#CoverReveal: The Pamlico Writing group new Christmas anthology - A CAROLINA CHRISTMAS











WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR THIS COVER REVEAL - IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!


BUT FIRST, LET'S GET TO KNOW WHO THE PAMLICO WRITERS ARE AND HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE!





The Pamlico Writers Group is from the

Innerbanks of North Carolina, where the Tar and the Pamlico rivers meet in the

town of little Washington. They’re housed just off the river in the old Turnage

Theater, the oldest still-standing Burlesque Theater House still standing in

North Carolina and home of the Arts of the Pamlico. The Pamlico Writers are a

non-profit group and we affiliated with the Arts of the Pamlico.





The Turnage Theater stands on Main Street just one street

over from the waterfront. The town of Washington is on the Inner Banks of North

Carolina, where the Tar and Pamlico Rivers meet, just down the sound from the

Atlantic Ocean. Forestry, watermen, and Military history are abundant in

Washington and Beaufort County.














The Pamlico Writers Group hopes to use the funds generated

by this anthology to assist in this, our fifth annual Pamlico Writers

Conference March 17 and 18, 2017 with Keynote speaker Zelda Lockhart.



 

Pamlico Writers Group Officers/anthology organizers:

 
PWG chairperson: Sherri Lupton-Hollister in charge of planning, theme and media


Financial Director: James “Jim” Keen in charge of formatting anthology and setting up Submittable and Drop-Box


Programming Director: Kay Wilson assisted with all aspects of planning and media


Conference Director: Doris Schneider in charge of editing and cover planning


Member: Jeanne Julian assisted with editing

Member: Marni Graff marketing

Connect with the group here:
www.pamlicowriter.org

Twitter @Pamlicowritersconference

Facebook @pamlicowritersgroup

Writing on the Pamlico,

pamlicowritersgroup.wordpress.com



Authors/Poets:
 


Suzannah Lynn Cockerille



Suzannah graduated from Virginia Tech with

a degree in architecture and most of her elective credits in literature

courses. She expected to become an artist, but now her medium is the alphabet.

She writes both poetry and prose, runs a blog, and is writing a novel with the

working title John Boy and the She-Devil.

Suzannah’s work spans topics ranging from personal stories to politics and

social justice to humorous pieces. She’s had poems published in The Poet’s Domain, her college literary

magazine, and various articles published online and in newspapers. She blogs as

“Coco Q” at
www.shinybutter.com, and her Facebook page is www.facebook.com/TheShinyButterBlog.


 

Jonathan Clayborne




Jonathan is the author of five locally staged plays, one of which was

sponsored by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. He is an

award-winning former editor, reporter, and columnist for the Washington, NC, Daily News, and winner of a

deadline-reporting award from the N.C. Press Association. A native of Grifton,

NC, and a resident of Washington since 1993, he is an entrepreneur in different

fields, including creative writing. He has written a novel and a book of

poetry, which he plans to publish soon. Part of the Haunted Pamlico cast,

community theater group affiliated with Arts of the Pamlico, you can find him

on Facebook.com/jonathan.clayborne or Facebook.com/HauntedPamlico



Nancy Eure Cordano


Nancy lives in North Carolina. She graduated from the University of

North Carolina – Greensboro with a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Her

varied professional career includes behavioral health, industrial, and Faith Community nursing. She has had a passion for writing since her

youth, and has completed courses with the Institute of Children’s Literature

and Long Ridge Writers Group. She has published two novels. Her additional new

joy is learning to paint, finding that her expression in art, layered and

vibrant, is similar to her writing.  Follow her on Facebook page or check out her

author page on the Pamlico Writer Group website. New member of the Pamlico Writers Conference Steering Committee.

 




Jerry Cuthrell





Poet, mentor and

the original chairman of the Pamlico Writers Group. Jerry grew up in Belhaven

and went to work in his family’s bakery as a young boy. He attended the

University of North Carolina but went to work for a national agricultural

company in Oregon. He and his wife Connie raised two sons. After returning to Beaufort

County, he settled in Washington and started his own business and the Pamlico

Writers Group. Jerry is still an active member and this anthology is dedicated

to him and beautiful word-pictures.


Anne Blyth Davis







Anne is a freshman at Duke University from Swan Quarter, NC. In her

spare time, she enjoys photography, reading, running, and writing short

fiction. She plans to major in math and computer science, and minor in

creative writing.



A former member of Marni Graff’s North Carolina Writers’ Read in

Belhaven, Anne Blyth Davis won the Pamlico Writers High School Competition in

Fiction two different years: 2013 ; 2015.



Pam Desloges


Pam grew up in the mountains

of New Hampshire and spent much time on the rugged coast of Maine. After

retiring from a small New England college, she lost interest in shoveling snow.

She now lives in New Bern, NC, with her husband, Max. She has been published in

the anthology Art Inspires Poetry,

the blog Polly’s Tea Kettle, and a

magazine for dog lovers, Sniff &

Barkens
. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, the Pamlico

Writers Group, and is a founding member of the Neuse River Writers’ Group.  Find

her work at: https://www.facebook.com/pamdesloges




Deborah H. Doolittle



Deborah has lived in lots of

different places but now calls North Carolina home. She has a BA from the

University of Colorado, an MA from George Washington University, an MFA from

San Diego State University, and now teaches at Coastal Carolina Community College.   Two chapbooks, No Crazy Notions and That

Echo,
have won the Mary Belle Campbell and Long Leaf Press Award,

respectively.  She has had more than 350

poems published in literary magazines, with some most recently having appeared

or will soon appear in Atlanta Review, Bear Creek Haiku, Edge, Oberon,

Pinyon, Seems
and TAB: The

Journal of Poetry and Poetics. 
An

avid print-maker, she has put together a small collection of hand-made limited

edition book art. Married to a retired Marine, she has a son and a daughter and

three grandchildren.   When not teaching

or writing, she volunteers as a Wildlife Rehabilitator.  She and her husband currently share their

house with four cats and a backyard full of birds.


Follow Deborah on Facebook at www.facebook.com/deborah.doolittle







Diane de Echeandia





Diane writes poetry, short

stories, and creative non-fiction. She has won awards in competitions

sponsored by Christopher Newport University's 30th Annual Writers'

Conference, the North Carolina Writers’ Workshop in Asheville, and the

Pamlico Writers Group. Diane lives in New Bern, NC, with her husband and

basset hound. Diane can be found on

Facebook.com/diane.deecheandia or follow her blog
http://theskinnypoetryjournel.wordpress.com















Polly Frank



Polly grew up in New Jersey

and graduated from Duke University. She won a prize in the first writing

contest she entered for her personal essay “The Small ‘c’.” Several careers, including nonprofit

executive director and business owner, inform her writing. During 2014-2015

she wrote a weekly blog, Polly’s Tea

Kettle
, and her work has appeared in the anthology Art Inspires Poetry. She belongs to the Neuse River Writers’

Group, the Pamlico Writers Group, and the North Carolina Writers Network. She

lives with her husband in eastern North Carolina, where they enjoy a vibrant

arts community. www.f
acebook.com/pollyfrank67










Sarah

Haglund




My name is Sarah Haglund. I

love Jesus, music, running and writing poetry, short story's and music :)


Facebook.com/Sarah.haglund.549
 

Twitter @lifewithgreens



Ted Harrison 



Ted’s work has been published

by the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Main Street Rag Publishing and

what he calls “some very small magazines”. After more than thirty years in

television news as producer, anchor and correspondent, he considerers himself

semi-retired.  He has been a bookseller,

public affairs director and worked on a telephone hotline.









Richard Knowles



Richard began writing after retiring, about six years ago.

Since then he has been a winner in a number of writing contests. He is a

two-time winner in both the Pamlico Writing Contest, and the Carteret Writers

Contest. This year he was also a winner in the Porter Fleming Literary

Competition, sponsored by the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.

Richard’s favorite genres are nonfiction and fiction. He currently resides and

writes on Harkers Island, with his wife Jill and Labradoodle Rosie.









Michaela has been homeschooled

from K-12, and has always loved writing. She is also voracious reader, and has

made her way through a list of "100 Books From Classic Literature to Read

Before You Die.”


In High School, Michaela

enjoyed volunteering and then working at her local children’s library. Other

activities include performing with Smiles and Frowns Children’s Theater, taking

her award winning research on Honey Bees to the North Carolina Science and

Engineering Fair, singing in church choir, and learning sign language with her

friends. She is currently pursuing a degree in Speech Therapy at BYU



Doris Schneider



Doris was born in Rosenburg, Texas, but moved all over

the United States and Canada as a child. She moved to North Carolina in 1971 where

she has spent most of her adult life. She taught Theatre Arts at William Carey

University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and at North Carolina Central

University in Durham. She has written numerous articles for professional

journals, a theatre textbook (The Art and

Craft of Stage Management
), and two novels (Borrowed Things and By Way of

Wate
r). She is currently working on another novel, The Little Drummer Girl, and a collection of short stories. Doris

is an artist/owner of the Lemonade Art Gallery in Washington, where she

displays her masks and jewelry.


Facebook.com/dorisschneiderbooks/


Rock my Words

dorisschneider252.com


Director of the Pamlico Writers Conference Steering

Committee.


Doris Schneider has been the driving force behind the

Pamlico Writers Conference since its inception. She is an amazing, talented

person and I'd like to share her story.


Me:  You have had an

interesting life from traveling as a child to your years in academia. Juggling

your life, work and leadership of the Pamlico Writers Conference; how has your

experience influenced your art? Your writing? Your leadership? How did the

conference come to be?


Doris Schneider:  My writing and my life

seem to have “grow’d like Topsy”. I paused in this writing to look that idiom

up. It refers to a fictional character from Uncle

Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and means something that grows in

spurts without design or intention.


That describes my first novel—something that began as a real

experience and then grew in plot and characters as it went along, often without

direction or control. It also describes my life which has meandered across this

continent, through the arts, and through relationships. The only thing stable

has been my love of family and of teaching.


After thirty-three years as a professor of theatre in higher

education, I retired and moved to Washington with I ½ unedited novels on my

computer. Writing had been my bridge over the empty chasm I felt without

teaching in my life. So the first thing I did was join a journaling class to

hone my writing skills, to make sense of my past, and to meet other writers. I

soon found myself writing longer pieces that were often fiction rather than

journal entries limited to my own experiences. Somehow, a brochure about a literary

symposium in New Bern found its way to my mailbox. The event included a writing

competition. So I rewrote two of my favorite stories, one fiction and one

non-fiction, and sent them in.


In the meantime, my husband had knee replacement surgery

with many medical mishaps that kept him in bed for a month while I ran up and

down the stairs, seeing to his every need. I received a phone call that I was a

winner in the competition, but they would not tell me what place I had won or

for which genre. My protective negative side said, “probably honorable

mention”.


I found someone to sit with my husband while I attended the

awards ceremony with a friend. It was held at the Bank of the Arts and was a

lovely affair. The spokesperson called the names of the winners, beginning with

poetry, then non-fiction, then fiction. For each genre, the honorable mention,

then third, then second, and finally first place was called. When she started

on non-fiction, I was ready to step forward for my honorable mention. But my

name was not called. With each level, I was ready to step forward. Then she

began with fiction and the same thing occurred. My foot was raised and ready

with the calling of each name. Finally, the only category left was first place

fiction. My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief and for a moment I

wondered if I had been phoned about being a winner by mistake. Then my name was

called.


I have heard my name called before, and I have received

awards before, but this was different. After a month of nursing my husband, in

a town where we were still new with few friends, still recovering from the

trauma of retirement, I needed this moment of confidence-building in the new

art form that had become my passion.


Encouraged, I joined the Pamlico Writers Group (PWG) where I

could focus on fiction and meet more serious writers. After another year, the

New Bern conference and competition ended. Knowing how important that event had

been to me, I wanted it to be an accessible opportunity for other writers in

eastern North Carolina. So I asked Jim Keen, the leader of the PWG, about

holding a conference in Washington. He liked the idea, and I offered to talk to

Joey Toler, the head of the Beaufort County Arts Council, about helping us

sponsor it. The Pamlico Writers Conference and Competition was born.


As hosts of the event, we could not participate in the

competition, but we could recreate each year that wonderful moment I had

experienced and give to other writers the encouragement and confidence to

persevere and grow (like Topsy).


Behind the Curtain (article in June PWG Newsletter by: SL

Hollister & Doris Schneider)








Merry

Simmons


Merry holds a BA and an MA in English from Southern
Methodist University. For fifteen years, she taught at both the high school and

university level. Then she discovered more people wanted houses than grammar

and switched to a career in real estate.


After retiring, she returned to her love of words and

began writing. She’s sold over a dozen short stories to most of the major

science fiction and fantasy magazines as Meredith Simmons and currently has

four historical romances available writing as Hannah Meredith.


Merry lives in Wilson, NC with her husband of nearly

fifty years, Bob.





Sherri Lupton-Hollister 


Sherri has been writing and

dreaming since she was a young child. After they raised six sons, her husband

asked her what she was waiting for! With the help of her friend, library

supervisor Robina Norman, Sherri attended a couple of Romantic Times

Conventions. After winning the Ann Peach Scholarship for new writers, she

joined Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina, and Pamlico Writers

Group and began pursuing a career as a writer. Sherri writes romantic

suspense with southern grit and charm, set on the coast of North Carolina
.


 
Facebook.com/sherri.hollister

http://sherrilhollister.wordpress.com


Twitter @Jeanelia1964




Member of the Pamlico Writers

Conference Steering Committee


Manages the Facebook and

Twitter accounts for PWG


Present Pamlico Writers

Chairperson








Jeanne Julian



Jeanne’s chapbook, Blossom and Loss, was published by

Longleaf Press in 2015. Her poems have appeared in many journals, including Naugatuck River Review, Poetry Quarterly,

Kakalak, Earth’s Daughters,
and Spank

the Carp,
and are forthcoming two anthologies: The Well-Versed Reader and The

Lascaux Prize 2016 Anthology.
Her work also has won awards in

competitions sponsored by The Comstock

Review,
The North Carolina Poetry Society, The Lanier Library, and the

Asheville Writers’ Workshop. She was the featured photographer in moonShine review, Summer 2015. A

graduate of Allegheny College, she has an MFA from the University of

Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a member of the Neuse River Writers’ Group. www.jeannejulian.com


Facebook.com/Jeanne.julian


Assistant Editor for A

Carolina Christmas


Jeanne met her publisher,

Longleaf Press at the 2014 Pamlico Writers Conference Pitch to the Publisher

event.


 James Keen



A Pamlico Writers Group

member since 2008, Jim served as the second PWG Chairman. He wrote two

newspaper columns chronicling his sailing adventures: “Nautical Musings,” a weekly column

about coastal family adventures; and “In

the Loop,” a bi-weekly column about circumnavigating the eastern

United States on America’s 6,300-mile Great Loop. Jim’s book Trinidad Express is the story of his

5,300-mile doublehanded South Africa-to-Trinidad Atlantic Ocean sailboat

crossing. His ebook, Log of S/V Irish

Mist
, chronicles his singlehanded 13-month trip on America’s Great Loop. Nautical Musings I and II are ebook

anthologies of Jim’s newspaper articles.


Facebook.com/james.keen


Visit his author page at

www.pamlicowritersgroup.org


Assistant Director of the

Pamlico Writers Conference Steering Committee


Financial Director of the

Pamlico Writers Group and Conference









Millie Johnson Sparks



href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6935880799761412002" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">


Millie joined the Pamlico Writers Group in 2016.  She is a part-time writer and a full-time librarian at Pitt Community College in Winterville, NC.





Facebook.com/Millie.sparks





Kay

Wilson






Kay Wilson wrote simple poetry before her best friend pushed her, kicking and

screaming, into a mystery writing class at the local community college. From

there she was hooked, learning all she could about the craft. She is an actress

and has played numerous roles in community theatre productions (Encore Theatre

- Elizabeth City; College of the Albemarle Coast Players - Elizabeth City; and

Pamlico Playhouse - Washington), and believes it’s helped her see characters

and their stories better. Ms Wilson is a member of two writer's groups (North

Carolina Writers' Read - Belhaven and Pamlico Writers Group - Washington) both

encourage and challenge her to improve her skills. She writes and manages a

blog for the Pamlico Writers Group. She's also written several short stories

and two novels which are in different stages of completion. K D Wilson writes

Women's Fiction (Domestic & Romantic Suspense) and as yet has not been

published.


Kay is the Programming Coordinator for the Pamlico Writers

Group, she is also a member of the Pamlico Writers Conference Steering

committee, writes the blog “Writing on the Pamlico”

pamlicowritersgroup.wordpress.com, Facebook.com/writerkay







Michael

Worthington




Thirty-year veteran of the education system, retired.

Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina. Michael now writes full-time

with his pug asleep on the footrest of his recliner.


His HI/Lo books are designed for reluctant young adult

readers with high interest and low reading difficulty. You can find Michael’s

books at Goodreads and Amazon.




http://higherEd411.com,

Facebook.com/HiLoBooks   










The Pamlico Writers Group is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of our 2016 anthology of short stories and poems written by our members with a section of award winning prose and poetry from our 2015 and 2016 competition winners.


            A Carolina Christmas isn’t your traditional holiday feast of tinsel and sugar plums. While there is still a smattering of stars sprinkled through the pages and a little glitter and artificial snow lighting up a few plastic Santas, these stories are filled with more than ornaments and figgy pudding. From broken hearts to hopeful reunions, holiday anxiety to joyful tidings, the truest gift of Christmas is still found to be family, faith and friendship. But these stories are not fairy tales and every holiday is not Peace on Earth.


            “Readers are in for a holiday treat with the 2016 Pamlico Writers Anthology with its Christmas theme.” ~Marni Graff, award-winning author of The Nora Tierney English Mysteries and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries


            “A Carolina Christmas establishes itself as a holiday classic, a must read. The journey isn’t your typical holiday adventure.” ~Angela Beach Silverthorne, author of Depression Cookies, two-time silver medalist in Women’s Fiction and Chick Lit for Readers’ Favorite and Cries of Innocence, a five-star Contemporary Christian Fiction.


Author/Poets, Titles





Jerry Cuthrell: Unsolicited (poem), Candles (poem)





Deborah H. Doolittle: My Mother’s Rocky Road to Dublin (#1), Here I am

Laughing with Bears
(#2), Elizabeth

Bishop Attends to the Amarilli
(#3)--(2016 Adult Poetry Competion~ First

Place)











Michaela Rappleyea: Rolling in Her Grave (2016 High School Competition~First Place Prose)





Courtney Staton: A

Letter From a Gifted Kid
(2015 High School Competition ~ Prose First Place)


Allison Stuart: The

Combination
(2015 Adult Competition First Place Fiction)


K D Wilson: Forgetful Adjustments (fiction)


Michael Worthington: Ayden Racial Unrest (2015 Adult

Competition First Place Non-Fiction)







And now, before we see the beautiful cover .... 


Let's meet the artist of the original piece created for this cover!



Artist Info








Born and raised in New England, Carol Mann has lived in California, Northern Virginia, and Raleigh, moving to Chocowinity, NC, in 1999. Retirement offered an opportunity for Carol to pursue other long-standing interests that were on the back burner while raising a family. 




An accomplished tole painter, Carol decided to try her hand in another medium. In planning to publish her third cookbook, she took watercolor classes in order to provide her own illustrations. She became a member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina and has been juried into their annual exhibit every year since, as well as serving on their Board of Directors. Her watercolors have won numerous awards.  She is currently displaying her work and teaching at the Lemonade Art Gallery in Washington, NC. 



AND NOW - FOR THE COVER ...


 

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And the original painting it came from:













Ahh I love it! What do you think?






Comment and let us know!



















~ Amazon ~ Amazon UK




















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