"In November, 2005, Penny Lewis at the Carrollton Creative Arts Center asked if I would start a writers club to meet at the Center. Shortly afterward my friend, Beverly Bruemmer, made the same request. Feeling that was a mandate, or at least validation, I opened up to the idea, Penny advertised the club, and the Carrollton Creative Writers' Club was born.
With excellent programming, no elected officers and many gifted writers, our membership now numbers more than 30, five of whom have had books published within the past year.
It isn't unusual for people in Carrollton to drive in to Atlanta for meetings, but for people from Atlanta to drive to Carrollton for these meetings says it all. This is an entity whose time has come."
Sent by the Universe just to see What kind of people speak with pens, Privately I wondered, would I fit? Should I laugh a little less brightly?
Observing and absorbing seemed the safest behavior.
I came from a place of searching. Hoping to connect. Wondering if other eyes see what mine see.
I took a big step in heavy shoes…and found Oz.
Faces flooded the room The artist, the joker, the cynic And then they began to ooze realness fear fantasy too fat to phone Beautiful children surfaced gently In smile, words and sighs My body said “Yes” silently, loudly. There are others and they are close. Thank you for two hours of glue to hold my week together.
People of the pen gather to give their specialness voice. Sing their real song. It's more than writing, Writers gather to right themselves.
Fast draw and film scripts. That's what Jim Dunham recently brought to our CCWC group for a most entertaining presentation. In 1967 he was hired by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation in Hollywood. During the next few decades Jim would teach gun tricks and fast draw to movie actors, speak at conventions, work as a performer in the Chuckwagon Supper Show business,appear as a guest on national TV talk shows and perform at the Winter Olympics. Currently he can be seen as a Western historian on 4 episodes of the series “Tales of the Gun” on the History Channel, and on the 2010 season of PBS TV’s “The American Experience: Wyatt Earp.” The 2010 issue of True West magazine’s “Best of the West” Source Book recently honored Dunham as the “Best Living Single Action Shooter.” Dunham is employed as the Director of Special Projects and Historian for the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA.
Elisa Dimitria Bowman shared her professional knowledge about and experience with “all things film!” It was an inspiring and enlightening program that included information on movie production, product placement, script writing and submission.
Robyn Hood Black was our energetic and informative speaker the first meeting in March 2010. Black is the author of WOLVES, a nonfiction, interactive book from Intervisual Books, and SIR MIKE, a rhyming Rookie Reader from Scholastic's Children's Press. Her poetry has appeared in Hopscotch for Girls and will soon appear in Spider. Her fiction has been purchased by Highlights.
January 2010 speaker, Spencer Crawford, got CCWC off to a great start for the new year. Spencer is an avid supporter of local writers and has featured them often in the Villa Rican where he is writer and editor.
October's guest speaker was Lauretta Hannon, the Cracker Queen, best-selling author and NPR commentator. Lauretta is a vivacious, joyous speaker who clearly loves writing. Willing to share her knowledge about the publishing business, she also teaches seminars titled “The Down Home Writing School.” Hannon's book is titled: The Cracker Queen, a Memoir of a Jagged, Joyful Life.
May 26, our guest speaker was Sandra Novack, author of "Precious," the novel recently released by Random House. After showing us a peek into her process, Sandra led us in a great discussion of the varieties of writing processes and how they differ from one author to another.
Fran Stewart is the author of the Biscuit McKee Mystery Series as well as a children's book and a manual on writing. She also interviews authors on her weekly radio show. She lives & writes quietly in her house beside a creek on the backside of Hog Mountain, Georgia.
SYBIL ROSEN Award-winning author & playwright (pictured left with CCWC member Claire Baker) _____________________ Rosen spoke at our first meeting of 2009, discussing her new book
