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Volume: 17.04 • The South Carolina Writers Workshop Newsletter • April 2006

NEWS

Our new Treasurer for the SCWW Board is Sarah Cureton of Greenville. See Marcia Migacz's report from Printed Matters in the Greenville Chapter news.

What's happening in your local chapter? Who's getting published? Who has the most impressive portfolio of rejection letters? Are there local events for writers in your area? Does your local chapter have its own newsletter or web page? Please submit you news to quilleditor@bellsouth.net

Meets 2nd Tuesday at Eden Gardens on Silver Bluff Road, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Charles Reeve cpreeve@bellsouth.net

Charles Reeve's short story, "Ships in the Night," was a Finalist in the 2005 Byline Short Fiction Awards.

Lorraine Ray recently had two essays published in the CSRA magazine, Bella Woman.

Patricia Lavins has begun writing a book review column for the Aiken Standard.

The Aiken Chapter has published Hitchhiking 2005, a collection of short fictional stories with a hitchhiking theme written by chapter members.

Sherry Fair was a part of the group that read in Charleston, for Monday Night Jazz at the East Bay Coffee House. She brought her star character, Spatz. It was a great evening and an excellent opportunity to enjoy other writers in a relaxed setting.

Meets 2nd & 4th Sunday at the Merritt Building Parlor of Anderson College from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Contact: Jo Buckner (864) 261-7739.

Meets first Tuesday from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, West Ashley. Contact Jason A. Zwiker at (843) 573-9291.

Meets 1st & 3rd Wednesday at Lexington County Public Library, Cayce-West Columbia Branch, 1500 Augusta Road, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Steve Vassey vasseyws@hotmail.com

Meets 1st & 3rd Monday at Richland County Public Library, 1431 Assembly Street, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Larry Hamilton docham@earthlink.net

Several of us at Columbia II chapter have been exploring different approaches to writing. At the latest meeting, one writer brought an inspirational letter that she wrote to her sons and hopes to get published. Another writer used famous quotes and crafted a short story using the quotes as the thoughts of a gardener. Many of us write fiction from facts we either know personally or read about. According to award-winning author Sandra Benitez, what happens (facts) is not as important as what the writer makes of it.

Sandra Benitez was featured at the Sandhills Writers Conference in Augusta, Georgia last week. She made many encouraging remarks: there are no failures, just "wrong turns," and sometimes those are just detours that lead us to other subjects. She calls writer's block "writer's fear." The writing spirit, the story in us, has no fear. We writers have to have faith with ourselves that the story will be told. And as we've heard before, we should follow our passion and write from springs of heart-felt emotion.

It took Benitez 13 years to get a book published. A small independent publisher took on her first book, which won a literary award. After that, numerous literary agents called her. She encouraged us to use the small independent publishers, for big things can come from small starts.

Literary Agent Melissa Flashman of Trident Media Group in NY was less encouraging but informative. She made the point that if a writer's manuscript doesn't fit into a section in Barnes and Noble, it won't be bought. To find sympathetic agents, writers might look at acknowledgements at the backs of books. Her agency has represented authors of vanity-published books under unique circumstances, always after the book has sold well. Unfortunately for many of us, 95% of this agent's clients are nonfiction writers. Where are the fiction agents? Columbia II is hoping the SCWW conference will include fiction agents this year.

Meets 2nd Tuesday at St. Eugene Hospital dining room 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: Kati Paul (843) 774–4561.

Meets 1st Thursday & 3rd Tuesday at The Open Book, 110 South Pleasantburg Drive, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Contact: John Migacz migaczmarjon@prtcnet.com

Rising to the call and willing to serve her fellow SCWW members statewide, our own Sarah Cureton has agreed to become the SCWW treasurer effective immediately. Sarah is also taking on responsibility for the statewide SCWW website. It's great to have such a strong showing from the Greenville chapter, with Sarah, Bob, and Susan all holding offices on the board. Thanks guys!

The most recent edition of Elvis International Magazine featured an article by Phil Arnold titled "January 1956 - A Look Back, 50 Years Later At What Could Be The Most Significant Month in Elvis' Career," as well as five articles from his Elvisblog. Providing 8 out of 48 total pages, it's hard to imagine Elvis International Magazine ever getting along without Phil.

Bob Strother was published twice more in Carolina Regions, the statewide newsletter of the South Carolina Association of Regional Councils. The two pieces contained the second and third installments of a three-part series Bob wrote on "Regionalism: Concept and Practice."

Another one of Kevin Coyle's stories has hit the presses, this time the cyber kind. Seek "Beastly Numbers" on the Poor Mojo's Almanac(k) website.

Need the start date of the Mayan Calender? Zasu Pitts' birth date? Check out timelines.ws (no WWW.) This website lists historical events from the big bang to yesterday and could be a big help for historical fiction writers, alternate history buffs or maybe for a realistic background check for a period piece. It has an easy to use search engine and fairly complete database. Thanks, Faye, for this tip.

Meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday at Lexington County Library, Irmo Branch, 6251 St. Andrews Road, 6:30 p.m. Contact: Charlotte Blackstone cheetah5@aol.com

Lexington 1st Chapter Writers meets in the Lexington Library at 5440 Augusta Road every other Tuesday from 6-8. Contact: Lynn Stidom lstidom@aol.com

Meeting places and times vary. Contact: Cynthia Hodell Dyer chodelldyer@aol.com

Meets in Winthrop University’s Dacus Library on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. Contact Betty Beamguard at bbeamguard@earthlink.net or 803-222-4208.

Bella Rosa Books will soon be publishing Grace Looper's Great Grandpa's Hidden Treasure, the second book in a series built around her character Aaron Fowler. Molasses Making Time is the first. Grace is already planning a third, A Call for Courage, in which Aaron leaves home to fight in World War II.

Kim Blum-Hyclak's poem, "Voyeurs," was selected as an alternate in the Kakalak Poetry Contest. If it doesn't make it into this year's anthology, it will appear in the 2007 volume.

Betty Beamguard has work scheduled for publication in the April issue of Dog and Kennel and the first print volume of Penwomanship, also due out in April. She has features slated for the spring issues of Draft Horse Journal and Women in the Outdoors.

Meets 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. every 2nd and 4th Monday at the Richland County Library, Sandhills Branch, 1 Summit Parkway, Columbia, SC. Contact Sonia Hayes Pleasant sonia_hayes@msn.com

Meets 4th Tuesday at Spartanburg Westside Library, 525 Oak Grove Road, 7:00 p.m. Contact: Roger Meadows rdm730@aol.com

OPPORTUNITIES

The South Carolina Writers Workshop will publish an anthology of the best works of its members for 2006. Catfish Stew, Volume 4 will feature writings in four categories: short fiction, essays, poetry, and plays. Winners in the anthology competition may have a maximum of three works published, regardless of category.

The anthology competition is open only to paid members of SCWW for 2006.

Members may submit one piece of writing at no cost. Additional manuscripts may be submitted for $3.00 each, regardless of category. Please make checks payable to SCWW.

Only unpublished work is eligible (except work previously published in The Quill). All fiction and essay submissions must be typed and double-spaced. Poems must be typed, either double- or single-spaced. Plays must be single-spaced in a standard publishing format.

The author's name must not appear on the manuscript(s). With each manuscript, please include a cover sheet (not a letter, please) containing the following information. Include one cover sheet for each set of four copies.

• Author's name
• Address
• Telephone number(s)
• E-mail address
• Title of manuscript
• Genre of manuscript
• Word count for prose, line count for poetry, or length of play in minutes
• File name of manuscript (as named on diskette or e-mail attachment)

Please pay close attention to length requirements. Any manuscripts exceeding the maximum length will not be accepted. Maximum lengths:

• Short fiction - 1,750 words
• Essay - 1,000 words
• Play - One act, less than 20 minutes.
• Poetry - 40 lines

Submit four copies of each manuscript. To facilitate production, manuscript(s) must also be submitted in Rich Text or Microsoft Word format, either by e-mail to patgraney@patgraney.com or on a 3.5 inch IBM-formatted diskette. We cannot accept Mac-formatted diskettes.

Do not enclose SASE. Manuscripts and diskettes will not be returned.

Submissions must be postmarked by April 30, 2006 and mailed to

SCWW Anthology,
c/o P.A. Graney
4452 Mandi Ave
Little River SC 29566

Manuscripts not meeting the above guidelines will be disqualified from competition. SCWW retains first-time publication rights until the anthology is published. At that time, publication rights revert to the author.

Got news from your local chapter? Got a helpful writers web site to share? Got a caution about a bogus publishing opportunity or contest? Let's network our knowledge to build a better newsletter.

Deadline for submissions is the 21st of each month. Please send submissions to quilleditor@bellsouth.net either in the body of an e-mail or as an attached file in MS Word (DOC), Rich Text (RTF) or plain text (TXT) format. Articles accepted for publication will appear in The Quill and archived on the web. Writers retain all rights to their works.

Submissions may also be made on floppy disk and mailed to:

Leland Beaudrot
1 Cleveland St Ste 110
Greenville SC 29601-3646

Write on!

Leland Beaudrot, Editor
The Quill

The Richland County Public Library is giving patrons the opportunity to tap into the mind of mystery writer Nick Smith during a book discussion and signing at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 4 in the Bostick Auditorium of the Main Library, 1431 Assembly St. This program, geared toward adults, is free and open to the public.

Smith, a British writer, actor and filmmaker based in Charleston, is the author of Milk Treading, The Kitty Killer Cult, and Scriptwriting: The Secrets Unleashed. He earned an honors degree in writing for film and television from Bournemouth University, founded and directed the Film School Scotland from 1997 to 2002 and ran the Writers' Studio in England from 2002 to 2003.

Since moving to the United States in 2003, he has worked with the Actors' Theatre of South Carolina and other local theatre companies, as well as the Charleston City Paper, The (Charleston) Post and Courier, Charleston Magazine and The Scotsman. He is currently directing Liberty, a feature film expected to be completed this summer.

For more information about this program, call (803) 929-3457.

April 14: The Poetry Society of South Carolina presents a reading by poet Ryan Van Cleave. Second Presbyterian Church, 342 Meeting St. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information call 849-1855 or e-mail poetrysocietyofsc@yahoo.com

April 15: The Poetry Society of South Carolina presents a publishing seminar "Putting a Poetry Book Together" led by poet Ryan Van Cleave. 10 a.m. till noon, College of Charleston Education Center - Rm 118, St. Philip Street. Cost: $10 for Poetry Society members, $15 for non-members, free for College of Charleston students. For more information call 884-3212.

The Author

Born in Wisconsin, Ryan G. Van Cleave was raised in the Chicago suburbs, and is a graduate of Florida State University's Ph.D. program. His poems and other writings have been included in magazines and journals nationwide, including The Harvard Review, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, The North American Review, Notre Dame Review, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, and TriQuarterly, as well as periodicals in Australia, England, France, India, Ireland, and New Zealand.

He teaches creative writing and American literature at Clemson University, where he lives with his wife and daughter. The Magical Breasts of Britney Spears is his fifth poetry collection. The author of a textbook on writing poetry, he is also the co-editor of five poetry anthologies, including Like Thunder: Poets Respond to Violence in America, which received the American Poetry Anthology Award.

Publications

Poems in this book were first published in: Barrow Street, The Chaffin Journal, Cider Press Review, Clackamas Literary Review, descant, Diagram, Diner, Eclipse, Fire (U.K.), Floating Holiday, Grand Street, Harpur Palate, The Homestead Review, The Lullwater Review, Maize, Ontario Review, Oregon East, RE:AL, River Oak Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Third Coast.

Awards

"Blue Man Group & the Shiftiness of Wu Wei" won the 2002 Harpur Palate Milton Kessler Poetry Award.

"I ♥ Tiger Woods" won 2nd prize in the 2002 Diner Poetry Contest.

Selected poems from The Magical Breasts of Britney Spears were collected as Bubbles Speaks and won 2nd prize in the 2005 Main Street Rag Poetry Chapbook contest.

The Piccolo Fiction Open is looking for your best short story, your craftiest paragraphs, your most concise day dreams. This year the theme is:

sight, seeing, hallucinations, and premonitions

The theme can be interpreted anyway you like, and can figure as minimally or as dominantly as you prefer. The word limit is 1100.

Please submit 4 copies of your original, unpublished work by April 15, 2006.

Include one separate cover page with your contact information and title of the work, a $5 submission fee (made out to the city, as follows) and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The $5 entry fee is waved for military personnel and veterans. At the top of your work, include the title of the story and your telephone number. Send to PFO2006/City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, 133 Church St., Charleston, SC 29401.

The Piccolo Fiction Open is a literary component of the Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival. The PFO is sponsored by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs. In past six years, the winning stories have been read by the authors during the festival, broadcast by SC Public Radio's Your Day, and published in the Charleston City Paper.

Are you ready to trade you pen for pennae? Are you ready to go from editing your prose to editing your menu? Are you ready to wax eloquent over wax bean salad? If so, this may be the contest for you.

On May 15 Chef Robert Bechard will proudly bestow the valuable grand prize in The Great Café Giveaway essay contest—ownership of his restaurant, Claude’s Café in Greenville, South Carolina—upon the lucky winner, as well as a portion of the contest entry fees to the American Red Cross (ARC) for aid in disaster relief. “Everybody knows it takes a lot of capital to get a restaurant started,” said Bechard. "That’s why I love this idea of someone taking over an already-established restaurant with no debt. It’s an unbelievable advantage and opportunity.”

Essay Submissions
Must be 200 words or less and describe why you want to own your own restaurant, and therefore should be chosen as the contest’s winner of the grand prize: ownership of Claude’s Café. All essays must include complete contact information to be considered for the grand prize and postmarked no later than April 28, 2006. All entries received later and without full name, physical and mailing address, daytime and evening telephone numbers (and mobile phone and e-mail if possible) will be disqualified.

Entry Fees
Then send your essay in with a $100 entry fee to The Great Café Giveaway essay contest… and, if chosen, your dream will come true! All entries MUST be accompanied by the entry fee to be considered for the grand prize. If mailed through the postal services, no personal checks will be accepted; only cashier’s checks and money orders for the full amount of the entry fee. Any essays received without the fee or with incorrect payment method will be disqualified.

All entries and fees become contest property and will not be returned.

How to Enter
You can write your essay and submit it along with your entry fee online here. Or you can type your essay and submit it with the correct information and your entry fee to: The Great Cafe Give Away, 2131 Woodruff Road, Suite 2100, Box 360, Greenville, SC 29607. All entries must be received by April 28, 2006.

For more information contact Byron Jones at 864-363-6229. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate. All employees and their families are ineligible. Minimum contest entries 1,000. Owner may elect to accept less than minimum. A portion of all proceeds go to the American Red Cross. Winner must meet lease requirements or runner-up will be selected. Lease to transfer June, 2006. Decision of judges is final. Announcement of winner to be made on May 15, 2006.

Contacts:
Eddie Churchwell: 864-787-3619 or eddiechurchwell@yahoo.com

First Place: $2,000 and Publication
Second Place: $1,000 and Publication

• Contest Begins: JANUARY 1, 2006
• Postmark Deadline: APRIL 30, 2006
• Poetry: 1,900 words maximum, 500 words minimum.
• Fiction: 7,500 words maximum.

No previously published works or works accepted for publication elsewhere. Author's name must not appear on the manuscript. Include a cover sheet containing major title and subtitles, author's name, full address, phone & fax numbers. "Contest Entry" should be clearly indicated on both the outer envelope and the cover sheet. Manuscripts will not be returned. Nimrod retains the right to publish any submission. Include SASE for results only. If no SASE is sent, no contest results will be sent; however, the results will be posted on Nimrod's Web site.

Entry/Subscription Fee: $20 includes both entry fee & a one-year subscription (two issues). Each entry must each be accompanied by a $20 fee. Make checks payable to:

NIMROD Literary Contest (Fiction or Poetry)
The University of Tulsa
600 S College
Tulsa OK 74104

The Darknight Gallery playwriting contest is an annual event in which we produce an evening of new (previously unproduced) scripts reminiscent of Rod Serling's Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone.

Each of the three winning playwrights will receive a $100 cash prize and the opportunity to see their play performed in Darknight Gallery III!

Rod Serling's former television programs, Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone often told stories of characters struggling with mankind's most primal emotions: fear, greed, pride, or their own mortality. The stories were told in a setting that resembled our world in almost every way, yet in every episode the characters encountered something unfamiliar and had to learn how to face it using their limited (and often terrified) human understanding. It is our intention to excavate the inner mind and explore such emotions and such experiences as paranoia, isolation, insanity, and horror from the safety and comfort of our theatre.

• Twisted and Disturbing scripts about the human mind that would scare an audience, yet leave them wondering about who we are as human beings. Good dialogue that gets to the point and tells a complete story in 30 minutes or less.
• Strong Characters
• Socially Conscious Themes
• Dramatic Tension that intertwines with Suspense

Before you submit, PLEASE check to make sure that your script:

1. Fits the genre we are looking for
2. Would run 45 minutes or less (30 pages or less)
3. Is written in proper play format
4. Can be produced within a modest theater with an equally modest budget

If your script fits the above criteria then please submit the completed script along with a COVER PAGE THAT INCLUDES YOUR NAME, PHONE NUMBER, HOME ADDRESS, AND EMAIL ADDRESS so that we can keep in touch with you. This cover page is crucial as it not only helps us to get in touch with you, but it also assists us in our anonymous judging of the scripts. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON ANY PAGE OTHER THAN THE COVER PAGE.

We would love to know how you heard about us! Please include a comment on your cover page telling us how you were informed of the Darknight Gallery III playwriting contest. Thanks!

Please EMAIL your submission to darknight_theatrical_productions@yahoo.com

Once we receive your completed submission, we will email you a confirmation that your play is with the committee for review. The playwrights selected to participate in the Darknight Gallery III - One Day Finalists Event will be notified by email.

THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIVING SUBMISSIONS IS APRIL 30, 2006.

Friday May 5th - Marjory Wentworth, SC Poet Laureate

Marjory Heath Wentworth was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. Educated at Mt. Holyoke College and Oxford University, she received her M.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from New York University. Her poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. NIGHTJARS, a chapbook of her poems, was published by Laurel Publishing in 1995. Her poems have been published with Mary Edna Fraser's art in a book of poetry and monotype prints called WHAT THE WATER GIVES ME. NOTICING EDEN, a collection of poems, was published by Hub City Press in October 2003. She was appointed Poet Laureate of South Carolina in 2003.

She teaches poetry in “Expressions of Healing” - an arts and healing program for cancer patients and their families at Roper Hospital. She also teaches a Literature and Medicine course funded by The Humanities Council of SC at MUSC. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Literature Council of Charleston. She lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina with her husband Peter and their three sons.

Saturday, May 6th 10am-2pm - Writing Workshop and Lunch with Marjory Wentworth

The cost for this event is $20 (this includes your lunch). Call (864) 320-3002 for more information or to register. You must pre-register for the workshop and lunch. Only 12 spaces are available.

Purpose
Fellowships recognize and award the artistic achievements of South Carolina’s exceptional individual artists. Fellowship awards are made through a highly competitive process and are based on artistic excellence. The fellowship awards bring recognition that may open doors to other resources and employment opportunities.

Eligibility Requirements: Applicant must:

• Be a legal resident of the US and SC with a permanent residence in the state for two (2) years prior to the application date and throughout the fellowship period;
• Be a practicing individual artist (duos, collaborative works, and other ensembles are not eligible);
• Not be a degree-seeking, full-time student during the award period;
• Be 18 years of age or older at the time of application.

Restrictions

1. There is a limit of two fellowships in an artist’s career and a period of ineligibility of ten years after the first fellowship is awarded.
2. Fellows may not receive any other SCAC grant awards during their fellowship year.
3. Applicants may submit only one request per deadline. Requests in more than one discipline will not be accepted.
4. Support material submitted must include work that has been completed within the last 5 years.

Deadline: May 15, 2006

Applications must be postmarked or electronically submitted, or hand-delivered to the SC Arts Commission offices before 5:00 PM, no later than the stated date, or, when the deadline occurs on a weekend or holiday, no later than the next business day.

Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Award Categories

• Poetry
• Prose (Fiction or Creative Nonfiction)
• Acting Performance
• Directing (Theatre)
• Visual Arts
• Craft
• Dance Performance

Award Period: July 1-June 30

Award: $2,500 per Fellowship. Fellowship awards are considered taxable income in SC.

Match: None

Filing Fee: None

Review Process
Please contact the appropriate SC Arts Commission discipline coordinator for guidance on completing the application form:

• Poetry or Prose: Sara June Goldstein (803-734-8694)
• Acting Performance (Theatre): Jeanette Guinn (803-734-8677)
• Directing (Theatre): Jeanette Guinn (803-734-8677)
• Dance Performance: Jeanette Guinn (803-734-8677)
• Visual Arts or Craft: Harriett Green (803-734-8762)

Fellowship applicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by out-of-state panelists who make their judgments on the basis of artistic merit. The Arts Commission reserves the right not to award a fellowship in any discipline for which applications have been solicited. Fellowship awards are approved by the Board of Commissioners. Upon notification of award, fellowship finalists will be asked to immediately forward a photograph to be used for promotional purposes.

Final Report
All fellowship recipients are required to provide a letter to the Arts Commission outlining the fellowship's usefulness to his/her career. The letter is due at the end of the fellowship period. Failure to submit the letter by the due date will result in cancellation of the award and repayment of funds received.

War Poetry Contest

Postmark deadline: May 31

Now in its 5th year. Prizes of $1,500, $500, $250 and 10 honorable mentions of $75 each. Submit 1-3 original, unpublished poems on the theme of war, up to 500 lines in all. $12 entry fee, payable to Winning Writers. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: War Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). More information:

http://www.winningwriters.com/war

Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse

Postmark deadline: June 30

$3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets and haiku. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). More information:

http://www.winningwriters.com/margaret

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest

Postmark deadline: September 30

$3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in any style or genre. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). More information:

http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry

The Hub City Writers Project has assembled an extraordinary faculty for the sixth annual Writing in Place creative writing conference at Wofford College June 16-18, 2006. Registration is now open.

Our keynote speaker to open the conference will be Rebecca McClanahan, author of eight books, an award-winning poet, essayist, fiction writer and educator. The University of Georgia Press published her most recent book of personal essays, The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings in 2002.

Other faculty members include novelists Mindy Friddle of Greenville and Mark Powell of Mountain Rest. Poetry instructors are Barbara Presnell of Lexington, N.C., and Deno Trakas of Spartanburg. Essayist John Lane of Spartanburg will teach creative nonfiction.

The Hub City conference is a hands-on, intensive writing experience, designed to help both beginners and professionals develop the craft of creative writing. The conference is limited to 60 people, and registrants must sign up for one of three tracks: poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction.

Additional sessions will be offered in writing dialogue, developing secondary characters, ekphrasic poetry, songwriting, publishing without a publisher and more. There are faculty readings, open mic sessions, and a Saturday night barbecue.

The cost of the conference is $155. Lodging is available at Wofford College for $15 a night. For more information, call 864-577-9349 or visit www.hubcity.org

Guidelines for Jack Wolford Memorial Prize and submissions to Memorial Issue for Jack Wolford

We welcome all submissions for the Jack Wolford Memorial Prize. The prize of $500 will be awarded for the BEST POEM submitted to the website for 2005 and 2006. Submissions will be accepted February 2006 through October 2006. Please send from three to seven poems to sea7@comcast.net. They may also be sent through the website. www.hotmetalpoets.com (letters to the editor).

Acknowledgement will be made upon receipt. Poems will be published during the submission time and the winner's name will be announced via email to all who submit work.

Words & Music, 2005, which had been scheduled to open Thursday, November 3, 2005 was cancelled because of widespread devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina, along with brutal damage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the entire Gulf Coast transportation infrastructure. We know that you won't be surprised to learn that our grand old dame, Faulkner's "a courtesan...no longer young ... not yet old" has regained her joie de vivre, her indomitable spirit, her desire to seduce us all. She's putting on her paint and powder and readying herself to receive her admirers. By all means come for Words & Music, 2006, earlier if you can!

Words & Music, 2006 will go forward Thursday, November 2 through the final luncheon session on Monday, November 6. For details, please see the web site.

The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc.-founded in 1990 by men and women dedicated to good books and the literary arts-is the creator a unique sort of writers' conference, which is the center of a multi-discipline arts festival every fall. Our fondest desire has been to give writers a boost in making their impossible dreams come true, to provide them with an inspiration break in a city which has inspired countless authors, including William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, to help them get their work published. We are proud of our record of assisting authors make their dreams come true. For details of our most recent success stories on behalf of writers and the success we have had in attracting prestigious authors as advisors and faculty, hightlight: Success!

FEATURES

About commas, semicolons, quotation marks and italics

Q: I have a quick writing question regarding commas. Perhaps you can help me.

Should it be "Is he okay?" the police officer asked genuinely concerned.

or

"Is he okay?" the police officer asked, genuinely concerned.

How about this one: "Seriously?" I replied, disappointed in how things were turning out.

versus

"Seriously?" I replied disappointed in how things were turning out.

For some reason, I always want to put a comma in such situations. Is there a handy dandy rule to help guide me?

A: Golly, I hate to be a grammarian and quote rules, but here's the rule you're looking for: Use a comma with nonessential clauses and phrases. If you can take out the information and not change the meaning of the sentence, use a comma. Here are some examples of commas setting off nonessential phrases:

She introduced her husband, David. (We can have only one spouse, so the name is nonessential.)

The house, which had been vacant for a year, needed paint. (The phrase in the middle can be deleted, and the meaning is the same.)

"How long have you lived here?" I asked, wondering where I had seen him before. (The reason for asking is nonessential in this case.)

Q: When is it okay to use semicolons in fiction? How often is too often?

A: Grammar rules annoy me, because they are formal and aloof-sounding, but here goes: Semicolons link independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction. The clauses semicolons join should be closely related in meaning.

Examples: In some places fishing is not merely a sport; it also sustains life. Give Harry a hand; he cannot haul in the anchor by himself.

Semicolons allow authors to change their sentence lengths, so that the work does not have too many short, choppy sentences. When semicolons link too many compound sentences, though, the rhythm becomes too similar, and some sentences should be cut into two.

How do you know when you have overused semicolons? If you see more than one on a page, chances are you have overused them. I'd rather see only one every two or three pages.

Q: In a children's chapter book, how should I punctuate a sound, such as whoosh, bam, kerplunk, splat, or crunch? Is it written as dialogue?

A: The imitation of sounds in words, also called onomatopoeia, can be written in italics, quotation marks, or plain text, as long as it is handled consistently throughout the manuscript. The Chicago Manual of Style does not address the issue, but the Encarta English Dictionary uses quotation marks for "hiss" and "buzz," when describing onomatopoeia.

Q: What do you call the use of inflections in a character's voice to indicate emotion? For instance, someone may say, "I know that. I read myyyyyyy owner's maaaaaaaaaaanuel." Or maybe he would raise and lower his voice three notes for a single-syllable word, such as in "I--I---I got it for free." See, I can't even figure out how to write it. I know someone who speaks this way, and the effect is to dismiss you or put down your question or comment as silly or stupid. You must have heard of this type of inflection before.

A: The question refers to emphasis, and Chicago Style allows for some emphasis to be shown through italics, such as the following: "I know that. I read the manual."

The better way to show emphasis, though, is through word choice, rather than italics, which often get overused. A holier-than-thou attitude can be shown clearly by rewriting the dialogue into something like this: "I know that. Unlike you, I read the manual."

Folks, I need your questions, to keep this column going. Send your questions to bobbie@zebraeditor.com today!

MUSINGS

As so frequently happens, the click of my keyboard had summoned Thaleia, the Muse of Comedy, from distant Olympus. Though she knelt in reverent prayer, the hem of her black and white garment lacked inches of reaching the floor.

"What's with the costume?" I asked.

"Have you not seen a Nun before?"

"None like you, for sure. Giving up your pagan past for Lent?"

"Be ye not hasty to judge, Padre," she said. "Forget ye that St. Paul brought the Faith to my land two millennia ago?"

"So you're a convert? What about the rest of the family."

"Dad took being dethroned pretty hard." She sighed and took a seat in the desk chair. Her shapely knees betrayed no excess wear from her exercise of devotion. "Now he's selling baklava off a handcart in Athens."

"Zeus: hurler of thunderbolts to hawker of pastry. What a biography!"

"Be kind!" She glared as if she would like to hurl a thunderbolt herself. "He's still my Daddy."

"Sorry! I guess any girl reserves the right to worship her father." Her continence softened. "But I don't understand your picking up a new habit."

"Poor man, ye judge by sight and not by faith. I shall pray for ye." She closed her eyes and intoned, "Ooooommmm...."

I couldn't help but laugh. "If you think that's divine dial-tone, I'm afraid you've got the wrong number."

"Oops!" She giggled. "Guess I've got a lot to learn."

"Let me introduce you to the primer." From my rocker, I reached to the bookcase at my side and handed her a leather bound tome.

She leafed through the gilt edged pages. "I have to read all this?"

"Not all at once. Start here and read three chapters." I flipped to Genesis. "They're short, just a page or so each. If you continue to read the same number of pages each day, you'll go cover to cover in about a year."

"Cool!" She nodded. "That I can do."

"I still don't understand what prompted this change in habit."

"It's all about you, you know." She spun herself in the swivel chair. "You have lofty aspirations. I don't want to be left behind."

"You mean the magazine editor position?"

"With a religious publication." She stood and curtseyed daintily. "I don't want to hold you back."

"To early to tell how that will go," I said. "I haven't even completed my resume yet."

"Ooo!" She squealed. "Can I be one of your references?"

"Let's see, you're invisible to everyone but me, you have no mailing address, no phone number and no e-mail."

"Oh pooh! Don't be so difficult." She waved a hand dismissively. "Just tell them there's loads of simply divine baklava in it if they take you."

The Quill is the newsletter of the South Carolina Writers Workshop www.scwriters.com.

Copyright 2006 by Leland Beaudrot, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.