Fall 2008 Newsletter

My son, Jeremy, delivered three applications for visas to the embassy of the People's Republic of China , in Washington , DC , in the spring. He reported that his was accepted. The letter of invitation to my husband from the Chinese Academy of Sciences was needed to complete his application, and I, I was required to make a declaration that I would not engage in any writing activities while in China .

The Chinese government had been angered by investigative journalists, who had been entering the country under the pretense of tourism, only to take out their notepads and sharpened pencils to poke into what the government felt was none of their business. We were to be in China just weeks before the Beijing Olympic Games, when the pride of the country would be at stake, hence their knee-jerk reaction to my profession. Luckily, they hadn't asked Jeremy to clarify what he was a student of--the journalism masters program at the Walter Cronkite Center, in Phoenix, might have had them worried.

Visiting China has never been lurking on my list of one hundred things to do before I die. I had been begged, cajoled and persuaded to make this journey, stopping in Japan along the way. I thought about slipping out of the trip by refusing to make the declaration, but China is the biggest country in the world. It is very influential, and has a long and fascinating history. Surely anyone with pretensions of being a citizen of the world-as I like to think of myself-offered the opportunity, should see it once? So, I made my declaration and my visa was granted.

The irony is I am no hard-nosed, muck-raking journalist, but the Chinese government knew nothing of my work. I admit, some of my poems are quite scathing, but my nonfiction articles are almost always about the talents and enthusiasms of people, or the wonders of nature and history, though Jeremy swears he can imagine me sitting next to Helen Thomas, in the White House Press Room, and he has been there.

It's true, I could write some negative things about China-the appalling lack of hygienic facilities in some places in the Mekong Valley, the pollution in Beijing, the tendency of Chinese crowds to push and shove relentlessly, and the presence of claws and beaks in chicken dishes-but I'd also describe the glories of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. I'd praise the intelligent young students, who were our guides and translators, and a credit to the generosity of our hosts; the beauty of the lakes and mountains in Yunnan Province ; the charming group of village youngsters, who sang for us, in an impromptu concert, and who spoke surprisingly good English. Yes, I'd complain about the five hour wait on a plane in Beijing , because of a torrential downpour, but I'd commend how the flight attendants served food and drink, and the toilets not only didn't overflow, but remained clean.

The Chinese government was afraid of what I might write, and too insecure to risk the possibility that I might have something good to say. I heard, during the Olympics, that journalists were banned from Tiananmen Square . No one stopped me going there. The crowds milled in its vast space and took photos in that huge public space. No one tried to confiscate my camera. The Chinese guards were no more intimidating than the Italian police in St. Mark's Piazza, in Venice . I never felt anyone was checking to see if I wrote anything, or that if I did, I would be reported, but I didn't take out my notebook.

Chinese people were surprised when I explained that I was not supposed to write while in China , but they knew what their government didn't. A writer does not-cannot--switch him or herself off. It is part of who we are, what we do, to notice what others don't, and to see how it can be part of an interesting story--fiction, nonfiction or poem. Writers see something and words start shunting up and down the rails in our brains, whether it concerns the loveliness of a lotus flower, the magnificence of an ancient temple, or the misery of being a peasant in a tropical rainstorm. Without conscious effort, we start seeking words to portray what we have seen to those who have not. Just because words are not committed to paper, or screen, doesn't mean a writer is not involved with writing.

"You can write about China when you go home," said one person. Long may it be that way. Let us not take our freedom for granted. We should appreciate our ability to write about the good things and the bad things of our culture, for when we do the latter, we also demonstrate the former, and our strength.

Are you ready to kick off another Tennessee Mountain Writers' year? It won't be long before it's time for our initial event-our Fall Workshop, coming up on Saturday, November 1. Fellow TMW member (and former board member) Judy DiGregorio will be leading an all-day session on humor writing (details below). Judy's an outstanding workshop leader, so don't miss this one! It's filling up, but there is still space available and January Jumpstart won't be far behind ( January 9-11, 2009 ). Our fiction track for Jumpstart IX will be led by Cecilia Tischi, poetry by Marianne Worthington. Jumpstart is always a sure-fire way to shake off the post-holiday doldrums and get your writing juices flowing.

Then of course comes the conference, scheduled this year for the first weekend in April. Ronda Rich, syndicated columnist and author of What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should), will be our 2009 conference non-fiction leader and banquet speaker, backed up by the strong headliner team of Beverly Conner, fiction; Cathy Smith Bowers, poetry; and Lynne Berry, writing for young people-plus much more. Mark your calendar now, and watch your mailbox (and this newsletter) a little closer to the date for all the registration information.

Clearly your TMW board of directors has been hard at work getting things lined up for the year. Our returning board members this year (and a heartfelt "thank you" goes out to each of them) are Vicki Brumback, K'Cindra Cavin, Beverly and Charles Connor, Steve Dekanich, Connie Green, Wanda Grooms, Daniel Leonard, Ruth Ann Maddux, Joy Margrave, Joyce McDonald, Sue Richardson Orr, Mona Raridon, Jane Sasser, Dorothy Senn, and Wes Sims. We're happy to have two new TMW board members this year: Joni Lovegrove and Judy Van Winkle. Leaving the board in March was Valeria Steele-Roberson, who chaired our Publicity Committee last year.

It is with great sadness that I report that our friend and fellow TMW board member Linda Leonard passed away in August after a long and brave battle with cancer. Linda was a remarkable person. Her presence among us brought us joy, and we will miss her terribly. Our thoughts and our hearts are with her husband, Daniel, and her entire family.

Special thoughts also go out to board member Steve Dekanich, who underwent heart surgery in late August at Vanderbilt University Hospital . Our recent emails from Steve indicate that he's doing well and feeling much better. We can't wait to have him back with us.

I'd like to express special appreciation to past board member Margaret Pennycook for continuing to produce this newsletter. And I'd also like to express appreciation to each of you in our "TMW family," for your continued support of our events and your dedication and commitment to the art and craft of writing. I hope to see you at one of our events again soon.

-- Carol Grametbauer

United Way of Anderson County Office
161 Robertsville Rd , Oak Ridge , Tennessee

Humor columnist, Judy DiGregorio, will present a workshop that will explore the purpose of humor, review the different types of humor, find out what makes people laugh, investigate why we want to be funny, and identify possible markets for humor writing. Through some humorous readings and short writing assignments, we will discover what makes a humor writer tick and how we can make our own work funnier. Remember, laughter is the jest medicine.

Judy DiGregorio is a free lance writer from Oak Ridge who has written for Senior Living, Eva Mag, New Millennium Writings, and CityView Magazine. The author of more than 200 columns and humorous poems, her work appears in publications such as The Writer, ByLine Magazine, Senior Wire, the Army/Navy Times, and in numerous anthologies. Her 2007 publications include a story in Chicken Soup for the Beach Lovers' Soul and two stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas. A frequent speaker and presenter, Judy was recently named Best Local Writer by the Oak Ridge Observer.

The workshop will run from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. with a break at 12:15 p.m. for lunch, which is included and will be delivered. Meal options available after registration. Coffee, tea, soft drinks, and snacks before the morning sessions are included. Registration fee is $75.00. Participants will be limited to 15. Send registration form and check to TMWI address below.

This project is funded in part under an agreement with the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts

For information: http://www.tmwi.org/Fall%20Conference/2008fallworkshop.html
For registration: http://www.tmwi.org/Fall%20Conference/fallregform.html
or contact: Sue Richardson Orr at theorrs@usit.net

It's never too early to mark your calendars for January Jumpstart IX on January 9 - 11, 2009, at the Magnuson Hotel (formerly Best Western) in Sweetwater, TN, at exit 60 off I-75. Our original Jumpstart I Fiction workshop leader, Cecelia Tichi will be returning. Marianne Worthington will lead Poetry. Saturday sessions will run 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. , Sunday 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Marianne Worthington is a poet and educator living in Williamsburg , Kentucky . Her poetry chapbook, Larger Bodies Than Mine (Finishing Line Press, 2006), was included in Finishing Line's New Women's Voices series and chosen as the 2007 Appalachian Poetry Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. Her poems have won competitions sponsored by Green River Writers, Tennessee Mountain Writers, Inc., Alabama Writers Conclave, and Cookeville (TN) Writers Association. She was awarded the Sue Ellen Hudson Excellence in Writing Award from Tennessee Mountain Writers, and was a finalist in the Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Contest.

The Jumpstart fiction workshop invites writers in search of fresh ideas and those with projects already underway. We will "fast forward" our work with hands-on focus on the essentials, from character to plot to scene and setting and pay attention to the word-choice surprises that bring a reader to the edge of the cliff and the depths of the soul. We also invite participants interested in shaping real-life stories, including events of family history or episodes from U. S. or world history. Fascinating figures of the past await their moment in today's light, and bringing them forward requires the same skills as those of the novelist or short story writer. Our workshop will serve up cues and clues for effective nonfiction narrative.

Author of a dozen books, Cecelia Tichi straddles fiction and nonfiction alike. Her two mystery series, the Kate Banning and Reggie Cutter books, launch amateur sleuths into the crime-ridden back streets of Nashville and Boston . In nonfiction, her books cover American popular culture (TV) and American landmarks and events from Mount Rushmore to the Apollo moon landing. She teaches American literature and writing at Vanderbilt and has conducted workshops in fiction writing over a decade.

This project is funded in part under an agreement with the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For information: http://www.tmwi.org/Jumpstart/09jumpstart.html
For registration: http://www.tmwi.org/Jumpstart/jjregform.html
or contact: Sue Richardson Orr at theorrs@usit.net

Registration fees are $100.00 for TMW or TWA members, $110.00 nonmembers.
Participants will be limited to 20 per workshop. DEADLINE for registration is Jan. 3, 2009

The next annual conference will be held at the Doubletree Hotel, in Oak Ridge , Tennessee , April 2-4, 2009 .

Those taking part include:
Poetry- Cathy Smith Bowers
Non-fiction/Banquet Speaker - Ronda Rich
Fiction - Beverly Conner
Writing for Young People - Lynn Berry
Specialty Sessions: Keith McDaniel, scriptwriting; David Brill, freelancing; and other sessions to be announced as they are finalized.

Mark your diary and check the website for additional information. It's not too soon to start planning for the writing contests. http://www.tmwi.org/events.html

Learning Events, in conjunction with the Knoxville Writers Guild, will host a poetry workshop on November 15, 2008 , from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The instructor will be poet and teacher KB Ballentine. The workshop is limited to 16 people.

So much of our writing is based on personal experience through the lens of self. This workshop will focus on developing writing skills based on external prompts and stimuli. As we learn to look outward, we develop a whole new set of experiences from which to write and acquire a brand new “reference library.” Bring pen and paper, partial poems, complete poems, and even the “failed” poems you just can’t give up. Be ready to write, write, and write!

KB Ballentine teaches English and theatre arts to high school and college students. She has attended writing academies in both America and Britain . In 2006 she was a finalist for the Joy Harjo Poetry Award and in 2006 and 2007 was awarded a prize from the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund. Her first collection of poems, Gathering Stones, was published in 2008 by Celtic Cat Publishing.

What is memory? How many stories does it take to tell a life? Who wants to hear it? In four weekend sessions over twelve months, participants will explore the possibilities and limitations of memory, the exponential power of deliberate recall and the variety of forms memoir may take.

Mar 21 - 22, 2009    Weekend #1
Jun 27 - 28, 2009     Weekend #2
Sep 12 - 13, 2009    Weekend #3
Jan 30 - 31, 2010     Weekend #4

The cost of the workshop will be $210.00 per weekend, due two weeks before each workshop. All workshops will be held in the former Orr Mountain Winery building between Sweetwater and Madisonville , Tennessee . Sessions will run 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 - 3:00 Sunday. Morning snacks, coffee, hot tea, soft drinks, water and lunch will be provided both days. Lunch will be from 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Saturday, 11:30 - 12:30 Sunday.   Saturday night dinner will be on your own, with a suggested restaurant of the day for those who want to eat with group members.

The Magnuson Hotel, exit 60 off I-75, is offering a special rate of $58.00 per night for 1 - 2 people for course participants. Extra people are $8.00 each. Rooms at the Magnuson are equipped with refrigerators, microwaves, and wireless internet. There is an indoor pool, a hot tub and free breakfast bar. Mention Learning Events/Sue Richardson Orr when making reservations. Phone number is 423-337-3541.
** Please e-mail Sue Richardson Orr at theorrs@usit.net or call 423-420-1152 if you need more information or want to register. **      Workshop group is limited to 15.
Commitment to all 4 week-ends required.

For information and registration, go to http://www.tmwi.org/LearningEvents.html

Okay, that title is a little misleading! Learning Events, in conjunction with novelist, poet, and long-time writing coach and instructor Darnell Arnoult, has put together an 18-month course based on the Arnoult Method and her Sublime Fiction Triangle. The course is made up of six two day weekend workshops spread out over 18 months. Each workshop will focus on key steps from character development to scene construction to divining a plot, a structure, and identifying themes organically present in the characters' experience. Each workshop will be hands on. Participants will receive method materials, instruction, and will also be asked to write and read and perform creative and evaluative assignments regarding their work and the writing process. Each weekend, participants will be sent home with assignments and resources to use between workshops to take the manuscript from inception to a finished draft. The instructor will be available for encouragement and questions in the interim. Manuscript critique will be confined to discussion of process and discovery on the part of the writer and the limited laboratory and workshop readings during the six weekends. The instructor will not read manuscripts as part of the course. The goal is for participants to have a completed "learning draft" or first draft by the end of 18 months, or be well on the way to such a draft. However, reaching this goal will be dependent on the students' attendance at the workshops coupled with their follow through in the intervening weeks! Students will not be allowed to come into the course series after the first weekend, so we ask that those participants who wish to give this method a go make an informal but genuine commitment to the course for the long haul for their benefit and that of the other participants. The course is limited to 14 participants. It's like signing on for a cruise around the Cape of Good Hope . You won't reach home if you get off early!

Darnell Arnoult is the author of the award-winning poetry collection What Travels With Us, published by LSU Press, and Sufficient Grace, a novel published in hardcover and paperback by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Sufficient Grace is also available in unabridged audio from Recorded Books. Her short works have appeared in a variety of literary journals. She has been teaching writing for over 18 years at workshops and conferences including the Duke Writers Workshop and Duke Short Course Program. She teaches workshops and coaches students from all over the Southeast. Many students have written novel drafts based on her process, and some have gone on to attend the prestigious Sewanee Writers Workshop, been accepted to MFA programs, and began careers as published writers.

Each workshop listed below will be conducted with the three legs of the Sublime Fiction Triangle in mind: character, action, language.

Weekend #1: WHO ARE YOUR PEOPLE? This weekend we use photographs and questions as well as some short assignments to develop characters and get at their experience. Participants learn how to build a character from scratch or take a real person across the bridge to fictional character. Participants come to a better understanding of the artist's need to collect and to contain for later use, how to manipulate real events to shape art, how to give away pieces of experience and observation to generate a new world, and the use of "quick writes" to find the path to a larger story. We also cover the concept of writing toward a novel or story under the rubric of a "learning draft" and the role research plays in this process.

Weekend #2: WHERE THE HECK ARE WE? This weekend is a level two character development workshop, with the focus on characters and place, characters and community, and what impact place has on character and story. As we come to further understand our characters and discover new ones, we also define the space the character moves out from and the environment of the possible story. We examine the roll of dialogue and setting as a means to create an illusion of existence-verisimilitude.

Weekend #3: WARNING! SCENE STORM APPROACHING! This weekend we will hammer home the philosophies already articulated in previous workshops in this series: 1) You must write badly to write well. 2) The value of and commitment to short assignments and ugly first drafts (paraphrased from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird) is crucial. 3) Writing is an act of faith. 4) No part of this process is a waste of time, whether it ends up in your book or not.

Weekend #4: CORRAL CRITICAL MASS (OR MESS)! This weekend will be about evaluating your collected scenes and the tools related to this process. Using a mapping system to identify and organize elements within the body of the work to-date, we look for the best possible plot points, structures, and themes organically present in the work. We employ a piece of the method to identify scene purpose, value, and strength. We explore possible revelations and epiphanies. Whose story is it, really? Who should tell it, or how should it be told? Why is it important? Why does the story need to be told now? Why do the characters do what they do? We identify holes that need filling and fat and suckers that need to be cut away. In essence, we will be searching for the beating heart of a book in a partially written, very rough semblance of a novel manuscript. At this point we will also discuss the individual writers' needs regarding linier and global mapping.

Weekend #5: SUPER CHARGE YOUR MUSCLE CAR. This weekend's focus is revision at a deep level. This is not correction, but rather it is further development, deeper writing, layering of experience, adding new elements to take the work to a richer place. We are not looking under the hood to repair so much as to increase power and performance of character, action, language, plot, structure, voice, story, beginnings, endings, middles and so on.

Weekend #6: CIRCLE UP IN THE LOCKER ROOM. This weekend focuses on what is required of a writer who wants to be published, on what to do now that you have a novel draft, or are close to a novel draft. What does it mean to say you are a writer? What place does publication have in the life of a writer, if any? What is the role of rejection and revision for the writer who wants to be published? How must a writer think of revision and multiple revisions? How do you get helpful feedback? When do you know it's time to try for a public life for your work? What is a synopsis? How should it appear on the page? What should a cover letter say? How do you find an agent or an editor/publisher? What is the agent's role? Why do you need one? What can you do to collect a few planks for your platform? How does publication affect your work? How can you best approach working with an editor who has paid you for your book and now wants you to change it? How will the possible market place affect your book and your life as a writer-or just your life in general? What does it mean to be a writer as opposed to an "author"? What is a writing life, really? What happens if this novel doesn't get an agent or doesn't get published? What happens if it does get published but doesn't sell? In this final workshop, we talk about what to embrace, what to steer clear of, what to let roll off your back, and how to happily let an advanced manuscript do its job while you get back to yours.

DETAILS:
THIS WILL BE THE THIRD SESSION OF THE EXTENDED NOVEL WORKSHOPS.

WORKSHOP DATES FOR "NOVEL THREE:"

Feb 7 - 8, 2009        Weekend #1: WHO ARE YOUR PEOPLE?

May 16 - 17, 2009 Weekend #2: WHERE THE HECK ARE WE?

Aug 29 - 30, 2009 Weekend #3: WARNING! SCENE STORM APPROACHING!

Nov 21 - 22, 2009 Weekend #4: CORRAL CRITICAL MASS (OR MESS)!

Feb 27 - 28, 2010    Weekend #5: SUPER CHARGE YOUR MUSCLE CAR.

June 5 - 6, 2010      Weekend #6: CIRCLE UP IN THE LOCKER ROOM.

The cost of the workshop will be $210.00 per weekend due two weeks before each workshop. All workshops will be held in the former Orr Mountain Winery building between Sweetwater and Madisonville , Tenn. Sessions will run 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 - 3:00 Sunday. Morning snacks, coffee, hot tea, etc., will be available. We will break for lunch from 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Saturday, 11:30 - 12:30 Sunday. Soft drinks, water and lunch will be provided both days. Saturday night dinner will be on your own, with a suggested restaurant of the day for those who want to eat with group members.

The Magnuson Hotel, exit 60 off I-75, is offering a special rate of $58.00 per night for 1 - 2 people for course participants. Extra people are $8.00 each. Rooms at the Magnuson are equipped with refrigerators, microwaves, and wireless internet. There is an indoor pool, a hot tub and free breakfast bar. Mention Learning Events/Sue Richardson Orr when making reservations. Phone number is 423-337-3541.

Attendees will be asked to purchase The Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction. Learning
Events will work to have copies available for purchase at the first session. More later.
** Please e-mail Sue at theorrs@usit.net or call 423-420-1152 if you want to register. **
Workshop group is limited to 16. COMMITMENT TO ALL 6 WEEKENDS IS REQUIRED

For information and registration, go to http://www.tmwi.org/LearningEvents.html

MEMBER NEWS

Connie Green has been selected for induction into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame for "work in the category of lifetime achievement." The awards dinner, sponsored by Knox County Friends of Literacy, will be held Oct. 30, 2008 , at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Summitt Hill in Knoxville . Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Shribman will be the featured guest speaker. Other inductees are Fred Brown for Nonfiction, David Hunter for Fiction, and George Scarbrough for Poetry. Dinner tickets are available for a $100 contribution to the cause of literacy.

Connie also has a poetry review (a comparison of three poetry volumes, one of which is by Bill Brown) coming out in the next issue of Asheville Poetry Review, a poem in the Knoxville Writers' Guild's new anthology, and a poem accepted for Now & Then. She won won 3rd place in the Knoxville Writers' Guild poetry contest.

Bill Brown's new poetry book, Late Winter, has been released by Iris Press.

Jane Sasser's poetry collection, on the the aftermath of loss, Recollecting the Snow was published by March Street Press in March. It is available in Oak Ridge at The Keeping Room, the Ferrell Shop, and Mr. K's, and online from marchstreetpress.com and amazon.com. Itinerant, a second chapbook collection, was accepted by Finishing Line Press in August. Jane also won 2nd place in the Knoxville Writers' Guild's creative nonfiction competition and has had a poem accepted by The Sun.

Beverly Conners sold the audio rights to Dead Guilty to Oakhill Publishing in the UK . The same company made the audio of Dead Secret. Piatkus will publish Dead Hunt in the UK in October. The German version of Dead Secret came out a couple of months ago (from Droemer/Knaur publishers).

Wes Sims had two poems accepted for publication; "Maybe" will be published in The South Carolina Review, and "Divining Rod" in SLANT, A Journal of Poetry.

Judy DiGregorio reports "after five years of trying to get a humor book published, I finally met with some success." Life Among the Lilliputians, will be published by Celtic Cat. The book will be available to the public on December 1, but Judy says there is a prepublication offer. Celtic Cat is "offering pre-sales of the book for only $12 with free shipping until Jan. 31. If any of you think you might want to buy the book, now is the time to order it and save yourself about $4. When it comes out on Amazon.com and in the bookstores in December, it will cost $15 plus tax. If you don't want to buy the book, you will save $12 but miss a funny read!" She confesses, "It is not Shakespeare, it is not Stephen King. It is just my collection of funny stories about the life of a woman with small talents and big feet." You can place an early order at http://www.celticcatpublishing.com.

Congratulations to all for these outstanding achievements.

Your humble editor contributed three stories to the upcoming edition of Ridges, the Chamber of Commerce magazine for Oak Ridge , including an interview with Thom Mason, the new director at ORNL, another with Bill Wilcox, concerning his efforts to preserve the K25 plant, and a third with a police dog handler. None was written in China .

FROM THE EDITOR

If you have news of your writing, or news of writing events, you'd like to share send it to me at mspenners@mac.com.

Many thanks to all who contributed to the newsletter, especially Sue Richardson Orr.

Please forgive any formatting peculiarities. No matter how much time I spend in Word, trying to make the newsletter look attractive, I know that in many cases it is mangled in cyberspace. The only way to prevent this is send attachments, but there are many who do not like to receive attachments, so, in the meantime, I beg your indulgence.

This newsletter is being sent through a new database of addresses, if you receive more than one copy, or it arrives at an old address you don't want to use, or you just don't want to receive it, please explain your problem and name the TMW list you are on. I have 14 separate lists covering around one thousand names, so it helps me to find your address, to delete or change it, if you include the TMW list eg. 1TMW, 9TMW, 14TMW.