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APRIL 17, VOLUME 24, ISSUE 8
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GENERAL MEETING: April 17, 2018, 7:00 p.m.
Providence United Methodist Church, room 104
2810 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28211
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A PANEL DISCUSSION - BUILDING AN AUTHOR PLATFORM
The panel will focus on building an author platform in the digital age - with the craft portion of the presentation being on marketing.
Here are our three panel members.
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ALICE OSBORN's past educational and work experience is unusually varied, and it now feeds her work as a poet/book editor and singer/songwriter on acoustic guitar. Alice has taught writing workshops to thousands of aspiring fiction, poetry, and memoir authors of nearly all ages from 9 to 90.
Heroes without Capes is her most recent collection of poetry. Previous collections are After the Steaming Stops and Unfinished Projects. Alice is also the editor of the anthologies Tattoos and Creatures of Habitat, both from Main Street Rag. A North Carolina Writers' Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, and North Carolina Songwriters Co-op board member and a Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in the News and Observer, the Broad River Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Soundings Review and in numerous journals and anthologies. Alice is the musician-in-residence for the Western Wake Farmers' Market. She is also an Irish dancer who plays Celtic fiddle and bluegrass banjo. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, two children, four birds and one messy guinea pig.
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JAN McCANLESS
has been a best selling author of 15 books. She started as a high school teacher, segued into freelance newspaper work, and from there, she moved into murder mysteries with a humorous twist. She compiled two volumes of humor columns, winning the 2013 Mother Vine award for best stories for her first compilation, titled Wyatt Earp, GAP Pickles and Thoughts of Home,. Her 2nd compilation, Tire Patch Cookies are Good for the Soul , is a continuation of the fun, with more award nominations for the year it was published.
Listed in Who's Who as a noted Southern Humorist, she is a mix of lecturer, stand-up comedienne,and teacher, giving talks and workshops around the country. Rowan County's Woman of the Year in 1978, she was a nominee for International Woman of the Year in 2005.
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JESSICA PETERSON
began her career being traditionally published by a big-five publisher. She then segued into the indie world with her STUDY ABROAD and FLINGS WITH KINGS series. Her most recent launch hit the top 300 in the Amazon store. She is actively building a social media platform, and hopes to cement the ins and outs of marketing her books with strategies centering around Facebook and Amazon ads, paid newsletters, newsletter swaps, and writing to market, among others.
She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her
husband, Mr. Peterson, and her smelly Goldendoodle Martha Bean.
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Short Story Workshop
BRYN CHANCELLOR WILL LEAD A SHORT STORY WORKSHOP ON APRIL 7th, 10 a.m. to 12:30. Cost is $30 for CWC members and $40 for non-members. Room 104, Providence United Methodist Church. Please visit our Workshop page to register and pay.
Through the Lens: Perspective in Fiction Writing
This fiction workshop will focus on the technique of perspective, which encompasses point of view and narration and aligns closely with characterization. In exploring questions about narrative strategies-who tells the story, and how do they tell it? and to whom? and from what distance?-we'll broaden our aesthetics and deepen our understanding of fiction's possibilities. We'll discuss a few definitions and short examples but primarily plan to write, using targeted exercises that can be used to generate new material or develop works in progress.
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The Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story
contest is now open
, and closes on May 15th, with winners announced at our regular meeting on September 18th. Visit the
CONTEST page with information on how to submit and pay.
Members $15: Non-members $20
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Tracy K. Smith at CPCC
Tracy K. Smith, current U.S. Poet Laureate, will read from and discuss her work twice: Wednesday, April 11, at 8 p.m. (Pease Auditorium), and Thursday, April 12, at 11 a.m. (Dale F. Halton Theater). Both are free and open to the public, with general admission and no reservations.
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AND--be sure to check out CPCC's SENSORIA, a celebration of literature and the arts, running from April 6-15, at several venues. Too much to list here, click on the SENSORIA link for the full line up.
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Tony Abbott Day
Sunday, April 8, beginning at 4 p.m. A Celebration of the Life and Works of Anthony S. "Tony" Abbott
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at Main Street Books,
126 South Main
in Davidson. Abbott will read and recite poetry and special guests will share stories about the impact he has had on their lives. CWC North is co-hosting this event with Main Street Books.
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Reading/Book Signing in Cornelius
Come to The Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius on Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m. for "Play Ball," a reading & book signing for Love of Baseball Essays by Lifelong Fans, edited by Chris Arvidson and Diane Nelson Jones. Published by McFarland and Company in 2017, the book includes 30 essays from fans across the country.
Charlotte Writers' Club North is pleased to sponsor this event featuring Charlotte area contributors: Stephen Ward, Ellyn Ritterskamp, Rebecca Laxton, Caroline Kane Kenna, Henry Doss and editor Chris Arvidson. Written and edited by baseball fans, the collection follows the arc of a season from spring training when every team has the potential to be a winner, through the guts and grind of the regular season and the crowning of the World Series champion.
Join us as we celebrate America's pastime.
Wear your team colors, show your team spirit. There will be popcorn, peanuts and Crackerjack and stories that take you to the ballpark.
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Providence United Methodist Church
2810 Providence Rd.
Click
here for a map of the location.
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Please "LIKE" our Facebook page to encourage discussion among fellow writers and keep up with the club offerings.
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CRITIQUE GROUPS AVAILABLE
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| There is an interest in starting two new critique groups. If you would like to participate in a new mixed genre group or a poetry group, please contact Susan Mills Wilson, chair of the CWC Critique Groups at [email protected]. |
Check out the video from our December meeting with Tracy Curtis! Click HERE.
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"A writer is very much like the captain on a star ship facing the unknown. When you face the blank page and you have no idea where you're going. It can be terrifying, but it can also be the adventure of a lifetime."
- Michael Piller
"I don't invent my characters. I steal them from my surroundings. To be a writer is to be a life thief. Every day, I rob myself blind."
-Cate Holahan
"Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong."
-Neil Galman
"The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it."
-Dylan Thomas
"You write your first draft with your heart and you re-write with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think."
- Sean Connery
"The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul-BOOKS."
-Emily Dickinson
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MEET-A-MEMBER:
GLENN PROCTOR
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Glenn is a 40-year-journalist. He retired in 2011 as the executive editor/vice president of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize at the Akron Beacon Journal and judged Pulitzer Prizes five times. The recipient of many journalism awards, he taught media management, journalism or ethics at Kent State, Washington and Lee and Northwestern universities. A Vietnam veteran, he served 13 years in the Marine Corps.
Glenn teaches creative writing to learning-disabled students at the Shands School in Matthews. He mentors media professionals nationwide and works with emerging writers and soon-to-be authors as part of his 6-month program, WRITING BOOTCAMP 2018.
"Telling my story is why I write. I started writing poetry at eight years old after being a foster kid between the ages of 2 and 6. Now, I write poetry to share life's challenges and successes and teach writing to help others develop their craft and learn to share the best and worst of their lives."
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Thomas Wolfe Society Conference to be held in Charlotte!
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"Wolfe and the City"
The Fortieth Conference of the Thomas Wolfe Society
Charlotte, North Carolina June 1-2, 2018
Meeting in Charlotte on June 1-2, the Thomas Wolfe Society conference will address the
idea and reality of cities in the author's life and work. Among a variety of talented presenters will be community historian Tom Hanchett, NYT best-selling novelist Wiley Cash, and North Carolina Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson. Conference registration and sessions will be located in the Holiday Inn, Charlotte-Center City, 230 North College Street. For information and registration materials, visit the Thomas Wolfe Review page
or contact Rebecca Godwin (
[email protected]
)
or Anne Zahlan (
[email protected]
).
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Do you ever just sit and read a dictionary? I think most writers do this from time to time, like when you look something up, and a nearby word catches your eye, and before you realize it you're drawn in, chasing synonyms, antonyms, and etymologies.
The other day someone said that I was "snarky," which not only annoyed me, but also proved their point. Looking up the word, I found it means "touchy" or "short-tempered." Worse, it resides in a very bad section of the dictionary, along with the likes of "snappish," "snarl," "sneaky," "sneer," and "snide." Now I'm feeling even
snarkier. Perhaps a little anxiolytic breathing will help. DDC
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Membership in the Charlotte Writers' Club entitles you to participate in workshops, critique groups, contests, and guest speaker programs. The cost is a modest $35 per year for singles, $
50 for couples, and $20 for students.
We welcome writers in all genres and forms to join our Charlotte-area literary community. Your membership in the Charlotte Writers' Club helps support writers, readers, and literacy at a critical time in our nation's and our city's history. Join here.
To Join or Renew click this
Membership Link and follow the instructions.
Charlotte Writers' Club
P.O. Box 220954
Charlotte, NC 28222
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