Saturday, March 3, 2012

Reading in Knoxville

Reading at a Senior Citizen center next Tuesday. Half of the audience will be younger than I am.

Our reading at Humana will take place this coming Tuesday, March 6 at 10 AM. Their community center is located at 4438 Western Avenue, 640 Plaza, Knoxville, TN 37921. The number for the center is 865-329-8892.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Little Owl Music and Arts

Press Release: February 15, 2012 - Chattanooga
Event: Little Owl Music & Arts Festival, March 31, 2012, 12 - 6 PM
Place: Audubon Acres, 900 N Sanctuary Rd, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Admission: $5 per person, or $10 per carload
Celebrate Audubon Acre's historic past & visionary future
at the March 31 Little Owl Music & Arts Festival from 12-6 p.m.
Join us for a fun field day for the entire family, including a flying show with raptors by SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) with owls, hawks, an eagle, vulture and other birds of prey for festival guests in the big field. We'll also feature some of the most treasured performing and visual artists in Chattanooga, such as Jerre Haskew of Cumberland Trio, Uncle Lightning, Ray Zimmerman, Marcus Ellsworth, Troy Underwood, Hara Paper and Jeff Pfitzer. We'll eat fun foods, witness a contest for songwriters, enjoy the work of local artists, go on nature walks, paint faces and decide a city-wide schools' poster contest, all cradled in the beauty of natural and historical surroundings. We want to share Audubon's unique role in the future, preserving our natural resources, history, and native plant and animal life.
History: Audubon has an established role in history as one of the oldest settlements in North America. The property is located on the Trail of Tears. It became one of the first land trusts in the State of Tennessee, called the Cherokee Arboretum where The Trail was developed to interpret the forest in the context of native American culture and regional history. Audubon's 130 acres gives visitors a glimpse into the life of the people who once lived, hunted, and gathered in the forests, meadows, and along the banks of South Chickamauga Creek.
Little Owl Village, our festival's namesake, is believed to be the location of the first contact between local Native Americans and Spanish explorers, consistent with the journal accounts of members of the Tristan de Luna expedition.
Mission: The Chattanooga Audubon Society was established to educate and promote an understanding of the responsibility borne by all individuals to preserve and protect our environmental, cultural, and historical resources. We're getting back to our roots in music, in the arts, in education, in becoming the hub of the East Brainerd community, inspiring the new generations to inspire us! Join us!
Celebrate Audubon Acres; it's your nature!
For more information, contact Audubon Society President Bill Fisher at 423-892-1499 or bfisher@chaas.org
Keep up with our performance event & featured artists and vendors on Facebook and Audubon's official website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Owl-Music-Arts-Festival-March-31-2012-Audubon-Acres/216298885129188?sk=wall&filter=1 & http://www.chattanoogaaudubon.org/

Little Owl Art and Music Festival

Tentative line up of performers for the porch stage.

March 31 12:00 Noon to 6:00 PM

Information about the various performances will be forthcoming.

NOON  Robin Burk
12:30 Jim Pfitzer (Awaiting confirmation on this)  
1pm Daryl Sutton and Melanie Sutton  
1:30 Michael Gray  
2PM Grant Fetters Horace the Hopper and Other Children's Stories  
2:30 Ginnie Strickland Sams  
3PM Bruce Majors -
3:30 Marcus Patrick Ellsworth
4PM Jack Pine Savage Stringband w/ Gilbert Sewell
4:30 Ray Zimmermaqn
5PM Bob Carty
5:30 Peggy Douglas

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Romance at the Writers Guild

For Immediate Release
January 26, 2011

Romance writer gives hot tips – on the Craft of Writing - at the February meeting of the Chattanooga Writers Guild
February.14, 2012
7:00 PM
The Public Library, Downtown branch

This year, our regularly scheduled meeting falls on Valentine's day, so we just had to present a romance writer, but one who has published numerous titles and been a presenter a writers workshops across the nation. Elysa Hendricks. will speak on use of craft to create a compelling genre novel, including:
Plot basics (how to use "GMC" and "Scene and Sequel);
Characterization (back story, dialogue and point-of-view);
Mechanics and grammar;
the all-important concept of Voice.

Elysa's Bio:
After trying her hand at a variety of careers: retail sales, insurance underwriter, video store owner, home day care provider, and motherhood, Elysa Hendricks, a longtime reader of romance, sat down to write a short contemporary romance. When her heroine turned out to be a winged, telepathic alien, Elysa decided she enjoyed writing stories set in different places and times. Fortunately for the reading public, that first book remains hidden under her bed along with the evil killer dust bunnies.

While living in Illinois Elysa helped found the Windy City Chapter and the Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal Chapters of Romance Writers of America as well as taught workshops on writing at writer’s conferences and at local community colleges. Recently relocated to central Ohio, she’s happy to be part of the Central Ohio Fiction Writer family.

After spending some time (longer than she cares to remember or tell) learning how to write, she penned a series of fantasy romances set in an alternate universe. GEMINI MOON, CRYSTAL MOON, SHADOW MOON and FORBIDDEN MOON are available from ImaJinn Books.

THE BABY RACE, her first eBook, is a short contemporary love story set in the real world of small town America.- Race Reed doesn’t want a wife, but to save his ranch he needs a baby. To gain custody of her stepsister, Claire Jensen needs a husband, but she wants love. Wants and needs are bound to clash when they run THE BABY RACE.

THIS HEART FOR HIRE is the first of two western historical romances soon to be released. The companion book, previously published with Hard Shell Word Factory will be re-released in early 2012 under the title HER WILD TEXAS HEART.

Someday she dreams of sitting on a tropical beach, writing on a laptop, while handsome, bare chested cabana boys bring her fruity, alcoholic drinks.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Word on the Bird

Ascension Lutheran Church
720 S Germantown Rd
Thursday, January 12, 2011
5:30 PM Executive Board Meeting
7:00 PM Monthly Meeting:

PROGRAM
Adventures with Audubon

Spend an hour in the studio of one of America’s greatest naturalists and wildlife artist. Listen to tales of his adventures as he finishes something no one had every accomplished before: drawing every bird in North America. Audubon will enchant you with stories of his travels and travails in the wildest places on the planet. He will celebrate the natural history of the North America as he saw it in the early 1800s. Audubon will bring to life bird behavior, focusing on the birds you are most likely to see as you go bird watching in your area. With lessons on field ecology, the scientific method, art history, and bird migration, the audience is invited to imitate birds and discuss the life histories of their favorite feathered friends.

Storyteller Brian “Fox” Ellis portrays Audubon in these entertaining and meticulously researched monologues drawing from Audubon’s journals, essays, and letters to his friends and colleagues. This program was developed with a grant from the USFWS as part of their celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Fox has performed as Audubon in museums, nature centers, birding festivals, schools and libraries across the United States, including Audubon’s home in Henderson, Kentucky.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Finn Bille's Fire Poems

Chattanooga Poet survives home fire, publishes Fire Poems book, and donates a portion of the proceeds to American Red Cross.

Out of the flames of his house fire Finn Bille created poetry and collected aid for other fire victims.

Bille’s recently published collection, Fire Poems, deals with the fire that destroyed his house at 504 Fort Wood Place in Chattanooga on March 18, 2003. He and his wife, Jeanne, had lived in the Fort Wood Historic District for 25 years.

A few of these poems were also published in 2011 in the anthology, Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Southern Poets, Executive Editor, Ray Zimmerman.

The Red Cross assisted the Billes with necessary personal items, while the neighbors united to help them with housing, clothes, and support.

Bille’s advice: Do not leave oily rags where they can start a fire. Enclose them in airtight metal containers.

When you buy a copy of Fire Poems at Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store on Frazier Avenue in Chattanooga, two dollars will be donated to the Red Cross for aid to fire victims.