Great small writers' conference near me

Writers, are you ready to go to a writers' conference face to face with great instructors? Are you ready to be motivated to get out of that pandemic dump and pursue your love of writing?

Then you must register and attend a one-day conference in Blue Ridge, Georgia. This is one of the best small conferences you will find and it is in the mountains of north Georgia. Check it out.

https://www.blueridgewritersconference.com/

Karen Paul Holmes will be there as an instructor. 

https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2022/02/writers-conference-blue-ridge-ga-april.html

Karen Holmes new poetry collection by Terrapin Press, No Such Thing as Distance

My good friend, poet Karen Holmes has published a second book, No Such Thing as Distance, and it is another beautiful book with poems that make you cry and others that make you smile. If you liked her first book, Untying the Knot, you will enjoy this one. Karen always impresses me with her poetry that expresses her deepest thoughts and feelings, her honesty about her own life and, in this book, her family. The cover photo is by her sister.

I think this book will be as popular as the first, maybe even more.


https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2018/02/now-available-second-book-by-karen-paul.html

Karen Paul Holmes

Outstanding poets and poetry at Writers Night Out August 9

Rosemary Royston and Karen Paul Holmes, both well-published poets, will read from their new books at this month’s Writers’ Night Out at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA. The two plan to do a coordinated reading, alternating their poems on similar subjects. The event takes place on August 9 with a social hour at 6 p.m. (dinner available for purchase) and reading at 7 p.m.  An open microphone follows for those who’d like to read their own writing. The public is welcome to this free event.

Karen Paul Holmes, founder and host of Writers’ Night Out, is a freelance writer, poet and teacher whose new poetry collection, Untying the Knot, was recently released by Aldrich Press and is available on Amazon. It’s a story of loss and healing, written, as one reviewer put it, “with grace, humor and without a dollop of self pity.” Holmes teaches at Writer’s Circle in Hayesville, NC, and the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. She also hosts a poetry workshop in Atlanta. Publishing credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and the Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia. She won a poetry grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation in 2012.

Rosemary Royston holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University and teaches at Young Harris College. Her poetry chapbook, Splitting the Soil (available through Finishing Line Press and Amazon) has been described as “Spiritual, sassy, smart, and so sure for a first collection.” Her poetry has appeared in many places, including Southern Poetry Review, The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Town Creek, KUDZU, New Southerner, Dark Sky Magazine, and the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia. Two of her essays are included in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland). 

Writers’ Night Outis sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and normally takes place on the second Saturday of the month (third Saturday in October). Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The four-year-old event recently moved at the Union County Community Center at Butternut Creek Golf Course, 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  Signs will be posted to direct attendees to either the upstairs ballroom or A-B conference room for the event. For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Karen Holmes, Kelsay Books, Poetry Collections

My friend, Karen Holmes, is a terrific poet. Her poetry collection Untying the Knot, will be published next year by Kelsay Books.

This is an excerpt from an interview with Karen Kelsay of Kelsay Books. I post this to reiterate what I tell my students and to guide you to read this post:

 Have you ever had to turn down a chapbook manuscript you loved? Maybe because it wasn't right for your press, or any other reason?

Yes, there have been a few I really thought were well written and clever, but they just didn't follow the guidelines closely enough. I absolutely hate to do layout work on experimental poetry. The lines need to be justified to the left and in a traditional manner. I will let a few slip by if they look like they won’t be too much trouble, but I will refuse the manuscript if it is filled with crazy lines going all over the place.

I am in process of putting together a poetry manuscript that I hope will be complete before too long. My chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009, the same year my husband passed away. That book is a bitter-sweet reminder.

photo by Michelle Keller

I enjoyed working with Leah Maines editor, and Kevin Maines at Finishing Line. I hope the publishing of my next book will go as well. 

Poets can run into some nightmares with publishers. A friend had her book accepted, but the press failed and after holding her manuscript a long time, the book was never published. Writers must research, carefully, and still one never knows what might happen. 

A novelist, Nancy O., published her book in the U.K. That company went out of business and stopped sending her checks, but the book continued to be listed on Amazon.com. She could not reach anyone to ask if her book was still selling and if so, why was she not receiving any revenue.

With self-publishing and print on demand (POD) becoming easier, some poets are doing their own thing. Some of our greatest poets, like Walt Whitman and T.S. Elliot, paid to publish an early book. The first book is often used to build a name for the poet if he has not already done so.

I believe that Karen Holmes has made a perfect match with her poetry and Kelsay Books.

With winter looming and the cold days that keep us inside, this is a good time to sort poems and to arrange short stories to see what I have and what might be worth sharing with others. Would you, my readers, have any interest in collections of my poems and stories?