7th Annual Cumberland Writers' Conference, June 22, 2002 will be held in the OVC room of the Student Center on TTU campus in Cookeville. Registration fee, $25, will include all workshops and lunch. The smaller conference this year will be a celebration of local writers. Sessions begin at 8 and go until 5. Send check to Janet at 1337 Hillsdale Dr, Cookeville, TN 38506 or register at the door. Speakers include:
Ellen Wolfe, author of Walking the Dream, will talk about her adventure of being the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail and will share how to sell and promote nonfiction as well as show slides of the Appalachian Trail.
Michael Birdwell, history professor at TTU and author of Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.'s Campaign Against Nazism will talk about conducting and using research in your writing.
Barbara Jackson, will talk about screenwriting, her recent short films. She has written 13 full-length screenplays, nine of which have placed in national or international contests including a Grand Jury Award for Best Screenplay at Worldfest Houston and Best Comedy Writing in the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. Her story lines cover all genre's -- romantic comedy, drama, murder mystery, animation-- as well as a TV pilot and two short films. She will show Heavenly, a 15-minute short film, that premiered at the 2001 New York Independent Film Festival, the Los Angeles film festival and just won a Bronze in the recent Houston Film Festival.
Lucy Adams will conduct a short workshop on writing for the Christian market. Her book 52 Hymn Story Devotions, in its second printing by Abingdon Press
Elizabeth Howard, widely published poet and author of Anemone's, will conduct a workshop on how to compose, edit and sell a poem.
The conference will include a book table and will open with a panel of local writers talking about their books and answering questions about writing and how to get published. Members who will be on the panel include three mystery writers and two poets.
Judy Lucas - The Good Assassin, a novel of intrigue and suspense set at Center Hill Lake and involving an attempted assassination attempt on Al Gore.
Walt Barger book of poetry, Dark Sails in the Twilight, details at www.waltbarger.com
Tom Edwards - Humorous Golfing Poetry of Tom Edwards, Raven Tree Press.
Dick Standring - Dangerous Dancing, and the sequel Dangerous Relationships, (which was set in the Upper Cumberland), suspenseful mysteries.
Ed Wells- Lethal Cargo, Infinity Publishing, suspense novel.
CONTEST For the first time in over twenty years our contest did not make. The reason, no publicity. The reason for that is rather involved, but it had to do with the conference schedule and the way we have tied the contest and conference together for the last five years. My apologies to any who wanted to enter and for the four or five who did. All entries were returned with fees and apologies.
FALL RETREAT - Joyce Cohen is setting up a special fall retreat, Sept. 22nd at Cumberland Cove. We will share a day of writing workshops and members will bring covered dishes. More details later.
CONGRATULATIONS
Barbara Jackson won a Bronze in the Houston Film Festival for her film short Heavenly. Barbara was also the cover girl for Visions, TTUs Magazine and had a nice profile inside.
LaVerne Cobb was a finalist in the Just for Openers Contest for Promises Town. Splendor Bay , her first novel, continues to garner great reviews and she is visiting bookstores and having signings almost every weekend.
Judy Lucass first novel, the Good Assassin will be available in time for the conference.
Mary Green has the first nine chapters of her book online at www.angelfire.com/tn/bigfootlady/ and is busy traveling and doing research for the nonfiction articles on the site about the phenomenon of Bigfoot in Tennessee.
Janet Biery won a third place in the Gulf Coast Writers Contest for a short story. Her first novel, Potters Field, is now available from AdvanceBooks.com and online at Amazon.com .
Walt Bargers first book of poetry, Dark Sails in the Twilight, is now available at Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Borders, Amazon.com or 1stbooks.com
Gary Brown was published in Power Engineering, an illustrated article on Power Plant Humor.
Jennie Iveys book, Tennessee Tales the Textbooks Dont Tell, co-written with Dr. Calvin Dickinson and Lisa Rand, is ready at Overmountain Press in Johnson City. Jennie is again writing bimonthly columns for the Herald-Citizen .
Sarah Holloway has had wonderful short humor pieces in the Herald-Citizen recently.
Lew Talmadge has a trilogy of short stories about a
dachshund out. Also a short story Grit magazine is holding/considering. Also has had four short stories published on line at http://www.geocities.com/ ayoeckel/contents.html. Didn't pay, he said, but I own copyrights and exposure.
Contest News
~Deadline May 31, 2002
KT Publishing 3rd Annual Short Story Competition Theme: Open Length: 1,000 to 2,000 words Prizes: 1st $300 2nd $150 3rd $75 (Australian dollars) Entry Fee: $5 per entry (aust) or $4 US by c/card on-line. entry form at http://www.kt-p.net
~Deadline May 31, 2002
PEP Writers' Contest
Write a 500-word original profile of a person, fictional or real, that captures the essence of that person. First Prize = $10,000.00 plus 3-months' free coaching Second Prize = $5,000.00 Third Prize = $2,500.00 Contest entry is strictly limited to the first 1,000 submissions Entry Fee: $25.00 (USD)
Mail to: PEP Contest c/o Donna M Chavez
605 W Jackson Avenue, Naperville, IL 60540-5207
Visit http://www.thewritecoach.com/contest.htm for additional information.
DEADLINE: Memorial Day, May 29, 2002
Peace Poetry Project
THEME: Sponsored by the Recovering Hearts Bookstore in
Provincetown, Massachusetts, this is poetry contest for folks
who want to express their feelings about 9/11. They encourage
poems related to or inspired by September 11 and/or peace.
PRIZES: The best poems will be published in a Memorial Book and 100% of the profits from the sales of this book will go to
charitable organizations. There is no fee for entering your poetry and there will be no remuneration for poets. Multiple submissions are accepted. ELECTRONIC ENTRY: Yes
ADDRESS: Recovering Hearts Bookstores, c/o In Love United,
Provincetown, MA 02657 E-MAIL: inloveunited@hotmail.com
.Deadline. June 1, 2002. LITERAL LATTE SHORT SHORTS AWARDS http://www.literal-latte.com/contests.html
Unpublished stories, 2,000 words maximum Entry fee. First Prize: $500
Deadline: June 15, 2002
** A CUP OF COMFORT FOR SISTERS **
Uplifting true stories about the magical bond and shared experiences of sisters. FOR GUIDELINES: Email: wordsinger@aol.com SASE: P.O. Box 863, Eugene, Oregon, 97440, USA Online: www.cupofcomfort.com
Deadline July 1, 2002
Writing Contest: Arizona Authors Association offers money, publication and publicity prizes:
Unpublished categories: Poetry (50-lines maximum)
Short story (15-page maximum) Essay/article/true story (15-page maximum) Novel, novella (5-page synopsis and first 25 pages) Critiques are available.
Published categories (2000 or 20001 publication date) Novels, novellas, or short story collections
Non-fiction, Children's literature. Entry forms and fee information are available at www.azauthors.com. Contact person: Toby Heathcotte 623-847-9343
Deadline August 12, 2002
Queen's Golden Jubilee, the Once and Future King The only stipulation is that stories must be no longer than 2,000 words and feature a member of a royal family! There are prizes of £175, £75 and £50 or US dollar equivalent. Full details on the website.http://www.writelink.dabsol.co.uk/Competitions/Once___Future_King/once___future_king.html
~Deadline October 18, 2002
Smiling Politely Very Very Short Story Competition Less than 1500 words. First prize of $600 cash, and runners up book vouchers, Smiling Politely will be publishing the winner in a collected work. . http://www.smilingpolitely.com.au
~Deadline November 1, 2002
Second Annual Paul B. Duquette Memorial Short Science Fiction Contest Original short (max 10,000 words) science fiction stories that demonstrate the best of the human spirit. First Place $250 plus publication in the 2002 CrossTIME Anthology Second Place$125 plus publication Third Place
$75 plus publication . Fourth Place $50 plus publication Fifth through Fifteenth Places Certificate plus publication
Each entrant will receive one copy of the resulting Anthology.
For contest rules, send a #10 SASE to:
Crossquarter Publishing Group, P.O. Box 8756, Santa Fe, NM 87504-8756 http://crossquarter.com/Contests/contestlist.html
These three have ongoing contests and are worth checking out.
ARROW PUBLISHING UPCOMING CONTESTS:
http://www.writersnewsletter.com/Anecdotes/anecdotes.html
Just Like a Male: Closes May 31, 2002
Here we're looking for humour - offbeat, slightly funny things that show the world from a man's perspective (usually as seen by a woman, although if the men want to tell tales against themselves, it will still suit the concept.)
Feminine Logic: Closes July 31, 2002
And again we're looking for humorous contributions, but this time, it is the ladies who are in the firing line. (No recycled blonde jokes, please, I've probably read them all before). Here's a chance to tell a tale on the ladies around you.
Was My Face Red: Closes September 30, 2002.
Share with us your embarrassing moments, or those of your friends, situations that may not necessarily have been funny at the time, but which later raise a smile for all concerned.
Granny's Wisdom: Closes November 30, 2002
This time we're looking for short snippets, either amusing, poignant or thoughtful that will give us an opportunity to ponder the wisdom handed down from generation to generation, usually as "grandma said .."
WRITER'S DIGEST Assign.(monthly, usually 75 words or less)http://www.writersdigest.com/catalog/contest_frame.html
First Prize: $100.00 in W.D. books. No entry fee.
WRITER'S DIGEST Monthly Essay Contest No fee. Want 500 words or less on writing challenges and triumphs. Prize: $100.00 http://www.writersdigest.com/chronicle/
BYLINE MAGAZINE
Upcoming Contests http://www.bylinemag.com/contests.asp
Personal Memoir -- Deadline May 20, 2002. An incident or reminiscence from your own life that left a lasting impression. Written in first person, 1,000 words maximum. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $60, $30, $20.
Short-Short Story--Deadline June 5, 2002. General short story up to 2,000 words. Entry fee $5. Prizes: $70, $35, $20
WE HAVE A WEBSITE
http://ccwa0.tripod.com
group email at ccwa0@lycos.com
AUTHORS, AUTHORS, WE HAVE AUTHORS
Lucy Adams - 52 Hymn Story Devotions, in its second printing by Abingdon Press, can be ordered from any book store.
Janet Biery - Potter's Field, a mystery with an August release date from Advance Books.
Walt Barger had his first book, Dark Sails in the Twilight, a collection of poetry released.
LaVerne Cobb had two books published by Advance Book Company: Old-Fashioned Recipes for Modern Cooks and Splendor Bay. Splendor Bay has received sensational reviews in Publishers Weekly Mystery Notes, Rendezvous Magazine, Romantic Times, Dorothy L. Sayers Digest and many other publications.
Tom Edwards - Humorous Golfing Poetry of Tom Edwards, Raven Tree Press has sold over 600 copies. Tom has been reviewed and made appearances at dozens of book stores. He was videotaped reading his golfing poems and the programs were aired on Crossville television. Tom Edwards was writer of the year in 1995.
Jennie Ivey, co-writing with Dr. Calvin Dickinson and Lisa Rand, has sold her Overmountain Press in Johnson City. Tennessee Tales the Textbooks Dont Tell is due out next fall. Jennie has also written bimonthly columns for the Herald-Citizen all year.
Barbara Jackson wrote the screenplays, directed and produced two short films. The first Heavenly was accepted and screened at the Los Angeles film festival and the New York festival. Her second film was completed over the holidays, not sure of the title.
Todd Jarrell tape and book entitled Slow Dance With the Planet. He also finished another exciting voyage, this time to Antarctica, and has sold a 5 part series about the trip to BBC radio and has had two articles appear in Hemisphere magazine. He is working on a second book tape, also about the journey.
Judy Lucas - suspense novel, The Good Assassin is available from 1st Books. Judy is writing a second in the series called the Quiet Assassin.
Tammy Moon - Short Stops Along the High Road, a CD of Tammys poems with Bill Mize playing acoustic guitar in the background was produced in 2000.
Dick Standring has three books in print: Hustle, about the advertising industry; Dangerous Dancing, a murder mystery set in Detroit; and his latest Dangerous Relationships, set in Cookeville. He is almost through with a third mystery in the Dangerous Encounter..
Callie Melton author of Pon My Honor --Folk Tales of the Upper Cumberland is working on a sequel, A Handful of Smoke. Callie was named writer of the year for 2000.
Ed Wells - mystery novel Lethal Cargo, available from Infinity Publishing. Ed is nearly through with a second novel, As You Sow.
Natalie Woodland - The Satirical Edge of Truth, Catholic University Press, out of print.
INSPIRATION: HIGHEST-PAID WRITERS
Forbes magazine released its list of the highest-paid writers and an article on how Dean Koontz invested nearly his entire savings of $100,000 26 years ago to buy back 40 of his titles from publishers, and is now slowly revising & reissuing those books20 of them so far. Forbes estimates Koontz's reissued titles alone have produced $10 million in advances over time, and will earn another $10 million in royalties annually.
Forbes estimates for highest-paid writers last year:
* Steven King $44 million
* Tom Clancy $37 million
* J.K. Rowling $36 million
* Dean Koontz $35 million
* John Grisham $28 million
