Charlotte Writer’s Club

The last meeting of the CWC for the 2011-2012 season was held on Tuesday, May 15th at the Queens University Sports Complex on Tyvola Road.  Congratulations to David Radavich and the other officers for a great year.  The programs were outstanding and the new meeting venue is outta site.

The speaker for May was Valerie Nieman, novelist and poet living in Greensboro, NC.

http://www.charlottewritersclub.org/calendar_of_events
Nieman has received a variety of literary awards, including two Elizabeth Simpson Smith awards in fiction and the Greg Grummer Prize in poetry. She is also a teacher and an excellent program speaker.    Two things that I came away with were, write where you are and don’t be afraid to make a place or a structure a character in your novel (think House of Seven Gables). She read passages from her latest novel “Blood Clay” set in rural NC tobacco country.  I bought the book and found it to be a page turner.

Charlotte Writer’s Club Non-Fiction Contest

Can you believe it?  I have actually submitted a piece to the CWC non-fiction contest.  Ken Burrows constant barrage of encouragement finally overcame the apathy of self-doubt.  Since I made the decision to to enter the contest yesterday, one day before the deadline, I looked back through all the files on my hard drive and selected a piece that I had written for a memoirs class several years ago.  I edited it lightly, submitted it to spell and grammer check and printed  it.  No turning back now…  Write the check, address the envelope and take it to the post office. 

Now I can experience the waiting, the anxiety, the angst.  Like Barack Obama, would I turn down the prize money since I am a CWC Board Member?  After all, I write as an outlet, not for financial gain.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  An Honorable Mention would be nice though.