Appalachian Authors Blog

AAG Meeting

appalachianauthor — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:40:28 +0000

The next AAG meeting will be at the Cumberland Plateau Planning Office in Lebanon, VA on February 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

NEXT AAG BOARD MEETING

appalachianauthor — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:49:55 +0000

The next Appalachian Authors Guild board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 26, 2010, at 1 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission office in Lebanon, Virginia. Important changes to the Guild are under consideration and the members are encouraged to attend.

Who Reads You?

appalachianauthor — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:55:03 +0000

Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, has a lot to say in this op-ed piece about the nature of writing and who we are – or should be – writing our books to.

Michael Cunningham, Op-Ed Contributor – Found in Translation – NYTimes.com

Let’s take as an example one of the most famous lines in literature: “Call me Ishmael.” That, as I suspect you know, is the opening sentence of Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.” We still recognize that line, after more than 150 years.

NY Times

Bob Mustin

NEXT AAG&A BOARD MEETING

appalachianauthor — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:14:11 +0000

The next board meeting for the Appalachain Authors Guild & Associates is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28 at 1 p.m. The meeting will be at the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission office in Lebanon, Virginia. Board meetings are open to all AAG&A members and they are encouraged to attend.

Journey Through My Mind

appalachianauthor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:58:40 +0000

There’s almost nothing that I can think of, to compare with the feel of seeing your first book in print. Such is the case for Author Rodney Smith.
Journey Through My Mind is a story of Frontier life in the 19th Century as recorded by young Benjamin, the oldest child of a Kansas prairie family, in his personal journal.
The journal is found years later and read by his granddaughter, Sarah.
If I had to think of one word to describe this story, it would be wholesome. “Journey” details the struggles of a Christian family in dealing with the hardships of frontier life – the bitter winters, the scorching summer heat, and the killer dust storms.
“Journey” is a story not unlike the “Little House on the Prairie” books – but this is a story which merits retelling. In this first effort by Rodney Smith, the reader is transported to pioneer times where we get a pretty accurate picture of the early days and of the people who had the grit and fortitude to make a home in the hostile environment of the American Western Frontier.
I highly recommend Journey Through My Mind, and eagerly await Rodney Smith’s next offering.

Journey Through My Mind is Available from LULU Press – http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/journey-through-my-mind/11774567?productTrackingContext=product_view/recently_viewed/left/1

or by contacting the author via this blog or the Appalachian Authors Guild (www.appalachianaga.com).

appalachianauthor — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:43:32 +0000

Remember Me With Love, By Mary Ann Artrip

Mary Ann Artrip

The advantage to reading big-name, well-publicized writers is that you know (more or less) what you’re getting in advance. The advantage to reading a little known writer is the delightful surprise of discovering something eminently readable, perhaps even memorable. I think we writers live and die by the old Billy Joe Shaver couplet, “I’m just an old chunk of coal/but I’m gonna be a diamond someday.” The author of this book has already pressed her chunk of coal to a twinkle, judging by this enjoyable read.

At a recent writer’s organization board meeting, Artrip, winner of a 2007 IPPY award, held this book up and asked me if I’d like to read it. I said, “Sure.” And the book charmed me. She bills it as a mystery/romance, and that’s true – it’s a bit of both. How would I have cast it? Maybe in a genre as a latter-day Charlotte Brontë. Her protagonist, Kate Spencer, a hard-working woman meets rich bigwig, Jon Ames, and after the expected romantic foreplay, they become a couple – after a fashion. But there’s a lover’s triangle afoot here – something I was hardly prepared for. And there’s a murder, a courtroom battle, and something of a happy ending.

The author writes fluidly; her prose is smart, her dialogue snappy, and she knows how to pace a complicated story. Perhaps the characters don’t resonate in quite the way one might expect of edgy, modern fictional inventions, but the tone here is Gatsby, it’s Jane Eyre – a romantic melodrama from another era – so the characterizations are forgiven.

My only concern is that, given the style, I wish she had pushed her narrator a bit more to the forefront. But she was clearly taking chances here – chances that might flummox a few readers. Still, taking chances makes life interesting. The story works and, despite this not being a book I’d have picked off a bookstore shelf, I’m glad I read it.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Review by Bob Mustin

NEXT AAG&A BOARD MEETING

appalachianauthor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:17:12 +0000

The next meeting of the Appalachian Authors Guild & Associaties is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 1 p.m. at the office of the Cumberland Plateau Planning Commission in Lebanon, Virginia. Linda Lane, Executive Director of the Virginia Writers Club, will be speaking with regard to possible AAG&A’s affiliation, as a chapter of the VWC. All AAG&A members are encouraged to attend.

Neva Bryan

appalachianauthor — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:37:16 +0000

Guild friend and award-winning author Neva Bryan has helpful insight on various topics. She has sent me her latest newsletter, which I am pleased to post for your information.

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Welcome to Issue #2

Hi! This is Neva Bryan, author of Sawmill Boys and St. Peter’s Monsters. Thanks for your support!

In this issue you’ll discover when to use began and when to use begun. We’ll also learn the secret of successful query letters.

If you enjoy this newsletter, I hope you’ll pass it along to a friend. There’s a button at the bottom to help you do that.

I am available for readings. I lead workshops (memoir, poetry, short fiction) and review manuscripts.

Happy reading and writing.

Neva

The Secret of Successful Query Letters

The writer sends a query to an editor or an agent to determine his or her interest in reading a completed manuscript. The query letter is designed to attract attention. When it is done well, the reader will ask you to send the entire manuscript and supporting documentation.

Often editors and agents will list specific guidelines for query letters on the company’s website. If they do, read the rules carefully and abide by them.

The query letter should be succinct and gimmick-free. This single-page letter has three components.

Component 1 — A first paragraph that hooks the reader. This one worked for me: “Wren Johnson is a young artist on the run. Orphaned when her father dies in a coal-mining accident, then tormented by her adoptive father, she flees the Appalachian hills she loves for the eastern shore of Virginia.”

Component 2 — A second paragraph that provides main plot points and notes the length, title, and genre of the work. “When the man she fears finds her, she escapes to the Blue Ridge Mountains, crossing paths with Peter Sullivan. A homesick architecture student teetering on the edge of alcoholism, Peter grew up in the same hills that Wren fled. As he unearths her buried past, they are linked together in a chain of love, tragedy, and murder . . . a chain that binds them when they find themselves back in the coalfields. St. Peter’s Monsters is a 91,000-word novel of romantic suspense.”

Component 3 — A third paragraph that offers a short blurb about your writing credentials. For example, you might say “My poems and short stories appear in Whatever Magazine and Whichever Journal. Such and such contests have recognized my work, including blah, blah, blah. I have studied with novelists Famous Author 1 and Famous Author 2.”

End the letter with a call to action: “May I send you a copy of the manuscript?” Don’t forget to thank the reader.

Writing a strong query letter is the best way to get your foot in the publishing door. Good luck!

Have You Begun the Beguine?

“We suddenly know what heaven we’re in when they begin the beguine.”

I can’t resist sharing an excerpt from Cole Porter’s famous song “Begin the Beguine.” A reader of this newsletter asked me to address the proper use of begin, began, and begun. That alliteration brought to mind Porter’s lyrics.

Begin is present tense. I begin writing at dawn each day. That’s simple enough.

It’s the next two pesky words that give us trouble.

Began is simple past tense of begin. You can use it by itself. It doesn’t need a helping (auxiliary) verb. I began my first novel in 2005.

Begun is a participle, which means it needs a helping verb in front of it. Has, have, and had are great little helpers. I have begun this newsletter to help other writers. She has begun to improve her grammar. He had begun to write with more confidence.

If you use had or have or another helping verb, you MUST use begun, not began.

INCORRECT – Have you began reading Sawmill Boys?

CORRECT – Have you begun reading Sawmill Boys?

INCORRECT – My workshop had began at noon.

CORRECT – My workshop had begun at noon.

INCORRECT – The book signing has not began yet.

CORRECT – The book signing has not begun yet.

Appearances

Appalachian Heritage Writers Conference, Southwest Virginia Community College, Richlands, VA, June 19.

Arts & Crafts Show, Breaks Interstate Park, Breaks, VA, June 25-26.

Virginia Highlands Festival, Abingdon, VA, July 24, July 31, August 7.

Malaprop’s Bookstore, Asheville, NC, September 5.

Books

http://nevabryan.com/buy_books.html

St. Peter’s Monsters and Sawmill Boys are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Powell’s. You’ll find my books at many fine booksellers and retailers such as Clinch Mountain Arts and Crafts, Appalachian Arts Center, Crab Orchard Museum, Books Etc, Floyd Country Store, Family Drug Store, Coffee Buy the Book, Coffee Depot, Binding Time Cafe, Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, Malaprop’s, Sundial Books, Diana’s Bookstore, Capo’s Music Store, and Joseph Beth. If your local store doesn’t carry one of my books, ask the bookseller to order them.

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Dr. Lin Stepp

appalachianauthor — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:04:40 +0000

Our new friend and Appalachian author Dr. Lin Stepp will be greeting readers and signing her books at Books A Million in Kingsport, Saturday June 12, from 1 to 3 p.m. If you have the opportunity to meet Lin, I assure you it will be memorable. Please remember to support all our Appalachian authors and to recommend them to others.

www.linstepp.com

Blue Plum Festival

appalachianauthor — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:10:07 +0000

The weekend of June 4-6, 2010 several AAG&A authors will be signing and selling their books at the Blue Plum Festival in Johnson City, TN. Blue Plum is an annual event in Johnson City with activities for the whole family. Make plans for a fun weekend in Northeast TN and stop by to greet the authors. The Blue Plum website gives details of the festival.