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

Limerick Contest

March 17, 2010

Saint Patrick's Day

8pm at

Old Owl Tavern

Top 15 entries will be judged by the patrons of the tavern. Open to all and the winner will receive a nice prize, but

you must be present to read your limerick to win!!!

For more information, contact

Tony Sexton

contentedme@hotmail.com

or call (859) 734-7867

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

Here is the cover for Volume Two of Speaking Out. Just received it today.

I hope you all are satisfied with it. It does look like Mercer County I think.

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

It's Finally Over

It's Finally Over

You caused so much heartache and pain,
you ripped my family apart.
Your lies and manipulation
were things we never understood.
You could never be trusted
or depended on
you really were no man,
but when you pulled her into your life,
nothing was ever the same again.
From booze to drugs to all the things you stole,
you dragged her down into your world,
into that angry pit of deception.
There was a time I prayed for your death
when the drunken crash almost took you away,
but she nursed you back to health,
thou you were never again quiet whole.
She was finally able to escape and turn her life around,
but the hand of fate had other plans,
and the grief remains today.
Not even a prison term
could change your shoddy character,
and you emerged just the same,
not worse, but no hell of a lot better.
I tired very hard to avoid your presence,
but whenever I'd least expect it,
there you were in my face
triggering the volatile emotions
I couldn't wrap my head around.
But now you've taken the coward's way out,
thrown away the life she gave you back,
and I wish I could feel compassion for you -
I am sorry your family must suffer and
I am sorry your momma had to find you -
but now I don't have to worry anymore
about the affect you have had on my family.
I know she may be feeling sadness,
as she looks down from above,
but she'll never see you again
because if there is a God up in Heaven,
then your elevator went down.

Prose for Pets - V V

(This is the closest picture I could find to match V V, without the black V on her head. As soon as I can scan a picture of the real V V, I will post it.)

V V
1969 - 1986


I’ve always been a cat person. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs, too, but cats are my favorite pets of all. I’ve had many pets over the years, but my first cat will always hold a special place in my heart.

When I was seven years old, my parents allowed us to have an indoor cat. I’m not sure where the little kitten came from, but she instantly became a part of our family.

A solid white Persian cat with faint black markings on top of her head, this little bundle of white fluff was so cute and my brother and sister and I argued over what to name her. They wanted cutesy names like Snowball or Fluffy; I wanted something unusual.

Because of the black markings on top of her head were in the shape of the letter V, I convinced my siblings the name V V was appropriate for our beloved cat. And V V she would be all through my childhood.

For those of you who have cats, you know a cat chooses her person, not the other way around. V V tolerated everyone in our family, but she loved me. She would sleep at the foot of my bed or lay on my stomach whenever I was reading.

She loved to sit on the divider between the living room and the hallway – a little half wall with spindles. She would sit very still and then swat at people with her paw, as they would walk down the hall.

Or she would hid in a corner and jump out at your ankles whenever you passed by.

V V was especially bad at Christmas time when she would try and climb the Christmas tree. In the early 1970s, most ornaments were glass and we lost quiet a few ornaments because of her adventures with the tree.

By the time I was married, V V was over 10 years old and becoming slow with her old age. My brother and sister wanted a dog for a pet because V V was no longer fun to play with. My new husband did not want an indoor cat and V V was too pampered and set in her ways to start being an outdoor cat.

So, V V went to live with friends for the remainder of her life, and she lived to the grand old age of 17. Although I’ve had many cats since that time, V V was the first and I will always remember her fondly.

3 KY Authors to Read at Carmichael's Bookstore

Sunday, January 31, 2010, Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville,KY will host readings featuring three talented writers. Poet Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, a recent graduate of Spalding University’s MFA program and the author of Air Around the Butterfly, a book of poems in English and her native Bulgarian. She is the host of Accents, a radio show for literature, arts and culture that airs on Lexington’s WRFL. Katerina is the founder and leader of poetry and prose groups for writers in Lexington and is a member of The Community of Mercer County Writers - NOMADIC INK. Her poems and stories have appeared in literary publications in the U. S. and Europe and have been nominated for several literary awards. Angela Jackson-Brown is a poet and writer who will read from her recent work which includes a story in the newest issue of New Southerner magazine. Angela teaches English at Ball State University and is a graduate of Spalding’s MFA in Creative Writing program. She is working on a novel, a collection of short stories set during the Harlem Renaissance and a poetry collection. The third reader is local favorite Sheri Wright. Sheri is the author of four books of poetry including the forthcoming The Courtship of Reason, which will be published in March by Kentucky’s Finishing Line Press.

Christmas

Hey, All,

We had a good suggestion for a little extra fun at our "pot luck" Christmas meeting. If you would, bring a very inexpensive Christmas ornament to the party. I am not sure exactly what we are going to do with them but I am told it is a fun game we will play while enjoying all the goodies and friendship. It sounds like a fun idea to me and I hope it does for you too.

I still have not heard from a few of you but so far about 6 are confirmed. I would plan on no more than 10 as you decide what goodie you might bring. I sure hope to hear from those of you who have not responded yet, we miss you a lot and need you back soon.

Tony

Christmas Potluck

Hello, Ink Blots,

Can you believe it is Christmas time again? I know everyone is very busy with the holidays but I am hoping everyone can reserve one evening to meeting with your friends and fellow writers.

We had planned on meeting on the 11th but due to conflicts the Ag Center will not be available so we have changed the date to the 18th. This will be our only meeting in December and it will be our annual "pot luck"... pot luck meaning bring goodies, not major food. Some wonderful homemade snacks or something like that would be great. We always have such wonderful things to nibble on while we have our meeting. We will probably do more eating and enjoying each other's company than we will writing but we will do a bit of writing and talk about our up coming year. 2010 is going to be the best year The Community of Mercer County writers has ever had and we want to really get fired up for all the fun stuff we are going to be doing.

If you have not been with us for awhile... please, please try to come and share a beautiful night of Christmas.

I do ask that you RSVP as soon as possible so I can let everyone know how many we can expect so everyone has an idea of what and how much to bring.

We will meet at 6:30 at the Ag Center. I look forward to seeing each of you. If you have been writing, bring it and share it. If you have anything about Christmas written, bring that for sure.

I look forward to seeing you again and hearing from you soon. Our newest member Katerina is on a book tour in Bulgaria so she probably won't be back in time to join us but we will be thinking about her success.

See you soon,
Tony

My Life on MUTE

Take out my vocal cords,
Remove my voice box ,
and,

go ahead press mute.

I'll mime my way around all of their stupidity.

Turn down the volume,
no subtitles or captions,
I'll mouth the solutions to our problems with my lips,
and never a sound to interrupt,
but kiss-
and Silence will overwhelm.

Go ahead-press mute on me,
turn off my voice and expect me lame.
in the quiet you will find.
my voice is.
the
loudest.

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer

... Katerina Stoykova-Klemer's new chapbook - THE MOST - from Finishing Line Press, is now available for pre-order. The book will be released in March 2010.

Katerina is also the author of the bilingual poetry book, THE AIR AROUND THE BUTTERFLY. She is the host of ACCENTS - a Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture. Listen to ACCENTS every Friday @ 2pm EST on WRFL 88.1 FM Lexington or stream live from wrfl.fm.

Home for the Holidays

Dear Ink Blots and others,

The Community of Mercer County Writers has a full slate of things to do and I hope you can get started on some of them.

We have been invited to read during the Home for the Holidays event in downtown Harrodsburg on the weekend of November 27th and 28th ( I am not sure what times it will be but I am pretty sure it will be Satuday afternoon)

I would like to see us read new material that has something to do with the Christmas season.

A few topic suggestions I have are:

1. The Best Christmas Tree Ever
2. My Encounter with Santa (this does not have to be your 1st encounter, just any encounter)
3. The Manger and Mary {My thought on this one is Mary and the manger having a conversation about their relationship. And it does not have to be Mary, it could be The lamb and the manger or the Shepherd and the manger. I think you get the idea... it would be an interesting thing to hear the perspective of the manger as it is associated with one of the other characters in the Nativity}
4. Searching For The Star (this one is open to what your thought are not so much about the wise men searching but maybe your search or someone or something else's search)
5. Candy Canes and Jam Cake
   

These are just a few of the suggestions I came up with, you get the idea I think... something about Christmas that is just a little different or an odd twist

We do not have a lot of time so it is up to you to write and prepare for the event. I would like to see a lot of you spark the creativity I know each of you have and come up with some really interesting pieces. The pieces can be poetry, short stories or even non-fiction... Whatever you want to write. I really do hope you can do something and be ready to read it during the event. We will be inside at Studio G on Main Street.

Some of us are now working on doing the play I wrote, "Nan's Diner" for this event as well. Several had asked if we could do it again this year and so we are. I am even going to play a part this year... won't that be a hoot. So if nothing else I hope you come watch me make a fool of myself on stage. The play will be on Saturday evening but I do not know what time yet.

So please plan to be a part of all of this. If you just cannot get something written plan on coming and supporting those who do... It is important for us as a group to support each other.

There are a lot more exciting things we have planned but I will tell you about them after the Christmas event.

I do need to know if you will try and write something to present so I have an idea about the time we will need to do the presentation. So PLEASE let me know as soon as you can.

You guys are the greatest and I am so proud to be a part of this group of great writers.

I look forward to hearing from you ASAP.

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

Authors to Read

Harrodsburg poet Tony Sexton will be reading at the Terrapin Hill Festival on Saturaday, September 26th from 2 until 3. He will also be sharing this time slot with another Kentucky author, Ed McClanahan. Come on out to Terrapin Hill Farm this weekend and support these wonderful authors!

The Memory Lives On

The Memory Lives On
By Bobbi Rightmyer


I was going through a rough spot in my life
in between jobs from birthing babies to elderly care.
I finally had the day off and after seeing my family off to school and work,
I settled in to enjoy the TODAY show.
No sooner did I have my nest made when the first plane hit the first tower.
Was it a horrible accident?
Had something gone terribly wrong?
Or were we under attack from a growing terror
we’ve kept on the back burner too long?
Bomb drills and survival skills raced through the edges of my mind
as I tried to comprehend what was going on.
Never one for telephone calls, I detested using the phone,
but I needed to have some answers
so I picked up the receiver to make my first call.
My hubby wasn’t quiet to work yet, but still on his long commute
and he turned on the radio to listen.
Still in shock, I was on the phone again with my soul sister Linda Loo,
when the next tower was hit.
What the hell is going on?
What do we do?
Why hasn’t the Emergency Broadcast System made an interruption –
they interrupt programming when the wind blows the wrong way?
Throughout the next hours I was glued with horror
to the images coming from the frosty screen.
Airplanes,
box cutters,
terrorist attacks – how is this happening in the great USA?
And why is Bush Jr.,
our Commander in Chief,
reading a book upside down to the children all around?
Why doesn’t he do something – anything to make the horror stop?
Our lives will never be the same again, our freedom has been threatened.
I feel I dug a hole that day to bury myself away,
but all the pain and suffering in my personal life just no longer seems to compare.
And now it’s eight years later and the New York skyline remains ruptured –
our tribute to the terrorist,
by our lack of cohesive structure.

Monthly Meeting of Nomadic Ink

Here is a summary of the September meeting of Nomadic Ink, from Tony Sexton:

Attention Ink Blots

Here is an update you will want to take note of:

Beginning the 25th of September we will be meeting twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month. Meeting will be at the Ag Center unless otherwise notified (Paula please check your calendar and see what conflicts we have) and the time will be 6:30 to @8:30. We felt that in order to make the meetings possible for everyone this would be the best plan, it also eliminates all the confusion of when and where we are going to meet. I hope everyone can make every meeting but I know that is dreaming but I hope everyone can make at least one meeting a month. We will try to have the first meeting in a workshop format which will give those working on something new a chance to try it out on the group before making too much revision. We will continue to have Jump Starts and exercises designed to keep us writing. The other meeting will be more like the regular meetings we have been having, more of a discussion about events we are working on or plans for other things going on. I hope we can go back to having a different moderator at least once a month to give a bit more variety to the meeting (I am sure you must be tired of my droneing on and on by now).

The revision workshop meeting on Tuesday nights at 7 at my house will continue for several more weeks and then we will incorporate it into our regular meetings. The only exception to this will be on Tuesday September the 22nd when we will take a van load of writers to the release party of Silas House's newest book. This will be at the Carnegie Center in Lexington and we will leave Harrodsburg between 5 and 5:30 pm and be back before 10. If you would like to go please let me know as soon as possible so if we need more transportation we can arrange that. I think leaving from the old CVS parking lot is best (that is where the library will be housed until the new one is built).

At last night's meeting we brainstormed some ideas for events next year. We have to have these planned before Oct. 1st so we can share them with the Arts Council of Mercer County so they can get them in the Tourist Commission's calendar. Some of the ideas were: Poetry Readings in the downtown park during the month of April which is Poetry Month, other reading events in the park during other months of the year (we are open to suggestions as to what and when if you have a good idea)... We would also like to host some sort of Book Fair with an auction of books donated by well known authors or items those authors might donate... several idea were tossed around and we are hoping you might have some input to that as well. I would also welcome any other ideas for events that you might come up with... we want to do something very outside of the box as far as a writing event... so get out of the box and give us some ideas.

We will be hosting a few other author reading at the Fudge Company but we have no way to schedule those a year in advance.

I almost have the Tee shirt design completed and if you want one or two please let me know. The shirts will be around $8.00 and we can do long sleeve or short sleeve so let me know which you would rather have and what size you would like. I will send you a copy of the design as soon as I have it complete but I need to give Tim and idea of how many we will want. Do you think we should order several to sell to folks outside the group?

I am sure I have forgotten something so if you were at the meeting please reply to all and fill the others in.

We sure do miss a lot of you who were once so excited about the group... if you are still hoping to be a part but things just aren't working out right now, please let us know (if you want a shirt, let me know) AND if you know some who do not have emails please pass this info on to them...or send me a snail mail address and I will try to mail them this message.

Thanks to all of you who have help build this group into something to be proud of.

Tony

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)

I Am v.2

In my mind I am a woman of great beauty,
A passionate lover,
A breeze floating through the meadow…

I am the light rain on the plains,
I am the surf on the sand;
I am the water of the tide,
I am a shell in the ocean…

A breeching wave crashes into me and sends me sprawling onto the shore where I am collected in buckets and in the cloth of shirts and bathing suits. I collect in pockets and in tide pools dug by children. I am strung up and hung around the necks of friends, family, and lovers…

I am a gentle kiss,
I am a light touch that delights the skin,
I am a promise wrapped in a dazzling disguise.

In my mind I am a bit of sunlight,
A reflecting rainbow,
A nervous laugh.

I am the blush on excited cheeks,
I am the gap in braced teeth,
I am the smell of kind flowers,
I am the sweet summer rain,

I fall through sky and wind, winding down through the clouds and broad leaves of trees. I connect the earth and sky that never meet, and let the sky kiss the earth with her broad fingertips. I am the water of life; I am the messenger of the heavens…

I am the moonlight on the water,
A gull’s lonely call,
A bullfrog in the silence.

I am the smile on your lips,
I am the photograph in the frame,
I am the wind in the valley.

I am all the simple things we take for granted.
I am the kind life unnoticed but ever-changing.

I am the way the world begins at the end.

Full Moon Fever

(Photo by Jim Pankey "WildSpirit" - Jim's Photography can be found at Picasa and Fotothing)

FULL MOON FEVER

Full moon fever,
On a Friday night;
Brings the crazies,
into the light.

Blinding light,
in the darkness prey;
Will steal the sight,
And light of day.

Be still my heart,
Locked away in love,
You're not so smart,
With powers' glove.

Give me a pass,
Just once would you please;
Leave me still on the grass,
And down low on my knees.

So werewolf in kind,
Gathered 'round in the wood;
Will each link their minds,
As they draw up their hoods.