2011, offers young people, ages 12-18, the opportunity to learn and practice the art of writing.  

Under the tutelage of Christie Kinsey, Children’s and Youth Services Librarian, the group has published their first of what hopefully will be annual anthologies.  This first one, titled “AAWesome, A collaboration of young authors “is available on Amazon, with all proceeds reverting to the program.

Writers' Morning Out

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday,

July 14, 11:00 AM at Davenport & Winkleperry,

18A East Salisbury Street in Pittsboro.

Bring a short poem to read.

All writers, any genre are invited.

See the North Carolina Writers’ Network website for information

about contests and submission opportunities:  www.ncwriters.org

Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Poetry at Joyful Jewel

Dear Joyful Writers,

Just wanted to give you a heads up that we are planning a 2-day Joyful Jewel 2nd Anniversary Celebration September 15 & 16.  We've invited musicians to pick times during the weekend to play a few songs, and I'm wondering if some of you would like to read your poetry in between musical acts.  If this appeals to you, just let me know and about what time you'd like to come.  We would so love to have you come celebrate with us -- whether you read or not!

Peace, Mariah

--
The Joyful Jewel, a Community of Artists & Patrons
          “local art fresh from the heart ”
     44-A Hillsboro St. in downtown Pittsboro
        P O Box 1483, Pittsboro, NC 27312
  (919) 883-2775,  http://www.joyfuljewel.com

Writers' Morning Out

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday,

June 9, 11:00 AM at Davenport & Winkleperry, 18A East Salisbury Street in Pittsboro.

All writers, any genre are invited.

Don’t forget our Ultra Flash Fiction contest now underway.  Details are on this blog.

 See the North Carolina Writers’ Network website for information about contests and submission opportunities:  www.ncwriters.org

Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

2012 Squire Summer Writing Residency

Registration is now open for the 2012 Squire Summer Writing Residency, July 19 – 22 at Queens University of Charlotte.


The Squire Summer Writing Residency offers an intensive course in a chosen genre, with ten hour-and-a-half sessions over the four days of the program. Registrants work in-depth on their own writing, while also studying the principles of the genre with their instructor: Morri Creech for Poetry, Robert Inman for Fiction, or Pat MacEnulty for Creative Nonfiction.

The 2012 Residency will begin Thursday evening with registration, a welcome get-together, and a “Writingest State” trivia contest.  It will kick into high gear on Friday morning, when registrants will hit the ground running in their chosen workshop:

Poetry with Morri Creech
"In our time together we will examine closely at least one of the three poems submitted for the course; we will also turn our attention to formal composition, examining the possibilities of metrical composition and formal structures such as the sonnet. It is my hope that everyone will leave the workshop with raw material for several new poems that negotiate a balance between free and formal strategies, and with sharpened formal skills that will add metrical composition to the tools available to poets."

Fiction with Robert Inman
"I'm a storyteller, and I believe that all stories -- regardless of genre -- are about people.  Fiction that engages and resonates with readers is fiction driven by strong characterization -- not what a story is about, but who?  We'll talk a lot about imagining character, and how that helps drive the other elements of the story.  Each participant will submit up to fifteen pages of recently-produced work and share it with all workshop participants.  In a collegial and constructive atmosphere, we'll look at how we can make our work memorable through the use of strong, intriguing central characters who confront compelling dilemmas. We'll also look at how the techniques of other genres -- stage and screen -- can help us sharpen the impact of our prose stories.  We'll explore aspects of the writing life such as our work habits -- how diligently we apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair and sustain the momentum of our imagined worlds.  Our goal will be to nurture each other and come away with work that excites us with its possibilities.  It's your workshop, so come prepared to work, support, encourage, experiment, and be open to the joy of discovery.  I'm there to help."

Creative Nonfiction with Pat MacEnulty
"In these workshops, we will discuss the transformative aspects of voice, craft, and structure in our nonfiction writing. Through a variety of writing exercises, we will explore the key components of personal writing and practice writing as an act of intimacy. We will experiment, share, and learn workshopping techniques that nurture our own and others' writing. You'll leave the workshops with techniques for mining your own material, seeds for new works, and a renewed sense of the joy of writing. You'll also leave with new tools for committing to your writing process."

Register online at www.ncwriters.org, or by calling 336.293.8844.

We look forward to a weekend of excitement and inspiration in the Queen City, and we hope you will be a part of it.

Poem for the day

To celebrate National Poetry Month
Poems by authors in CHatham/Lee counties

After a Month in New York

at 68^th and York

We all want a fresh fruit and vegetable stand

down the street around the corner

but the destiny of the endless prairie

laid out under a sky bigger than God.

Judith Stanton

Poem for the day

To celebrate National Poetry Month

Poems by authors in Chatham/Lee counties.

Twin Fawns

Two fawns barely old enough

to graze slip inside the white

taped fence from the shelter

of the woods, their spots still

bright, their mother on patrol.

I look away and sigh

at the disorder of

my kitchen—last night’s

pasta with Italian sausage

onions and green peppers

took a lot of pots. I ought

to clean up my mess now.

But these are the first twins

I’ve seen this year, fresh

and glittering, so I look back

only to find them gone.

Any pursuit of wonder

requires obsessive vigilance.

Judith Stanton

From The Deer Diaries

Poem: For You, Daddy

For You, Daddy

One day you finally realize you’re no longer 11

and he is no longer 45, but rather 49 and 86.

And you will not always have him to correct your grammar,

fuss over how you boil spaghetti, or tell you not to spend

your money on all those hats, even though you’re an adult.

And you will not always have him to call every morning

just to hear him yawn and to tell you he’s already out of bed

even though he’s not.

But you will continue to call his number when someone else’s voice

answers the phone, and you won’t say a word.

You will be that ghost.

By: Patty Cole     

4/15/15             

Poem: Taxes

Taxes

(My apologies to Edgar Allan Poe)

Once upon a midnight dreary as I struggled, weak and weary,

over a changed Form 1040 I had never seen before.

Back and forth I did the sums, looking for deduction crumbs,

hoping, ever hoping that I’d find a way to score.

But, alas, twas not my lot to escape an awful blot

upon my worldly fortune, Uncle Sam keeps wanting more.

My mind grows dim with sorrow; the due date is tomorrow,

and I must find the answer else I’ll end up very poor.

Can I claim those gambling debts resulting from my stupid bets?

Should I try to itemize my bar bill from the club?

What about my one contribution, will that not bring absolution?

Surely I can claim deduction for the new pants that I tore.

Alas tis midnight past, and the time is flying fast, and I must find an answer

to the question: How much more?

You may think my answer funny: I’ll just send them all my money,

and request that they return to me all that not spent before.

It is now six months gone by, and as yet there’s no reply,

Could it be that Uncle Sam will grant me no succor?

Then the Raven came rapping, rapping

the Raven came rapping, tapping at my window door.

Oh to be so doubly blessed, a messenger from the IRS!

Surely he has come to tell me that my problems are no more.

And I said “Oh bird austere, do you bring me news of cheer?

If you brought to me a refund, then together we will soar.

I am down to bread and beans, for I do not have the means

to buy a decent meal. Tell me, Raven

am I affluent, as I was in days of yore?

Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore!”

By: Al Manning                                    

4/13/12                                             

Poem: Who can know?

Who can know?

Who can know incredible joy,

Can know incredible sorrow.

In the difference lies Hell.

The Unity is God.

By: Sharon Graham                                                                      

4/8/12                                                                                       

Poem: These Woods

These Woods

What know these woods of our passings?

How could we think they should care?

We’ve done little to deserve their compassion

We've defiled them

Scarred them

Pushed them far from our lives

They should have no use for us

But as I stumble along

Head bowed below bare branches

Gathering tinder for this week’s fires

Fires to warm our now somber home

Fires to pierce the desperate chill in our hearts

These woods comfort me

Embrace me

Soothe me with calm, gentle silence

Wrap me in their blessed endlessness

For man is animal

Like fox and deer and bear

Despite our attempts to deny it

Despite our claim to be more

Man is animal

And these woods embrace all of their innocents

Even the wayward ones

They celebrate our birth with their spring

Energize our life with their summer

Acknowledge our maturity with their fall

And mourn our return to the roots with their winter

And winter is here

Winter is here

So together we mourn a return to the roots

Together

These woods

and I

By: Mike Sepelak

4/7/12

Poem: A Warm Summer’s Day

A Warm Summer’s Day

I cried for you, or did I cry for me
On that warm summer's day
The bay was calm - I drank its coolness
On that warm summer's day

As you danced your life, my life, for me
Your questions there for me to ask
Caught in my throat - the polluted sand of the bay
Your arms dancing
My tears crying
The Bay washing
Soothing, loving the sand away

But your foot caught my heart
Your foot pounding, his voice pounding
Were my heart pounding, pounding, pounding
The drum of antiquity pounding

As your partner read David’s words

And you danced our pain

Your love true, forbidden sanctity

My love, sanctified, dissolving

On that warm summer's day

Your dance ended then
The pounding echoing
The silence of my heart
You left as you came, a
Dirge that swelled my pain, your pain

The gulls were quiet
on that warm summer’s day

Soaring over the cool water of the bay

Beckoning me to with them soar
To love and freedom beyond the shore

But tears of my pain held me back
Tears of your pain called me back
Back to life, to the dirge of your feet
Walking silently in my pain
On that warm summer's day

I cried for you, or did I cry for me
On that warm summer's day
The bay was calm - I wept its coolness
On that warm summers' day.

By: Carol Phillips                                           

4/6/12                                                         

Poem for the day

T

Stone and Steel 

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer

More woodsman's axe than surgeon's scalpel

Cleave by inertia more than intelligence

I know this

And accept it for what it is

My lot

But it need not mean I'm dull

A blunt tool

Good for nothing more than rude smashing

I'm more than that

I work hard

Keep my broad edge clean with stone and steel

And with this edge endeavor to strike with rudimentary precision

For effort and proximity can carry the day

If that's what you have

We can't all be scalpels

And axes are needed in this world

They build from the ground the platforms of the knife

There's dignity in their work

Though they're seldom celebrated for it

It's the scalpel that's revered

But blades, unattended, quickly tarnish and rust

Razor edge turns pointless

While axes, when whet, work untiringly, and long

Even when blunted by hard times

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer

More woodman's axe than surgeon's scalpel

I endure by the effort

Stone and steel

By: Mike Seplak

4/5/12

Poem for the day

To celebrate National Poetry Month

Poems by authors in Chatham/Lee Counties

Dog Days

The summer swelters are here.

Days that make me want to burrow

deep into the earth, praying hard

for the wet blessing of a rain drop.

Trees droop their shoulders,

leaves limp as fingers dangling

without purpose.

Nothing sings.

Nothing moves

but the dragonflies gliding

through the thick warm soup

that once was air.

Hard to breathe.

Hard to care.

Caught in the doldrums,

I take baby breaths,

and dream of the quiet chatter of sleet

as it hits a tin roof.

Catherine Bollinger

Poem: The Telling that Changes Everything IV. Christmas Day, December 25, 2011

The Telling that Changes Everything IV.

Christmas Day, December 25, 2011

Humor is essential when you balance

on that edge between justice and mercy.

Nothing I hate more than to see people

mistreated, but I learn that the villains

have their moments of terror, too. Rage

can blindside any of us–no matter how

watchful we are, how self-aware and

enlightened. Yet we have no choice

but to re-find our equilibrium, consider

the culprit’s ancient dread, hold firm

to what is right, but smile and forgive.

A tough act to follow. Only those who

see clearly, who have taken the beam

out of their own eyes can do it. It’s

called healing, and it doesn’t make

you popular. Your stern side is

scarifying. They want absolution

before they confess their faults.

Not possible, and anyway, the first

essential, if you want to change,

is to forgive yourself. Learn how.

Unresolved guilt compounds itself

and leads to more and more cruelty.

There’s no substitute for honesty

at exactly the right time and place.

Not too soon, not too late. How do

we know the moment has arrived?

That’s when watchfulness pays off.

A space opens suddenly, and we see

the path straight into the rascal’s

soul. In the meantime, we always

have work in front of us. People

need our clarity, our joy, how we do

a stake-out to catch the errant heart

when it suddenly opens wide.

By: Judy Hogan                                                          

4/3/12                                                                       

Poem: Mockingbird in the Apricot Tree

Mockingbird in the Apricot Tree

A flash of white, gray

against the pink confetti laden

braches

party sky behind

the bride

groom in velvet tux, white tie,

tails. He can sing

any song,

sing it better

sing it louder

breast as puffed

as clouds

singer,

sentry,

servant of the song.

By: Ruth Moose                                                                            

4/2/12                                                                                        

Poem for the day

To celebrate National Poetry Month

Poems by writers in Chatham/Lee Counties.

Voyeurs and Voyagers of Spring

Peeping, poking,

punting green antennae up,

polyhedral periscopes.

They’d turn the world

to carrots’ frothing lace,

squashes’ crawling blossoms.

You hear their chirpy patter

rippling pods, bulbs, earth.

Their accompaniment?

Rejoicing frogs.

You feel them tripping you,

vines trapping in embrace.

The smell as fresh as soft new rain,

all lavender and clean

shot through with yellow-green

tart onions.

From vernal equinox to

summer solstice,

they have sway.

Who’s voyeuring whom?

I should not beg

quantum reciprocation

but do so quantum times.

Yet, after every failure,

I still have hope to hear

the goat-footed balloonMan whistle

Spring’s voyagers to the port of me.

Lynn Veach Sadler

Poem: Deadline

DEADLINE

cross over the line get shot dead

seventeen feet from stockade

that's cold Civil-War-man

how did the word cross into

our vernacular hop into everyday

use from a grim prison yard

to the desk of a newspaperman

wearing a visor to shade his eyes

from newsroom lights the glare

reflecting off the white page

light coming at him from

everywhere except the end

of the tunnel poor guy

a deadline a calendar date

seems like plenty of time

then suddenly not enough

the clock tick-tocking

the midnight oil a fire hazard

now a combustible’s involved

some like it hot but flames

well can be deadly what

escape from the yearning

to use this word dead to

death my father now dead

was a newspaperman

yellow ticker tape days

rewrote copy to fit page

before someone yelled PRINT

drank a 16 oz Coke straight

from the bottle when

his day was done on

the other side of deadline

yet alive

By:  Mary L. Barnard                                                                  

3/31/12                                                                                    

NCWN Spring Conference, April 28, 2012

The North Carolina Writers' Network Spring Conference is Saturday, April 28 at the Elliott University Center at University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Offered are half- and full- day workshops in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Marketing, Poetry, Publishing and Children's Writing.

Registration is now open. Cost is $99 for NCWN members or $150 for non-members. Go to the website to view the full line-up of faculty and classes.

On line registration available at the NCWN website www.ncwriters.org or call (336) 293-8844.

Burlington Writers Club 2012 Contest

Burlington Writers Club 20120 Contest

Open to adult writers living in Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Guilford, Orange, Randolph and Rockingham counties.

There are six categories for original, unpublished work, not pending publication. Non-member entry fee is $8.00 per entry for poetry and $10.00 per entry for prose.

Deadline for entries is March 14, 2020.

For additional information call 336-229-7104. Detailed contest rules are available on their website.

Kitchen Table Writers

Majorie Hudson's workshop will meet at Rosemary House B & B instead of the General Store Cafe.

Writers' Morning Out

Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out will meet Saturday, January 14,

11:00 AM at Davenport & Winkleperry, 18A East Salisbury

Street in Pittsboro.

All writers, any genre are invited.

Reminder: Thomas Wolf Fiction Prize. $1,000 prize.

Deadline January 30

Doris Betts Fiction Prize. $250 and publication in the

North Carolina Literary Review. Deadline February 15.

See the NCWN website for more details: www.ncwriters.org