Heading into this, our last week of "early-bird" registration prices, our conference enrollment was just over 200. We're really excited about the way things are shaping up. We hope you all are, too, and we hope we'll be seeing all of you in October!

Just a few reminders/updates:

Early Bird Registration ends on Saturday, September 1st. (TONIGHT-at midnight.) If you're mailing your registration, please get it in the mail in time to be postmarked today. You can, of course, still register after that, but the prices go up on Conference Packages, Friday Intensive Workshops, and Spouse/Guest Registration.

Because we will have to give headcounts for meals to The Hilton, the final cutoff for registration is Friday, October 19th. That said, we will make every effort to accommodate anyone who wants to come, even if they walk up to the registration desk on Friday, October 26th. This will, however, present many challenges, and we hope to avoid this scenario if at all possible.

The critique postmark deadline has been extended until Monday September 10th.

The deadline to get our conference room rate at The Hilton is September 25, or whenever our room block runs out, whichever comes first. After that, attendees will have to pay regular price if they want a room at The Hilton ($169 per night). We tried to anticipate the number of rooms needed, and The Hilton has graciously added to our block already. At some point, however, the discounted rooms may sell out. If you haven't already, please make your reservations as soon as possible to avoid having to pay the higher rate. The Hilton will not charge or authorize your credit card until you check in.

We need room proctors for each of 106 workshops. If you'd like to introduce a speaker for one of the sessions you've selected, please contact Sandra Johnson at sandraellajohnson@yahoo.com or (803) 865-8293. This is a great opportunity to meet faculty members!

If you registered for the conference, either by mail or online, and have not received confirmation from Planning the Globe, please contact Katie Griggs at kgriggs@planningtheglobe.com or (843) 971-6034 / (800) 997-7345 to verify that your registration has been received. It's a good idea to put her email address in your address book or add her to your allowed email list to avoid having her emails go to your spam folder. You may also receive automatically generated emails from meetingplanner@planningtheglobe.com

If you need a roommate for the conference, go to the forums section of the website. Under the South Carolina Writers Workshop banner, there is a thread titled Roommate Needed For 2007 Conference. You can connect with others in need of a roommate there.

If you have conference related questions, please do not hesitate to contact Susan at any time: susan.boyer@charter.net or (864) 370-9262 (home) / (864) 901-2378 (cell).

We hope to see you all at the conference!

Susan and Sarah

Our Master of Ceremonies For the Weekend

Meet McNair Wilson...

Unlike many who spend their entire life wishing upon a star, McNair Wilson grabbed one and climbed aboard. Having spent ten years making dreams a reality as a Disney Imagineer (theme park designer), McNair has become a master at working with individuals and teams to recapture their creative spirit.

McNair assists organizations and individuals with powerful creative thinking. With clients from IBM to the Salvation Army, McNair believes everyone has a creative spirit, though some are more actively creative.

As a Disney Imagineer, he created attractions for all Disney parks and served on design teams for six new theme parks. Later he consulted on international projects for Universal Studios, Warner Bros., and Sony.

McNair has authored and illustrated four books, including, Raised in Captivity, A Memoir of a Life Long Churchaholic and the soon-to-be-published, DONUTS ON THE MOON, Brainstorming Secrets of a theme Park Designer.

In the theatre, he has written full-length plays, musicals and three acclaimed one-man plays: From Up Here, The Fifth Gospel, and Raised in Captivity-LIVE!--with over 1500 performances to date. He is a master instructor for Dynamic Communicators Workshops coaching corporate and ministry professionals. McNair has performed and directed everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim. He makes his home in a 1917 cotton mill in the San Francisco Bay area.

Friday - Sunday: Toastmaster/ Master of Ceremonies
Friday: Intensive Workshop - Brainstorming
Keynote address - Recapturing Your Creative Spirit

Saturday: Workshop - The Author as Speaker
Keynote Address - "The Creative Life: Live It! or, Get a Job" or If I'd Known My Life Was Going To Be Like This, I Would Have Gotten Up Earlier

http://www.mcnairwilson.com
http://www.teawithmcnair.typepad.com

I had the pleasure of seeing McNair in action at a writers' conference last year, and am absolutely thrilled that he will be acting as our Toastmaster/ Master of Ceremonies, as well as speaking and conducting workshops. He is inspiring, energizing, and hilarious. We are all in for a treat!

Susan

More Authors!

Ray Blackston lives and writes in the upstate of South Carolina. In 2003, his first novel, Flabbergasted, was selected as one of three finalists for the Christy Award for best first novel, and was chosen as inspirational novel of the year by the Dallas Morning News. A reviewer called the book, "Amazing. A novel with no illicit sex, bad words, or racial slurs, that is simultaneously serious, hilarious, and impossible to put down."

Now with four novels to his credit, Ray has a passion for teaching the do's and don'ts of crafting fiction.

Saturday: Translating Your Idea Into a Book
Writing For the Inspirational Market

Sunday: Conflict and Tension: Upping the Stakes

http://www.rayblackston.com

David B. Coe is the award-winning author of eight fantasy novels. His LonTobyn Chronicle earned him the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually to the best new author in fantasy. His latest novel, Weavers of War, is the fifth and final installment in his critically acclaimed Winds of the Forelands sequence.

David is currently working on a new fantasy trilogy for Tor called Blood of the Southlands. The first volume, The Sorcerers' Plague, will be released in December. David has also begun work on a four book contemporary fantasy. Coe's novels have been translated into half a dozen languages. He has a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University.

Friday: Intensive Workshop - With a Little Help From My Friends: Character Growth and Plot Development

Saturday: The Story Arc: Where is Your Story Going, and How Will You Get the Reader There?
Laws of the Universe: Consistency in Your Fictional World
Voices in Your Head: Dialogue as a Narrative Tool

Sunday: Two Sides of the Same Coin: An Agent and an Author Discuss Business Strategies for Writers (With his agent, Lucienne Diver)

http://www.sff.net/people/davidbcoe

Melinda Long is the author of When Papa Snores and Hiccup Snickup, both published through Simon and Schuster. Her third book, How I Became a Pirate, is published through Harcourt Brace. It was chosen by Children's Book of the Month Club as a main selection for September 2003, and has also been translated into twelve languages including Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, and Japanese. In addition, it is the winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for 2004, a Nick Jr. Magazine Best Book of the Year and is a New York Times Children's Number One Bestseller. It was chosen as winner of The Irma Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, Booksense Best Book of the Year, and Southeastern Booksellers' Association (SEBA) Best Book of the Year. Melinda's newest book is Pirates Don't Change Diapers, also illustrated by David Shannon.

Saturday: Openings and Closings in Children's Literature

Sunday: Humor in Children's Literature

http://www.melindalongbooks.com

I know there are some of you out there-you signed up for six critiques last year, and are probably unhappy that you can't do that again this year because critiques are included in the registration fee.

Well, I have something special, just for you!

Y'all may remember Carrie McCullough, an editor from our faculty last year. Since then, Carrie has opened her own consulting company. Here's her bio:

Carrie McCullough started the publishing consultation firm McCullough Consulting in 2006. She brings to the business more than a decade in the media and entertainment industry, including editorial positions at newspapers in Augusta, Georgia, Florence, S.C., Anderson, S.C., Beaufort, S.C., and Columbia, S.C. All of this is in addition to her experience at a regional publishing in Augusta, where she worked her way up the ladder from publicist to publisher in less than two years.

Carrie works with authors and writers through all stages of their careers. McCullough Consulting offers editing, publicity and submission assistance, as well as contract consultations and suggestions.

Carrie will be joining us again this year in a special role. She'll be offering two Friday Intensive Workshops:

Morning: Steps to Submission Success
Afternoon: Editing and Refining Your Novel

We've added these workshops due to the overwhelming popularity of some of the other workshops on related topics. You may notice that Carrie's afternoon topic is identical to that of a session that Jim Gilbert is offering in the morning (which is full).

After the Friday intensives, Carrie will not be teaching other classes. She will be at an exhibit table, where she will be doing two things. One of those is a surprise-I can't tell you about it yet. But during classes, when the exhibit area is virtually empty, she'll be conducting Add-on Critiques.

Add-on Critiques are for those feedback junkies I mentioned earlier. These will be in addition to the critique everyone gets with registration, and only Carrie will be doing them. She'll only be doing twenty, so, if you want one, act fast. The charge is $40 per critique. Contact Katie Griggs at kgriggs@planningtheglobe.com or (843) 971-6034 / (800) 997-7345 and tell her that you want an Add-on Critique. She'll sign you up, and take your credit card info, or, if you prefer, you can mail a check. Because we have such a limited supply of Add-on Critiques, we'll need you to mail the check right away to reserve your spot.

The guidelines for Add-On Critiques will be the same as for all other critiques except the postmark deadline for sending critique materials will be October 12th.

Please note: This does not impact the availability of additional faculty appointments. Depending on the final registration numbers, we may have additional appointments with some faculty members, which you can sign up for when you check in at the conference, subject to availability.

Please contact me if you have any questions: susan.boyer@charter.net or (864) 370-9262 (home) / (864) 901-2378 (cell).

Y'all take care,

Susan

When we first started planning this year's conference, I thought having smaller group sessions on Friday would be a good idea. In theory, I still think that...smaller classes, more faculty attention, right?

Except...some topics are more popular than others, and we are taking registrations online, over the phone and in the mail. We had a registration glitch (yes, another). The system allowed more than 12 attendees to register for several of the classes. By the time we caught it, several classes had 20 people registered.

Also, it's really hard to tell someone that the one class they really wanted is full, and it's hard to decide who gets bumped when someone registers on line and gets am immediate spot, but the next day you get a registration in the mail that was postmarked before the online registration was entered. You would be amazed at how many times this has happened.

So, in fairness to all, the cap of 12 attendees each has been lifted from the Friday Intensives Workshops. If, when you registered, you saw a message that the one you wanted was full, if you like, you can now call or email Katie Griggs and sign up for it. kgriggs@planningtheglobe.com (843) 971-6034

Also, if you signed up for one of the classes, but no longer want to take it if more than 12 attendees are in the class, you can call Katie and switch or cancel the class.

I have learned that sometimes good ideas are impractical ones. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. susan.boyer@charter.net / (864) 370-9262

Thank you so much for your patience with my learning curve!

Susan

This year, we will be holding a silent auction that will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Friday and run through 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, with the winning bidders checking out at the conference registration desk and claiming their prizes between 8:00 and 8:45.

If you have an item to donate for a basket, such as one of your own autographed books, a favorite craft book, or anything of interest to writers, and are not affiliated with a local chapter, Kathryn Lovatt, our Fund Raising Chairperson would love to include your donation in one of the baskets she is coordinating. She can be reached at (803) 413-5810, or by email at kathrynlovatt@hotmail.com.

Please send donations to:

Kathryn Lovatt
1512 Fair Street
Camden, SC 29020

All donations are tax deductible.

Nominations are now being accepted for the SCWW Board of Directors. Elections will be held in November for terms beginning January 1, 2008. The two-year term of office is a great way to give back to our writing community and set goals for the future. Anyone interested should send a bio and their qualifications to SCWW President Steve Heckman (steveheckman@charter.net) prior to October 30, 2007.

The chapter co-hosted a reading by Ron Cooper of excerpts from his novel Hume's Fork at the Aiken Public Library on July 17. We've invited him to meet with us the next time he's in the area.

Kudos to chapter member Jack McLaughlin, whose short story "What Goes Around..." won an honorable mention in the ByLine magazine's annual short story competition. Our past president, Charlie Reeve, won this competition last year, so we've got a streak underway.

Longtime chapter member Hawk McKinney will be featured at the Academy for Lifelong Learning's "Meet the Author" session from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. on September 24. Hawk's latest novel, Moccasin Trace, is set in east Georgia during the years 1859-1865. The Academy meets in the Penland Administration Building on the University of South Carolina-Aiken campus. Contact Steve Gordy at (803) 648-1829 for directions if you're interested in attending.

Bob Strother's short story "New Blood" has been accepted for publication as a reprint in the September or October issue of The Writers Post Journal. The Journal is a monthly publication based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. "New Blood" originally appeared in the Fourth Annual Vampire Fiction edition of Midnight Times.

Phil Arnold's Elvisblog spiked a record number of hits (over 2100) in the two days surrounding the anniversary of Elvis' death. With his incantation-robe sleeves pushed up and ever-present sequined swami turban, Phil, The Elvis Oracle, has snatched from the astral plane many fascinating nuggets about the King. Check it out at www.elvisblog.net.

Betty Beamguard's inspirational biography, How Many Angels Does It Take: The Remarkable Life of Heather Rose Brooks, is now in print. It's available through her at bbeamguard@earthlink.net for $10 plus $2 shipping, and will soon be listed on Amazon and available through bookstores and Pure Heart Press. See her Web site to read more about Heather. Also, Betty's humorous short story, "Connie Sue Confesses," appears in the new edition of the CWC Anthology published by Main Street Rag.

Libros International has published Bill Copeland's first novel, Ashes to the Vistula. The book is available at Barnes and Noble and on Bill's personal home page www.billcopeland.net

Katherine S. Crawford has been awarded a Writer's Residency in October 2007 to the Montana Artists' Refuge in Basin, Montana. This is a fully-funded residency that gives her an entire month in which to devote all time to writing; the residency also works in conjunction to the Helena Festival of the Book.

Led by Sean Scapellato and Carol Peters
Meeting the second tue of each month starting September 11th 2007
(7-9pm). Free at the Main Library 68 Calhoun Street, Charleston

For all those closet novelists out there: bring your favorite pen and paper, your works-in-progress, your fictive mind. During our recurring fiction workshop series, we'll be tackling major topics of the craft: dialogue, plot, character, tone, point of view, imagery. We'll look at process, discipline, revision, submitting, editing. Our two hours will be split with instruction and interactive exercises, questions and answers, and brief sharing of exercises. Use this time to meet other writers and to put pen to paper. We'll be helping you formulate ideas, improve your works in progress, and learn substantive techniques about the craft and art of fiction. Designed to help fiction writers at all levels, from beginning to professional, this time will allow for introspection and work on individual projects as well as a chance to learn about the many techniques of story. Sponsored by the Charleston County Public Library and The Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts (LILA). For more information please call 843-805-6930.

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.

Carol Peters received an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. A chapbook of Carol's poems titled Muddy Prints, Water Shine will be published by Finishing Line Press in their 2007 New Women's Voices Series. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in journals such as miporadio, Cairn, Pembroke Magazine, RealPoetik, Pebble Lake Review, and Bamboo Ridge. Carol's blog is carolpeters.blogspot.com

Date: September 15, 2007
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Place: Columbia Museum of Art
Corner of Main and Hampton Streets

This year's Poets Summit marks the fourth annual poets summit sponsored by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. The Poetry Initiative, located in USC's Department of English, has planned this year's event as a call to all South Carolina writers, poets, and lovers of the art of writing poetry to experience the phenomenal talent of its guest poets and its honored speakers. Celebrating its fourth year, Director Kwame Dawes has assembled an agenda that will explore the state of poetry on a community, state, and a global level. Come here the poetry of award winning poets Marilyn Nelson, Kevin Young, and native South Carolinian poet Nathalie Anderson. Hear poets from around the state talk about how poetry is making its mark in their area of the state. Honored guest speakers will be Stephen Young, Program Director for The Poetry Foundation, and Lee Briccetti, Executive Director for New York City's Poets House, a national poetry archive and meeting place for poets and poetry readers. Any aspect relating to poetry, be it how to celebrate poetry, write poetry, programs relating to poetry, resources for poets will be featured at this event. This year's summit will also feature a special musical performance and reading in tribute to the late poet Sekou Sundiata, whose influential poetry moves with the rhythms of blues and jazz.

This event is free and open to the public and includes the following: breakfast muffins and coffee, a catered lunch, and open mic session. For more information please contact:

Charlene Monahan Spearen
SC Poetry Initiative
University of South Carolina
(803) 777-5492 cmspeare@gwm.sc.edu

Saturdays in October 2007
Charleston Main Library (10am-12)
Workshops are free.
Registration required and seating limited to 25, please call (843) 805-6930

Explore Nature Writing

Sat. October 6th Charleston Main Library (10am-12)

Poets Susan Meyers and Marjory Wentworth offer a workshop on writing about the natural world. Writing activities will focus on the Lowcountry landscape in all its manifestations, the spiritual connection to place and the ways in which the natural world incorporates life and death simultaneously and continuously. A recommended bibliography will be provided to all participants. Open to writers of both poetry and prose.

Marjory Wentworth's poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Noticing Eden, a collection of poems, was published in 2003. Her next collection, Despite Gravity, will be published in late 2007. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina.

Susan Meyers is the author of two poetry collections that turn to the natural world for subject, imagery, and inspiration. Her book Keep and Give Away (University of South Carolina Press, 2006) won the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, the SIBA Book Award for Poetry, and the Brockman-Campbell Book Award. She has an MFA degree in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte.

Unlikely Beauty: The Poem of the Everyday

Sat. October 13th Charleston Main Library (10am-12)

Writing poetry is an exercise in being both of and yet apart from the world around us. How can we elevate our readers, while at the same time immersing them in the objects of the everyday? How can we create beauty, rich in complexity, which is both sublime and profane? Through a number of exercises-from enjambment and syllabics to eating blackberries-we will consider how to answer the call for beauty in poetry without forgetting the lyricism of imperfections.

Jessica Bundschuh, recipient of a Fulbright Lecture Award, taught American Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Stuttgart in Germany from 2002-2005. Since returning to Charleston in 2006, she has focused her efforts on international marketing and cross-cultural coaching through Fluency Creative. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston and was the recipient of the 2001 South Carolina Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship and winner of the 2001 South Carolina Academy of Authors Poetry Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review and Quarterly West.

Stories & Their Beginnings: The Line, the Hook, the Cast

Sat. October 20th Charleston Main Library (10am-12)

Do you know the story you want to tell, but you can't quite get started? Have you actually begun, but the energy ran out? Totally lost? Don't know where to begin? Come to this workshop to find the idea, create your narrative hook, and craft the first scene. Bring a work in progress (if you have one), a journal for in-class exercises, and a good pen. We'll look at areas such as conflict, character, dialogue, and pacing in the first five pages.

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.

The Art of Journaling with Carol Peters

Sat. October 27 Charleston Main Library (10am-12)

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. A chapbook of Carol's poems titled Muddy Prints, Water Shine will be published by Finishing Line Press in their 2007 New Women's Voices Series. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in journals such as miporadio, Cairn, Pembroke Magazine, RealPoetik, Pebble Lake Review, and Bamboo Ridge.

Saturday, October 20, 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Anderson S.C.

A one-day indepth Fiction Workshop with Christy Award-winning novelist/instructor Rosey Dow will be held Saturday, October 20, 2007, in Anderson, S.C. It will begin at 9:30 AM and conclude at 4 PM. Rosey is the author of 11 published novels and is the director of ChristianFictionMentors.com, a twelve-lesson interactive program that guides writers through their first novel. Registration for the workshop is $35. For more information or to register, please contact Elva Martin at (864) 226-7024 or by e-mail at elvamartinministries@charter.net.

Tue October 30th 7-9 pm
Charleston Main Library, Auditorium free
Reading with book signing to follow

Join us at the Charleston County Public Library for an evening of poetry with Marjory Wentworth and Linda Annas Ferguson. Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina Poet Laureate, will be reading from her new book Despite Gravity. And Linda Annas Ferguson will be reading from her new book Bird Missing From One Shoulder. Co-sponsored with the Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts.

Copies of these newly released books will be available for purchase and to have the authors sign. For further information, call 805-6930.

Marjory Wentworth was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. Educated at Mt. Holyoke College, 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. Noticing Eden, a collection of poems, was published by Hub City Writing Project in 2003. Her forthcoming book, Despite Gravity, will be published in late 2007 by Ninety Six Press. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina.

Ms. Wentworth teaches poetry in "Expressions of Healing" - an arts and healing program for cancer patients and their families at Roper Hospital in Charleston, S.C. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts (LILA), The University of South Carolina's Poetry Initiative, The Poetry Society of South Carolina, and the SC Center for the Book. She reviews poetry and writes a poetry column for the Charleston Post and Courier. Marjory Wentworth lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina with her husband Peter and their three sons. She works as a publicist.

Linda Annas Ferguson is the author of Bird Missing from One Shoulder (WordTech Editions); Stepping on Cracks in the Sidewalk (Finishing Line Press); Last Chance to Be Lost (Kentucky Writers' Coalition); and It's Hard to Hate a Broken Thing (Palanquin Press, University of S.C. Aiken). She was the 2005 Poetry Fellow for the South Carolina Arts Commission and served as the 2003-04 Poet-in-Residence for the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, S.C. She is also a recipient of the Poetry Fellowship of the South Carolina Academy of Authors. A native of North Carolina, she now lives in Charleston, SC.

The next Hilton Head Writers Retreat will be held 15-18 November. Run by NY Times Best-Selling author Bob Mayer, this retreat is focused on making the participants' manuscripts stronger and more marketable. For more information go to www.bobmayer.org

All regular monthly programs, except as noted, are held at
Second Presbyterian Church, 342 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC, at 7 PM
They are free and open to the public. A book signing and reception follow the program.
Contact: Carol Peters, pssc.programs@gmail.com

September 14

Linda Annas Ferguson is the author of Bird Missing from One Shoulder, Stepping on Cracks in the Sidewalk, Last Chance to Be Lost; and It's Hard to Hate a Broken Thing. She was the 2005 Poetry Fellow for the SC Arts Commission and served as the 2003-04 Poet-in-Residence for the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston. She is also a recipient of the Poetry Fellowship of the SC Academy of Authors. A native of North Carolina, she now lives in Charleston.

Rick Mulkey is the author of Toward Any Darkness, Bluefield Breakdown, and Before the Age of Reason. He has won the Charles Angoff award from The Literary Review and a Hawthornden Fellowship for a residency in Edinburgh, Scotland. His work has appeared in journals and anthologies including Shenandoah, Poetry East, Denver Quarterly, Connecticut Review, American Poetry: The Next Generation, and A Millennial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry. Mulkey teaches and directs the creative writing program at Converse College.

October 12

Nikky Finney is the author of The World Is Round, Heartwood, Rice, and On Wings Made of Gauze. She was editor of the The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, the latest Cave Canem anthology. She teaches creative writing and poetry at the University of Kentucky and is serving a faculty appointment this fall at Smith College in Amherst, MA.

Kendra Hamilton's debut poetry collection is The Goddess of Gumbo. She has been published in Callaloo, Shenandoah, Southern Review, River Styx, Obsidian II, The Best of Callaloo: Poetry, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South. She has won fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio program. She collaborates with artists from other disciplines, most recently on Water Table, a site-specific art installation at the 2004 Spoleto Festival USA.

November 9

Carol Ann Davis's first book, Psalm, available from Tupelo Press in October, 2007, was runner up for the 2005 Dorset Prize. Her poems have recently appeared in Agni, The Threepenny Review, and The Southern Review. The recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the SC Arts Commission, she lives in Charleston, where she directs the undergraduate creative writing program at The College of Charleston and edits Crazyhorse.

Sheila Joan Tombe is the winner of the 2006-07 Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Poetry from the SC Arts Commission. She is a professor of English at USC Beaufort and the editor of Apostrophe: USCB Journal of the Arts. Her work has appeared in journals and magazines such as Fortnight, Visual Arts, and Charleston Magazine. She has won grants and awards from The Atlanta Review, the Scriptwriters of SC, the SC Humanities Council, and the USC Research Foundation.

December 14

Holiday Party & Reading for members and their guests at the home of Oliver Bowman.
Members are invited to bring finger food and an original seasonal poem.

January 11

Open Mic: City Gallery at Waterfront Park, 34 Prioleau St, Charleston (tentatively)

Jim Lundy, emcee, is active in the local open mic poetry scene as emcee and contributor for Monday Night Blues, Charleston's longest-running weekly literary and music event. He was a featured poet in the Charleston County Library's A Rather Poetic Evening series, and for Piccolo-Spoleto's Stories for Life festival. His self-published chapbook, All I Can Be Is Myself came out in 2006. He lives in Charleston and works as a mechanical engineer, landlord, and home inspector.

February 8

Alice Friman's new book is The Book of the Rotten Daughter. Previous recent books are Zoo, winner of the Ezra Pound Poetry Award from Truman State and the Sheila Margaret Motton Prize from the New England Poetry Club, and Inverted Fire. Her poems appear in Poetry, Georgia Review, Boulevard, Gettysburg Review, and Shenandoah, which awarded Friman the 2002 Boatwright Prize. She has won three prizes from Poetry Society of America and in 2001 was named to the Georgia Poetry Circuit. Professor Emerita at the University of Indianapolis, Friman now lives in Milledgeville, GA, where she is Poet-in-Residence at Georgia College & State University.

March 14

Sebastian Matthews is the author of a collection of poems, We Generous, and a memoir, In My Father's Footsteps. He co-edited, with Stanley Plumly, Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews. Matthews teaches at Warren Wilson College and in the Queens University of Charlotte low-residency MFA in Creative Writing. His poetry and prose have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Ecotone, Georgia Review, New England Review, Poetry Daily, Poets & Writers, Seneca Review, Tin House, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among others. Matthews was a recent recipient of a 2006 NC Artist Grant. He co-edits Rivendell, a place-based literary journal.

April 11

James Baker Hall is a former poet laureate of Kentucky. His most recent book of poetry is The Total Light Process: New & Selected Poems. He has been published in The Paris Review, Poetry, The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The Hudson Review, The Kenyon Review, The Sewanee Review, and elsewhere. For twenty-five years he was the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky. He is also a widely exhibited and published photographer (jamesbakerhall.com).

May 9 Annual Forum

Lavonne J. Adams, Forum Critic, is the author of two award-winning chapbooks, In the Shadow of the Mountain (Randall Jarrell/Harperprints Chapbook Award) and Everyday Still Life (Persephone Press Book Award). She has published in numerous literary journals including The Briar Cliff Review, Missouri Review, and The Cimarron Review. She teaches and is the BFA Coordinator in the Department of Creative Writing at UNC Wilmington. Her current project is based on the life and art of Georgia O'Keeffe, aided by a summer 2007 artist-in-residency at UNM Taos.

October 20 Craft Seminar: Tension & the Power of Poetry

Cathy Smith Bowers, instructor
Cosponsored by PSSC and the Emrys Foundation
10 AM - noon, Coffee Underground, Greenville
$10 for PSSC/Emrys members, $15 for others
Contact: Vera Gomez, vera.gomez@ey.com

Cathy Smith Bowers is the author of The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas, Traveling in Time of Danger, and A Book of Minutes. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. She won an SC Poetry Fellowship and The SC Arts Commission Fiction Project. While Poet-in-Residence at Queens University of Charlotte, she received the 2002 JB Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award. She now teaches in the Queens low-residency MFA program.

March 15 Poetry Seminar: Space Is the Place: Using Classic Film Techniques to Deepen a Sense of Place in Poetry

Sebastian Matthews, instructor (see bio above)
10 AM - noon, College of Charleston; $10 for PSSC members, $15 for others
Contact: Carol Peters, pssc.programs@gmail.com

May 3 Poetry Workshop for Generating New Poems: Metaphor

Cathy Smith Bowers, instructor (see bio above)
10 AM - 3 PM; DeBordieu Colony Beach Club, Georgetown
$40 for PSSC/NCPS members, $50 for others
Contact: Dennis Stiles, dstiles@americabyfoot.com

There is no way around it. In order to effectively sell your book, you are going to have to get used to speaking to large groups. In the world of self-publishing, you're more than an author. You're a book promoter, a publisher, a salesman, and everything else in between. And every one of those jobs requires you to have more than a gift for words. You also need a gift for gab. According to statistics, you'd rather be eulogized than deliver a eulogy. People are terrified of public speaking. But you are not people. You are an author whose devoted blood, sweat and tears to a book, and that book deserves to be read. Shake off that nagging fear that's been holding you back, and join a public speaking society like Toastmasters and learn to orate like a pro. Public speaking clubs are filled with supportive people who are there to help you grow as a speaker with helpful advice, and who knows, they may purchase a copy of your book while you're honing your speaking skills.

FundsforWriters and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women announce the Annual FFW Essay Contest with the theme: Make Us Want to Be You! In 750 words or less, either send us a remarkable promotional plan for your writing project or tell us what you'd do with your writing career if you had a year to devote to your passion. As always with a FFW contest, you choose whether to pay a $5 entry fee or not. The first prize for the entry fee division is $200. The first prize for the non-entry fee division is $50. Deadline October 31, 2007. Winners announced December 1, 2007. Visit our sponsor at www.nabbw.com

C. Hope Clark
Editor, FundsforWriters, www.fundsforwriters.com
Income resources for over 18,000 struggling writers!
Writer's Digest 101 Best Web Sites for Writers - 2001 through 2007

In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Commission and its literary partners are pleased to announce a call for submissions for the inaugural South Carolina First Novel Competition. The application deadline is January 2, 2008; the award winner will be announced in May 2008. Guidelines will be posted on the South Carolina Arts Commission Web site in July. www.SouthCarolinaArts.com

Partnering with the SC Arts Commission and the Hub City Writers Project for the First Novel Competition are the South Carolina State Library and The Humanities Council SC. The contest will be judged by a nationally recognized writer.

As the fever heat of summer slips into the sublime Autumn, I find my morning mile begging for a faster pace. This is also the time to once again cast a thought to writing at a brisk clip. When your post-Conference laundry is sloshing in the washer, be doing your finger flexing stretches in preparation for the month-long marathon of writing: NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

While the outcome of 30 days (or daze) writing may not be a best seller, the effort to produce a "complete" 50,000 word novel in the month of November can be a useful exercise in the discipline of writing. At the very least, making the mark garners a colorful certificate to commemorate your accomplishment and the effort at any level will help you network with fellow writers for coaching, encouragement and critique.

Be pondering your story ideas and consider giving this novel concept in writing a try. And be sure to set a place for your Muse at Thanksgiving dinner.

Leland
NaNoWriMo '04