I am posting this on my wall for 2016.

Prayer for this year  by Silas House

Find a creek, river, lake, or ocean, and be still beside it for a time. Sit by an open fire and watch the flames. Sit on the porch and lie on the grass. Light candles. Take a deep breath. Write a handwritten letter to someone.

Discover something new every day. Learn. Tell stories. Listen to old people. Ask them questions.

Do something nice for others when you can and don't hesitate to be kind to yourself.

Read actual, real books and newspapers.

Spend an entire day without looking at your phone. If you feel the urge to post a selfie every day, take a picture of some other beautiful thing instead. Remember that there is power in moderation.

Learn to cook or bake something new. Enjoy every meal. Savor your food. Drink water.

Be completely quiet. Turn your favorite song up as loud as it will go.

If someone makes you feel bad all the time, get away from them. Laugh with others. Laugh while you're alone.

Spend time with animals. They make us better people.

Spray someone with the kitchen sink sprayer. Sing while washing dishes. Dance.

Don't judge. Think this: "There but for the grace of God go I" or "Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Forgive others. Forgive yourself.

--Silas House, from "What I Know: a Prayer Essay"

I read this last year when Silas House published it, and I like it so much I want to share it again with my readers. I wish I had written the original, but didn't think of it. He said what I want to say, so I am just re-blogging his prayer for 2016. 

If you don't know Silas House, visit his website and his blog. Listen to his interview or discussion with Barbara Kingsolver HERE.

Contemplating - What Poems do I include in my manuscript?

Glenda reading poetry at Poetry Hickory

In 2009, my poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press. The book was released in October and Barry had died from cancer in July. He never saw the finished product. The reading pictured above was one of the few I made when the book came out. In my grief, I had very little interest in setting up readings or appearances. My sister hosted a book party at her home in Roswell, Georgia and her friends bought books. We also had 100 pre-orders from friends and family. 

It is a fact that most poetry books are sold in person-to-person situations. Also, most poetry books are bought by other poets, but I am pleased that many non-poets purchased my book and let me know they enjoyed it. 

One of those non-poets was a French lady in Marietta, GA who used one of my poems on her blog page with lovely pictures that fit with each verse. Another was Nancy Purcell, a fiction writer who said of my book:  You touched my heart over and over again with your words. I've already read the book (Now Might as Well be Then) three times...I'm so glad I own a copy.

                                                       

Steven Harvey, author and essayist, said "I enjoyed reading your chapbook, "Now Might as Well Be Then."  I was interested in it, of course, since you frame it as an exercise in memory, a subject that I am much interested in these days as my class at your "writer's circle" probably made clear. "The Woman in the Mirror" reads like a call to duty for the poet as rememberer.

I do like the narrative impulse behind some of the longer poems such as "Inundated" and "Roosevelt" and "Blue Moon Every Twenty Years" because you allow them to build in a way that conveys the emotions, usually of loss, but in the end the lyrics were moving, too, pieces like "Beneath the Beauty" where your vision of life as a mix of beauty amid ugliness is powerfully presented. You can be proud of this small book!"

Dr. Harvey volunteered his comments after reading my book and I was as excited about his compliments as I would have been if my book had won first place in a contest.

I am contemplating submitting another manuscript of poetry this year. I think I might include some of the poems in "Now Might as Well be Then" because the book was not widely read, and I hope the new book will reach more readers.

If you have my book and have read it, will you let me know which were your favorite poems? "The Woman in the Mirror" seems to appeal to most people, but I would love to have your input as to which poems you think I should include in the new book.

Email me, gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com   or leave a comment on this blog.

Why Writers Need to Blog and Why Blogging Helps Build a Readership

Why Writers Need to Blog

My view as I sit and write blog posts twice a week. 

I am a fan of blogs by writers and I really like those that give helpful hints or lessons they have learned about the writing world.

Blog posts are shareable and they stick around for a long time. FB and Twitter posts slip away quickly and are forgotten. I can easily find a blog post published on my blogs or on the NCWN-West blog in the past seven years. Belinda Pollard's article explains why every writer should have a blog.

Check out the article and tell us what you think? If you have a published book or several, maybe blogging once or twice a week would help you create a readership for your work. If you are beginning to publish in journals and magazines, having a blog as part of your online presence gets an editor's attention.

http://www.smallbluedog.com/the-one-big-reason-authors-need-to-blog.html#comment-46475

Running Toward the New Year

As we approach the new year, 2016, we look back at what happened in the past twelve months.  I think you will enjoy this article  by a fellow blogger, Sharon Bray who is a writer, an educator and a thinker. I relate very much to what she says. Hope you do, too.

Haiku Winner in NCPC contest

I am so proud of my cousin, Pat Daharsh, who has won another First Place for haiku. This time it was the NC Poetry Society, Griffin-Farlow Haiku contest.

GRIFFIN-FARLOW HAIKU AWARD, JUDGED BY MICHAEL DYLAN WELCH

(The poems are identified by their first lines in square brackets.)

1st place: Patricia Daharsh, [“partial eclipse”]
2nd place: Crystal Simone Smith, [“plantation tour”]
3rd place: Chen-ou Liu, [“thinking of mom”]  

The following is the email Pat sent me.
North Carolina Poetry Society has announced winners in their annual Griffin-Farlow Haiku contest. My entry took First Place (publication in Pinesong and a cash prize),

Pat has been writing and winning haiku contests for some years now. Congrats, Pat.

Keep writing and winning.

Sorry I am so late posting this announcement. I thought it had come up back in the spring.

Submit Your Writing and Learn to Market Yourself and Your Work

Yesterday we held a panel discussion at our local library in Hayesville, NC. The subject was publishing and marketing your writing. 

We hear so many people say they have written a book but don't know what to do next. On the panel yesterday we heard from an author who has a regional agent who has been extremely involved in helping him with publishing his four novels. Two were published by a Memphis press, BelleBridge Books.

DEANNA KLINGEL

We heard from an author who travels far and wide to festivals, speaking events and other places where she finds the audience for her young adult books. She knows her audience and has done her research. 

One panelist was the owner of a small press that helps authors self-publish their books. As he said, it isn't as easy as one might think to publish your own book. He helps people with design, typesetting, covers and all the details many new writers would not know.

I spoke about my interview with Scott Douglas and Kevin Watson, owners of two small presses, Main Street Rag and Press 53 and what is expected of the writer once the book is ready to sell.

KEVIN WATSON

Our attendees were enthusiastic and had so many questions we ran out of time before we could complete the program.  Our handouts included some writing resources. I have a few of them below.


New Pages - find publications - http://www.newpages.com/

Writers Market  www.writersmarket.com   

Poets Market  www.poetmarket.com

Duotrope  www.duotrope.com 

Writers Relief   http://client.writersrelief.com/writers-classifieds/anthology-calls-for-submissions.aspx

Narrative Magazine   http://www.narrativemagazine.com/node/360

 Poets and Writers Magazine     www.pw.org/literary_magazines

Main Street Rag Publishing - http://www.mainstreetrag.com/
Press 53 - www.press53.com 

Literary  Journal - The Journal of Kentucky Studies.  https://kentuckystudiesjournal.wordpress.com/submissions/  No fee to submit

http://thewritelife.com/where-to-submit-short-stories/

Marketing:
The Write Life   - http://thewritelife.com/what-it-really-means-to-market-your-writing/


www.booksbydeanna.com  - author Deanna Klingel writes clean books with a moral theme for children. Grandparents love them. She loves writing them.

http://www.oldmp.com/  Old Mountain Press. Author Tom Davis publishes anthologies with poetry and flash fiction or memoir. In a hurry to publish your book? Tom will help you get the book out in a short time. 

Wally Avett - author of four novels based on true events in Appalachia. 

Kristen Lamb's advice for self-published authors

Kristen Lamb gives the best advice to new self-published writers in this post. Read the comments as well.

She gives us five mistakes that kill self-published authors. I agree with every one of them. She is giving her readers my talk at the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference in Blue Ridge, Georgia a couple of years ago.

She is also telling us what two small press publishers have told me this week when I interviewed them.

Here is Kristen's number one mistake:
Mistake #1 Publishing Before We Are Ready

The problem with the ease of self-publishing is that it is, well, too easy. When we are new, frankly, most of us are too dumb to know what we don’t know. Just because we made As in English, does not automatically qualify us to write a work spanning 60,000-100,000 words. I cannot count how many writers I’ve met who refuse to read fiction, refuse to read craft books, and who only go to pitch agents when they attend conferences at the expense of attending the craft sessions.

Read more of the article here.  https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/caveat-venditor-five-mistakes-killing-self-published-authors/#comment-227839

Are You a Rainmaker?

Kristen Lamb tells us what it takes to be a rainmaker.

https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/being-the-best-what-it-takes-to-be-a-rainmaker/

I like her remarks about blogging: 

"One of the reasons I recommend blogging and teach authors how to do it in my book Rise of the Machines---Human Authors in a Digital World, is blogging trains us to get out of our comfort zone. Not only are we pushing ourselves mentally, psychically, and professionally, but the sheer word count is grueling.

It is incredible training, especially for the new author.

If we look at some of the most awarded and prolific writers of the last two centuries, many of them were journalists (and blogging is actually a modern form of journalism). A journalist can't wait until the kids are in bed to write about the four-alarm fire. A journalist can't wait for a visit from the muse to detail the bombing in the train station. A journalist can't wait until her family offers emotional validation to take time to write the article due on the editor's desk."

My thoughts on blogging
Some of my favorite writers I know through their blogs. Websites are usually static with the titles of books, where to order them, etc. But a well written blog introduces me to the writer and I feel I know her personally. I will be more likely to buy her books if I like her as a person even if I don't read her genre. I can give it as a gift.

More information on publishing and marketing your writing

If you live near or within driving distance of Hayesville, NC come to our Panel Discussion on Saturday, Dec. 12, 1 - 3 p.m. where three authors will discuss their experiences in publishing and marketing. I will moderate the panel and discuss publishing poetry. This is a free event by NCWN-West a program of the North Carolina Writers' Network.