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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Morgantown Poets Poetry Contest still open til June 4

The famous and fearless spokesman of The Morgantown Poets, Scott Emerson has decreed there's still time to enter their poetry contest.$150 in prize money awaits. Check it out!!!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144911195578159

As part of its annual fundraising campaign, Monongalia Arts Center and Morgantown Poets are having their first-ever poetry contest. For a $5 entrance fee per poem, area poets will have a chance to win prize money as well as receive an invitation to read their work at our fundraiser event on Saturday, June 18.

Poets of all ages and levels of experience are encouraged to submit their work.

The prize amounts are: 1st Place: $75

2nd Place: $50

3rd Place: $25

There will also be 3 honorable mentions.

Additional details and contest rules are below. If you have any questions stop by the Morgantown Poets page on Facebook or email us at morgantownpoets@yahoo.com.

Monongalia Arts Center and Morgantown Poets are committed to supporting area writers with free literary events for the public. We sincerely hope you’ll help us continue to make this possible.

Stay tuned for details on our upcoming fundraiser event--we’re planning something special!

CONTEST RULES

1. Submit poems by mail to:

Scott Emerson

PO Box 244

Nemacolin PA 15351

Be sure to include your name, mailing address, and email address.

2. As the contest is part of Morgantown Poets’ annual fundraiser, a $5 entrance fee must accompany each submission. Cash, checks, and money orders (payable to Scott Emerson) are accepted. You may submit as many poems as you wish, however a $5 entrance fee must accompany each poem.

3. Poems may be any style or length. Morgantown Poets does not believe in placing restrictions on subject matter, but we reserve the right to disqualify any entry that is, or appears to be, hateful, libelous, or otherwise harmful.

4. Winners will be invited to read their poem at the Morgantown Poets fundraiser event at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC) on Sat, June 18. Reading at the event is NOT a condition of receiving prize money, but we do encourage authors to share their work.

5. Poems may be submitted from April 25 to June 4, 2011. Any entries received after the deadline, or do not have a corresponding entrance fee, will be disqualified.

6. Winners will be announced by email no later than June 11, 2011.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Poetry Reading on Saturday

Come out to the Wild Bean Coffee Shop in downtown Lewisburg on Saturday, May 28, for coffee and some powerful poetry produced by your fellow community members. The featured poet will be Tim Lockridge. Tim is finishing his doctorate at Virginia Tech, has been published in numerous places online and in print, and is the instructor for the writing workshop whose participants will be among the night's performers.

There will also be a few slots available for you to read your own work, if you are so inclined. There is no charge for the reading, but be sure to purchase some snacks and beverages from the Wild Bean, as they are being extremely gracious in hosting us. If you have any interest in the workshop itself, please call 304-667-7576 for more information (the workshop is also Saturday, from 1:30pm to 5:30pm). This will be a wonderful community event and another reason why Lewisburg is the Coolest Small Town on the planet!

Presented by High Rocks Education Corporation, the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the Wild Bean

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Woodland Press authors to appear in Charleston

This Friday, May 27th, Borders Express, at Charleston Town Center, presents West Virginia Writers members and Woodland Press authors: Brian J. Hatcher and Frank Larnerd. The event is being held from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Members of West Virginia Writers are encouraged to attend.

Monday, May 23, 2011

How to Get the Most Out of a Writing Conference by Ben LeRoy, Tyrus Publishing

(This article was originally written by Ben LeRoy of Tyrus Publishing. Mr. LeRoy will be one of our featured guests at the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference.)


How to get the most out of a writing conference

Ben Leroy

Writing conferences can be a good opportunity for aspiring writers to learn about writing technique, get an understanding of the publishing business, and meet with agents and publishers. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your conference experience.

(1) Attend as many panels/workshops as possible. There are no excuses for sleeping in or catching any early lunch. You've paid your money to learn, you owe it to yourself to do it.

(2) Meet people. This isn't limited to just the panelists and lecturers, but also your fellow writers. It's a good chance to put together a writing group that will last longer than the conference. If it's a genre specific conference, you're even more fortunate-the people you're meeting like the same things you do.

(3) Remember that agents and publishers are people, too. If you've got a chance to pitch your project directly to a professional, don't be intimidated. It's just another person on the other side of the table. A relaxed and focused approach makes a much better lasting impression than a nervous rehearsed pitch. Also remember, that as people, agents and publishers may need private time or time with colleagues. If you see an agent eating lunch or in a conversation, you should respect her time and wait to approach her.

Get as much as you can out of the conference and remember always that publishing is a two-way street. Agents and publishers need new writers as much as new writers need agents and publishers. Write a good book, come prepared, and you'll have done plenty to distance yourself from your peers.

Best of luck!

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Sarah Dooley

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present a video of Sarah Dooley author of the book "Livvie Owen Lived Here," as she speaks at Texas A&M University-Commerce on Nov.4, 2010. Sarah will be conducting two workshops for us at the 2011 Summer Conference. She will also be a guest on this coming weekend's WV Writers Podcast.



Saturday, May 21, 2011

Q&A with Literary Agent Katharine Sands, by Belinda Anderson

(The following article featuring a q&a with Katharine Sands was conducted by writer Belinda Anderson exclusively for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference. Katharine Sands and Belinda Anderson will be featured presenters at the conference this year.)

The workshop description for “The Reinvented Writer” sounds promising to writers seeking publication: “ … what to do – and what not to do – when you set out to win a literary agent.” Even better, the presenter, literary agent Katharine Sands, will accept pitches from the attendees of this year’s West Virginia Writers’ conference.

Sands, from the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York, also will participate in a panel discussion, “Secrets of the Trade,” about attracting agents and publishers.

She learned of the conference through a familiar WVW conference figure, agent Christine Witthohn, whom she met at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy. “Christine recently sold five debut novels in as many months,” Sands says. “This underscores my core belief that there is talent everywhere, and I am happy to scour the country looking for it!”

Why you? Why now? Those are the questions writers should be ready to answer in a pitch, which Sands compares to speed dating. “The best pitches give off sparks, create a moment, or pose a provocative question, just to give a taste of the project,” Sands wrote in a recent blog.

In her book Making the Perfect Pitch, Sands expands upon the concept: “Writing is solitary, publishing is collaborative. The key point is to understand is that you want to get others excited about what is exciting to you.”

Sands offered in Writer’s Digest etiquette advice for in-person meetings: “At a conference, many writers react badly to being critiqued. If you are ready for an agent meeting, steady yourself for the hot seat. Best use of the time is to understand where and why the agent suggests next steps about what to do before readying for publishers, and to listen to feedback that is valuable (whether or not it's agreeable).”

Writers also need to be prepared with a platform. Sands, in an article for The Writer, explains the term platform as a promotional plan that sets the stage for a book to reach as many readers as possible. “It’s comparable to running for office; you must ask for their votes,” she says. Here’s a portion of a checklist she prepared for The Writer:

  • Do you write regularly for magazines, newspapers or journals in which you can promote your book?
  • Do you have access to academic of other venues where you can give a lecture related to your topic?
  • Do you have a Web site where you can promote the book and answer questions related to the book’s topic?
  • Do you have avocations, hobbies or other interests related to your book? If so, can you write an article for its magazine or newsletter?

In her WVW workshop, “The Reinvented Writer,” Sands will go into more detail on how writers can succeed in the new media and literary marketplace, focusing on both craft and career. She promises seven surefire techniques to get a manuscript out of the slushpile.

Various web sites cite particular categories of interest to Sands, but she says, “When it comes to working with writers I do not like to limit my thinking. When writers ask me what I might be looking for in a client, I always say 'fire in the belly' because as a writer you must always be an impassioned ambassador for your book.”

Sands offers reassurance to writers who worry about the turmoil in the publishing industry and wonder what the consolidation of publishing houses and the growing electronic alternatives mean to authors’ futures: “My advice to writers is not to become too focused on industry trends, and how conglomerates (The Big Six) are operating....I think this is less useful for writers than many agents might suggest.

“Deal points and new editor hires are the agent's job to follow, not the writer's. It will not make your writing more interesting to understand the complex structure of a publishing behemoth (which is nearly impossible anyway), and this tends to steer newcomers in all the wrong directions. Why? Because an agent/editor is evaluating your ability, not your knowledge of the industry. And each author's how-I-got-published story is specific to that author's project and circumstances of the sale/publication.

“The fast-changing landscape of publishing affects authors, of course, but writers will always need to approach the literary marketplace with an entrepreneurial spirit and boundless optimism, tempered with an eye on what is relevant to what they uniquely offer.”

Interview with Ben LeRoy of Tyrus Publishing

(This is the extended interview conducted by Geoff Fuller with publisher Ben LeRoy. Mr. LeRoy will be one of our featured guests at the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference.)


We’re pleased that Benjamin LeRoy, an acclaimed publisher and writer, will be on the faculty this year at the West Virginia Writers annual conference in June, where he will share his experiences with writing and publishing. In 2001, LeRoy founded Bleak House Books, which specialized in crime and dark literary fiction. He sold later sold Bleak House to Big Earth Publishing in 2005 and went on to found Tyrus Books with Alison Janssen. Bleak House continues as an imprint of Big Earth and Tyrus now publishes 15-20 books a year.

LeRoy was cited by Publishers Weekly in 2008 in their “Fifty Under Forty” series for the novels he has published with Bleak House. Together, books published by Bleak House and Tyrus have won or been nominated for many crime fiction awards, the Edgar, the Shamus, the Anthony, and the Barry among them.

On the Publisher’s Marketplace website, LeRoy writes about what he is looking for in novels submitted to Tyrus:

We publish books that usually involve a crime. Most of those books feature protagonists who are pretty much regular folks who get their world turned upside down by the violence of unexpected situations.

More than likely you won't find a kung fu expert, a super intelligent spy, a Mafia boss, a police detective, or a doctor bent on saving the world in any of our books.

We believe the power in books lies in their ability to transfer the human condition from author to reader. An insight into life. A feeling of being less alone in the world. All of that, no doubt, sounds pretentious, but it doesn't change the facts of the matter—that's what we publish.

In his copious free time, LeRoy is working on a novel, and as part of The Bagmen Collective, he is contributing to several media projects that mix words, audio, and video. Despite his busy schedule, LeRoy recently agreed to a brief discussion of his publishing efforts with Geoff Fuller, longtime member of WVW.

At Tyrus Books, you’re looking for crime novels that deal with “crime and its repercussions.” Put aside for a moment the usual potential repercussions of crime in crime fiction—police, lawyers, jails, and so forth. What other types of repercussions that turn up in manuscripts submitted to Tyrus most interest you?

As off point as it may be, I’m rarely interested in the whodunit or the forensics of solving a crime. I care more about the survivors and the peripheral characters at the heart of any jarring crime. We’ve seen so much television, watched so many movies, that by the end of the first act we have a feeling of how things are going to go—the bad guy will be busted, the good guy will triumph, justice will be done. And that’s all well and good from a macro point of view, but what about the fringe characters? What about the family of the perpetrator? The family of the victim? How are those people going to get up in the morning after the fire has burned out and the smoke has cleared? That is the kind of thing I’m fascinated by.

What types of repercussions in stories that have been submitted to Tyrus have most surprised you?

One of the more heartbreaking examples would be in Lynn Kostoff’s novel, Late Rain. The novel’s central crime is the murder of a soft-drink mogul. The reader knows the perpetrator right away because there’s a witness to the crime. Unfortunately, that witness has Alzheimer’s and he’s unable to pull the details together for the cops. What sort of hurt is there when the possibility of closure is right there but thwarted by the ravages of old age—a familiar enough issue that we all have to deal with at some point in life. What happens then? What if it isn’t ever clean?

Tyrus Books is named for Tyrus Raymond Cobb, who played professional baseball from 1905 to 1928. In one of the regular commentaries you write for the Huffington Post, you said that he was one of the “guideposts” you use when you evaluate fiction. How so? Can you elaborate on how Ty Cobb—his life, the way he played baseball—helps you choose fiction?

Cobb casts a large shadow on my life, not simply for his exploits on the baseball diamond (arguably the greatest player of his generation), but for the way he can’t be synthesized into any particular box. Great baseball player? Yes. Societal malcontent? By most accounts, yes. A player like Cobb, no matter how skilled, would never be celebrated in today’s media world based on even a tenth of the things he was accused of doing off the field, and in some cases in the stands.

He played the game and lived his life with great passion and seemingly without apology. Many people are inspired or work hard at their craft, Cobb took that to a different level. I don’t know how much of it is now just the product of apocryphal legend, but the general story is that Cobb lived the way he did because his father told him to “never come home a failure” when the younger Cobb set out to play minor league baseball. Before he could come home a baseball success, Cobb’s mother gunned down his father in either a deliberate murder or because she feared he was a prowler. The one person who could give Cobb validation was dead, and at his own mother’s hands. Can you imagine?

What length would any of us go to in search of validation when we know we can never have it handed to us? Some folks would give up. For others, it would only fuel the obsession. Cobb certainly falls into the second category, and he does so with great force.

So, on the one hand, he fills the role of a tragically damned character to me. The kind of person I’d like to read about—whose head I’d like to try occupying on the page. A person welded to family even under sordid circumstances. A person who can never escape the whispers and the gossip.

On another hand, I like the idea of such fierce determination when it comes to doing the things we love, even to the exclusion of what would otherwise be considered a normal life. You can see that kind of thing in a person’s eyes. It means taking chances. It means that sometimes people might think you’re crazy, but you move forward at full speed.

That being the case, I feel like we take on books that might otherwise get passed over. If I wanted to make it more dramatic than it really is, I’d say that’s part of the parallel. We publish, without apology, books that are great but outside of the conventional commercial lines. The way that makes it sound, it’s terribly more outlaw than it is, but a book, for instance, like Angela S. Choi’s debut, Hello Kitty Must Die, was an obvious choice for us, but it was a book that had been passed on by NYC. When it made Los Angeles Times’ book reviewer Sarah Weinman’s best of 2010 list she said:

Nobody but Tyrus Books could have published Choi’s debut, which has one of the most memorable opening chapters I have ever read. But who cares if the majors didn’t want to touch HELLO KITTY with a hundred-foot pole, this book has its audience - and I am certainly among the enthusiasts. Again from my LAT column: “The real triumph of HELLO KITTY MUST DIE is that it refuses to apologize for Fiona’s behavior and never offers clear-cut explanations for her pole slide down into amoral adventure.”

You have cited the memoir Shot in the Heart, by Mikal Gilmore, which is about his family, including his brother Gary, as another one of your guideposts for evaluating fiction. Heart is nonfiction. Can you name three novels that are wrenching in the way that Heart is and best exemplify the type of crime fiction Tyrus is seeking?

I can’t name three novels that are wrenching in the way that Shot in the Heart is. That’s my mission as a publisher—to find fiction that extolls the near physical trauma of a book like Shot in the Heart. It may be that it’s impossible to write fiction that resonates in the same way, but I feel like the quest to find it is the more important takeaway for me. It’s precisely the type of digging and exploration of ourselves and those around us that Mikal Gilmore does in that book that fascinates me about characters in novels. What happens when we are on the sidelines of such profound events, but irrevocably handcuffed to them?

You have said that you can evaluate a book within the first paragraph or two. Maybe not to the point of being able to tell whether the book will be perfect for Tyrus but certainly when a book will be completely wrong for Tyrus. Can you put your finger on some of the qualities that cause you to reject submissions quickly?

I don’t know that I can. Vaguely, I could say things like—getting a sense that the author is more concerned with a pretty sentence than getting the hell on with the story, BUT, there might be a turn of phrase on the first page that tells me, on some level, that the author knows exactly what he/she is doing, and that I’m going to want the book. I know it when I see it. I can point it out every time, but I can’t cite a rule.

If a book starts off feeling like the fade-in of a tv show or a movie, I’ll probably prickle at that. The world building is different. Again, it’s just something I sense that doesn’t work for me. Might still be right for others.

You stress in many places the importance of craft and strong writing to Tyrus, suggesting that good writing might even be more important than marketability. In an industry that often stresses high concept over good writing, that makes Tyrus unusual. First, is it true that you are more interested in the literary than the commercial qualities of a book? And second, have you ever regretted your commitment to craft?

I’ve never regretted commitment to craft, no. For me, I’ve come to peace with the fact that a book might sell in the marketplace or it might not—on some level that’s out of my control. Putting out a quality product is in my control. It’s what is expected of me as a publisher, and it’s what I expect out of myself. I want books that will stand the test of time. I don’t want somebody to be able to point to a shelf of books I’ve published and say, “That might have been good in 2011, but it’s terrible in 2021.”

There are certainly a lot of books that aspire to be “literary” that are little more than gratuitous exercises in authorial self-pleasuring. (Take that last sentence as a prime example.) There isn’t any reason why a book that we might call “literary” can’t also be a bestseller or commercially viable. What is its resonance and do people want that?

If the choice is—do I want a book that makes sense, is written without fat, and is emotionally engaging, OR do I want a book with six car chases, elaborate law enforcement scenes that don’t actually follow real life procedures, and unlikely love connections that result in lots of sex scenes, I’ll choose the first book. Obviously, there is a huge gray area to be considered when answering this question.

What makes Tyrus different than most other publishing houses?

I don’t know that I have an answer for that question—not a good one at least. I’d like to think that publishing houses are the reflections of the people running them and that the values and characteristics of those individuals come out in the books that get published. I know plenty of other publishing houses that are trying to figure out the human connection thing, and inevitably we all end up looking in different places.

Friday, May 20, 2011

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Doug and Telisha Williams

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present a sample of the music of Doug and Telisha Wiliams, our Saturday Night musical entertainment providers at the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference.

Doug and Telisha produce music firmly set within the genre of Americana, meaning it's a bit bluesy and folky and all around good. See more of them at their YouTube channel.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ninth Annual Scribes Valley Short Story Writing Contest...

Ninth Annual Scribes Valley Short Story Writing Contest. 5000 words or less. Any subject.

Deadline July 31, 2011. Monetary award for top 2-3 stories based on participation.

All finalists (usually 10-15 stories) will be published in annual anthology. Online submissions available. Complete details on website.


576 N. Bellflower Blvd, Unit 232, Long Beach, CA 90814, USA

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Conference Entertainment Sampler

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present a two part sample of our conference entertainment. First up is a sample of the music of the amazing Pops Walker. He's a three-time conference entertainer as well as the composer of the music we use in the WV Writers Podcast. His albums can be found at CDBaby.com.



Next up is former president Eric Fritzius doing a passable channelling of Garrison Keillor in a loose parody of the News from Lake Wobegon, a.k.a. the News from Cedar Lakes. This was produced as part of the Friday Night Entertainment in 2010, which was themed as A West Virginia Writers' Home Companion.



Tune in tomorrow for a look at THIS year's Saturday Night Entertainment musicians, Doug and Telisha Williams.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Wilma Acree poetry

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present a sample of our Friday night Entertainment from 2010's Summer Conference, featuring the poetry of Wilma Acree. Though Wilma didn't know it at the time, one of her poems, When You See Buzzards, was already the 1st Place Winner in Short Poetry for the 2010 WV Writers Annual Writing Contest. The other poems she read were winners in previous years of the contest.

You can see other Conference 2010 videos at our YouTube channel.



Monday, May 16, 2011

Books for Readers Issue #142

Meredith Sue Willis's enewsletter Books for Readers issue #142 is now available. I tried to pipe it over into this website, but really it's best to read at her website. Find the issue HERE.

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Appalachian Inquisition Panel

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present part 1 of the Appalachian Inquisition Panel conducted at the 2010 WVW Summer Conference. The panel is MCed by our very own president Cat Pleska. Featured in the panel are WV Poet Laureate Irene McKinney, Denise Giardina, filmmaker Daniel Boyd, poet Norman Jordan, poet Kirk Judd, writer Gretchen Moran Laskas and writer Tim Poland.

You can see all 7 parts of the video at our YouTube channel.




Thursday, May 12, 2011

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Irene McKinney Interview

Continuing our vidcast series to whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present an interview conducted by poet Llewellyn McKernan with WV Poet Laureate Irene McKinney at the 2010 WVW Summer Conference.

Conference Countdown Vidcast: Peter Lynch interview from 2010 Conference

To whet your appetite for our upcoming 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, below is a video interview shot at the 2010 Summer Conference featuring Peter Lynch, editor with Sourcebooks, Inc. Our President Emeritus T.W. McNemar does the interviewing duties.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

WVW Conference Vidcasts: Peter Lynch Interview

To whet appetites for the 2011 WV Writers Summer Conference, we present a vidcast of an interview with editor Peter Lynch from Sourcebooks, Inc., as recorded at the 2010 WVW Summer Conference. WVW's president emeritus, Terry McNemar, is the interviewer.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

DRAMATIC PUBLISHING SEEKS ORIGINAL MIDDLE-SCHOOL MATERIAL (REMINDER)

Dramatic Publishing wishes to bring out a collection of scenes and
monologues tailored for the classroom entitled Original Middle School
Scenes and Monologues. This anthology will be similar in format to our
Scenes and Monologues for Young Actors and Classroom Scenes and
Monologues.

Contributors will receive (2) complimentary copies of the book and a one-time
payment: $100 for each scene published and $50 for each monologue
published. Contributors will retain all performance/ reprint rights.
Inclusion of your work in the anthology does not limit your right to
submit it to other publishers as part of a larger work.

DEADLINE: May 15, 2011

Scenes: Length: 6-9 manuscript pages. Single-space the dialogue.
Comedies, dramas, farces. Scenes may be excerpted from a longer
unpublished work but must be free-standing, feature strong/numerous
roles for young performers and address the concerns and issues facing
young people. No more than 3 actors – doubling acceptable. Especially
interested in scenes favoring women. Excessive "street" language or
situations not desired. Title each scene.

Monologues: Length: 1 ½ - 2 minutes. Submit double-spaced. Comic or
serious. Monologues should explore the concerns and issues facing
young people. Consider pieces that may be performed by either gender.
Excessive "street" language or situations not desired. Title each
monologue.

--Include a short bio of 150 words or less.

--Scripts/monologues will not be returned. Receipt will be
acknowledged either by email

or SASP/E if provided.

--If the scene/monologue is from a larger unpublished work, please
cite the original

piece and the copyright date. All selections will be identified in
the Permission -

Acknowlegement section of the anthology.

--Electronic submissions accepted: WORD ATTACHMENT only.

--Regular mail -- Kent R. Brown, Associate Editor, Dramatic Publishing Company,

55 Stroll Rock Common, Fairfield, CT 06824

Please update your home/professional mailing address/your home/cell
phone. Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at
KENTRBROWN@aol.com or 203-254-7440.