Newsletter
Winter 2007
If a week is a long time in politics, how long is twenty years for a writer? As Tennessee Mountain Writers President, Carol Grametbauer, noted in our last edition, the next TMW conference, to be held
When I was twenty years old, two decades comprised my entire existence. I thought it had taken forever to reach, which it had: my whole life. Once it became a third, a half, or even less a fraction of my past, I understood that any double decade includes memories of all kinds, good, bad, happy and sad.
At the time of the first TMW Conference, I had two young sons and much of my reading consisted of books about dinosaurs, penguins and talking steam engines that behaved like silly schoolboys. My writing only rarely stretched beyond printing my sons' names on clothes and shoes, words for them to copy, or the stories they made up themselves.
When my older son was a baby, I had agreed to write a weekly column, for The Oak Ridger, on childbirth education. Using that ancient machine, a manual typewriter, carbon paper, and white-out, I somehow managed the feat, moving the baby from the swing to the floor, form the floor to the walker, but with two at home most of the time, I was too preoccupied to be interested in putting my thoughts on paper. Writing was still a hobby. It had yet to be who I was.
Yet, two recent events had begun to put pressure on my writer's button. The death of my father-in-law, on Election Day, 1988, had presented me the task of discussing the natural process of death with a five year old. Three months later my mother died. Both these events lived in my thoughts in quite different ways, and eventually rose to the point of insisting to be written.
I wrote an essay about my mother's life and death, and entered it in to a competition held by the Oak Ridge YWCA. It won an honorable mention. It was also through the YWCA that the second project developed. Through the organization, Raven Parris offered a four-week, evening writing class. Using exercises and suggestions she offered, I reworked a story I had begun about a five-year-old learning of death and its place in nature. Raven also mentioned a writers' conference to be held at the Garden Plaza Hotel, in
Writers, I attended.
I'm not sure which year that was. I know it wasn't the first TMW conference, but it might have been the second, or the third, and I've been to most since. From those early days, I remember the friendliness of the TMW family, especially Pat Hope, Connie Green, Sue Ellen Hudson, Jo Stafford and Betty and Mike Roe. One of those years, Becky Lee Weyrich, the Queen of the Supernatural Romance, swept in, and with her kindness, convinced me I was a writer. I learnt much, and received encouragement, from Steve Womack, Eddie Francisco, Sydney Lea, Marilyn Kallet, Cathy Smith Bowers, Katherine Stripling Byers and. Between them, they offered guidance and inspiration in fiction, lyrical nonfiction and poetry. Some speakers taught mechanics, others business, and some simply inspired. I met friends, too, among my fellow attendees; people with whom I could share the highs and lows of the writing life. Men and women who came from a huge variety of backgrounds and experiences, but who, like me harbored the spirit of a writer. In the meantime, I've published some poems, many articles, on subjects ranging from opera to marble production, and won a few more prizes. I've also had the honor of serving on the TMW Board, for three years. I now compose on the computer, most of the time, and often submit through cyberspace; no more rushing to the newspaper office at the last moment, hard copy in hand.
I wonder what you were doing in your writing life, nineteen or twenty years ago. How has writing changed for you in that time? Did you attend the first conference? When was your first TMW conference? Do you remember the speakers? Did they, or fellow conference attendees, make an impact on your writing life? If you'd like to share your memories, send them to me, mspenners@mac.com, and I'll mention some of them in the next newsletter. Don't forget to register for the twentieth TMW Conference and join in the celebration.
Margaret Pennycook
Newsletter Editor
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President's Message
As the holidays approach, our to-do lists get longer and longer, but please squeeze in one more item: a reminder to yourself to register for January Jumpstart. If you've never participated in Jumpstart, let me just say it's a wonderful way to, well, jumpstart your writing agenda for the New Year. And if you have, it's likely that no additional encouragement is necessary. (See registration information and an unexpected change in the program, just below.)
Watch your snail-mail boxes for the 2008 Annual Conference brochure, coming soon. (All the information will also be on our web site, www.tmwi.org.) We have an outstanding slate of presenters for this conference, featuring award-winning novelist Terry Kay, who will lead our fiction workshops; and Peter Jacobi, former professor and associate dean of the Medill School of Journalism at
Until we see each other in 2008, I hope that your holidays are filled with family, friends, and all of the special joys of the season.
-- Carol Grametbauer
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Upcoming Events
present
January Jumpstart VIII
Sue Richardson Orr reports an important change to January Jumpstart VIII. Due to unexpected circumstances, Cecelia Tichi is unable to present the Fiction Workshop. TMW's She has been replaced by J. T. Ellison. Bill Brown is still the Poetry Workshop Leader. TMW apologizes for any inconvenience.
Sue also says the poetry section is filling up, from January 11 - 13, 2008, at the at the Magnuson Hotel, formerly the Best Western Motel, in Sweetwater, TN, at exit 60 off I-75, and to register as soon as possible for either session. Saturday sessions will run 9:00 a.m.-12:00 and 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., Sunday session 8:30 a.m. -11:30 a.m.
J.T. Ellison was a Presidential Appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce before moving into the private sector. After moving to
Bill Brown has published six collections of poems: Holding On By Letting Go, What the Night Told Me, The Art of Dying, The Gods of Little Pleasures, Yesterday's Hay and Tatters, released in March, 2007. During the past twenty years, he has published hundreds of poems and articles in college journals, magazines, and anthologies. In 1995 the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts named him Distinguished Teacher in the Arts. He has been a Scholar in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, a Fellow at the
This project is funded in part under an agreement with the
Registration fees are $100.00 for TMW or TWA members, $110.00 nonmembers. Coffee, tea, soft drinks, and donuts before the morning sessions and Saturday lunch are included.
OPTIONAL CATERED DINNER BUFFET SATURDAY NIGHT ON SITE AT
Participants will be limited to 20 per workshop. DEADLINE for registration is
or contact: Sue Richardson Orr - email: theorrs@usit.net
REGISTRATION FORM - print and mail in with check.
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TMW/TWA JANUARY JUMPSTART VIII - Fri, Jan 11 - Sun, Jan 13, 2008
Name ___________________________ Check one: fiction __ poetry __
Street ______________________________
City/State/zip code__________________________
Phone _______________ e-mail __________________
Please make checks to TMW: DINNER _______ Workshop ___________
TWA membership $25.00 TMW membership $10.00 Total amount enclosed ________
Mail to: TMW/January Jumpstart 2008
P.O. Box 5435
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-5435
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In the past, we have eaten at the nearby Cracker Barrel, but this location is closing, so we are offering an optional catered dinner on Saturday night for $15.50, tip included. Menu: Barbecue chicken, beef tips with mushroom gravy, 2 cheeses mashed potatoes, fresh vegetable medley, salad, cherry cobbler, coffee, tea, water. We need advance reservations for the dinner by
Sue Richardson Orr
Chair, Special Events Committee
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The conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel, in
FICTION
Terry Kay is an Award-winning novelist and screenwriter from
BANQUET SPEAKER
Peter Jacobi is professor emeritus and visiting Riley professor at Indiana University's School of Journalism, and former professor and associate dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. His journalistic background spreads across the print and broadcast fields. His work has appeared in numerous publications.
NONFICTION
Anne Shelby, is the author of newspaper columns, plays, essays, and children's books, as well as poetry. Her plays have been widely produced. She has published five books for children. Her popular columns have appeared over a number of years in The Lexington Herald-Leader and other
POETRY
Maurice Manning has published three books of poetry. His poems have been published in numerous journals. He has held writing fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center, in
EDITING
Ron Pitkin is President of Cumberland House Publishing,
WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Patricia Lee Gauch is vice president and editor at large of Philomel Books as well as a respected author in her own right. She holds a doctorate in English literature, and has taught children's literature on the college level and reviewed for The New York Times. Patti has edited three Caldecott Medal winning books, and written thirty-nine books for young readers.
Gloria Ballard enjoyed a 32-year career in journalism as a feature writer and editor at The Tennessean in
Jimmy Carl Harris is a retired Marine Corps Sergeant Major with a doctorate from the
Valeria Steele Roberson is a native Oak Ridger and currently teaches in the Humanities Department at
Dorothy Senn is an award-winning journalist whose career has included work as a reporter, feature writer, and editor for newspapers in
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This project is funded in part under an agreement with the
Additional information: please check our website: www.tmwi.org
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Contests
TMW contest deadline is February 1. 2008. There are five adult categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, inspirational, and writing for young people. The Sue Ellen Hudson Award for Excellence in Writing will be chosen from the first place winners of these categories. There are two student categories: poetry and prose. Please encourage your local high schools to enter this competition. It's a great way to encourage budding talent. See the website-tmwi.org--for more information and RULES.
Don Williams has extended the deadline for his latest competition, at New Millennium Writings to
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Member News
Alex Gabbard received a phone call, a couple of months ago, from the managing editor of Writer's Digest Magazine, bringing the big news that his book, Gaspee, won the 2007 judging for Mainstream Literary Fiction among thousands of entries and three rounds of judging. Gaspee is his 17th book and third Book of the Year recipient. There is full coverage scheduled for the March issue (available in February).
For more information, visit <http://www.alexgabbard.com>www.alexgabbard.com
In the same competition, the 76th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition, Elsie Schmied Knoke received an Honorable Mention, in the Mainstream/Literary Short Story category. The editor told her that this year's contest attracted over 19,000 entries, and so she feels honored to be among the 100 chosen to receive awards. Elsie also won first place and first honorable mention for prose in the Grandmother Earth 2007 National Writing Awards.
Marilyn Kallet will be kept busy with what she calls "a double header," launching two books this weekend, at Carpe Librum books, on Kingston Pike, in
Jack the Healing Cat, a children's book from Iris Publishing Group, will be launched on
The Movable Nest: A Mother Daughter Companion, a mother/daughter book, edited by Marilyn and former TMW Conference presenter, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, is a multi-genre, multicultural anthology of nonfiction essays, poetry, stories, and letters. It focuses on mothers and college-bound daughters saying goodbye to one another. From Helicon Nine editions, it will be launched on
KB Ballentine's, first collection of poems, Gathering Stones, will be released by Celtic Cat Publishing, in February 2008. Gathering Stones is a trilogy concerned with the folklore and history of
Jane Sasser won first place in the category of "I Really Shouldn't Tell You This" from the Kentucky State Poetry Society for her poem "Getting My Story Straight." Another of Jane's poems, "Renaissance," has been accepted by Appalachian Heritage for their winter issue. She is also in the process of publishing a chapbook called Recollecting the Snow, which will be printed by March Street Press, release date to be announced.
Sue Richardson Orr's piece "A Prayer" has been accepted for inclusion in the
Judy DiGregorio's humorous work will also appear in the Knoxville Writers' Guild 2007 Christmas anthology. Judy has published many articles and stories during the year. Two of her stories appear in the 2007 Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas, a follow-up to her inclusion in Chicken Soup for the Beach Lovers' Soul. The November issue of ByLine Magazine features an essay that won her 2nd place in the ByLine Short Article Contest. No wonder The Oak Ridge Observer recently named Judy as Best Local Writer in their Top of the Ridge section.
Connie Green has been speaking these past three weeks at
What an impressive group of writers belong to the TMW family. Congratulations to them all, and may they inspire the rest of us to find ways to present our work to the world, not just lurking on files in our computers. If you have some writing achievements to share, please email me at mspenners@mac.com.
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