Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival

I am excited today. God is too good to me. I was a littl bummed that I won't be attending the ACFW Conference in Tennessee in September. Well, my alma mater, Agnes Scott College, along with the Chattahoochee Review-one of my fav. lit. reviews and my only short story contest rejection for 2004(imagine the pain)--are hosting a literary magazine conference for Free!!! Free. And Lord, have mercy. This conference is what I needed. See. I have this little reader series. And I was taking a hiatus in September and hosting a bowling party(thanks Jillian's for donating the food, the bowling lanes, and shoe rentals,) to decide my next step with thirdthursdays. Should I move it to Friday for the winter, create an audio lit journal(an example), pod cast, compilation CD like my friends at IBC Designs-Thanks for the free cds for thirdthursdays(an example), make a little pocket change or what? And this conference will help me answer some of those questions.

Here are the details:

Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival
The Chattahoochee Review presents the third annual Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival to be held September 23 to September 24 at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. The festival features editors panels, speakers, readings, workshops in poetry and fiction, and the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses LitMag Fair. Among the participating editors are Helene Atwan (Beacon Press), Rick Campbell (Anhinga Press), Jim Clark (Greensboro Review), Marc Fitten (Chattahoochee Review), Casey Hill (Newpages.com), T.R. Hummer (Georgia Review), Martin Lammon (Arts & Letters), Richard Mathews (Tampa Review), and Shannon Ravenel (Shannon Ravenel Books/Algonquin). Agent Nat Sobel is a special guest speaker. All events are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the workshops. Send an SASE, call, e-mail, or visit the Web site for more information.
Southeastern Literary Magazine and Small Press Festival, Chattahoochee Review, Georgia Perimeter College, 2101 Womack Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338. (770) 551-3019. Marc Fitten, Editor.
mfitten@gpc.edu
www.chattahoochee-review.org

Davidae "Dee" Stewart: Georgia Mourns Fallen Soldiers in Silent Tribute Today

Davidae "Dee" Stewart: Georgia Mourns Fallen Soldiers in Silent Tribute Today: "Flags will be lowered to half-staff and Georgians will be asked to pay silent tribute for two minutes Thursday at 1 p.m. to honor the memory of the state's war dead.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue will lead an hour-long public prayer vigil at the state Capitol Thursday. The governor has also ordered all state flags be flown at half-staff in tribute to those Georgians who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Jacqueline Thomas Writer's Achievement Award

Christian fiction author, Vanessa Davis Griggs passed this news onto me. And I'm passing it onto you.

Save the Date: On March 31, 2006, the North Carolina Black Book Festival will present the Writer's Achievement Award to Jacquelin Thomas during the Opening Night' literary gala.
Jacquelin Thomas is an award winning, best selling author with eighteen titles in print including, The Prodigal Husband, Soul Journey and her recent celebrated novel, Saved in the City. Other credits include contributions to the Women of Color Devotional Bible and Brides Noir magazine. Jacquelin Thomas will be the first novelist to be awarded with the Writer's Achievement Award.

Other Events: Saturday, April 1, 2006 Workshops and Panels (Free to the public)

Invited Authors that will be in Attendance: Stacy Hawkins Adams,Kendra Norman-Bellamy,Ryan Phillips,Vanessa Davis Griggs,Linda Dominique Grosvenor,Tia McCollors,Linda Hudson-Smith to name a few.

This gala is a ticketed event. For more information, visit Here.

August Celebration of Christian Fiction

...under the imaginary table that separates me from my readers, don't we secretly clasp each other's hands?
-Bruno Schultz

This quote carries the theme of this month's Celebration of Christian Fiction. Every month we, christian writer's take a topic and discuss it on our blogs. I have a post on there as well. It would be a blessing to me, if you stopped by Katy Popa's site and read the many posts on this theme. It would be a greater blessing if you decide to participate next month, get on one accord, and help spread the Word to a few more e-places.

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee

Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts

Through Painted Deserts
Author: Donald Miller
Publisher: Nelson Books
Date: 2005-08-01
Pages: 256
ISBN: 0785209824
Price: $13.00 (includes shipping)

Fueled by the belief that something better exists than the mundane life they've been living, free spirits Don and Paul set off on an adventure-filled road trip in search of deeper meaning, beauty, and an explanation for life. Many young men dream of such a trip, but few are brave enough to actually attempt it. Fewer still have the writing skills of Donald Miller, who records the trip with wide-eyed honesty in achingly beautiful prose. In this completely revised edition, he discusses everything from the nature of friendship, the reason for pain, and the origins of beauty.

As they travel from Texas to Oregon in Paul's cantankerous Volkswagen van, the two friends encounter a variety of fascinating people, witness the fullness of nature's splendor, and learn unexpected lessons about themselves, each other, and even God.

Haven't read the novel, yet. So I'm interested to hear from those who have read it. I read a road-trip fiction novel this summer, Free Bird. So I would like to hear how this differs.

Dee

Military Blogs, Bugs & Contests II

This week is a doozy for me. I have to complete the PTA Newsletter, write a book review for Focus on Fiction, a read a New Spirit galley, write 1200 words a day, cover Atlanta events for Rejoice, prepare for thirdthursdays, meet my writing group/prayer partners, and finalize my aunt's passing, all while dealing with the stomach flu and a cranky Selah. I've completed most everything. But the thing that has me on lock the most is trying to come up with a good story for faith*in*fiction's short story contest. At first I wasn't going to do it. I'm trying to rewrite a novel for Dave's sake. And my black voice is just too loud and too much for some folks. And I really wasn't in the mood to wash it down to appease others. God made me this way. Bless him. So sometimes I just don't participate in these things. Yet, after my aunt's funeral I decided bump it two tears in a bucket i'll give it a try. I've lost you haven't I?
Anyway, after I made this great decision I found a few distractions that I want to bring to your attention. Not because I want you to write a sucky story so that J. Mark Bertrand could win. But that may keep you motivated as you write.

I've been reading two military blogs-one from an Agnes Scott College student(my alma mater)serving on the 48th Brigade Combat Team and one from Mustang 09 a National Guard Soldier. Three soldiers from the 48th died on Monday, so I'm sitting here waiting from news from Spc. Schreck instead of writing. But these blogs tell you so much of what is going on in Iraq through the soldier's eyes. We're always talking about realism in our writing. Why don't we go to some sources that may give us a real view of things. This picture was taken from Mustang 09. It is a sandstorm--Shamal. Wow!

Mustang 09 writes his experience with this storm:
Breathing is painful, as each inhalation is accompanied by what seems to be a pound of desert sand. You can’t see unless you are wearing glasses or goggles, because no matter what direction you move, the sand buries itself in your eyes. Clothes, skin, hands and teeth are immediately coated with a gritty dry film. But duty is duty, so we trudged off towards the gate.

There is a hard and heroic beauty in that description I could have never imagined to write myself. And I'm thankful for the job they are doing. I have five cousins and a host of friends over there. We all do.

The other thing is the Zotob virus. I spoke about that on a previous post. But there is another worm--WORM-RBOT.CBQ. Go to trendmicro.com. If you use Mozilla Firefox like me you have to use Internet Explorer to scan your pc for this virus.

Ok. Now. Let's write something.

Dee

Zotob Worm

A widespread worm has knocked computers with Windows 2000 at CNN, New York Times and other news channels so if you have a Windows 2000 system shut it down. You may have the Zotob virus.