Writers' Night Out featured Karen Paul Holmes

Writers' Night Out was held on Zoom Friday evening. 

Our featured poet was ill and could not participate, so Karen Paul Holmes stepped in and did a fantastic job reading some of her poems and then she gave us a brief program on how writers can learn from song lyrics by famous people like Paul Simon and others whose musical lyrics read like a poem. They use rhyme both internal and end rhyme and alliteration is often a part of song lyrics. I have always been drawn to song lyrics by people like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I am a fan of the late John Denver and the lyrics to his songs are fabulous. 

Our writing reads better when we create rhythm in poetry and in prose. The late Terry Kay, Georgia author, said we can add rhythm to prose by writing both long and short sentences. I find that reading my prose aloud helps me see where I need to break up the words, give the narrative a punch with a short sentence and then a longer sentence. I tell my students to break up paragraphs. Readers like more white space and not long stretches of expositional writing unless you are Pat Conroy and can describe the marshlands of the South Carolina Coast with images that grab anyone who can read.

I am thrilled to have Terry Kay sign a book for me.

We often get so caught up in what we want to say that we forget the best way to say it. Writing is a literary art and we learn the rules and tools we need, but we must also learn the art of how to use language to reach our readers and hold their interests. 

Do you find yourself skipping long parts of a book or story when there is no action, nothing is happening and the language is dull? I know avid readers who say that there must be something happening to hold their interests. Dialogue is one way to attract the reader, but it must be natural to the story and should help move the story along. We find that dialogue is important in writing narrative nonfiction as well as fiction. 

Karen gave us all something to think about last evening. Karen teaches at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I took a weekend class there a few years ago when she taught this subject and was inspired to write some of poems I am very pleased with.

WNO will meet again next month on the second Friday evening on Zoom at 7:00 PM. Our guest will be the Poet Laureate of the Piedmont. We look forward to meeting her and hearing her poetry.

Karen Paul Holmes on video

I am sharing this video of Karen Paul Holmes reading poetry from her most recent book. I have watched it several times and I hope you like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM_5klDJEpw

I found this reading comforting to me at this time, but there is no mention of COVID 19. The book was written before we ever heard of this deadly virus
I like Karen's voice and she is such a lovely person inside and out. 

"Karen Paul Holmes lifts up the extraordinary found in the everyday. Here are poems that brim with finely-crafted detail, anchored to place while at the same time embracing change and impermanence." -- Poet Nancy Chen Long

Last WNO for 2019 November 8

I missed Writers' Night Out for October, but I surely hope to attend on November 8 when Rosemary Royston and Diana Anhalt will be featured. Check out their online information.

After the planned program, the floor is open to writers who want to share a poem or short prose piece. Those reading at Open Mic sign up when they arrive and this is always an interesting part of WNO.

This is the last one of this year. From December through March, we take a break due to the weather here in the mountains. 

I hope all our local friends will come out on Friday night, November 8, 7:00 PM.  If our sponsored events are not well attended, we might lose them for good.

Karen Paul Holmes - presenter at A Day for Writers 2019

Karen Paul Holmes

Poet, Karen Paul Holmes, will be on the schedule for A Day for Writers, a one day writers conference in Sylva, NC on Saturday, August 24.

This conference, sponsored by the NC Writers' Network-West, is held in the lovely setting of the Jackson County Regional Public Library, Old Courthouse Annex. 

Holmes is a teacher of poetry and an author of two poetry collections. Her work has appeared in many journals and reviews. Her session is titled Metaphors, Images and Similes, part of the language of poetry we poets  must know and understand.

To learn more about this conference, the presenters and cost, click on 

Netwest Writers.

An interview I did with Karen is published in The Bind. 

WRITERS' NIGHT OUT-- APRIL 12 -- CHECK OUT THIS YEAR'S SCHEDULE

Thanks to Karen Paul Holmes, we can look forward to a night of listening to poems and prose by our best writers. 

https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2019/03/2019-writers-night-out-blairsville.html

We have such a good time at Writers Night Out in Blairsville, GA. 

Karen always creates an excellent schedule of prose writers and poets and still has time for Open Mic.

For those of us who live in Union, Towns, Clay and Cherokee Counties, this is a perfect way to spend a Friday evening - have dinner, meet with our writing friends, hear a couple of excellent writers and read a poem or short piece of prose.

I am happy that Michelle Keller and I will be featured readers May 10, 7:00 p.m. 
Mary Mike, my friend, writes poetry that is memorable and shows her knowledge of what makes a good poem.
She is one of the busiest people I know, and one of the most knowledgeable people I know. No matter what I need she can tell me what to do or she can come over and take care of it. But she is a dear friend who is always there for me as I am for her.

Here is the complete 2019 schedule for Writers' Night Out

• April 12:           Chelsea Rathburn & James May
• May 10:            Glenda Beall & Mary Mike Keller
• June 14             James Davis & Dan Veach
• July 12:             Victoria Barken & Ryvers Stewart
• August 9:          Mary Ricketson & Loren Leith
• September 13:  Kathy Nelson & Karen Paul Holmes
• October 11:       Linda Jones & Alan Cone
• November 8:     Rosemary Royston & TBA

Borrowing from your Favorite Poet with Karen Holmes

Karen is one of my favorite people. I took a course from her at the Folk School just this past spring and know she will do a good job for your group.  Bob Grove, author

Karen Holmes
Saturday
November 7, 2015
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Fee: 30.00  (You can pay with PayPal. See sidebar)
Borrowing from Your Favorite Poet

Bring a poem that was inspired by a favorite poem. Your poem should use a favorite line from the other poem as your title, as an epigraph, or as a line within your poem. Allow your poem to take on its own life -- it does not need to be about the same subject as the original. We’ll read the inspirational poems and workshop the one you wrote. You’ll also receive some prompts inspired by other great poets, so you can go home and write even more great poems of your own. 

Karen Paul Holmes of Atlanta and Hiawassee, Georgia has taught writing at national conferences and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Her full-length poetry collection, Untying The Knot, was published by Kelsay Books (August 2014) and recently received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant for poetry. Publishing credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia (Texas Review Press).

To support fellow writers, Holmes, a Georgia representative for North  Carolina  Writers' Network originated and hosts a critique group in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Blairsville, GA. A former VP of Communication at ING, a global financial services company, she now leads “a kinder, gentler life” as a freelance writer, poet and teacher.

Karen Paul Holmes to teach weekend class at Folk School August 1 -3

Take note! If you have not attended a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School, where I attended writing classes for the past 19 years, this is an excellent time to come and take a class from poet and writer, Karen Holmes.

Karen Paul Holmes to Teach Weekend All-Genre Writing Class

Your Write Time
Itching to write, but can't find time? Or do you need a jumpstart to get you going? Give yourself the gift of a weekend devoted to writing. The instructor will provide inspiration, encouragement, writing prompts, editing tips, and one-on-one coaching. The Folk School provides the creative energy. Write here, then go home motivated to write more! For prose (fiction, non-fiction, memoir, blogging) or poetry. All levels welcome.

Ask the Folk School about 1/2 price tuition if you live in a near-by county.

Aug 1-Aug 3
For more info on the Folk School website, click here.  
or email kpaulholmesATgmailDOTCOM

Poetry with Karen Paul Holmes

Our first workshop of 2014 will be with poet, Karen Paul Holmes, of Atlanta and Hiawassee, Georgia. We are pleased to have her teach once more at Writers Circle.

She has taught writing at national conferences and at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She has a full-length poetry collection, Untying The Knot, forthcoming from Kelsay Books (August 2014) and recently received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant for poetry. Publishing credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia (Texas Review Press). 

To support fellow writers, Holmes originated and hosts a critique group in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Yong Harris, GA. A former VP of Communication at ING, a global financial services company, she says she now leads “a kinder, gentler life” as a freelance writer, poet and teacher.

March 22, Saturday afternoon, 1 - 4 p.m. - Karen Paul Holmes - Fee $35

Express Yourself Through Poetry

Some of us are better than others when it comes to expressing emotion. Yet the feeling in the poem is what connects it to the reader. In this class we'll explore how to free yourself by expressing yourself in third person or through a persona. We'll look at examples of heartfelt poems that do not cross the dangerous bridge of sentimentality. 

We'll also learn how humor can help communicate serious emotions -- like anger, grief, regret --  in poems that are both salty and sweet, that touch readers' emotional cores while also making them smile. 

Class will include an optional prompt ahead of time, so you can bring a poem of your own to share.

For registration information,
contact nightwriter0302@yahoo.com or call 828-389-4441 for more information.
You may send a check for $35 to Writers Circle, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904 

WHITE AFTER MEMORIAL DAY

Karen Paul Holmes will teach a class at Writers Circle on July 20. I am sharing one of her poems with my readers because I know you will love her work and will enjoy her class. Karen has studied with some of the great poets of today, She is sharing what she learned about editing your own work from poet, Thomas Lux.  I am looking forward to having Karen here and I know all of you will like this fun class.

White After Memorial Day

by Karen Paul Holmes

It’s only April 10th, yet I’ve shimmied

into optic white jeans, rejoicing

that they fit from last summer; white

doesn’t forgive. Boiling

for broth on the stove: the chaff

of last night’s chicken

thyme rubbed into its olive-oiled skin

for my dinner party

where a true Belle told me, In the South, you go

by temperature not date.

In michigan this wouldn’t happen

and even here, I don’t wear white shoes

until June first. I just won’t.

An Augusta gentleman, 82, with young man’s glasses

asks me to coffee. He has heard of my divorce.

I refuse, politely. His wife died three years ago.

Twin Cadillacs, circa 1980, sit in his carport

side by side, limo-long and white.

This poem was published in Southern Women's Review. Click on link to read great stories, essays and poetry.

http://www.southernwomensreview.com/issues/SWRIssue6Final.pdf