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Monday, May 29, 2006

WV Poetry Society Contest `06

WV Writers' own Fay Thompson sent in the following:

The WV Poetry Society began accepting entries for their 2006 contest on March 1. There are 36 categories this year and cash prizes to be won.

For rules and a brochure on the contest, visit the WV Poetry Society's contest website or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Linda Poe, WVPS Contest Chair, Rt. 1, Box 25, Gay WV 252244.

Contest deadline is July 10.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Monthly Open Poetry/Prose Reading in Shepherdstown (UPDATED)

Shaharazade's Tea Room of Shepherdstown,WV, is offering an open poetry/prose reading on the first Sunday of every month. Sharing, experimentation, openess are the emphasis of these readings. . .

6-8 pm
Shaharazade's Tea Room
141 W. German Street
Shepherdstown, WV

Sign up when you get there. You'll have 5-10 minutes to read. You may read your own or the work of other writers.

FUTURE DATES: June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1, November 5, December 3.

Questions? Call 876-1784

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Summer Conference Schedule and Program

Update: The schedule and program for WVWriters 2006 Summer Conference is now whole and complete. Download the Ultimate Version of them below...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Best of Ohio Writers Contest

The deadline for the Best of Ohio Writers ’06 Writing Contest is July 31, 2006!

Sponsored by Ohio Writer Magazine and Poets’ and Writers’ League of Greater Cleveland, this contest is a great opportunity for new and established Ohio-based writers.

Check out the rules and regulations and entry form at their website...

http://www.pwlgc.com/bestofOWguides.html

(Thanks to WVWriters' own Wilma Acree for the information.)

Thursday, May 18, 2006

MountainWhispers.com audio book release

MountainWhispers.com releases their 8th

"When Miners March"
The Battle of Blair Mountain
by William C. Blizzard
Performance by Ross Ballard II


Audio Drama Martinsburg, WV May 2006:

MountainWhispers.com Audiobooks proudly announces its latest exciting audio drama: "When Miners March - The Battle of Blair Mountain" - by William C. Blizzard (ISBN 0-9717801-7-X). Listeners from Alaska to Florida have gotten to know the award winning WV audio drama studio through its website and critically reviewed releases such as, Daughter of the Elm, Lost Highway, and The Great Baltimore Fire! The timing of the release runs concurrently with the nomination of Logan County's famous battle site, Blair Mountain, to the National Registry of Historic Places. The work is a painfully accurate account of coal mining in West Virginia's energy rich mountains and the realization that power and influence can be bought as easily now as it was then. Written by the son of the leader of the famous 1921 march into coal company held territory, it lays out in stark detail the struggle for survival as dozens of its main players are brought back to life.

WV Actor and Producer, Ross Ballard has captured in audiodrama the once hidden crimes committed by rich mine owners against a desperate multicultural working class. The listener will hear several of the Mountain State's notorious governors try to explain away their collusion with powerful out of state interests while men, women and children were gunned down in their tents. No matter what you've been told, here is the true story.

An exhaustive work brought to an eager audience on 7 audio-dramatic (SFx) CD's this project also highlights the passion of West Virginia's musical talent with a bonus Soundtrack CD of sixteen (16) songs honoring miners and the mining profession. Such celebrities as Hazel Dickens, Mike Morningstar, Elaine Purkey, and one of Ireland's up and coming singer/songwriter duos, Enda Cullen and Ian Smith bring their musical talent to the project.

"When Miners March - The Battle of Blair Mountain" is a limited run edition selling for $24.95.

Release Date: June 1st, 2006

Copies can be purchased on the web site (www.MountainWhispers.com) and many state bookstores. The dedication on the back cover says simply and meaningfully: "In memory of those lost at the Sago Mine Disaster"

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

BULWER-LYTTON FICTION CONTEST

News courtesy Fay Thompson...


BULWER-LYTTON FICTION CONTEST
Deadline: June 30, 2006

Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. Each entry must consist of a single sentence but you may submit as many entries as you wish.

Sentences may be of any length (though you go beyond 50 or 60 words at your peril), and entries must be "original" (as it were) and previously unpublished. Surface mail entries should be submitted on index cards, the sentence on one side and the entrant's name, address, and phone number on the other. Email entries should be in the body of the message, NOT in an attachment. If you are submitting multiple entries, please include them in one message.

Entries will be judged by categories, from "general" to detective, western, science fiction, romance, and so on. There will be overall winners as well as category winners. The official deadline is April 15 (a date that Americans associate with painful submissions and making up bad stories). The actual deadline may be as late as June 30. The contest accepts submissions every day of the livelong year.

Wild Card Rule: Resist the temptation to work with puns like "It was a stark and dormy night."

Send your entries to:

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Department of English
San Jose State University
San Jose, CA 95192-0090

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Barbara Smith releases new book of poetry

Demonstrative Pronouns: Poetry by Barbara Smith is a brand new book by WV Writers, Inc.'s own Barbara Smith and published by the excellent people at Mountainechoes Books.

This volume will be available at the WV Writers Conference, from the author (457-3038), or the publisher (265-1021)

Morgantown Poetry Slam

From the Morgantown Association of Poets, courtesy of Terry McNemar:

The next poetry slam hosted by Tamara Woods will be held @10 p.m. this Wednesday at Fuel on Walnut St. in Morgantown. There is a $4 cover for the chance to win a $75 bar tab. There will also be some acoustic music for the crowd.

It is a two-round event and the audience decides the winner. For more information contact Tamara at: tamara.woods@gmail.com.

Monday, May 15, 2006

WVU Grant Proposal Writing Workshop

THE GRANT INSTITUTE
GRANTS 101:

Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop to be held at West Virginia State University, Institute, West Virginia, Erickson Alumni Center, Grand Hall, July 26 - 28, 2006, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The Grant Institute’s Grants 101 Course is an intensive and detailed introduction to the process, structure, and skill of professional proposal writing. This course is characterized by its ability to act as a thorough overview, introduction, and refresher at the same time. In this course, participants will learn the entire proposal writing process and complete the course with a solid understanding of not only the ideal proposal structure, but a holistic understanding of the essential factors, which determine whether or not a program gets funded. Through the completion of interactive exercises and activities, participants will complement expert lectures by putting proven techniques into practice. This course is designed for both the beginner looking for a thorough introduction and the intermediate looking for a refresher course that will strengthen their grant acquisition skills. This class, simply put, is designed to get results by creating professional grant proposal writers.

Participants will become competent program planning and proposal writing professionals after successful completion of the Grants 101 course. In three active and informative days, students will be exposed to the art of successful grant writing practices, and led on a journey that ends with a masterful grant proposal.

Grants 101 consists of three (3) courses that will be completed during the three-day workshop.

FUNDAMENTALS OF PROGRAM PLANNING
This course is centered on the belief that “it’s all about the program.” This intensive course will teach professional program development essentials and program evaluation. While most grant writing “workshops” treat program development and evaluation as separate from the writing of a proposal, this class will teach students the relationship between overall program planning and grant writing.

PROFESSIONAL GRANT WRITING
Designed for both the novice and experienced grant writer, this course will make each student an overall proposal writing specialist. In addition to teaching the basic components of a grant proposal, successful approaches, and the do’s and don’ts of grant writing, this course is infused with expert principles that will lead to a mastery of the process. Strategy resides at the forefront of this course’s intent to illustrate grant writing as an integrated, multidimensional, and dynamic endeavor. Each student will learn to stop writing the grant and to start writing the story. Ultimately, this class will illustrate how each component of the grant proposal represents an opportunity to use proven techniques for generating support.

GRANT RESEARCH
At its foundation, this course will address the basics of foundation, corporation, and government grant research. However, this course will teach a strategic funding research approach that encourages students to see research not as something they do before they write a proposal, but as an integrated part of the grant seeking process. Students will be exposed to online and database research tools, as well as publications and directories that contain information about foundation, corporation, and government grant opportunities. Focusing on funding sources and basic social science research, this course teaches students how to use research as part of a strategic grant acquisition effort.

REGISTRATION
$597.00 tuition includes all materials and certificates.
Each student will receive:

The Grant Institute Certificate in Professional Grant writing
The Grant Institute’s Guide to Successful Grant Writing
The Grant Institute Grant Writer’s Workbook with sample proposals, forms, and outlines

REGISTRATION METHODS

1) On-Line -Visit www.thegrantinstitute.com and click on the Registration area. Fill out the online registration form completely. We’ll send your confirmation by e-mail.

2) By Phone - Call toll free (888) 824 - 4424 to register by phone. Our friendly Program Coordinators will be happy to assist you and answer your questions.

3) By E-mail - Send an e-mail with your name, organization, and basic contact information to info@thegrantinstitute.com and we will reserve your slot and send your Confirmation Packet.

(Thanks to Fay Thompson for forwarding this to the WV Writers Roundtable.)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

2006 CONFERENCE NEWSFLASH!!!

Author Lee Maynard will be one of the featured workshop leaders of the 2006 WV Writers Summer Conference.

We go now to region 9 representative Terry McNemar for more on this breaking news story...

The appearance of the novel, Crum in 1988 stirred deep feelings. Lee Maynard, a native of Crum (Wayne County), West Virginia, spins a sometimes shocking, often outrageous, always irreverent tale of a young man's rebellion against the people and the place which have surrounded his life. Part Huckleberry Finn and part The Red and the Black, the story is ultimately not about the town of Crum, but about the need to reject the comfort and familiarity of home and find a place in the larger world. At the same time, Crum is a touching and humorous look at small-town life, and at the peculiar rituals of male adolescence. Since its highly successful first publication, this novel has become something of an underground classic, with used copies now scarce and costly.

The sequel to Crum, Screaming with the Cannibals gets its title when the central character of Crum, whose Christian name is revealed in this novel, finds himself in an evangelical service in Kentucky on the other side of the Tug River from his native West Virginia. As the folks touched by the Spirit rave and howl, he remembers how, back in Crum, the folks used to tell him to stay on his side of the river, because the people on the other side were known to eat their children. And now, here he is in a Kentucky holy-roller church, screaming right along with the cannibals.

Since the first novel, our protagonist has visited the West Virginia holler where his family lived before he moved up to the greater sophistication of Crum, and there he discovers that his favorite uncle has disappeared from the face of the earth in a moon-shining accident. He then meets the girl who makes the earth -- or at least the hay loft -- move for him and, quite literally, he falls for her. From there he goes to Kentucky, and then to Myrtle Beach, where he gets hired as a life guard, although he cannot swim a stroke.

Not since August (or so) of 2003 when the 'Outlaw Writers Tour' of Chuck Kinder and Lee Maynard came to a close, has such literary genius and insight been run out of so many towns.

Well, thanks to Geoff Fuller and the hard work the WV Writers, Inc. board, the stars of the outlaw writers tour, Lee Maynard and Chuck Kinder will be presenting separate sessions and hanging out at the Annual Conference at Cedar Lakes.

I strongly urge you to send your reservations a.s.a.p. This is a rare opportunity to see, hear, and learn from these and other terrific presenters. If you were on the fence about attending this years conference, you should be off and running. Like they say in Napa Valley, this will be a very, very good year.


Thanks Terry!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Good Old Days submission guidelines

Good Old Days magazine and Good Old Days Specials are monthly and bi-monthly publications, respectively, that tell the real stories of people who lived and grew up in "the good old days" (about 1920-1958). Most of the contributors to these publications are not professional writers by trade, just people with a good story to tell in their own unique voice. If you have a story to tell or know someone who would be ideal to the job, the submission guidelines can be found at the following link...

http://goodolddaysonline.com/pages/magazineinfo.html

Thanks go out to WV Writers member Stan Higley for the information.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Creative Nonfiction Magazine, submission guidelines

What is Creative Nonfiction? Well, it's not necessarily what James Frey thinks it is. It's the writing of non-fiction tales using scenes, details, dialogue and other techniques usually employed by poets and writers of prose fiction. If that's your thing, there's a magazine called Creative Nonfiction devoted to publishing it. If you'd like their submission guidelines, please visit the following link.

http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/submittocnf.htm


Thanks go out to WV Writers member Stan Higley for the information.

Monday, May 08, 2006

War Poetry Contest

Announcing the fifth annual War Poetry Contest. Submit 1-3 unpublished poems on the theme of war, up to 500 lines in all. $3,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,500.

Sponsored by Winning Writers, one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). Judge: Jendi Reiter. Entry fee: $12. Postmark deadline: May 31.

Submit online or by mail. Click for Guidelines

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Henry Palek signing in Morgantown

Courtesy of Region 9 rep, T.W. McNemar.

Next weekend, author Henry Palek and others will be signing and being bookish at: Barnes and Noble; 3000 University Towne Centre Dr., Morgantown.

When: May 13, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Go on up an say, “Hey.”

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Robert W. Walker e-publications

NEWS RELEASE --
Contact: Robert W. Walker
RobertWWalker.com

Robert W. Walker, author of 44 novels of suspense and terror has re-issued 12 previously published titles in eBook format via FictionWise, and he is publishing a never-before-published supernatural thriller with Amazon.com. Details follow:

"My novel... FleshWar will be serialized beginning end of this week via Amazon.com\shorts program," Roberts says. "For a mere 49 cents each installment of approx. 10, 000 words of this novel that was too fast and too ugly for NYC publishers can be had -- the sequel to Fire and Flesh, yet it stands alone just fine. Secondly is the news that my horror series featuring the coolest modern day Van Helsing type character out there, archeologist Abraham Stroud -- once called the Geoffrey Caine books -- are being put out via FictionWise, the best E-book publisher in the business in multiformat form, including Read Aloud. The series is now entitled BloodScreams, and the titles are: Vampire Dreams, Werewolf Grief, and Zombie Eyes."

Find them at: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/RobertWWalkereBooks.htm

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Funniest Family Member Contest (Deadline July 31, 06)

Thanks to WV Writers member Tovli Simiryan for the contest info.

ReadingWriters FUNNIEST FAMILY MEMBER contest
DEADLINE: July 31, 2006


Summer is just around the bend, and you know what that means: graduations, weddings, vacations or some other event that's going to bring you face-to-face with … your family! Sounds like the perfect time to share a laugh. Who's the funniest person in your tribe? Tell us about one occasion, in story form, when she or he had you howling.

ENTRY FEE: $5
LENGTH: Up to 1,000 words
GRAND PRIZE: One hundred bucks, three months publication on our website and an autographed copy of Tim Bete's hilarious book, In The Beginning … There Were No Diapers

Please visit our website for complete details.
http://www.readingwriters.com/contest.htm

Monday, May 01, 2006

Tony Hillerman Writers' Conference

If you believe in cowboys, Indians, CSI, and mystery you might be interested in the Tony Hillerman Writers' Conference, November 2-5, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For more info: http://www.sfworkshops.com/hillerman.htm