New Writing Workship

Hello, All,

I just wanted to remind you that I will begin a new writing workshop at the library beginning this coming Tuesday. We will meet at 6:30 and all of you are welcome to attend. I really hope a lot of you will come because you will be a big help for those folks just getting interested in writing. The workshop will run for 6 weeks and we will discuss everything from basic writing to publishing. I hope to see many of you there.

Tony

As many of you now know ...

... our fearless leader, Tony Sexton has been ill and in the hospital. Our meeting on September 10th was cancelled and the meeting for September 24th may also be cancelled, unless someone wants to step forward and lead the group. I'm not comfortable leading the group, but I am continuing to work and edit the two chapbooks we are working on.

The first one - Scary/Ghost Stories - has a deadline of September 24th in order for us to get it edited, proofed and printed by October 9th, the day of the Arts Council Fall Festival.

The second one - Library Memories - has a deadline of October 22nd and will be used at the grand opening of the brand-new Mercer County Public Library.

You can email your stories, poems or prose directly to me at:

brightmyer249@hotmail.com

Everyone will receive a draft of the chapbook before it is printed to make sure everything is correct and placed in the way you want it.

Please be sending in stories ASAP - the deadline for the first one is fast approaching and we currently only have 24 pages filled. The "Prose and Poetry for Pets" was 60 pages long and we don't necessarily need to have that many pages, but I would like to have between 35 and 40. These stories are not limited to people from Mercer County, so if you have friends that like to write, please tell them to send something in.

Please keep Tony in your thoughts and prayers, and hopefully he will be back with us very soon.

Great Meeting

We had a great meeting Friday night - lots of old friends and a few new friends. Welcome John Cotten and welcome back Laura Kellerberger.

We are talking about working on a "Scary Story" chapbook to have ready to sell at the 2nd Annual Arts Festival on October 9th at the Fort Harrod State Park. We are looking for scary/ghost stories or poem, but nothing bloody or horrific - we want kids to be able to read these without being too scared.

We also talked about doing a "Library Memories" chapbook for the grand opening of the new Mercer County Public Library. We need memories of your first library trip, you best/worst trip or anything that reminds you of the library, the bookmobile or reading in general.

The deadlines for these stories are:

• Scary/ghost stories or poems - September 24th
• Library memories - stories or poems - October 22nd

You can email your writings to Tony at: contentedme@hotmail.com
or Bobbi (who will be doing the editing) at: brightmyer249@hotmail.com

So everyone needs to get writing and let's get this ball rolling. We haven't even talked about what we want to do for Christmas!! Send us your thoughts and ideas.

Attention Inkblots

Inkblots!!

I haven't heard from many of you so this is a reminder that we are going to try and get back in the swing of writing again... time for a real Jump Start!!! This Friday, 6:30 at the Heritage Center on US 127... Bring a friend who may want to get started with us... we will be discussing a lot of stuff and trying to get back in the groove... I hope to see you there... SERIOUSLY!!!

Tony

Don't Forget ...

... our first meeting of the new writing season will be August 27th at the KY Ag Heritage Center on Hwy 127 across from the Kountry Kupboard. We will begin at 6:30pm.



If you know someone who is interested in joining us or just would like to check us out, bring them along. If you would like to bring a snack to share, let me know.

One of the projects we are going to work on is Scary Stories or Poems (but not horror) for a chapbook we are considering doing for Halloween this year. If you are not a member of The Community of Mercer County Writers, you are still invited to join us or submit a piece for this chapbook. I am not sure when we will present it to the public, but we would like to have it ready for the downtown Halloween event, Night of the Great Pumpkin. The idea is to write something that has a scary tone, but would not give kids nightmares if they heard it or read it. The piece could even be funny if you we so inclined. So think about it, maybe even get something down on paper to read at the meeting.

We also want to work on another chapbook to celebrate the opening of the brand-new Mercer County Public Library in November. We would like the proceeds of the sale of this book to go toward subscriptions of writing journals for the library. Think about your first library visit, your favorite library visit, or even the worst time you had at a library - whatever reminds you of libraries.

If you are working on something and would like a bit of critique, bring that along as well. Please, please let me know if you can or cannot come on the 27th so we know how many snacks we need and what to plan for. I am looking forward to seeing all of you there.

Hope to see you all there!

Tony

New Library Kick-Off

As many of you know, our new Mercer County Public Library will be opening hopefully sometime in November and the Community of Mercer County Writers may be asked to help with the Grand Opening. I am not sure what we might be asked to do but I am sure whatever it is, it will be fun.

In conjunction with that I thought we might create another chapbook to give away during the celebration (which will probably last more than one day). I am open for suggestions as to what sort of content we might put in to such a chapbook but my initial thought is that we write about some experience we have had with reading, the importance of a library or even a fictional piece about a library visit... something along those lines but I am not locked into that so if you have suggestions let's talk about them when we meet on August 27th.

I have been asked to have a workshop scheduled as soon as the library is open. It will be something they will promote during the opening. I would like to do something different but I am at a loss for a good idea at the moment. So, again, I am open for suggestions. I have been considering having a running workshop that meets once a week there and the first workshop could be a kick off for that... I bet some of you already have a good idea... bring these ideas with you on the 27th as well. You may not know it but when the library was being designed, I asked for a room that we could use for workshops, one with a small kitchen, maybe a dry erase board and so forth.... well, it is there.

They have designed a large room that can be divided and both rooms will have a sink and a place to make coffee, etc. One side is larger than the other and the plan is for us to use the smaller of the two parts. Both rooms will have access to the restrooms and we will have our own exit so we do not disturb anyone or vise versa. They have gone out of their way to make it easy for us to meet and have workshops so I want us to use it to the max. Isn't that really cool? This morning I toured the new library. It is coming along great and you can see where everything is going to be and I will tell you it is going to be a very impressive place and we will be so proud to have such a place right here in Mercer County.

Hope to see everyone there,

Tony Sexton

First Meeting of the new Writing Season

For our first meeting of the new writing season, we will meet on August 27th at the Heritage Center where we have met before (US 127 across from the Kountry Kupboard). We will begin at 6:30.

If you know someone who is interested in joining us or just would like to check us out, bring them along. If you would like to bring a snack to share, let me know.

One of the projects we are going to work on is the Sort of Scary Story (or poem) for a chapbook we are considering doing for Halloween this year. If you are not a member of The Community of Mercer County Writers you are still invited to join us or submit a piece for this chapbook. I am not sure when we will present it to the public, it could be during the Zombie Crawl sponsored by The Arts Council of Mercer County or during the downtown Halloween event or at another time around Halloween. The idea is to write something that has a scary thought to it but would not give kids nightmares if they heard it or read it. The piece could even be funny if you we so inclined. It should be fun to do even if the chapbook did not develop. So think about it, maybe even get something down on paper to read at the meeting.

Also, if you are working on something and would like a bit of critique, bring that along as well. Please, please let me know if you can or cannot come on the 27th so we know how many snacks we need and what to plan for. I am looking forward to seeing all of you there.

Hope to see you all there!
Tony

Harrodsburg Festival of Books and Arts

The 1st Annual Harrodsburg Festival of Books and Arts was a huge success, even with the extreme heat of the day. This was a joint venture between The Community of Mercer County Writers, The Arts Council of Mercer County and Harrodsburg First. Here are a few highlights from the event:

Harrodsburg Festival of Book and Arts sign

The man who made this event possible - Tony Sexton

Ed McClanahan - Master of Ceremonies

Hershel McKinley and Tony Sexton

My favorite photo of Katerina (Katya) Stoykova-Klemer

Writers awaiting their turn at reading to the public

Carolyn Worley - a member of The Community of Mercer County Writers

Irene Mitchell during her reading

Katya reading from "The Air Around the Butterfly"

Katya

The Community of Mercer County Writers (Nomadic Ink) - from left Katerina Klemer, the Barn Goddess and Paula Pinkston. In the background is Dr. Richard Taylor, an honorary member of Nomadic Ink for the day.

Ruth Ann Fogel, Kentucky native now living near Cincinnati

Next Meeting

Hello Ink Blots and friends,

We will be meeting at my house - 657 Fairview Court - this Friday, May 7th at 6:30 pm for our first monthly meeting this month (due to unforseen complications, we are not able to meet at the Ag Center). Along with our regular antics we will talk about the Prose and Poetry for Pets project on Saturday, May 8th. If you have a piece in the chapbook, we will have them available at the meeting. We need you to be here if at all possible so we can make sure everything goes as planned on Saturday. As you know, Todd Borek (WKYT TV morning weatherman) will be with us so we want to have a good showing of our group. If you do not have a piece in the book but have a pet/animal story you would like to share, you are welcome to come and read - just let us know .. all are welcome.

Please let me know if you can or cannot come Friday Night -(859)-247-0522 or (859)-734-7867 and leave me a message.

I hope many of you can make it to this meeting... it is going to be a fun couple of days!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

Tony Sexton

Prose For Pets

Here is the jump start for the May 8th Prose for Pets event - it can be prose or poetry.

Finish this:

"I picked her up on the side of the road during the worst thunder storm I had ever seen..."

Send your writing to Tony at: contentedme@hotmail.com. Once I get several of these back, I am going to send them to Todd Borek (the morning weatherman for Channel 27) who is going to be at Prose For Pets event we have planned.

.

Harrodsburg Festival of Books and Art

Here is the logo for the 1st Annual Harrodsburg Festival of Books and Art - pretty cool!



We are going to be needing volunteers for both the April 16th-17th KSPS Mid-Year Conference and the June 26th Harrodsburg Festival of Books and Art. We need help with giving people information about where things are and playing host to our out of town guests. The festival needs lots of volunteers: hosts for the hospitality room, author helpers, information booth and general help with whatever might come up. So far we have at least 30 authors signed up with at least that many more who are just going to read at the festival.

If you want to volunteer, contact Tony at: contentedme@hotmail.com

Next Meeting

We will be meeting this Friday

March 12th @ 6:30pm

at the Ag Center on US 127

and we are going to have a great meeting

Bobbi Rightmyer will be doing a Make Your Own Chapbook workshop


She will be showing us how to put one together

and how to bind it.

Shirley Walls will bring some cool material to use for binding

You need to bring a few poems or short stories with you

if you can print them in landscape so there are two poems per page

or two pages of short story on each page

that will help in laying it out.

THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY COOL!!!

So come on and join us so Bobbi can practice on us for her big workshop on April 17th



Please/Please/Please

let me know if you can or cannot come so we can have enough snacks and supplies

I hope to see you there.

Tony

Just a reminder ...

... very important meeting






Friday

February 26th

@ 6:30

@ the KY Ag Center on US 127

Bring a friend who might like to be involved

in some of the things we are doing this year

WE NEED SOME HELP

and we are hoping to have a

Nomadic Ink Reunion

which means we hope some who have been gone for a while will be back and ready to go!!!

See you there

bring pet stories or poems if you have them

and thanks to those of you who have already sent some.

Call or email me if you have questions

Tony

Nomadic Ink Meeting

Hello, Ink Blots of the World

Next meeting

February 26th

at the Ag Center on US 127

across from the Amish Store

6:30 pm

I hope most of you will be able to attend this meeting. Think about all the things we have coming up: Limerick contest on St Patty's Day, Prose and Poetry for Pets, The KSPS meeting on April 17th, The Festival of Books and Art in June and a bunch of stuff in between... FUN stuff to keep you writing and out there doing what writers do.

Many of us have been in a Winter slump it seems... Well it is time to focus on the coming spring and get those creative juices flowing... I hope you can make it. OF COURSE IN CASE OF SNOW... WE WON'T MEET... but I am hoping no snow. SPREAD THE WORD TO THOSE WITHOUT EMAIL...

Please let me know if you can or cannot make it. We love our snacks and we need a better count and we just want to see you there we need you there

See you there!

Tony

Happy 2K10

Hello Ink Blots!

The next meeting of The Community of Mercer County Writers will be on January 29th at the Ag Center on US 127 at 6:30.

If you can bring a story or poem about a pet or an animal it would be great since we are working on putting out a chapbook for the Prose for Pets event in May.

We have some great stuff going on this year so please try to come and bring a writer friend with you...spread the word to those without email and let's get 2010 started off with a big bang... I am excited and hope those of you who have been missing can get started back and we can see lots of great things happen for each of you this year.

PLEASE let me know as soon as you can if you can make it and if you are bringing someone with you so I can make plans for snacks etc...

Let's all get back together and have some great fun.
Tony

Home for the Holidays

Attention Ink Blots ... the Home for the Holidays weekend is coming up November 27th and 28th. This is a time for Harrodsburg to come together as a community and shop downtown Harrodsburg, enjoy carriage rides and other entertainment, plus much, much more!

The Community of Mercer County Writers will be reading at Goldie's Studio G sometime during this weekend - more details to follow. Tony would like for us to all be thinking about an "unusual" Christmas story to write. A few topics he has suggested include:

• The Best Christmas Tree Ever
• My Encounter with Santa
• The Manger and Mary (or the lamb, or the Shepherd, etc)
• Searching for the Star
• Candy Canes and Jam Cake

These are just a few ideas, so don't be limited by the suggestions - come up with your own unusual tale.

It is Tony's plan to compile all these stories into a chapbook to have for sale during next year's Home for the Holidays.

Next Meeting

Hello, Ink Blots and friends,

We will be meeting at 7:00 (NOTE this change of time) this coming Friday at the Ag Center on US 127. There will be a lot of things to discuss and we will be doing some writing (hint it is Friday the 13th).

If you would like to bring some snacks let me know... If I get some response I will let you know so everyone does not bring something.

I had to change the time because I have to meet some folks after the Thriller presentation downtown. If you want to see the presentation come on down. I should be on time but could be running a little late... if I am just have some snacks and talk until I get there.

If you know someone who would like to join us for this meeting, bring them along because we are going to have a lot of fun and make some important plans for the coming year. I have some really exciting news to share.

Be thinking about some piece of writing you might want to write about Christmas. We have been asked to do a reading during the Holiday celebration downtown. If all goes well one or two of the plays we did last year might be done as well as maybe a couple that were not done last year... nothing in stone yet but certainly in the works.

Looking forward to seeing all of you. For those of you who cannot attend, we will miss you and I will send you an update on all the happening after the meeting...

Please let me know if you plan to attend.

Tony

Arts Festival Poetry Contest

The Arts Council of Mercer County
Presents
Arts Festival Poetry Contest


Three Categories
1. Adult
2. High School Students
3. Middle School Students
(This includes ALL Home School Students)

Entrants may submit up to 4 poems

Any length is ok but the subject must be “Art”
Entry fees are:
$1.00 for one poem
$3.00 for four poems

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS
October 12th, 2009

Winner will receive 5 copies of a chapbook of their poetry up to 20 pages. Entrants will be able to read some of their work at The Writer’s Café booth at the festival.


Entries and fees should be sent to The Arts Council of Mercer County, 235 Ashley Camp Rd. Harrodsburg, KY. 40330. Any questions should be sent to Tony Sexton at contentedme@hotmail.com

Book Launch

Congratulations to Tony Sexton and Earl P. Dean on your successful book launch/mixer yesterday at the Kentucky Fudge Company. Tony has just released his first book of poetry, "Scraps," and Earl has release a science fiction novella, "A Tailor Maiden's Secret."

Both of these books are available at Wasteland Press and Amazon.

Herschel McKinley - the MC (Photo by Bobbi Rightmyer)

Earl P. Dean (Photo by Cheryl Sexton)

Tony Sexton (Photo by Bobbi Rightmyer)

Earl P. Dean and Tony Sexton (Photo by Cheryl Sexton)