First Place Winner in each category will receive $100.
Second Place Winners will receive $25.

Eligibility and Rules for Entry

Students in grades 11 and 12 currently enrolled in South Carolina public, private and home schools are eligible. Each student may enter one manuscript in each category: fiction and poetry. All entries must be original and must be postmarked on or before April 1, 2007.

Each work must be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper with an entry form as a cover sheet. Fiction should be double spaced and must not exceed 1750 words. Twelve-point Times New Roman font is preferred.

The student's name cannot appear on the entry itself. Please staple or clip the pages together and number them, but do not staple the entry form with your name on it to the entry. If you have questions, please email amy.mercer@comcast.net.

Mail entries to:

Amy Mercer
SCWW Contest Chair
79 Colleton Dr
Charleston SC 29407

If you are serious about getting published and are looking for that perfect combination of 'great faculty' and 'great price,' plan to join us for a GREAT TIME at the 2007 SCWW Conference at the Myrtle Beach Hilton, October 26th through 28th. The faculty has been invited and a dazzling line up it is:

Agents:

Andrea Brown, President, Andrea Brown Literary Agency www.andreabrownlit.com

Mary Beth Chappell, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Agency www.zshliterary.com

Lucienne Diver, Spectrum Literary Agency www.spectrumliteraryagency.com

Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency www.prospectagency.com

Jud Laghi, LJK Literary Management www.ljkliterary.com

Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency www.maassagency.com

Jacky Sach, BookEnds, LLC www.bookends-inc.com

Kimberly Whalen, Vice President, Trident Media Group www.tridentmediagroup.com

Due to a schedule conflict, Joy Harris will be unable to make the conference as originally planned.  She sends her best regards and hopes to make a future SCWW conference.

Editors:

Robert Cumming, Publisher, Iris Publishing Group www.irisbooks.com

Carol Ann Davis, crazyhorse literary journal crazyhorse.cofc.edu

Sarah Durand, William Morrow www.harpercollins.com/imprints/index.aspx?imprintid=518003

Jessica Faust-Spitzfadent, The Southern Review www.lsu.edu/thesouthernreview/about_tsr.html

Jim Gilbert, River City Publishing www.rivercitypublishing.com/main/index.html

Anne Hicks, moonShine Review literary journal www.thriftpoeticarts.com/moonshine.html

Rose Hilliard, St. Martin's Press www.stmartins.com

Kristen Weber, NAL / Penguin Group us.penguingroup.com/static/html/aboutus/adult/nal.html

There's something for everyone: from sci-fi to literary, novels to essays, just-beginning to well-underway. And the program is designed to maximize your face time with faculty. This will be a great networking opportunity and a terrific forum for individual advice on how to make your writing shine. It promises to be a great time all around!

Check our website at www.myscww.org for more information and frequent updates! Or email your information request to conference@myscww.org

Last month I started going through the membership survey to report the results. Here are the results from the next two questions. These, I think, go to the heart of who we as an organization are, as they deal with our local chapter meetings. For many-but not all of us-the chapter meetings are why we joined SCWW, to be a part of a community of writers. Others, as the responses reveal, are happiest spending their time writing, and don't crave the interaction of a critique group. Still others would love to be a part of a group, but are geographically isolated.

Question #3 asked if you attend your local chapter meetings. Here's how the responses fell:

We have more members who rarely or never attend than those who attend regularly. Frankly, this shocked me. I thought that most of our members, like me, thrived on regular interaction with other writers, and getting feedback on their work.

Here's why I think this is important: As an organization, we need to make sure that we are meeting the needs of the entire membership, not just those that enjoy the critique group experience. How can we further enrich the writing lives of those who don't? And, just as importantly (and we touched on this last month), we need to reach out to members who would like to participate but are somehow unable. If it's geography, new chapters need to be formed where possible, and perhaps an online group started for those areas truly out of reach. Any volunteers to spearhead that project?

You don't have to be a board member to volunteer to take on projects! Our esteemed Quill editor rolled off the board two years ago, and he's still cranking out our newsletter. Craig Faris rolled off the board before my time, but he still works hard on a number of projects for the organization. John and Marcia Migacz have never been on the board, and yet they were right there helping to set up the stage the night before last year's conference. There are many others-my apologies to those who escape my feeble memory this evening.

Question # 4 asked if you don't attend regularly, why not? Respondents were asked to check all choices that applied. Here are the numbers:

This is one of those questions that is best looked at on a chapter-by-chapter basis. If half the folks who think the meeting location is at an inconvenient location are from the same chapter, the chapter leader needs to know that. Any chapter leader who would like to see their chapter's results. Please email me and I'll send you the information: susan.boyer@charter.net

I have to tell you all, that there were some very entertaining answers-and some sad ones as well-in the "other" category. Many were variations of the too busy, location, and time reasons. But we had several members who didn't know who to contact, or where the meetings were! Shame on us! For anyone who doesn't know, here is a listing of our chapters, along with contact names and meeting times and locations:

Come check us out! Visit one of our writers' groups around the state at the times and locations listed below. No chapter in your area? Contact chapter liaison, Bob Strother at bstrother4180@charter.net, for ideas about starting one.

Aiken

Eden Gardens, Silver Bluff Rd
2nd Tuesdays • 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Charles Reeve (803) 642-6941

Anderson

Merritt Building Parlor, Anderson University
2nd & 4th Sundays • 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Jo Buckner (864) 261-7739

Camden??

If you live in the Camden area and are interested in forming a local chapter, email Kathyrn...
Kathryn Lovatt

Charleston

Books-a-Million, West Ashley
3rd Wednesdays • 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Shari Stauch (843) 834-1872

Columbia 1

Lexington County Public Library - Cayce, 1500 Augusta Rd
1st &3rd Wednesdays • 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Steve Vassey (803) 794-0832

Columbia 2

Richland County Public Library, 1431 Assembly St
1st &3rd Mondays • 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Bonnie Stanard (803) 779-1790

Greenville

The Open Book, 110 South Pleasantburg Dr
1st Thursdays & 3rd Tuesdays • 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Printed Matters - The Greenville Chapter Newsletter
John Migacz (864) 884-6217

Irmo

Books-a-Million, 275 Harbison Blvd
2nd & 4th Wednesdays • 6:30 pm
Charlotte Blackstone (803) 345-1365

Lexington

Lexington Library, 5440 Augusta Rd
every other Tuesday • 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Lynn Stidom (803) 957-9106

Myrtle Beach

Prose Workshop
Atlanta Bread Co., Hwy. 544
2nd & 4th Thursdays • 4:00 pm 

Poetry Workshop
Socastee Library (usually)
1st & 3rd Thursdays • 4:00 pm
Cynthia Hodell Dyer (843) 347-3040

Rock Hill

Grace Lutheran Church
2nd & 4th Tuesdays • 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Luis Rodriguez (803) 240-2368 or Kim Blum-Hyclak (803) 289-6491

Sandhills

Richland County Library - Sandhills Branch, 1 Summit Pkwy
2nd & 4th Mondays • 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Sonia Hayes Pleasant (803) 699-9230

The above information is also posted on our website, on the Chapters page. Since I know not everyone has internet access, I wanted to include it here. Our newsletter is still mailed to members who don't have email. I can't stress this enough: If you want to belong to a local critique group, but don't have one in your area, contact Bob Strother about how to get one started. Put up a sign in the local book store! Start a new chapter!

Next month, questions 5 & 6...

Y'all take care!

Susan

We received this e-mail from Daryl Youngblood, concerning his father, George, who is a member of SCWW currently living in Texas.

My name is Daryl Youngblood (George's son). I wanted to ask you to pray for my father.

On Sun he fell, hit is head and went to the emergency room. He had bleeding in two parts of his brain and needed neuro-surgery but had to wait for hours while blood thickening plasma was given to him (he was on blood thinners for his chemotherapy). The surgery went well and he is in ICU now. However, he is still in very serious condition.

At this point he is not able to breathe without a respirator and is his pupils are not responding to light stimulation. He has reflexes to pain stimulation but has not regained consciousness even though he has been on no pain medication or sedatives for 12 hours. He seems to have had a slight improvement today but at this point is still in very serious condition.

Dad has not had much of a change. He still has not regained consciousness and has little to no reaction in his pupils. There are little improvements we see like reflexes, yawning and breathing a bit more on his own but nothing yet that would indicate cognitive brain function. The neurosurgeons spoke to us yesterday after reviewing his MRI and said that there was definitely some brain stem damage and also some other damages to other areas as well including the frontal lobe. This is a result of his brain being squeezing as it swelled. They say that, at best, he will not be "the same" man if or when he regains consciousness. They have no way of knowing how bad his damage will be at this stage. One surgeon is not optimistic and the other still says time can tell. Soon they will want us to make some big decisions regarding his future care. Please continue to pray for him because God can do miracles, the neurosurgeons have seen them.

Thanks,

Daryl Youngblood
fatkid101@aol.com

Bob Strother's story, "The Interloper," is currently appearing on-line in Mobius Magazine – The Journal of Social Change, and will also be published in the print version when it comes out in June.

Bob Strother has had another short story published. "Trade Secret" will appear in the printed version of Down In The Dirt Magazine in June, and it will soon be in the on-line version.

Susan Boyer's story, "Search and Rescue," has been awarded the Editor's Choice Award in Fiction for Issue 2 of Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression. Her work will be featured at the beginning of the issue, her name will be featured on the cover, and her work will be included in a future Editor's Choice anthology. In addition, she will receive $100.

John Migacz will be debuting his epic SciFi novel, The Dieya Chronicles: Incident on Ravar at the Columbia Book Festival. Find out more at www.johnmigacz.com.

Aimee Caruso's article, "Mountains of Inspiration" was published in the March 2007 issue of Running Times, "the runner's best resource."

The first issue of The Literary Bone, containing Kevin Coyle's story, "Looking for Elves, " is now available for purchase or download on www.lulu.com.

Leland Beaudrot has rebuilt the Greenville Chapter website so that it loads much more quickly than before. It still looks great, and you can easily access past issues of Printed Matters right from the page.

Emily Avent, co-founder of Pressque, LLC, in Charleston, offers a 10% discount off quality editing service to SCWW members. See their web site, www.pressque.com or call 843.853.9332 for details.

March 3

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Literary Basket
A Friends of the Richland County Public Library Fundraiser
Saturday, March 3, 7:00 p.m.
Bostick Auditorium, Richland County Public Library Main Branch, Columbia
$35 tickets
Info: 803-929-3475

March 4

Wits End Poetry: Open Mic
Sunday, March 4, 7:30 p.m.
Coffee Underground, 1 East Coffee Street, Greenville
Info: www.witsendpoetry.com

March 5

Southern Writers Series: Ron Rash
Sponsored by Richland County Public Library and USC's Institute for Southern Studies
Monday, March 5, 5:30 p.m.
Richland County Public Library, Main Branch, 1431 Assembly Street
Info: www.myrcpl.com

March 6

Converse Writers Series: Claire Bateman
Tuesday, March 6th, 8:00 p.m.
Barnet Room, Montgomery Student Center, Converse College, Spartanburg
Free and open to the public
Info: 864-596-9186

March 9

The Moveable Feast Literary Luncheon: Pierre McCowan
Friday, March 9, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
DeBordieu Beach Club, Georgetown
$25 tickets
Info and reservations: 843-235-9600 or www.classatpawleys.com

Poets in the Forest: Kwame Dawes
Sponsored by Travelers Rest Arts Mission
Friday, March 9, 7:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. for open mic sign up)
Leopard Forest Coffee Company, 26 S. Main Street, Travelers Rest
$5.00 cover ($2.00 students)
Info: www.trartsmission.org

Ray McManus and Susan Meyers at the Poetry Society of South Carolina
Friday, March 9th, 7:00 p.m.
Second Presbyterian Church, 342 Meeting Street, Charleston
Info: bardowl2@aol.com

March 10

Publishing Seminar: "Submitting to Poetry Journals"
Ray McManus, Instructor
Sponsored by the Poetry Society of South Carolina
Saturday, March 10, 9-11 a.m.
Location in Charleston TBA
Info: $10 for PSSC members, $15 for others

March 12

Hub City Reading Series: Claire Bateman
Monday, March 12, 7:30 p.m.
The Showroom at Hub-Bub, 149 S. Daniel Morgan Avenue, Spartanburg
Info: www.hubcity.org

March 16

The Moveable Feast Literary Luncheon: Cassandra King
Friday, March 16, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Pawley's Plantation, 70 Tanglewood Drive, Pawleys Island
$25 tickets
Info and reservations: 843-235-9600 or www.classatpawleys.com

March 17

Saturday Seminar: Beating the Odds: How To Get Your Novel Published In A Tight Market-Karin Gillespie
Sponsored by the Emrys Foundation
Saturday, March 17, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: TBA
$50 for nonmembers and $40 for members
Info: www.emrys.org or contact Mindy Friddle at 864-884-2403

April 10 - May 15

Emrys' The Writing Room Workshop
Writing for Children and Young Adults-Mark Johnston
Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Camperdown Building Conference Room, 200 E. Camperdown Way, Greenville
$180 for nonmembers; $150 for members
Online registration: www.emrys.org
Information: Mindy Friddle, 864-884-2403, mindyfriddle@yahoo.com

April 11 - May 16

Emrys' The Writing Room Workshop
Write Here, Right Now: A Prose Workshop - Mindy Friddle
Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Innovate Building Conference Room, 148 River Street, Greenville
$180 for nonmembers, $150 for members
Online registration: www.emrys.org
Information: Mindy Friddle, 864-884-2403, mindyfriddle@yahoo.com

Thursday, April 12

Deadline for Requests for Proposals for the NEA's The Big Read
For more information or to download the Request for Proposal, see the Web site: www.neabigread.org

Saturday, April 21

Single Poem/Book Awards Ceremony
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia
Sponsored by USC's Poetry Initiative
For more information, please visit www.cas.sc.edu/engl/poetry/index.htm

Charleston County Public Library
Workshops are free.
Limited number of seats available, please call (843) 805-6930

Sat. March 3rd Main Library (10am-12)
The Art of Performance Poetry with Marcus Amaker

Ages 18 and older.

Bring a few poems or come prepared to write some poetry to recite in this workshop. We will go the skills required to really make your poetry heard and at the end we will run an open mic!

Marcus Amaker is a 30-year-old performance poet, graphic artist and musician. After moving to Charleston, Marcus got involved in the local literary scene and started www.charlestonpoets.com, a site that aims to bring poets together by listing open mic events and providing a social network for local artists. Marcus has hosted and performed in many open mic events, as well as collaborated with other like-minded artists and musicians. He has two published books and three self-produced CDs. See a sample of his work at www.marcusamaker.com

Sat. March 10th Main Library (10am-12)
The Business of Fiction Writing with Sean Scapellato

Ages 18 and older.

This two-hour fiction workshop is designed for the beginner to intermediate fiction writer. Learn about basic manuscript submission, querying an agent, the roles of agent and editor, resources for fiction writing, daily writing routines, and how to network.

Sean Scapellato has had his fiction published in regional literary magazines, such as The Echo and The Tower, with short creative pieces anthologized in the collections Hungry For Home (Novello Festival Press) and My South (Rutledge Hill Press). He presently has a novel under representation with The Choate Agency in New York.

Sat. March 17th Main Library (10am-12)
The Art of Memoir Writing with Susan Meyers

Ages 18 and older.

Writing a memoir is one way to make meaning of life through reflection of self and family. We'll address some of the questions memoirists face: what to put in, what to leave out, where to start, what shapes a memoir, what makes it meaningful. The workshop will include discussion, a brief writing session, and a class packet for participants.

Susan Meyers has taught memoir writing courses for numerous community programs. She is the author of Keep and Give Away (University of South Carolina Press, 2006) and Lessons in Leaving (Persephone Press, 1998), both containing poems drawn from life experiences. She has an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte.

Sat. March 24th Main Library (10am-12)
The Art of Journaling with Carol Peters

Ages 18 and older.

For beginning and experienced writers, the practice of journaling stages happy accidents and yields meaty rewards. Journaling steadies the mind, exercises the imagination, increases writing skills, and generates raw material for fiction, poetry, and memoir. This workshop will discuss strategies and tools for journaling. Students will carry home samples of their new journaling practice.

Carol Peters received an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Her work has appeared in miporadio, Pembroke Magazine, RealPoetik, Pebble Lake Review, Bamboo Ridge, and InkPot. Her blog is carolpeters.blogspot.com

Michel Hammes
Reference Librarian
Charleston County Public Library
68 Calhoun St
Charleston SC 29401

(843) 805-6949
hammesm@ccpl.org

Chris Roerden, one of the speakers at the 2006 SCWW and a professional editor for 40+ years, is calling for submissions for a companion volume to Don't Murder Your Mystery that will exemplify specific, good writing techniques from all genres of fiction. (Seems that many reviews of her book noted that its content applies to a wide range of writing, not just mystery.) Up to 110 of the best new examples from published as well as unpublished novels and short stories will be included in the companion volume, with full credit, to be released in 2008. Chris is also holding a contest to come up with the best title for the new book. The winner will receive a professional edit worth $800. Full details are at www.tinyurl.com/yclawc

Between April 16 and 26 she would enjoy meeting with any SCWW groups as she drives to and from Miami for the Sleuthfest conference. To arrange a visit, email croerden@aol.com

Whew! What a weekend! My husband, Jim, and I just got back from the 11th annual South Carolina Book Festival. Along with volunteers, Betty Beamguard, Cree Foreman (and her daughter Amy), and Grace Looper, and fellow board members Kevin Coyle, Sarah Cureton, and Sandra Johnson, we manned the SCWW booth. Also, making frequent guest appearances were the folks from Renegade Books, also known as SCWW board member Bob Strother and John and Marcia Migacz.

Because I wasn't familiar with this annual celebration of all things literary until last year-and don't want to assume that everyone knows about it-y'all make plans now for next February. The last two years, it's been the fourth weekend in February at the convention center in Columbia. By my count, this year there were 96 exhibitors, and over 80 authors. Many of the authors participated in panel discussions, readings and presentations, and were then on hand for book signings. Barnes and Nobel, The Happy Bookseller, Bella Rosa Books, and countless other exhibitors were on hand to sell books for the signing.

It was great to see so many South Carolina Writers Workshop members, both current and former, who are making enormous strides in their careers. Many were on hand as presenters, moderators and/or exhibitors. Congratulations to presenters and moderators Carla Damron, Sonia Hayes, Janet Carr Hull, Gwen Hunter, Sandra Johnson, T. Lynn Ocean, and Tom Truitt, and to our exhibitors Billie Bierer, Roger Meadows, John Migacz and Bob Strother. Heaven help me, if I missed anyone, it was completely unintentional, and the result of a hectic weekend!

Each year, SCWW has a booth to promote our organization. Friends, let me tell you, there was a lot of interest this year! There were many writers on hand, some of them current members, some of them former members who were interested in renewing their membership, and some who were looking to make a connection with a community of writers. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, we had given out our last membership brochure, signed up 13 new members, and collected three pages of names for our membership chairman, Jim McFarlane, to follow up on.

By the time we started packing up, we were exhausted, and our overworked tongues and jaws weren't forming words correctly, but we were completely out of back issues of the anthology, had sold many current issues of Catfish Stew, every last t-shirt, quite a few totes, and some anthology posters. All together, our organization brought in $980 over the course of the weekend!

This year's conference and The Petigru Review created a lot of excitement. We gave out almost all of the flyers we'd printed up on both projects, and judging by the number of people asking questions, picking up flyers and jotting down notes, both should garner throngs of participants.

I think I'll call the Hilton and bump up our room block! Meanwhile, y'all take care and may the Muse be with you!

Susan

The first step in writing is to be adopted by a clever Muse. Lacking that, one has to develop one's own talents. Toward that end, here are a couple of my favorite suggestions.

Write as though no one would ever see a word of it. Pour out everything you wouldn't dare say out loud. Don't even stop to read it yourself. Only use the pointy end of the pencil–no erasing!

When your inner author, panting like a sprinter, pauses to look back at the finish line, stop and read what you have out loud. Does hearing it stir you as much or more than writing it? Can you already see how to make it better? Are you ready to show it to someone else, and willing to accept their honest critique?

Congratulations! While you have been distracted with this exercise, a Muse has moved her luggage into the guest room of your subconscious. She will peer out of the windows of your soul and add her commentary to your mental conversations. Feed her, entertain her and let her leave her graffiti on your gray matter.

Sure, people may talk about how you've changed since you became a writer. But remember, the bottom line is, you became a writer.

Write on!

Leland