2014 Meeting Dates

Below is a list of our 2014 meeting dates. Check our website regularly for updates to our schedule.

We meet in the Excel building (white building with red roof behind the main house) at Rippavilla Plantation - click here for directions, and all of our meetings are scheduled at 7:00 p.m. Our Critique Sessions are the first Thursday of every month. Our Creative Writing Sessions are the third Thursday of every month. And our POETRY NIGHTS are the fifth Thursday in months when there is one.

Jan. 2 - Critique Session
Jan. 16 - Creative Writing Session
Feb. 6 - Critique Session
Feb. 20 - Creative Writing Session
Feb. 27 - POETRY NIGHT
Mar. 6 - Critique Session
Mar. 20 - Creative Writing Session
Apr. 3 - Critique Session
Apr. 17 - Creative Writing Session
May 1 - Critique Session
May 15 - Creative Writing Session
May 29 - POETRY NIGHT
June 5 - Critique Session
June 19 - Creative Writing Session
July 3 - Critique Session
July 17 - Creative Writing Session

July 31 - POETRY NIGHT
Aug. 7 - Critique Session
Aug. 21 - Creative Writing Session
Sept. 4 - Critique Session
Sept. 18 - Creative Writing Session
Oct. 2 - Critique Session
Oct. 16 - Creative Writing Session
Oct. 30 - POETRY NIGHT

Nov. 6 - Critique Session

Nov. 8 - Fall Feast (tentative)
Nov. 20 - Creative Writing Session
Dec. 4 - Critique Session
Dec. 18 - Creative Writing Session

NOTES:

1. All creative writing sessions are tentative, depending on whether or not we have a creative writing coordinator or a volunteer facilitator for each month's session.

2. During severe weather events, meetings will be canceled. Severe weather events include icy conditions and tornado warnings. LWC is known for its THUNDERSTORM THURSDAYS, and meetings are not canceled during thunderstorms. When severe weather cancels a meeting, a group e-mail will be sent, a message will be posted to our LWC Facebook group page, and a notice will be posted on our website by 6:00 p.m.

What to Know about Our Poetry Session 10.17.13

The outline and plan for Poetry Nite at Rippavilla

I look forward to our second meeting of poets this Thursday night, October 17, 2013.

* I'll do a brief teaching about where ideas for poetry come from. You are surrounded by poetic prompts daily. We'll talk about how to recognize them and develop them. Plenty of examples will be given.

* I'm inviting Danielle and Karen to share some of their impressions and practical takeaways from the poetry workshop they attended recently during the Middle Tennessee Writers Conference. Karen Aldridge was quite enthusiastic about the session and what she learned from esteemed poet Bill Brown.

* I invite you to bring a recent or not-so-recent original poem to share with the group. 

* As we close I'll explain and make some poetry writing assignments. It will be a few months before our next poets gathering so I want to give you some seed and fertilizer to take with you.

Thanks,

Ramon

What to Know About Poetry Night 9.5.13

It's finally here! The night you've been waiting all summer for--POETRY NIGHT! And now you're wondering, How do I prepare for Living Writers Collective's first fantastic night of poetry? Well, you've come to the right place. Here's a snapshot straight from Ramon Presson of what you need to know: 

• I'll do a short teaching about poetry technique with examples to stir your imaginations for writing. 
• I'll provide a prompt for a brief writing exercise. 
• I'm asking you to bring one of your favorite poems (by another poet). Do not bring Poe's The Raven or Milton's Paradise Lost---we're looking for something shorter because you're going to read and simply tell us something you like about it. (Don't mistake that for defending why the poem is good--it's just about you like about it.) 
• Lastly I'm inviting you to bring one of your own poems (shorter than Homer's The Iliad, please) and read it and tell us something you like about it.  Yes, it's more than acceptable to like something about your own poem. It's not bragging about your writing; it's just enjoying something that you created. I want to encourage your enjoyment of poetry (yours and others) more than your evaluation of it. Writing poetry is not required by federal law so if you don't enjoy it, why bother? 

In later sessions we'll offer feedback and some suggestions for improvement, but not yet.  Especially now but down the road as well I primarily want you to enjoy creating poems, not obsess over perfecting them.  If you enjoy the process of writing poetry then you'll improve. But at the end of the day if you like your poem, that's all that really matters.

Before we adjourn we'll have a drawing for a couple of surprises.  

See you Thursday,

Ramon Presson

Visit our post "Calling All Poets" to learn more about Ramon Presson and to read the official announcement for this session. Ramon will be leading all of our poetry sessions.

Calling All Poets

Living Writers Collective
Presents

POETRY NIGHT

 

With Ramon Presson 

September 5, 2013

Location: Rippavilla Plantation
Time: 7:00 p.m.

Ramon Presson is an award winning poet trained under twice-Pulitzer-nominated poet Stellasue Lee. As a senior Presson received Wake Forest University's and the Academy of American Poets' top prize for a collegiate collection of original poetry. He has been a guest at the Poet's Corner at Scarritt-Bennett in Nashville and is a familiar face of poetry in Spring Hill and Nashville through his multiple poetry readings. Ramon is a featured columnist for the Williamson Herald newspaper and has published a dozen nonfiction books. But his first love is and will always be poetry. 

Ramon holds a PhD in counseling psychology, is an ordained minister, and works full-time in private practice as an individual & marital therapist (www.LifeChangeCS.org).  Ramon and his wife, Dorrie, make their home in Thompson's Station along with their teenage sons, Trevor and Cameron.  

POETRY sessions will include readings and poetry education. Watch your e-mail and this website around the end of August for more information on POETRY. After September 5, Ramon Presson will be facilitating LWC poetry sessions on months with a 5th Thursday (about quarterly). See our meeting schedule for 2013 POETRY dates.

Visit our post "What to Know About Poetry Night 9.5.13" to find out how you need to prepare and what to expect from this first night of poetry.

Living Poetry Writing Month

Living Writers Collective Presents

Living Poetry Writing Month

Unleash Your Inner Wordsmith

August 1–30

Living Poetry Writing Month (LiPoWriMo) starts August 1 as we lead into our first PINOT & POETRY session on September 5. Unleash your inner wordsmith for thirty days and nights. There are no rules (except to keep writing), so turn off your mental editor, stifle those brain whispers that limit your ability to express yourself, and bathe in the beauty of words. It might be a single-line poem each day, or it might be an epic poem that you grow throughout the month, or it might be something in between.

There is no pressure to be perfect. The idea of LiPoWriMo is the same as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Don’t stop to edit—just keep writing. If you stop to edit, the art of raw creation is stalled, and once you turn on your inner editor, it’s often impossible to recapture that creativity. If you want to edit, try to save it for September.

Your poems are for you to enjoy and develop. You do not have to share them. Though if you’d like to share them at any point, you are welcome to do so on our private Living Writers Collective Facebook page.   

Even if you aren’t a poet, writing poetry—even if you perceive it as bad poetry—strengthens any writing you do. So I encourage you all to join us for LiPoWriMo.

Post By: LWC Director, Karen Aldridge 

(connect with Karen at www.facebook.com/karen.d.aldridge  

or at info@livingwriterscollective.com)

Karen Alea Ford to Speak

Living Writers Collective

Presents

WHAT NOT TO WRITE

  Karen Alea Ford

Author and Educator

June 20 at 7:00 p.m.

Rippavilla Plantation (Excel Building)

Living Writers Collective is thrilled to announce that Karen Alea Ford will be speaking at our June night of learning. What we don’t write can be just as important as what we do. As an author and educator, Ford keeps a long list of all the unnecessary stuff that clutters our writing. She will be sharing her tips and craft techniques on WHAT NOT TO WRITE, and writers of all skill levels are welcome to join us.

Ford is the new director of The Writer’s Loft at Middle Tennessee State University. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Bennington College and is an alumna of Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her short stories have been published in various magazines including Eureka, Stickman Review, and Riverwalk Journal. Her short story “The Next Guy” won The Nashville Scene fiction contest judged by Ann Patchett, which led to a guest column in the publication. She has written nonfiction for Images Magazine, Jacksonville Magazine, Catholic Journal and Auto Restorer. She is also an adjunct faculty instructor at Middle Tennessee State University. You can find her at www.karenalea.com.

The Writer’s Loft is a nonresidency, certification program offered by Middle Tennessee State University. Further information on The Writer’s Loft can be found at www.mtsu.edu/theloft/.

Living Writers Collective serves Spring Hill, Thompson’s Station, Columbia, and the surrounding communities of Middle Tennessee. The event is free.

Post By: LWC Director, Karen Aldridge 

(connect with Karen at www.facebook.com/karen.d.aldridge  

or at info@livingwriterscollective.com)

Charlotte Rains Dixon to Speak

January Creative Writing

Presents 

FACING YOUR WRITING FEARS

Charlotte Rains Dixon

Author, Journalist, 
Educator, Writing Coach

January 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Rippavilla Plantation (Excel Building)

I’m excited to announce that Charlotte Rains Dixon will be speaking at our January creative-writing session on FACING YOUR WRITING FEARS. This will be an awesome opportunity for you to ask an active and versatile writer any questions you might have about writing and overcoming those fears that hold you back.

Charlotte Rains Dixon is a free-lance journalist, copywriter, ghostwriter, and author who also teaches and coaches writers. She is the author of a dozen books, including The Complete Guide to Writing Successful Fundraising Letters for Your Non Profit Organization, published by Atlantic Publishing, and a series of Beautiful America's books including Wyoming, Oregon, and Maine.

Her fiction has appeared in The Trunk, Santa Fe Writer's Project, Nameless Grace, and Somerset Studios. Her articles have been published in Vogue Knitting, the Oregonian, and Pology. Her novel Emma Jean's Bad Behavior releases on February 12, 2013.
 
Dixon is also a writing mentor in fiction and nonfiction at The Writers Loft at Middle Tennessee State University. She is from Portland, Oregon, and has an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University. She holds a bachelor degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.  

This is a very special opportunity for our group, so I hope to have a VERY LARGE LWC turnout.

 Visit Charlotte Rains Dixon’s blog at www.wordstrumpet.com.

Congratulations Cece Dockins!

CONGRATULATIONS to LWC Education Coordinator CECE DOCKINS for her acceptance into the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. Cece starts what is sure to be the highlight, to date, of her writing life tomorrow as she boards a flight to Maine for her first residency.

LWC is so proud of you, Cece. And I am honored to call you my friend and my critique buddy and my fellow night-owl support pal who keeps me laughing through many sleepless, wine-drinking nights.

You are going to rock the horror literature world!

Post By: LWC Director, Karen Aldridge 

(connect with Karen at www.facebook.com/karen.d.aldridge  

or at info@livingwriterscollective.com)

2013 Meeting Dates

We meet in the Excel building (white building with red roof behind the main house) at Rippavilla Plantation - click here for directions, and all of our meetings are scheduled at 7:00 p.m. Our Critique Sessions are the first Thursday of every month. Our Creative Writing Sessions are the third Thursday of every month. And our Night of Learning is scheduled in months with a fifth Thursday.

Here is a list of our of 2013 meeting dates (check back often as new dates are added for special events):

Jan. 3 - Critique Session
Jan. 17 - Guest Author/Educator Charlotte Rains Dixon
Jan. 31 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning
Feb. 7 - Critique Session
Feb. 21 - Creative Writing Session
Mar. 7 - Critique Session
Mar. 21 - Creative Writing Session
Apr. 4 - Critique Session
Apr. 18 - Creative Writing Session
May 2 - Critique Session
May 16 - Creative Writing Session
May 30 - 5th Thursday Night of Learning
June 6 - Critique Session
June 20 - WHAT NOT TO WRITE-Guest speaker Karen Alea Ford
July 4 - Critique Session
July 18 - Creative Writing Session
Aug. 1 - Critique Session
Aug. 15 - Night of Learning
Aug. 29 - Critique Session
Sept. 5 - PINOT & POETRY
Sept. 19 - Creative Writing Session
Oct. 3 - Critique Session
Oct. 17 - POETRY NIGHT
Oct. 31 - No meeting (Halloween)
Nov. 7 - Critique Session

Nov. 21 - Creative Writing Session
Dec. 5 - Critique Session
Dec. 19 - Creative Writing Session

If you are not on our e-mail list, e-mail us at info@livingwriterscollective.com to receive meeting reminders, meeting changes, and newsletters.