So not only did you teach me about writing memoir, you also taught me about reading and thinking about how others write memoir. Thank you so much! Rebecca

Accepting what is to come

You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Thanks to volunteers who worked out front and behind the scenes Saturday

Saturday was a terrific day for writers who attended the Netwest Writers Conference in Sylva, NC at the Jackson County Public Library, an indescribably lovely venue.
Ellen and Paul Schofield 
Ellen Schofield, Netwest Program Coordinator, did an amazing job securing this place and holding this, her first-ever conference. Her husband Paul Schofield was beside her all day helping in many, many ways. Thanks, Paul, for what you did to help my sister and me with lunch preparations, putting away the folding tables and chairs and helping Ellen with clean up.

Many, many thanks to Netwest members, Joan Howard and Linda Smith, who spent an afternoon putting together registration information at my house. A big thank you to JC Walkup, former Netwest Rep and long-time member, who probably had no clue she would be sitting at the registration table all day and unable to attend the conference sessions. So sorry, JC, about that.

A huge thank you to my sister, Gay Moring, who helped me load up the food, take in the food, serve the food, set up drinks and ice for lunch, and to Henderson County Rep, Lana Hendershott, who helped us clean up after lunch. It takes folks who are willing to commit and physically work, as well as those who plan and supervise, to make a conference successful.

Fortunately Kathryn Byer has a vast number of friends in the literary world of NC and she was able to call on two of them to save the day when Judy Goldman had to cancel. We were able to carry on with quality presenters.  Kay was an excellent emcee, as well. Thanks, Kay, for being a good friend to Netwest, and for dealing with the extra stress involved in the last minute details.
Catherine Reid speaks
Thanks to Newt Smith we had water and cold drinks available all day, and we can depend on him, our treasurer, to take care of the financial aspects of this event. Thanks so much to member, Pat Davis, who volunteered to assist Ellen. If there are other volunteers I have not mentioned it is only because I don't know about you. 

Ellen, Kay and I with Newt's help have worked for months to bring this conference to our members. It is a huge undertaking, and made more difficult when the venue is not nearby. 

We had to encourage each other when it seemed nothing was going right. We had to pick up the baton when one of us faltered. But, as we have always done in Netwest, we supported each other and worked for our members.

I can't speak for Netwest, but I speak for myself, when I say thank you to all the volunteers who stepped up and helped with this conference. 

6 comments:

  1. Thank you Glenda and everyone else. It was a nice day for learning and greeting old and new friends.

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  2. Glenda, thanks very much for this post. A conference like this takes a squadron of volunteers to to make it work, and I'm grateful to everyone who helped to make the day a success.

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  3. Thanks to you, Glenda, for all you did all year long time behind the scenes to keep this event moving forward. Every person you named I happily add my special thanks to you also. It takes many to accomplish an event such as this. If one person thinks they can do it alone, they are sadly mistaken. It takes all working together.T H A n K S.

    I look forward to the evaluation and comments that will be valuable in helping get the Second Annual NC Writers Network West Writing Conference scheduled and planned for next year.

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  4. Thank you, Glenda. It was a great team effort, enjoyed by those who attended. The next one will be even better.

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  5. Thank you, Glenda, for your foresight and hard work. What would the conference have done without your careful preparation and devotion?

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  6. So glad to hear from all of you about the conference. From the evaluations returned we can safely say that the Netwest Writers Conference was a big success.
    Now, those who didn't or couldn't come to this one, please support Netwest so there will be more days like this in the future.
    Read your Netwest blog, www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com for all the news of coming events and more.

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