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Events

13th Annual Summer Storytelling Retreat & Adventure

July 8, 2018 to July 14, 2018 – StoryWindow Productions

Forum

Interview with Gail Godwin about Grief Cottage

Started by Rob Neufeld in AC-T Book Reviews Aug 3, 2017.

Ellington in Asheville--a survey

Started by Rob Neufeld in Local History Oct 6, 2017.

Dave Minneman, heroic portrait

Started by Rob Neufeld in Local History Aug 25, 2017.

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Latest Activity

Connie Regan-Blake updated an event

A Slice of Life: An Evening of Stories at Black Mountain Center for the Arts

April 21, 2018 from 7:30pm to 9pm

Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm, join nationally celebrated storyteller, Connie Regan-Blake, as she hosts her "Taking the Stage" workshop participants, for an enchanting evening of storytelling in picturesque Black Mountain, NC. You'll enjoy a variety of stories and storytelling styles featuring tellers Jane O Cunningham from Rome, GA; Gabriele Marewski from Black Mountain, NC; Christine Phillips Westfeldt - Fairview,…See More

Mar 21

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Glenda Council Beall posted a blog post

Writers Circle around the Table

We are located in Hayesville, NC. In April we begin our new season with outstanding Poet Mike James. Mike will read at Writers' Night Out in Blairsville, GA on Friday evening April 13. On Saturday, April 14, he will teach a class at my studio.Formally SpeakingThis class will focus on different types of traditional poetic forms such as the sonnet, the villanelle, and the sestina, and will also include other verse forms such as erasures, found poems, prose poems, and last poems.Contact Glenda…See More

Mar 12

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Caroline McIntyre posted an event

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Chautauqua History Alive at UNC Asheville, OLLI Reuters Center, Manheimer Room

April 15, 2018 from 3pm to 4:30pm

Step inside the revolutionary book, Silent Spring as its author Rachel Carson reveals the reckless destruction of our living world. Written more than 55 years ago Silent Spring inspired the Environmental Movement and has never been out of print. And now you have a chance to ask the author, Rachel Carson, how this came to be. But these aren’t just performances. They’re a chance to step into Living History – to ask questions and go one on one with a women whose books shaped our country and our…See More

Mar 7

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Lynn Hamilton-Rutherford posted blog posts

Mar 7

Lynn Hamilton-Rutherford commented on Glenda Council Beall's photo

lexie on deck_edited-1

"She looks like I look in my imagination right before I've had my coffee ... relaxed, bothered (by something, anything) and fully aware that I'm almost, but not quite, the center of the universe ... a feeling that quickly fades after that…"

Mar 4

Lynn Hamilton-Rutherford replied to Kathryn Stripling Byer's discussion Mary Adams's new chapbook COMMANDMENT

"This is so perfect ... the thought of every woman, who KNOWS what the men are thinking! But now at least we have an idea! This makes me happy in a sad, lovely sort of way!"

Mar 4

Lynn Hamilton-Rutherford posted a photo

Mom in Her Writing Nook ...

She was working on the "About the Authors" section of "Echoes Across the Blue Ridge" when I captured this one morning. Though you can't see it, her coffee cup was within gentle reach that morning. Roxie is at her feet.

Mar 4

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Carolyn Bennett Fraiser updated their profile photo

Feb 15

Harold N. Stern updated their profile

Feb 6

Glenda Council Beall posted a photo

lexie on deck_edited-1

Lexie likes to sleep in the sunshine even on cold days.

Feb 6

1 Comment

Nancy Werking Poling posted a photo

Latest non-fiction book

In 1945 Indiana prohibited marriage between a white person and anyone with more than one-eighth "Negro blood." Yet Daniel (black) and Anna (white) gave up family, friends, and eventually even country to create a life together. Their 42-year marriage…

Feb 5

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Nancy Werking Poling replied to Rob Neufeld's discussion Bent Creek, the 4-part story

"Rob, Thanks for putting this into one document. I've been following the narrative in the Citizen-Times. I find it an added resource for my next writing project. In 1910 my husband's grandfather (1866-1947) showed up in Missouri and said…"

Feb 5

Rebecca L Caldwell updated their profile

Feb 5

Lee Ann Brown replied to Rob Neufeld's discussion Writer Olive Dargan rises from obscurity

"Great Article! Heart wrenching about her destroyed manuscripts and letters and notes but I will look for more of Olive Dargan! Lee Ann Brown"

Feb 5

Rob Neufeld posted discussions

Feb 4

Rap Monster posted a blog post

THE BANG BANG BROKERS HITS AMAZON PRIME WITH A BANG

Focusing on the aftermath of the 2008 Financial Crisis, The Bang Bang Brokers tells the story of a hedge fund manager (based on a composite of real life traders) who got rich off of predicting the subprime fallout. His guilt and suicidal impulses lead him to a chance meeting with a Latino Gang, headed by small time weed dealer Ramon (Erik Michael Estrada). In hopes that Ramon will kill him in exchange for the favor, Rolley (played by Donihue) robs a rival Black Gang, earning the pair a ton of…See More

Feb 4

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January 2010 Blog Posts (15)

Appalachian Writers

I'd like to introduce you to Peggy Poe Stern-have you ever heard of her? I've only known her a few months-I believe she may be one of the best kept secrets of Western NC.

I stumbled onto Peggy's website one day-and once I realized she was an Appalachian Writer I began to click around-all of my clicking landed me on an excerpt from one of her books. I could not stop… Continue

Added by Tipper on January 30, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Great Smokies fiction classes unlock your inner writer

Almost everyone has dreams of being a writer. But moving those dreams out of the clouds and onto paper can be a real struggle. Sometimes the solid ideas just won’t come. In other cases, the ideas are within reach, but knowing how to structure those ideas into language and a format that other people might enjoy remains elusive.

While writing is ultimately a solitary pursuit, some instruction and feedback can smooth the process, helping you to keep moving toward your dreams instead of… Continue

Added by Caralyn Davis on January 26, 2010 at 4:17pm — No Comments

Creative juices frozen? Great Smokies poetry class zaps them into life

The mere thought of writing poetry can stir up buried, primal fears of failure and inadequacy. Normally stalwart people, brows pale and sweaty with visions of being unable to produce even a decent ending to “Roses are red, violets are blue,” lament: “Write poetry? I don’t know how! I’m not a poet!”

But every human being on the planet has the potential to be a poet, and writing poetry isn’t scary. It’s actually a useful process for awakening both your creativity and your love of… Continue

Added by Caralyn Davis on January 26, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Hog Killing In Appalachia

All one has to do is to take a walk through the local grocery store's meat department to see the variety it holds. Back in the day-before meat was so readily available-pork was the staple meat for most mountain families.

In the very early days-before the chestnut blight-most folks in Appalachia let their hogs free range and forage for their own food. After the blight, and as the land became more populated-folks kept their hogs closer to… Continue

Added by Tipper on January 23, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Home Again

Picking you up from the airport;

jet airliner bringing you home once again.

Waiting for the plane in the cold wind,

while the sun brings glory to the West.

How long has it been since I’ve touched you?

Almost a million miles ago it seems.

Absence doesn’t get any easier,

when your face won’t leave my dreams.

Seeing your smile, hearing your laugh;

they fill every room that you’re in.

Eagerly searching for… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 18, 2010 at 3:09pm — No Comments

Propositioning the Rich Italian

TITLE: Propositioning the Rich Italian

AUTHOR: Stephanie Morris

AUTHOR URL: http://www.stephaniemorris.webs.com

GENRE/THEME: Contemporary Interracial Romance

URL TO THE BUYING PAGE: http://www.bookstrand.com/node/805943

SERIES: Indulgence – Book 1 of… Continue

Added by Author Stephanie Morris on January 17, 2010 at 1:11pm — No Comments

Heartsick Over Haiti

The first news of the day was tough to take. Tragedy has once again come to the impoverished nation of Haiti. By now everyone following the news knows it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and that 80% of its people live in poverty.

What might not be remembered are the news reports from 2008 when the Haitian people were making cookies with dirt and oil and water. As food prices around the world began to rise, those were the only ingredients some caregivers could obtain to mix… Continue

Added by Kathleen Buerer on January 13, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Poetry

Even though I am not a poet, every so often I'll spit out a poem. Two of them were recently published: one in The Nervous Breakdown and the other in OCEAN Magazine (where I also have a photograph that accompanies another writer's poem). Always good to have an acceptance to give us a boost,

Added by Kathryn Magendie on January 10, 2010 at 8:56pm — 2 Comments

Here We Go Again!

It's time to wait with held breath while the publishers' editors look at my book (Secret Graces) to see if they like it. Time to pick out covers. Time to go over galley proofs. Time to anticipate release date. A year after TG's release and here I go again. I hope the book will be well received. It's a whole other critter when you write for a deadline that is months in the making instead of "having all the time in the world" to write a novel... egads!

But, it's all exciting, right?… Continue

Added by Kathryn Magendie on January 10, 2010 at 8:48pm — No Comments

Halls of the Dying

Late at night, when only a few ghost-like workers are stirring

I enter the hallowed halls of the dying.

Like a crypt, everything dark, I feel my way from doorway to doorway

hearing the groans and the cries of the dying.

Ghastly sounds reverberate through these forbidden caverns;

lost souls forever grasping for salvation.

Creeping along, my senses alert for hidden dangers

I pause in front of one room and

the smell tells me where I am.

Stepping into… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 9, 2010 at 10:44am — No Comments

Warren Wilson MFA lectures

I have been to two of the morning lectures offered by the Warren Wilson MFA this month (January 2010) and was blown away. This is exactly the kind of readings I have been looking for; rich and technical, with as much philosophy as craft. I have always wanted to be a part of this kind of dicsussion with other writers. It's very generous of the college to open these lectures to the public. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Who among you in the Asheville area would like to… Continue

Added by Jennifer McLean on January 5, 2010 at 3:57pm — 1 Comment

author benefits

Authors are finding it an attractive option to self-publish. However, the need for Medical Insurance and retirement is a major consideration. I have looked into International Medical Insurance options to see how authors in other parts of the world are handling this issue. Are there networks for writers that could provide a discount on… Continue

Added by Cindy Fallsen on January 4, 2010 at 5:13pm — No Comments

White Crosses

White crosses alongside the road

honoring the memory of the recently slain.

How did it come that these people died

here—what were they like, while they still lived?

Cars and trucks speed past obliviously,

ignoring the ghosts of the freshly passed.

Each one of us hopes that we’ll still be remembered;

long after we’re gone to the other side.

But what if no one

visited us or mourned?

Left us for dead,

our faces forever forgotten in… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 2, 2010 at 3:23pm — No Comments

Early Morning Departure

Driving you to the airport for an early morning departure,

Wind blowing the rain against the wipers of the truck.

Lifting your heavy bag it thumps on the pavement,

Wondering to myself just what you could have packed?

Ducking out of the storm, bursting into the check-in,

Runaway children caught in a moment of time.

Saying my farewells I look into your eyes;

Wishing you a safe journey, Godspeed to your kin.

Sharing one last long,… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 2, 2010 at 3:19pm — No Comments

Happy New Year from the Blind Pig & The Acorn

As I look back over 2009 I'm happy with the progress made over on the Blind Pig & The Acorn site-mostly I'm thankful I have great readers who have made 2009 a banner year for the Blind Pig.

Each post I write in an effort to promote, preserve, and celebrate Appalachian culture and heritage is made better by the comments folks leave. Maybe they don't realize it-but each one is part…