Center for Writing Excellence & Newsletter & Contest

The Center for Writing Excellence is seeking contributions to the free newsletter, "Excellent Writing." Contributors are encouraged to include their bio and contact information.

There are guidelines at http://janiewrites.com/newsletter/writers-guidelines/

The newsletter is released the first Monday of each month. Subscribers are allowed a free classified ad.

A contest with the deadline to enroll of September 30, 2o11 is also being held. Entrants get five days to write 700-1000 words based on a prompt. See: http://janiewrites.com/writing-contests/a-fiction-in-five-rules/ for more information. There is a nominal entry fee.

The C4WE also offers classes, as well as webcasts, for a very reasonable price.

National Writing Project Is In Danger of Being Cut

The National Writing Project is a non-profit organization and the mission statement is " The National Writing Project focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners."

To save this nationwide network of teachers go to http://www.causes.com/causes/591544-save-the-national-writing-project It is at risk due to the budget crisis.

The National Writing Project Newsletter e-voice is part of the National Writing Project, which is

dedicated to "improving writing and learning in the nation's schools."

The website is www.nwp.org

Santa Clara County 2nd Poet Laureate Sally Ashton

Sally Ashton, 2nd Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County, began her 2 year stint on April 1, 2011.
She is an excellent, encouraging poetry teacher, attended San Jose State University, and edits the DMQ Review, which is an online journal. She possesses an MFA, which she earned through Bennington. She also received the honor of an Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Arts Council Silicon Valley.

Ashton has won numerous awards for her fine poetry and been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She founded and directed the California Poets Festival. She supports the SJSU student group Poets and Writers Coalition. She has been published and this summer led a poetry workshop in Portugal.

Ashton has performed notable readings including with Nils Peterson, the first Santa Clara Poet Laureate, and been part of the Poetry Center San Jose for years.

Her project as Poet Laureate has been a call for the public to choose favorite poems. Readings of these favorite poems, as well as others, will begin on September 18 at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble on Stevens Creek Blvd. in San Jose.

Look Into Project Written About in July "Poets & Writers"

A painter named Eric Fischl created a national art project which involves poets. It is a show that is to go around the nation and not only includes creations of poets, but also filmmakers, musicians, playwrights, and visual artists.

The title of the work is "America:Now and Here" and it addresses what the contributors would like to focus on in the present as a way of diffusing the toxic situation of our society today.

The poets contacted created a "renga" which starts with a three-line stanza which includes seventeen syllables. The poet who began the renga passed it on to the next poet, who, in turn, wrote a couplet of seven-syllable lines, according to Alex Dimitrov, who wrote the article in "Poets and Writers." The three-line stanza and couplet continued as the piece was offered to one chosen poet after another. The result in this case was the work entitled " Crossing State Lines," which is on exhibit within the total project of "America:Now and Here."

The entire traveling show will be visiting different cities in the United States starting Fall 2012 for two years. Each host city is able to make their own unique contribution to "America:Now and Here" which will be presented at that particular site. To get involved or learn where the project will be available for viewing, see www.americanowandhere.org

Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan who was the nation's poet laureate from 2008-2010 received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in April 2011.

Ryan was born in California in 1945.

The work that earned her the Pulitzer is "The Best Of It."

I met her and heard her speak a few years ago. She is very personable and gave the impression at the time that she takes herself lightly by the comments she made.

I believe she even allowed me to pose with her for a photo!

MEMOIR IN THE FALL

After a hiatus, I am resuming my blog. I signed up for a Memoir class with instructor Ann Thompson during the spring and was only able to attend a few sessions. However, she did inspire me to write.

I have given my memoir more thought and effort. What came to mind was to gather old notes from throughout the years, including journals, and then proceed. So that is what I have been doing.

I am only part way through but noticing that I had more done from the past that I am able to use than I had thought. The book is taking shape in my mind, as well as in consolidation online.

Ann Thompson will be teaching the Memoir class again in the fall at the Campbell Community Center around Labor Day. If you Google the City of Campbell, CA. you will obtain the information.

I intend to stay with this mode of blogging for now and do not plan to have the separate blog for my book at this time. I will continue to inform you about writing and related topics. Stay tuned...

Another Memoir Resource

An associate of mine mentioned "Story Circle" when I told her I was planning to write a memoir.

I Googled it and came up with "Story Circle Network" at www.storycircle.org, which is described
as a network for women with stories to tell.

A conference is advertised for Memoir Writing on the site. It is "Stories From The Heart VI" Women's Memoir Conference. It is to be held in Austin, Texas on April 13-15, 2012.

The explanation about Story Circle Network on the site is as follows:
"The Story Circle Network is a national not-for-profit membership organization made up of women who want to document their lives and explore their personal stories through journaling, memoir, autobiography, personal essays, poetry, drama and mixed-media."
You may subscribe to a free e-mail newsletter on the site. Online classes are also offered.