A free gathering of writers of any genre. 

Romance: Top Selling Genre

Jody Savage, author of Brilliant Charming Bastard: The Best Revenge is Getting Rich,  introduced us to Romance, the highly structured yet creative, best-selling genre. She emphasized that Romance is about relationships far more than exoticism. The genre is character-driven—in contrast to say thrillers—and always begins with conflicts, both within the main characters and between them. […]

August 20, 1:00 p.m. Writers Morning Out

“Moments in Miniature” with MaxieJane Frazier Please join us to study flash fiction and nonfiction writing by reading from inspiring authors and considering the effect of this abbreviated form. From the power of implication to landing big metaphors, we’ll unpack the hows and whys of flash writing. In the end we’ll respond to a prompt […]

August 13, 1:00 p.m.: Writers Discuss Writing

Please join Carol Philips for a lively and entertaining discussion about all things writing. You are welcome to bring your questions and concerns you have about your own work, about the process of writing, or about the business of writing.    

Purple Prose, Throat Clearing and Info Dump–oh my~

  At the April 9, 2022 Slush Pile event, our panel of three editors/agents responded to twelve very interesting entries. Noah Stetzer, a poet and editor at Bull City Press, Tracy Crowe of Tracy Crowe Literary Agency, and Ty Stumpf, a poet, editor, and chair of the English Department at CCCC—all treated us to an […]

What is a Poem?

This is the question Tom Dow asks his students.  He asked again during the March WMO’s lead-up to National Poetry Month. Three poets, Anne Kissel, Judith Stanton, and Mark MacAllister provided their answers before reading one of their poems.   They addressed this question in different ways. Anne Kissel said the question made her wonder: […]

Find the Story in Your Story

In her January 2022, presentation, ‘I ‘vs. ‘Eye’:   Tracy Crow discussed balancing the external with the internal   Most all writing—fiction, nonfiction, poem—combines both the ‘I’ and the ‘Eye.’ But what does that mean?   The ‘eye’ is what is happening, occurring in the physical world—the external. The ‘eye’ is the experience being witnessed, observed; […]

Why, oh why, was my manuscript rejected?

Last month’s Slush Pile was another inspiring, interesting, and informative session, filled with praise for work well done and suggestions to make work better.   Noah Stetzer (Associate Director, Bull City Press), Tracy Crow (Tracy Crow Literary Agency), and Ty Stumpf (Poet and Humanities Chair, Central Carolina Community College), would have continued to read many […]

Ekphratic Writing: Ways to Generate Poems and Short Fiction

Ekphrasis: One artist looking at the art of another and finding inspiration through reflection.   When looking at art, we can record what we see in the work either literally or metaphorically. We can record how the art makes us think or feel about the world or about ourselves. We can record information about the […]