According to their website ( http://www.emrys.org ) "The Emrys Foundation promotes excellence in the arts, especially literary, visual, and musical works by women and minorities. Founded in 1983, Emrys (a Welsh word meaning "Child of Light") has sponsored music competitions and presented concerts, art exhibitions, creative writing awards, poetry workshops, readings, and lectures."

The Emrys Journal is an "annual spring publication of poetry, short stories, and essays [which] attracts hundreds of submissions from the United States and abroad." Prizes of $250 will be awarded to one author in each of three categories: short story, poetry, and essay. The deadline for submissions to the 2006 Emrys Journal is November 1, 2005.

See their website for more details.

New member Elizabeth Eldering won Second Runner-up in the Armchair Interviews Mystery Fan Writing Contest for her short story, "Train of Clues." The contest required her to write a story that used at least four of the following eight clues: Obsession perfume; soiled ballet slipper; train whistle; temporary tattoo; headless Barbie; a wig; footprints in the snow; and a page from a dictionary.

Launched in 2005, Armchair Interviews™ ( http://www.armchairinterviews.com ) "welcomes you to a fun, convenient way to access your favorite author or learn more about those who write in a specific genre."

Congratulations, Elizabeth!

Looking for writing credits to add to your resume? Wondering where to look for writing contests? There are so many web sites out there, it can be daunting to figure out where to start.

One suggestion that came up at the last meeting was Anthologies Online. This site has a section titled "About Contests," which includes "Information and warnings on Contests" and "Contest listings." This month they also have an article called "Entering and Winning Writing Contests" that may prove helpful.

Another place to look is the Writers Digest website, http://www.writersdigest.com/contests.

In August, Robin Prince Monroe had an article titled "Around the Home" published on the Crown Financial Ministries website( www.crown.org. )

Also, check out Robin's website at www.robinprincemonroe.com.

According to their website, "The N.C. Writers' Network is one of the largest statewide literary service organizations in the country... The Network sponsors two conferences each year... These conferences bring together hundreds of writers for workshops, readings, networking, and lively discussion."

The 2005 N.C. Writers' Network Fall Conference will be held November 4-6 in Asheville, NC. Completed conference registrations with or without manuscript submissions must be postmarked by Wednesday, October 12.

See their website at www.ncwriters.org for more details.

Only seventeen more shopping days left until the SCWW Writers Conference at the Landmark Resort Hotel in Myrtle Beach. What a great time of year!

Pat Stewart read her cousin's story, "Kelly's Special Delivery", to be placed in an anthology similar to Chicken Soup for the Soul. The book or magazine is called Cup of Comfort, which is supposed to help new parents and expectant mothers through the childbirth process.

Pat was the editor on her cousin's experience of the birth of her first child, Kelly. The experience took place in Germany where the couple were living at the time. This occurred roughly 40 years ago, back when only the doctor and mother-to-be were allowed in the delivery room (save the medical staff). The story is of the first experience of really knowing when a child will be born and what to expect with first pregnancies.

Everyone enjoyed the story. The humor was felt throughout as the cousin revealed what she went through. Kelly was born in an ambulance on the way to the hospital and her father was the proud dad of a "baby boy" as he announced incorrectly. This was said after the baby was placed on the mother's abdomen and in the dim lighting of the ambulance, the father saw the umbilical cord and thought it was a mistake. Mother said "It was an honest mistake!"

Mother and baby survived the whole ordeal and Kelly is grown and has children of her own now. Pat did tell me after the meeting that she had recently had lunch with Kelly and her children.

As a side note, Pat is also going to be leaving around the 18th of the month to go to Amsterdam for a 50th Anniversary cruise - way to go Pat!!! - Congrats on that milestone in your marriage.

In the first installment of a yet untitled work, Elysabeth Eldering introduces us to a female amnesiac thrust unwittingly into a mysterious and possibly dangerous cloak and dagger game. Sound like a feminine version of The Bourne Identity? Could be. All the elements are there for a rollicking spy thriller.

Ms. X finds herself at a street corner news stand wondering who she is, where she is, and what she's doing there. The news vendor senses trouble coming from an approaching group of young men and slips our protagonist a little something extra with her change. "Get a move on," he says. "Don't look back. Ask for Denny at the station."

Ms. X finally decides he must be referring to a nearby police station and goes inside. Through luck more than anything else, she finds police captain Denneehess - the aforementioned "Denny." Eventually, she remembers to give him the package passed to her by the news stand vendor. Denny readily shares with her that the package contains secret codes.

In the critique session, the group suggested inserting more narrative description breaks within the dialogue, reformatting the work in a more standard format, and providing more clues about the central character's identity. While the story had intriguing aspects to it, I had some difficulty relating the various events and actions. Anyone who truly enjoys espionage (like me, who read all the Robert Ludlum novels before the author began writing post-mortem), knows that such plots are often confusing at first. Hopefully, Elysabeth will tie everything together in future installments.

I can't remember a time when so many of our members did humorous writing. The most recent work to generate lots of laughs at our meetings was Howard Lewis' essay "A Nationally Known Chain or A Week With Ivy." He tells the story of his stay at a hotel in Charlotte where everything that could go wrong, did. I liked Howard's description of his encounters with Ivy, the pretty air-head at the desk. She didn't produce solutions for his myriad of problems, but she had a friendly charm that enabled Howard to keep the story upbeat in spite of his frustrations.

Group critiquing covered a few minor things that were surely marked on the returned copies, so there's no need to mention them here. However there was a suggestion to tighten up the title, and the suggestion "Tangled Up With Ivy" is a good one. Howard, if you have more humorous experiences to write about, we'd sure like to hear them.

"Elvis Lite", by Bob Strother, is an account of seeing his first Elvis impersonator at the Peace Center in Greenville. He and his wife were ready for a night out, after helping with a new grandchild. He called the box office, nervous that he might miss out and not get tickets. Not to worry.

He was the first caller, and had the choice of the best seats in the house.

When the show started he and his wife were two of 37 customers. Apparently Matt Cordell wasn't a well-known performer. He looked "like a '56 Caddy Eldorado." This description confused one listener. Clarify this more. Correct wrong quote uses on page two.

Overall, it was a fun piece, and I'm not even an Elvis fan. I liked Bob's naming the songs he heard and liked. That touch added color to the piece. I also liked his description of what he expected to hear,(and didn't.) "We waited for the rowdy, rockin' guitar man of the fifties."

Another comment "the last time I was in Pigeon Forge was thirty years ago. I have no plans to go again." was my kind of comment. The bottom line seemed to be: Bob won't go see Matt Cordell there or anywhere else.

We have heard a lot about elvis at these meetings and Bob gave us a different take. Thanks for a good laugh.

Kevin Coyle read the last five pages of his alternate history "The Private Burning," revealing Richard Nixon's alternate career as an FBI agent and more of his character that we elder members of the group only glimpsed vaguely during current events until, as Nixon would said, "the expletive deleted hit the fan."

The characterizations, the detailed settings, and Nixon's inner thoughts all work together to reveal the "The Arrogance of Power," the name of one book in Kevin's extensive bibliography. But the arrogance extends to Sen. McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, and all the Kennedys.

Kevin seems to have mastered several of those techniques that I am still working on. His dialogs are pithy, realistic, and character-revealing. The history is sprinkled in small bits, except for one section of three paragraphs. The jokes are often subtle, such as "el senorito," or revealing, such as "I'd be more generous than that" if I were tipping. Appropriate details augment the settings, such as the waiter's "crisp white uniform." The speakers perform small actions amid the dialogs. The protagonist's thoughts advance the story's purpose.

Since there is little to criticize except minor details, I will have to find some. I have seldom observed condensation to evaporate from a glass once it has formed. Wouldn't Bobby have used the subjunctive: "if I were paying?" Since the University of Virginia did not go co-ed until the 1969 or so, Bobby should comment "nothing like that in Charlottesville" while ogling the bikini-clad bombshell, which itself is a trite phrase and too clean to be a typical Nixon thought.

Kevin, we hope that you find a suitable vehicle to publish this long short-story.

Downhome.

In Susan Boyer's story "Hogwash," down home has got to be said as one word. And her downhome is filled with Southern characters that smack of Faulkner - except these are characters that you'd like.

Susan's well paced tale is filled with southern styled descriptions such as "Mama insisted that he find something to occupy his time besides sandpapering her nerves all day" and "Tootie was the latest in a long succession of nicknames that came from the vast, unknown frontiers of my daddy's brain."

Some in the group felt that those long comments needed to be tightened up, but Fatz thinks it is an integral part of Sue's storytelling pace. What needs to be tightened up are the info dumps that, although sometimes necessary in a short story, are too involved. Most readers can infer and accept what they don't know if the story keeps them entertained. There were a few other comments - redundant tags, when to use caps and breaking long sentences - but Fatz liked the all round "downhome" feel.

The imagery in "Hogwash," had Fatz hankering to hunker down on the front porch rocker with a mint julep in one hand, a plug of tobacco in the other, and watch the ducks chase June bugs. Yep, if writing can make you feel that way, it's good style.

During the first Thursday meeting in September, Jim McFarlane read the second chapter of The Widow Dunn, his post-Civil War novel. Several group members commented that Jim's writing seems to be evolving and becoming more natural as he becomes more confident in himself as a writer. The transition of Laura Ann from lady to laborer, as must have been common during the historical setting of the novel, is compelling.

The scene that takes place at the cemetery was emotionally engaging, especially Laura Ann's reflection on the difference between the "tedious talk of daily living" and the "satisfying communication with a true friend." Concern was expressed that the chapter contained too much exposition, causing it to drag, and that perhaps adding dialogue would help. However, as always when reading such a small portion of a novel, it is difficult to critique pacing within the context of what comes immediately before and after.

Several members of the group expressed confusion as to precisely what action was taking place in the first paragraph. Other discussion included a question as to whether Laura was portrayed as cold when she could "hardly remember" her premature child that had died, and whether or not consumption was contagious, making it unlikely that a pregnant Laura Ann would have read aloud to Miss Maggie during the final stages of her illness. It was also suggested that Jim make it more clear who was celebrating Decoration Day, and verify that some of the language used was appropriate to the era, such as the reference to 'parking', and a 'huge dress.'

Having picked apart the first five pages of chapter two, like everyone else, I'm looking forward to the next installment of The Widow Dunn.

This review may be longer than John Migacz's reading was. John has apparently unwittingly tapped into the latest genre, but somebody needs to tell him that "flash" fiction doesn't necessarily mean "involving napalm." "The Tree Line" is less than 300 words, but it conveys powerful images of war. The story begins with a seemingly idyllic scene, with hot sunshine, swirling gnats, and a fluorescent dragonfly hovering near a slow drifting brown river, bordered by green forest. It ends with startling suddenness in low-flying aircraft, a flash of heat, and a tree line transformed into a "violent, boiling, orange and black smear." In a few words, John describes a scene both foreign and familiar, and contrasts it with consequences of war that are foreign to any land. Reviewers loved the images and the rapid shift from tranquility to violence, wishing only for some smells to go along with the sights and sounds.

Phil Arnold delighted us with three articles from his Blog http://elvisblog.myblogsite.com. It is always a challenge for the members to offer any improvements that could be made to Phil's writing. In the first article, "Check Out Elvis in Paper Doll Heaven", Phil discussed the web site, www.paperdollheaven.com. This site offers visitors hundreds of images of celebrities that can be dressed and undressed with outfits available on the site. Guess which celebrity Phil undressed and dressed. He describes in detail how Elvis looked in various combinations of clothing and even talked about how the other images compared to Elvis with and without clothing. I'm not convinced anyone in the club would have as much fun dressing Elvis as Phil, but the piece was interesting and well written. His second article, "Elvis and Ann-Margret", recites an event as told by Alan Fortas. The event suggests that Elvis and Ann-Margret may have spent some "quality" time together. The only suggestion the club had was to standardize how he spells Alan or Allan. The last article was "The Most Important Americans of the 20th Century". This piece quotes a Discovery Channel list and a Life magazine list that both identify Elvis as one of the most important persons in American history. The Discovery Channel listed Elvis as number eight of the top100 people. Although the Life magazine list was limited to the 20th century, the club suggested changing the name of the article to "The Most Important Americans". Toward the end of the article, Phil listed several people that he didn't recognize, but who made the list anyway. With each name, he also included what they did to make the list. Reader's curiosity would be increased if he separated the accomplishment and the name. Putting the accomplishment in another place in the blog will allow readers to stretch their memories before looking up the answers. All three of the articles were very well written and interesting even to the fringe Elvis worshipers.

Robin Prince Monroe read the second chapter of Everglades, her young-adult novel about a deaf eighth-grader trying to adjust to life in a new town. This chapter starts off a little green-Nick is jealous that his only friend, Chris, is hooking up in the school cafeteria with Katie, "some girl . . . making goo-goo eyes at my buddy." Nick's relationship with Chris is particularly close because Chris can use Sign Language, while the best that most kids can do is "fingerspell" words one letter at a time. Nick meets Andrea, the interpreter assigned to follow him around all day and interpret the lectures. She tries to engage him in small talk, but he's not in the mood.

This chapter was too short for me to say much about it. I like the concept of a children's book exploring a point of view that most kids don't usually get to see-that of a deaf classmate in their midst. I also like the way Robin is setting up the obstacles for Nick to face as the story progresses. We'll just have to see where things go from here.

Bob Strothers' novel, Love Among the Greeks, continued with Johnny asking Rivers out. At the dance, Rivers tells Johnny that what Randy did to him wasn't very nice, and she doesn't seem to mind when Johnny does what he can to draw Randy's attention to Rivers and him dancing close. But when he tells Rivers that he'd like to see her again, she says she'd rather wait through the summer and see how they feel in the fall. She ends by saying, "Get over her, Johnny. You're better than her."

Marie Newman drew her inspiration from an article in a newspaper section called "Police Blotter." In "Man Charged in Gun Incident," Bobby Lee dreams of putting a down payment on a double-wide, and thereby attracting the attention of a girl named Shirlene in her tight fitting jeans. He pulls into the local convenience store, and snags a pistol from the front seat of a truck that he incorrectly believes belongs to one of his buddies. Realizing his error, he takes the gun to the washroom and manages to shoot himself and the store clerk. "Bobby Lee's agent is currently negotiating a contract for the movie rights to his story. He hopes Nicolas Cage will be available to play his role."

Kevin Coyle entered uncharted waters with a children's story called Wilmer the Homesick Moose (based on a true story.) Wilmer is a moose from Canada. He gets lost in a snowstorm and ends up staying the winter with a herd of cows on a farm in Vermont. The cows do their best to make Wilmer feel at home, and Wilmer is happy as he waits for his moose-family or moose-friends to come looking for him.

Susan Boyer read the conclusion of her story "Hogwash." The female narrator, Liz, has told Tammy Sue that she will investigate her husband, Zeke. Tammy Sue suspects Zeke of cheating on her because he's been clean when she comes home from work at night. Liz does indeed trail him to a woman's house in the middle of the afternoon, but finds that he's just gone there for a haircut. The next day, Liz witnesses Zeke tracking and killing pigs in the woods, and feeding them to the alligators. He has been hired by some concerned citizens to rid the island of the annoying pigs. Liz suggests that Zeke make up some story to tell his wife so that Liz doesn't have to tell her the truth.

In Sarah Cureton's novel Breathe, Marc Lucas is on his way to meet with Raquel at her apartment in Greenville. He recalls the plane ride he recently shared with Raquel and how closed she was to him compared to thirteen years ago. He is met at Raquel's door by a teenage girl named Asheton who is obviously Raquel's daughter. Soon he figures out, and the girl discovers, that she is his daughter as well. Asheton refuses to leave them until Marc promises that he'll be there when she gets back. He is left alone with Raquel, and when he sees her crying and vulnerable, he realizes that it's going to be a long day.

John Migacz ended the night with a true fish tale called "Man's Greatest Challenge." The tale begins with the purchase of a pint of clam innards to use as bait for a night surf-fishing trip. It passes through abject terror as the unseen sea-monsters from the ocean's black abyss join forces with an imagined "homicidal, two-headed, blood-dripping, serial-killer, knife-wielding maniac" on the pitch dark, midnight beach. A huge wave scatters all the fishing equipment up and down the beach, and the car keys (it's his wife's car) are found locked inside the car. The hero arrives home at dawn and falls into an exhausted sleep, only to be awakened by his wife wanting to know "What - did - you - do - to - my - car!" He investigates, and discovers clam innards, spilled on the back seat, sitting in 95 degree heat. "Did I mention she's my ex-wife?"

The next meetings of the Greenville Chapter of SCWW are as follows:

• Thursday, October 6 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, October 18 - Third Tuesday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book

All genres welcome at both meetings. Suggested limit for reading selections is five double-spaced, typed pages, although longer selections may be possible if time permits.

The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter of South Carolina Writers Workshop.

Please forward critiques, comments, ideas, and submissions to Printed Matters Editor Marcia Migacz at marciamigacz@prtcnet.com.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters:
Elizabeth Eldering, Bob Strother, Phil Arnold, Pat Stewart, Jim McFarlane, John Migacz, Susan Boyer, Steve Heckman, Howard Lewis, and Kevin Coyle

Copyright 2005 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work. Mention of any contests, conferences, or websites in this newsletter does not indicate endorsement.