The 2013 Nashville State Community College journal of creative arts has been published. Thanks to all who contributed either literary work or art/photography. We have some very talented people in our NSCC community!

It is a tradition: We celebrate Halloween at Doug’s house. We read our original Halloween stories and wear our costumes. The first photo of the evening is Winnie Hannah anticipating our arrival. There may be other photos.

Here you will see the Glamorous Witch Mary, Doug as a Fort Pillow Guard, and John as Cowboy Bob, who was a character in his story.
Apologies to the others whose photos were of poor quality and did not show how wonderful the costumes were. Next year we must commission a professional photographer!

Each year members of our writers group dress in scary (or otherwise) costumes for Halloween, and we bring our spooky (or otherwise) stories to share with the group. It’s one of two nights in the year that we don’t critique. The other night is when we celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns with poetry.

This year the costumes and stories were extraordinary! Unfortunately, our photographer was not extraordinary (me) so some of the photos were too dark to post. But you get the idea. Here is Mary Bess – You guessed it: “Writer’s Block”!

Another fantastic SFB! I attended a dinner Fri. night hosted by John Seigenthaler and John Seigenthaler, Jr. and was able to talk with some wonderful authors, including Walter Mosley. Sat. morning WNBA sponsored a panel of four, including Ann Patchett. Sat. night was the reception for all participants, and I was so glad to see Gail and Les Kerr among the familiar faces. Sun. afternoon Doug and I had our session. Our big room was not full, but it was not empty! As always, we had a great audience who asked some good questions. Thanks to Whit Stokes for being the moderator. Here is one of the photos.

It’s that time again! We’re expecting glorious weather at the SFB, October 14-16, at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. Doug Jones and I have a session on Sunday at 1:30 in Room 12. (A Season of Darkness – the Marcia Trimble case) Please join us!

“What We Keep, What We Throw Away” is the 2nd place winner in the Knoxville Writers Guild Awards, Creative Nonfiction category. The piece won 3rd place in the spring in the Writers Workshop of Asheville contest. Continued revisions are in order and maybe an entry in another contest – or an attempt to get it published.

The creative nonfiction piece is about the Nashville flood in May 2010 and especially about the loss that my daughter and her family sustained. They lost their house and lived with me for 7 months, during which time baby Evelyn was born.

What an exciting and invigorating weekend! Five of us from our writers group attended the Oxford Creative Nonfiction Conference at Ole Miss in Oxford: Kathy Rhodes (who was “staff” and worked very hard!), Mary Buckner, Doug Jones, Rick Romfh. We’ll have many stories from the weekend. Fun, entertaining, instructional, motivating – it was an unforgettable experience. Being with our group made it just that much better, and we made some new good friends, too.  Writers are the best!

Our writer friends in Knoxville have announced their 2010 contest winners. The Knoxville Writers Guild holds an annual competition in several categories. “The Major’s Wife” (short story) placed third in the Leslie Garrett Fiction Contest, and “Stitches in Time” (memoir) placed second in the Creative Non-Fiction category. These  may be available soon on the KWG website or published in an upcoming anthology. Thanks to the KWG for providing opportunities like this for writers.

Our panel is set for 4:00-5:30, Saturday, October 9. The Southern Festival of Books is a weekend-long event, Friday through Sunday, on the Legislative Plaza. It is a tremendous event for writers and readers in Nashville – and people come in from far away to attend.

The Nashville Writers Alliance panel is made up of members and former members of our writers group that has met on Tuesday nights for more than 30 years. (See Writers Group category for more information.) Some questions we will be addressing: What makes a successful writers group? Why has ours flourished when others don’t? What are some issues to consider in forming a writers group?  Please make plans to attend, and we welcome your ideas.