ArkansasWriters.com

September 11 Big Day for Writers in NW Arkansas

Maeve Maddox — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:58:29 +0000

Twin Lakes Writers (TLW) will meet at noon on Saturday, September 11, for a tour of the new Donald W. Reynolds Library in Mountain Home. This group, which meets the second Saturday of each month, begins meeting in the Librarys Knox Community Room B from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. For more information, contact Mary Nida Smith by email or by phone: 870-431-5369.

Fayetteville Public Library celebrates the fourth annual Ozark Writers Live September 11, 2010 from 9:30 am to 5 pm. Please join us as we explore how Arkansas gained its hillbilly reputation, learn about unique local burial customs, and celebrate our culture. A musical performance by The Hobknobbers and a display of traditional Ozark quilts round out the day. Book sales and light snacks will be available. We hope to see you this year at Ozark Writers Live!

For more information and a list of performers visit www.ozarkwriterslive.weebly.com or call the library at 479.856.7250.

The New Writers Group sponsored by the NWA Writers Guild will have its first meeting at 2 p.m., September 11, at the Writers’ Arms in Fayetteville. For directions, contact Maeve Maddox by email or by telephone: 479/444-9760.

Group Starting for New Writers in NW Arkansas

Maeve Maddox — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:00:32 +0000

Members of the NW Arkansas Writers’ Guild are reaching out to writers who are looking for a support and critique group geared to novices.

New writers frequently have questions that differ from the concerns of writers who have been at the craft longer. The new Writers’ Group will be geared to the concerns of writers who are interested in writing for publication and feel that they would benefit from interaction with other writers, both published and unpublished.

Meetings will provide instruction and critique in a workshop setting. At least one published writer will always be present to answer questions. Participants will be asked to pay a fee of $5 per meeting to defray meeting place expenses.

Like the Guild, the Writers’ Group will meet for three 10-week sessions during the year, probably on Saturday afternoons from 2 to 3:30.

If you are a writer who lives within easy driving distance of Fayetteville and are interested in joining the Writers’ Group, send an email to Maeve Maddox. Include some brief information about what kind of writing you are interested in. Say what meeting days and times would be most convenient for you.

Mike McArthy to speak on Ozark Grist Mills July 22

Maeve Maddox — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:51:54 +0000

Little Rock's Old Mill, famous for its appearance in the film of Gone With the Wind

Photographer Mike McArthy, author of Historic Ozarks Mills, will conduct a book signing and discussion on July 22 at 5 pm, in Harrison, Arkansas at the Boone County Library.

McArthy’s book is a guide to historic water-powered gristmills in the Ozarks.

For further information:

Boone County Library – 221 W Stephenson, Harrison, AR. 72601, Ph 870-741-5913.

McArthy’s website: www.photozarks.com,

NWA Author Publishes Barebones Style Guide for Writers

MjMaddox — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:01:36 +0000

Maeve Maddox

A brief style guide by NW Arkansas author Maeve Maddox has been published by Daily Writing Tips.

100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid is a barebones presentation of 100 common errors of spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation presented in an easy-to-search format.

According to the introduction, 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid

… is for writers who want to avoid the most common errors of written English without spending a lot of time looking things up.

Maddox acknowledges that every writer needs a good dictionary and a reliable style guide, but points out that her guide can be a time saver because it contains so many of the high-frequency errors committed by writers who have forgotten their high school English.

Maeve Maddox, who has also published as Margaret Maddox, Peggy Maddox, and Margaret Wallworth, writes a daily post on language at DailyWritingTips.com. She holds a PhD. in Comparative English from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, as well as BAs in English from Oklahoma City University and the University of London (England).

100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid is available for purchase as a pdf at Daily Writing Tips.com/. Later this year it will be available on Kindle and in print.

Read Charles A. Ray’s review of 100 Writing Errors to Avoid at Red Room.

Blogging Course for Serious Writers August 24 and 28

Maeve Maddox — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:46:52 +0000

Lela Davidson

Lela Davidson, successful parenting columnist on top rated HubPages.com and a regular contributor to ParentingSquad.com, will be sharing what she has learned about making money by writing web content by offering a course called Beyond Blogging: How to Make Money Writing Online Content.

This class is designed for beginning and experienced writers. It will be held in a wifi-enabled classroom at John Brown University in Rogers and is being offered in two sections:

Tuesday, August 24, from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Saturday, August 28, from 9 a.m. – Noon

Lela left a traditional job in 2006 to begin writing online and has turned herself into a successful professional blogger.

Her 3-hour course will cover the basics of where to find writing jobs (and determine if they are legitimate or a scam), and how to write the most common types of web content, apply for work, and find your niche.

Participants will also learn about the various types of revenue streams available to online writers, as well as how to use free blogging software as an online resume.

Locally, Lela writes the After the Bubbly and Chasing Date Night columns for Peekaboo magazine. She also writes www.afterthebubbly.com

Class fee, if received before August 10, is $49

Class fee, if received after August 10, is $59

Class size will be limited to the first 24 respondents

To register, email Lela at ldavidson98@gmail.com.

“Write History Right” Author to speak in Little Rock

Maeve Maddox — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:16:02 +0000

Marilyn H. Collins

Author and workshop leader Marilyn H. Collins will be a featured speaker at the 66th Annual Arkansas Writers Conference in Little Rock the weekend of June 4-5. Her topic will be “Writing the Regionals: Making the Most of Regional Magazines.”

Collins has published over 100 magazine and newspaper features. Her books include Rogers: The Town the Frisco Built, Rogers, Arkansas (pictorial), and The Old Burying Ground, Beaufort, NC. Her latest book, Writing History Right, is a step-by-step guide for nonfiction writers, especially those interested in all types of history.

Based on her writing and publishing experience, Collins’s workshops stress participation that often extends to follow-up writing assistance for writers who attend the workshops.

Later this summer Collins will speak at the Missouri State Genealogical Association conference in Jefferson City, Missouri August 13-14. Her topic there will be “If You Don’t Write the Story, Who Will?”

Marilyn H. Collins

Arkansas Writers Conference

Missouri State Genealogical Association Conference

Busy Summer for Velda Brotherton

Maeve Maddox — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:58:38 +0000

Velda Brotherton

Arkansas author Velda Brotherton has three speaking engagements coming up in June.

Friday, June 4: Arkansas Writers Conference, Little Rock, 7 p.m. “Finding Your Voice.”

Friday, June 12: Nightbird Books, Fayetteville, 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 13: Trolley Line Books in Rogers at 2 p.m. with

Radine Trees Nehring. “How to write and have a life.”

Jefferson May 15 Workshop Based on Mary Oliver’s Writings

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:47:59 +0000

Writing coach June Jefferson will present a workshop called “Pen and Paper and a Breath of Fresh Air” on Saturday, May 15 from 10 a.m. until noon at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. Instruction will be based on the writings of Mary Oliver.

Poet and essayist Mary Oliver will be in Fayetteville on May 18 to give a reading at the Walton Art Center as part of Artosphere, the Arkansas Arts+Nature Festival.

Oliver’s first collection of poems, No Voyage, and Other Poems, was published in 1963. Her published books include Thirst (Beacon Press, 2006); Why I Wake Early (2004); Owls and Other Fantasies : Poems and Essays (2003); Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems (1999); West Wind (1997); White Pine (1994); New and Selected Poems (1992), which won the National Book award; House of Light (1990), which won the Christopher Award and the L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award; and American Primitive (1983), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Participants will have a chance to win two free tickets to the May 18 reading. The tickets have been made available by the Invitation to Write Community Project.

Here’s an example of the poetry that will be used as writing prompts in the workshop:

Halleluiah

Everyone should be born into this world happy

and loving everything.

But in truth it rarely works that way.

For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.

Halleluiah, anyway I’m not where I started!

And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes

almost forgetting how wondrous the world is

and how miraculously kind some people can be?

And have you too decided that probably nothing important

is ever easy?

Not, say, for the first sixty years.

Halleluiah, I’m sixty now, and even a little more,

and some days I feel I have wings.

–Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems (2009)

Find information about the Artosphere Festival here.

For information about the Invitation to Write Community Project, contact June Jefferson.

Roland Mann Featured at Arkansas Conference

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:38:35 +0000

Roland Mann

Comic book author and novelist Roland Mann will be the featured speaker at the 66th Annual Arkansas Writers’ Conference June 4-5 in Little Rock.

On Friday, June 4, he’ll speak on “Shameless Self-Promotion.” His talk for Saturday is called “Put a Little Super in Your Hero.”

The conference hotel is the Holiday Inn Presidential, 600 Interstate 30. Reservations received by May 15 will receive a special group rate of $99. To reserve a room, phone 501/375-2100.

The conference sponsors don’t seem to have provided an information website. For details, contact Barbara Longstreth Mulkey: telephone 501/ 312-1747; email blm-lmm@sbcglobal.net/.

Joan of Arc Topic of Maddox Lectures May 10, 17, 24

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:00:50 +0000

Six 20th century Joan of Arcs

A series of two lectures and a movie about Joan of Arc is scheduled for the three Mondays of May 10, 17, and 24. The series is sponsored by the Osher Learning Institute at the University of Arkansas.

Writer M. J. Maddox, whose Ph.D. dissertation on film representations of Joan of Arc has been published as Portrayals of Joan of Arc in Film, will present two lectures followed by a showing of the complete 146-minute version of Victor Fleming’s film starring Ingrid Bergman. The version of the film released in 1948 was only 100 minutes in length.

Titled “A Joan for All Seasons,” the series will be presented in the University of Arkansas Global Campus building located on the Fayetteville Square.

Monday, May 10

The Historical Joan of Arc, 4-5:30 p.m. Fayetteville GC, Room 107: what is known about her from the historical record.

Monday, May 17

The Cinematic Joan of Arc, 4-5:30 p.m., Fayetteville GC, Room 107: how she has been portrayed in six 20th century movies: Joan the Woman (1917), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Joan of Arc (1948), Saint Joan (1957), Joan of Arc (1999), The Messenger (1999).

Monday, May 24

Showing of Victor Fleming’s uncut version of Joan of Arc, 2-5:30 p.m., Fayetteville GC, Room 107.

The enrollment fee is $40 for Institute members. A CD version of A Joan for All Seasons, a guide written especially for the Osher course, will be available for $10.

Information about Dr. Maddox’s published dissertation can be found here.