There's no place like home: A writer on vacation

The members of the Morganton Writers Group, most of whom take turns contributing weekly to the Burke County Notebook, are a diverse cluster of women. We've had a few male members drift in and out over the years, but we will refrain from making further comment concerning the commitment level of men.

We've enjoyed the input of several male visitors from time to time. One of late, who visits one of our members regularly, is from England. Though he has proven to have very good insight concerning our writing, we agree he could probably say anything and we'd listen, simply because we love to hear his British accent.

Another annual male visitor is the lovable brother of one of our members. He happens to have Down's syndrome and when it's time for him to visit his sister here in Morganton, sometimes he comes with her to our group. He sits quietly on the sideline, unless something we are discussing catches his interest. Then he voices his opinion immediately, as if he's been part of the group for years. We love it.

At this time the group consists of nine females from various backgrounds, careers, interests, political persuasions and writing genres. We have one Methodist, one Episcopalian, two Presbyterians, several Baptists and one Southern Gospel singer who's sung in every church you could name. As a critique group, we each bring our own particular style and areas of expertise to the table and our collaboration has made us better individual writers.
My own fictional endeavors in writing didn't begin until I came to Morganton in 2002, and joined this group of talented women. I had written articles and columns for various newspapers and newsletters for over 25 years. But writing for children was a dream I decided to pursue after I moved here. I finished my first children's story while sitting on my North Carolina front porch. It makes a great office.

While a few of our members are natives of Burke County and have lived here most or all their lives, some of us have spent many years in other parts of the country. Therefore in between locally-flavored poetry, family tales, history and current events of this area, the readers of The News Herald are privy to stories about other states, such as Alaska, Maine and, due to this writer, Kansas.

I recently returned from riding along with my daughter, Stacie, to her 15th high school reunion in Silver Lake, Kan., where I spent many years as the local library director. Stacie moved to North Carolina as soon as she graduated from college and her dad and I followed her three years later. We had a nice time visiting, but were both ready to head east again when the reunion was over, to enjoy the last days of summer here at home. My daughter is even looking forward to her fourth year as the exceptional children's coordinator at the New Dimensions School, a job she adores. Stacie doesn't deny her Kansas roots, however, her favorite saying is "I wasn't born in North Carolina, but I got here as soon as I could."

I had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. My former library is thriving with new technology and kids running in and out for summer reading programs. We went to lunch with the new library director and two dear friends of mine who are still involved with the library after 20 years.

We all laughed hysterically about the story of the writer who just announced he had written his entire new novel by sending text messages on his cell phone to his e-mail address. Our minds pictured this cross-eyed man giving an author talk. He stands behind the podium with his hands stuck out in front of him, "trigger" thumbs frozen above his open palms in a permanent "texting" position.

That humorous image brings me back to North Carolina and the end of this week's article in the Burke County Notebook. When I started writing, I had no idea where I was going, but after taking you to Kansas and back, I can tell you one thing with no hesitation. It's good to be back writing on my front porch in the beautiful South Mountains, where Table Rock is standing guard above Lake James, and WCIS is playing Southern Gospel music on the radio. I may be from Kansas, but North Carolina will always be my Land of OZ.