WHY I WRITE

WHY I WRITE Mary Nida Smith      Why do I write? I write because this is who I am. Words on paper are food that provides strength for me to continue my journey of creative writing. I believe I was born to write, for God knew I needed to fill a void through painful and lonely times.       I didn’t write thinking I would be rejected from so many places and advised to give it up, for I wrote because this is who I am. Rejections would slow me down or question why I write, but the words that formed stories kept trying to open the door to my mind. Many stories formed a mind of their own. I couldn’t deny them their time to walk across the pages and make someone smile or allow a tear to flow.     When I spied a call for submissions from a newspaper, magazine or other areas, if I thought I could, like the little red engine, I submitted.  It was always a wonderful surprise when I was accepted – paid or not, I was getting my name out there. It was cheap advertisement, a chance to learn from an editor, and to spread my wings in many different fields of creative writing.      Today I am an author of two books: Heroes Beneath the Waves: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century and Submarine Stories of World War II. I have written for newspapers and magazines. I have been published as a poet and as a writer for the children’s market.

An Adventure Book for Teen Boys

An adventure book for teen boys. Heroes Beneath the Waves: Submarines Stories of the Twentieth Century, is filled with true stories of teen-age boys who left home to experience adventures of a lifetime. Many had never been away from home, yet they dreamed of riding a large submarine to the depths of oceans and seas, and to travel ashore in countries they only read and dreamed about.

All Write Now! Writers' Conference

http://allwritenowmo.wixsite.com/allwritenow

All Write Now!

OZARKS WRITERS LEAGUE

How to Find Your Voice as a Blogger

https://eliteblogacademy.com/how-to-find-your-voice-as-a-blogger/

Best Nonfiction Book Winners

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2017/01/best-nonfiction-of-2016-roundup.html

Writers Conference North Louisiana

http://nolastars.com/conference/

The 2017 Written In The Stars Conference will be held on March 3 & 4, 2017

FICTION AND POETRY BOOK CONTEST

This competition offers a $1,000 prize for work published in the previous year in two separate categories. The John Gardner Fiction Book Award goes to the best novel or collection of fiction, while the Milt Kessler Poetry Book award goes to the best book of poems.

Deadline: February 1, 2017

Please note: Easy application

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY JOHN GARDNER FICTION BOOK AWARD GUIDELINES

Sponsored by the Binghamton Center for Writers-State University of New York
with support from the Office of the Dean of Binghamton University’s Harpur College of the Arts & Sciences

$1,000 Award for the book of fiction written in English selected by our judges as the strongest novel or collection of fiction published in 2016.

Contest Rules:

1.       Each book submitted must be accompanied by an application form.

2.       Publisher or author may submit.  Author needs to have a U.S. social security number for the prize to be awarded.

3.       Publisher may submit more than one book for prize consideration.

4.       Two copies of each book should be sent to:

§  Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Director
Creative Writing Program
Binghamton University
Department of English, General Literature, and Rhetoric
Library North Room 1149
Vestal Parkway East
P.O.Box 6000
Binghamton, NY13902-6000

5.       Books should be original work, not translations.

6.       Books entered in the competition will be donated to the contemporary literature collection at the Binghamton University Library and to the Broome County Library.

7.       Books must be received in the English Department by February 1, 2017 to be considered for the prize.

8.      Books cannot be returned.

9.       For a list of winners, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope labeled:

§  “Binghamton University Fiction Book Award.”

10.   Winners will be announced in Poets & Writers and the AWP Writer’s Chronicle.

Applications are available here. (pdf, 44.6kb)

Make sure your publisher has considered this award for you.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Fanny Brice Kimberly Greenberg

http://www.kimberlyfayegreenberg.com/fanny-show/4591455932

Enjoy the video of Kimberly Faye Greenberg. Her father Joel, a friend of mine sent this to me of his talented daughter. He was my biggest supporter and a contributor to Heroes Beneath the Waves...

BEST WRITING BLOGS FOR 2017

http://positivewriter.com/best-writing-blogs-2017/

How to use Popular Websites

https://techboomers.com/

COWBOY JO

COWBOY JO

©By Mary Nida Smith

Cowboy Jo

once an orphan child

came to Sawtooth City,

then Bonanza City in 1879.

There she stayed

the first woman

to enter Yankee Fork

mining district.

Men of Sawtooth City

hadn’t laid eyes

on a woman in months

the day Cowboy Jo

rode into town

with a pack train.

The men came running

to see if she was real

this woman of pretty

auburn hair and stood tall.

She wanted their respect

but, it wasn’t to be

from the men of

Yankee Fork

Respect for a lone woman

in a mining town of men

was only a passing goal.

For Cowboy Jo laughed

and drank with the best of them.

She never raised her voice

or laughed, allowing only

a weak smile on her face.

In months that followed

Cowboy Jo was regarded

as an Angel of Mercy.

She’d pack her saddlebags

with food and medicine,

no matter how far

over rough, high mountains

she rode to nurse

a miner back to health.

Years passed, Bonanza City grew

more women came of different class.

These women treated Cowboy Jo

kindly, enjoying her visit

when sober and bathed.

She was a restless person

a confirmed alcoholic   

quickly aged in her mid-thirties

traveling from camp to camp.

Then a man named John Bee

took a fancy to Cowboy Jo

called her, his woman

One night John Bee

in a drunken poker game

thought he was a winner.

No money to raise his bet

he promised Cowboy Jo

as his wager for he was sure,

he held the winning hand.

But no, he did not.

He lost the love of his life

in a drunken poker game.

Cowboy Jo waited

half asleep and not sober

at a near-by table.

As the poker winner

came to claim his prize,

he yelled at the barkeep.

Bring me a quart of whiskey.

then he picked her limp body

shouldered her, and walked out

to greet the sunrise.

John Bee watched

the prospector’s place

from his near-by cabin.

One day the gambling man

who claim his woman

left his cabin alone.

John Bee took a wheelbarrow

found Cowboy Jo inside

drunk and out cold.

He dragged her to the wheelbarrow

quickly headed back to his cabin.

Later, he walked to the spring

to get a bucket of water.

On the return trip

he spotted the prospector

as he jumped behind a boulder.

Cowboy Jo’s new man

shot at John Bee as he

continued to shoot between

loading Cowboy Jo

into the wheelbarrow

and headed back to his cabin

with his wheelbarrow and poker prize.

Cowboy Jo lived her life

between drunk and out cold.

Being claim by one man

after another until her slow death.

Died without the respect she craved.

Died alone this orphan child

who craved love in the Sawtooth

Mountains of Idaho

in the Land of Yankee Fork.

© By Mary Nida Smith

SELF PUBLISHING AND ADVERTISING

http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-156-rocket-author-platform-jonny-andrews/

FREE WRITER'S CONFERENCE

Free Conference

Register now for the free writer’s conference sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Writers Workshop. We still have room for eager writers, both novice and advanced. New York Times Best Seller Jodi Thomas is our featured speaker, with the awesome 13 year old Alice Cai, and writing tips from Spur award winner Dusty Richards and award winning author Velda Brotherton. For more information see www.veldabrotherton.com click on Events, and don’t forget to enter the contest. It’s a fabulous chance to make your creative work pay off. See you March 11.

Works - Velda Brotherton

The website maintained by Velda Brotherton, historian and author of Images In Scarlet and Fly With The Mourning Dove

VELDABROTHERTON.COM|BY VELDA BROTHERTON

Sitting in the Silence

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Sitting in the morning silence
interrupted by dogs barking in a distance.
Fog like clouds appear to engulf,
the trees and bushes to set down ice.
Hidden sunlight try's to gain courage
to break through the icy clouds. -

PAL'S FINE ART GALLERY

As many of you may know,  local artist, Jerry Preator is the featured at the PAL's Fine Art Gallery, Yellville.  A reception has been planned for tomorrow, 1-13 , but with the current threats of freezing rain it will be rescheduled.  After talking with Mr. Preator , it has been decided to re schedule Friday,  Friday, Jan 20, 4-5:30 pm.
       

 

ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND WRITING PROGRAMS

https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/overview

DREAM POSTER

 

Designed (c) by Mary Nida Smith

Bio Mary Nida Smith, Children Market

Organizations:  Member of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and founder of Children’s Writers & Illustrators (Mountain Home, AR); Attend: SCBWI AR workshops and retreats during Darcy Pattison and Sandy Fox as Regional Advisors.

Conferences: SCBWI Arkansas and Missouri

Magazines: Kid Magazine Writers, Jan Fields, Editor (Blogging is Important)

                    Once Upon a Time (Writer’s Block) issue 2007

Newsletters: Mo Scribbles (SCBWI) Arkansas SCBWI News Column and article, “Eliminate Clutter and Stress.”

                       Winter 2005 SCBWI Australian Chapter’s Newsletter Fine Lines (reprint) “Eliminate Clutter and Stress”

Illustrations: SCBWI National Bulletin (purchase one). Taught others how to write and illustrate a children’s picture book.

Library Summer Program: Taught a writing class for young children for three years at the Baxter County Library, member of the Friends of the Library (Board member five years and a member of Friends of the Library 15 years in 2016)

Blogs: Monthly 2009-2017 W.O.M David L. Harrison (Children’s book author) posted a monthly poem. http://marynidasmith.blogspot.com (Life’s Beautiful Path)

Freelance Writer and author of Submarine Stories of World War II (2008) and Heroes Beneath the Waves: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century (2015 ) for youth and adults.

http://www.facebook.com/submarinestories

Deceitful Wind - Poem

Deceitful Wind

By Mary Nida Smith

This morning the wind is visiting

Banging against the house

Like a mad uncontrollable beast

Trying to frighten me

To rattle and shake my nerves

As it circles from different directions

The bully wind will lullaby with low notes

Appearing to calm me into thinking its leaving

For a moment, I feel a calmness and peace

Suddenly, shaken by the howls of wolves

Taking runs, like the big bad wolf

Trying to puff and blow my house in

To remove me to a hidden place

Where the strong, deceitful, wind hides

Claiming me for its own.

Mary Nida Smith Bio

I don't think I'll have get my bio printed right, so be kind.

MARY NIDA SMITH, freelance writer, author, poet, photographer and illustrator.

        

    AUTHOR:

    Heroes beneath the Waves: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century (e-book, paperback
    and audio book) and Submarine Stories of World War II and Ozarks Sunrises
    (poetry and photographs).

                                  

                                  Blogs:    http://submarinestories.blogspot.com             http://marynidasmith.blogspot.com   

                                 Former newsletter editor for the Arkansas Submarine Veterans of World War II

                                 Life member of Wives of Submarine Veterans of World War II 

                                 Life member of Ladies of U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc

                                 Former member of Military Writers of America and published in military magazines.                                                                              

   Book, Submarine Stories of World War II can be found in St.Marys Submarine Museum,

   Marys, GA,  Arkansas Island Maritime Museum, Arkansas Island Maritime Museum, Little Rock,      and Wisconsin Military Museum, Research Center Library Madison, Wisconsin.  Heroes beneath        the Wave: Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century, released November 17, 2015 by Skyhorse        Publishing Inc.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 FREELANCE WRITER: Magazines - Northwest Living, Grit, Magic Valley Farm Lines, the Ozark  Mountaineer, Grit, and Ozarks magazine,  Rural Arkansas and newspapers – Oregon Journal, Portland, Oregon; Port Orchard Independent Port Orchard (weekly column), Washington; Magic Valley Farm Line, Burley, Idaho; West Star, Missouri; Ozark Mountain News, Mountain Home; The Herald Leader, Siloam Springs, AR; and The Ozarks Mountaineer Echo; The Times-News; and the Eureka Springs newspaper. Harvard Avenue Baptist Church newsletter( Siloam Springs), writers’ newsletters and websites (Ozarks Writers League, Missouri Writers Guild, Missouri SCBWI and SCBWI Australia & New Zealand, Once upon a Time,) and internet magazines (Ozark Magazine & The Kids Writer). She wrote book reviews (Oregon Journal), a weekly newspaper column (Port Orchard Independent, WA), flew the press and did inserts in a Circulation Dept. (The Enterprise Carrier, Oregon City, OR) and wrote poems about Magic Valley and “Letters to the Editor.”

  PHOTOGRAPHY: Newspapers and magazines, first place in Scenic category sponsored

by The Herald-Leader newspaper and Color Mate Photo, Sager Creek Arts Center bulletin covers, cover of the Storyteller magazine, book cover (art shows and Midway Baptist Church photographer and historian for    five years. Area art shows won two second and three honorable mentions and ORAC/Area Art Club exhibit at ASU/Mountain Home, AR.

 ILLUSTRATIONS AND ART: Member of the Area Art Club, Bull Shoals Art Club and Palette Art League. Former President of Siloam Springs Artist Guild, staff illustrator for Writers’ Chapbook/Rolling Drum Press (Boise, Idaho), Farm Lines magazine, Idaho Writers League state newsletters, and SCBWI bulletin, jurieded art shows (Cane Hill Harvest Festival, Sager Creek Art Center, Siloam Springs, AR.), Ozark Art Alliance at John Brown University, Sager Creek Art Center Competitive, displayed in restaurants, Arts Ministry, designed a Christmas card for Lon & Edna Smith(A drawing of their home and a painting for their newly decorated bedroom), Ye Old Vintage Trek and Artist at Work –Artist and Historical Home Tour. Paintings owned by Dr. George & Mary Benjamin (home); Bettye Brenner (home); The Nida Family Home family reunion and art shows; J.D. McLemore, Kemp, TX ( submarine painting); Arkansas WWII Submarine raffle event (Rose painting); Mona Taylor (Rose painting); Erma Handemaker, Harper, KS( floral painting); and Val Battenburg, Siloam Springs, AR( Russian Dolls).

POET: Writers Chapbook, Pentecostal Evangel magazine, 2^nd place contest Baxter County Poets Association, one or two poems a month for eight years on children’s book author’s blog David L. Harrison (guest poet twice and poet of the month), and Ozark Mountaineer magazine, Journal of the Ozarks, The Times News and Fall Street Journal (Chamber newspaper), Twin Falls, Idaho.  Two poems on the Free Verse Poetry Group’s second CD “Driftwood.”

            ORGANIZATIONS: Founder of Twin Lakes Writers and Creative Writers & Illustrators
former president of  The Idaho Writers League/Twin Falls Chapter, member SCBWI,
president of Ozarks Writers League former member Missouri Writers Guild and
     organized 1^st Writers  Conference for NC Arkansas (Bel Arco Resort), the Holiday Inn 

           Authors Day and Luncheon,Twin Falls, Idaho, and was the co-founder of Sager Creek Arts 

  Center Literature Department where  she organized speakers for Sager Creek Literature Dept
  Mini-Writers Workshops, Palette Art League board member, Area Art Club and Ozark 
  Regional Arts Council (Monthly column for author/writers and    historian).Former board member

  of Friends of the Library, Donald W. Reynolds Library (Baxter County) Mountain Home, AR.

                  

                                                   

                                                      

                         

                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

BAXTER COUNTY LIBRARY LITERARY SERIES

 I am so proud of our library - Donald W. Reynolds Library on Library Hill and the Friends of the Library. Go to their website http://www.baxlib.org March and April Friends of the Library is the sponsor for the upcoming "Literary Series." Visiting authors, local authors book signing, creative writing, self-publishing and song writing session. Plus, Poetry Slam is back. Plus, Unique artistic fusion of music, poetry and painting- live performance. I have always loved our library and the special have worked or volunteer there.

SPELL CHECK

The Village Writing School

http://www.villagewritingschool.com/ Eureka Springs, AR