'Ballad of Tom Dooley' author at Winthrop University

Sharyn McCrumb discusses her latest novel, "The Ballad of Tom Dooley," at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Tuttle Dining Room of McBryde Hall at Winthrop University.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by The Friends of the Dacus Library.

McCrumb's latest novel weaves together research and fiction to put a new twist on the story of North Carolina's infamous Tom Dooley, made famous by The Kingston Trio hit "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley."

Want to know more? Check out my recent story on McCrumb and her new book.

Davidson author's process is messy, but it works

Davidson's Garret Freymann-Weyr, author of five young adult novels and "French Ducks in Venice," a forthcoming children's picture book, explains to me that her writing process is messy. Really, really messy.

She tells me that she wrote one entire book from the wrong character's point of view. So then she rewrote it. She notes that her first drafts aren't the best. "You can't see how much you suck," she says, "until it's on the page."

And she says her first picture book, "French Ducks in Venice," to be published Dec. 13, contains content that might be inappropriate for children. This content includes unmarried parents -- though they are duck parents. Even worse, her two main characters, ducks Georges and Cecile, make prejudiced comments about mallards.

But in Freymann-Weyr's case, a messy process and inappropriate content beget highly praised books. Her young adult novel "My Heartbeat" was a 2003 Printz Honor Book. And "French Ducks in Venice" (Candlewick: $16.99), just earned a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly.

In the story, Polina Panova, a dressmaker in Venice, Calif., has been dumped by her filmmaker boyfriend. Her friends Georges and Cecile, ducks who live in the canal behind her house, are indignant.

Freymann-Weyr's storytelling gifts "are unmistakable," PW declares.

Freymann-Weyr grew up in New York and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. She'll discuss her writing at a free talk, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the 900 Room of Davidson College's Alvarez College Union. She plans to read from her novel "Stay With Me," she says, "and talk a little bit about how sloppy my process is."

Readers: Can you solve an apostrophe mystery?

Apostrophe errors drive me crazy. So I was shocked on a recent visit to London's Park Lane Hotel when I noticed the sign above. How did this posh hotel, I wondered, make such a big, honking grammatical error?
Then, later the same day, I saw another major apostrophe omission on a building: "Duke of Yorks Headquarters."
Was this a cultural difference -- like the way the British spell colour or recognise?
I asked a British friend. No luck. He uses apostrophes the same way I do.
Next, I Googled.
Along with discovering several British restaurants called Apostrophe, I found a Website for the UK-based Apostrophe Protection Society, evidence that some of our friends across the pond feel strongly about apostrophes. And I learned from a 2009 story that Birmingham, England's second largest city, had stopped using the apostrophe in city signs to avoid dealing with the things.
But I still don't have an answer about the signs I saw in London. Anyone have a clue about this? Anyone?

Buy a bag of books at Habitat used book sale

Julia's Cafe & Books, 1133 N.Wendover Road, holds a Book Tent Sale 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22. For $25, you can get as many used books as you can stuff into one of Julia's tote bags, which is provided with purchase.

Julia's, as you may know, is part of Habit for Humanity Charlotte, so proceeds go to a good cause -- providing families with affordable housing. It's selling more than 7,000 books of just about every genre, including many for children and young readers.

On Saturday, in addition to the sale, Julia's holds a fall festival, which means popcorn, apple cider and family-friendly activities.

Wilmington publisher scores a National Book Award finalist

Back in January, The New York Times Book Review raved about "Binocular Vision," the very first book published by UNC Wilmington's Lookout Books. The glowing review of Edith Pearlman's story collection appeared on the section's front page.

That was pretty amazing. A small, independent press landing a front-page New York Times review with its very first offering was akin to "a rookie stepping up to the plate for the very first time and hitting a grand slam," Lookout Editorial Director Ben George said at the time.

Guess what? The rookie has hit another home run. "Binocular Vision" is now a finalist for the National Book Award. The winner will be announced Nov. 16.

The folks at Lookout are thrilled, as you can imagine. And they should be. Pearlman, 74, has been writing award-winning stories for years, but she wasn't widely known. With hard work and smart marketing, Lookout Books introduced her to a much wider audience of readers.

Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout at Queens Thursday

There's been a last-minute substitution: This morning, I posted a blog about Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty on Thursday, Oct. 20. Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was to be among the attendees.

Queens folks have just told me that Dee can't make it. But here's the good news: Elizabeth Strout is coming in his place. Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "Olive Kitteridge."

Everything else remains the same. The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.

Queens MFA Program celebrates with reading

Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty, including Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.

Want to be an author? Check out "Your Path to Publication"

Dozens of guides on the market are designed to teach you to write.

But what happens after you've written? How do you get an agent? How do you make connections? And -- the big question -- how do you get published?

Charlotte's Kim Wright answers those questions and more in her lively new book, "Your Path to Publication: A Guide to Navigating the World of Publishing" (Press 53; $15.95).

Wright, author of the 2010 novel "Love in Mid Air," tackled this subject to fill what she saw as a market void.

Lots of books offer writing instruction. Few give the inside scoop on publication. "It was a book that would have been helpful to me five years ago," she told me.

Along with lots of nuts-and-bolts advice, she also imparts wisdom acquired the hard way: "If everyone's flattering you and calling you literary," she counsels, "all that means is that they are not going to give you any money."

About writing conferences, she says: "There's always some self-impressed New Yorker with a name like Adrienne who's the last person in America who still smokes and who keeps running out at every break to talk on her phone, presumably to Kate Medina and Salman Rushdie and people way more important than you. But then the day comes when her work is up for critique and it turns out there's just one little crack in her armor -- the girl can't write for s---."

Wright dishes advice about contracts, publicists and editors with humor, but she doesn't pull punches. If you can't get an agent to represent you, she warns,"odds are no editor will ever see, much less purchase, your manuscript."

And in today's publishing world, she says, you must promote yourself -- on Facebook, on Twitter, through blogs. Would reclusive J.D. Salinger get published today? Wright thinks not. "I don't think the writer who just writes will exist," she says.

Though her first novel was published by Grand Central, a large press, she went with the small Press 53 in Winston-Salem for this book. One important reason: Press 53 prints on demand. That means it prints copies as they're sold. So Wright can update her book every six months if she needs to.

"I wanted to not have 1,000 books out there when the market's changing," she says. And the market, especially self-publishing, is changing fast.

Wright's book includes a chapter on the subject -- "The Brave New World of Self-Publishing." Like much advice in her book, it's based on experience. Wright is now writing a paranormal romance with a friend. They plan to self-publish the work as an e-book.

“Your Path to Publication” is available through amazon.com and press53.com.

Poems -- and a CD -- from Davidson's Anthony Abbott

You've got two chances in coming days to hear Davidson poet Anthony Abbott read from his new book of poems, "If Words Could Save Us" (Lorimer Press, $16.95.)

He'll be at Davidson College's Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. His reading will include music and a projection of images.
He'll also appear 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

This latest collection from Abbott, a retired Davidson College English professor, includes a CD featuring Abbott reading 21 poems from the book.

Awards for three N.C. writers

Three N.C. writers have been honored recently for their work:

Durham poet Melanie Drane (pictured right) has won 2011 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award. The $25,000 award is one of six given each year to women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers.

Drane, a full-time caregiver for her sister, is working on a manuscript of poems titled "The Language Orchard." The poems explore the experience of her sister's severe aphasia after a recent stroke.

Charlotte's Dannye Romine Powell recently received the N.C. English Teacher Association's Ragan-Rubin Award, given each year to a writer who has produced work of literary merit. Powell, a poet and Charlotte Observer reporter, has published three poetry collections and "Parting the Curtains," a collections of interviews with Southern writers.

Children's author Gloria Houston, who lives in western North Carolina, has won her third AAUW of North Carolina Award for Juvenile Literature for her latest picture book, "Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile." North Carolina's American Association of University Women chapter previously honored her for "Littlejim's Dreams" and "Bright Freedom's Song." Houston's best known work is "The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree."

Just in time for Halloween: 'Haunted Watauga County'

Looking for some spooky stories? Winston-Salem author Tim Bullard's new book, "Haunted Watauga County, North Carolina," includes tales of a spirit who leaves the scent of pipe tobacco, a hanged Tory captain who rides his steed along Riddle's Knob and a haunted spring near the Watauga River.

Bullard will give a reading from the collection 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at Charlotte's Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author -- and snow -- coming to Charlotte

Several things are cool about "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author Jeff Kinney's visit to Charlotte's Park Road Books on Nov. 18.

Snow, for instance. Kinney's newest "Wimpy Kid" installment, "Cabin Fever," to be published Nov. 15, has a winter setting. So Kinney's appearance will include a truck that churns out snow. "Yes, you read that right: there will be snow all over the place," Park Road Books co-owner Frazer Dobson writes in an email.

Also cool is that as long as a there's a child in line, Kinney will keep signing books. There are restrictions from the publisher, however. You must have a ticket to meet the author. One ticket is good for one family. You get it by purchasing a copy of "Cabin Fever" from Park Road Books.

The signing starts at 4 p.m. on Nov. 18. The store, in Park Road Shopping Center, is now taking reservations. To get on the list, call the store at 704-525-9239.

Park Road Books co-owner Sally Brewster also told me something about Kinney I didn't know. Even though he's sold millions of "Wimpy Kid" books, he works as a full-time design director of an Internet publishing company. So he takes vacation to do book signings.

Nicholas Sparks in Charlotte Thursday

Bestselling author Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook," "Nights in Rodanthe") signs copies of his new novel, "The Best of Me," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Barnes & Noble in The Arboretum, 3327 Pineville-Matthews Road.

The latest novel from the master of the heart-tugging love story, "The Best of Me" is the tale of two former high-school sweethearts from the opposite sides of the tracks.

Sparks, by the way, is a Tar Heel. He lives in New Bern with his family.