Tag: Pearl Buck

Writing at a Writer’s House

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by Linda C. Wisniewski

Published in the March 2020 newsletter of Story Circle Network, http://www.storycircle.org

On weekday afternoons from March to November, writers converge on a 50-acre farm in rural Pennsylvania to work on their memoirs. Since 2010, I have been lucky enough to be their guide in the very spot where Pulitzer and Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck wrote most of her novels and other works after leaving her childhood home in China in 1935.

Our class meets inside her 1825 barn, now called the Cultural Center, where her family once kept Guernsey cows and hosted Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and 4-H meetings, parties for wounded soldiers during the Second World War and even a temporary kindergarten for the overcrowded local school district. In a large high-ceilinged room that was once a basketball court for her children, my students write at tables with a view of well-tended gardens. Pearl Buck’s portrait hangs larger than life above a stage at one end of the room. Continue reading “Writing at a Writer’s House” →

2017 Short Story Writing Contest

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psb-portraitPearl S. Buck   ~ 1st American Woman to win BOTH the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes for Literature

 “In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on.
A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book.
I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.” –  Pearl S. Buck

  Pearl S. Buck Writing Center Short Story Contest

                        Submissions will be accepted in three/3 age categories:

  • Grades 3-6 – word count not to exceed 1000 words
  • Grades 7-12 – word count not to exceed 1000 words
  • Adult – word count not to exceed 2,500 words.
  • A submission form must accompany all manuscripts
  • Submissions must be received by April 15, 2017
  • One winner in each age category will receive a $100 prize
  • Contest is open to ALL interested writers.  It is also open to PSB Writing Center members.  It is not available to PSBI Staff or PSBVA Writing Center Current Presenters.

Winners will be announced at Pearl S. Buck’s 125th Memorial Birthday, June 26, 2017

  • Contest winners will be asked to re-submit their stories for publication on Pearl Buck Writing Center’s Blog site or in the PSB Literary Journal
  •  Contest submissions must be emailed to clouden@pearlsbuck.org by April 15, 2017.
  • Judges: Local authors and Pearl Buck Volunteers

General rules:

  • All submissions must be sent by email only to clouden@pearlsbuck.org
  • Story must be original and not previously published.
  • Submission must be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt font.
  • Author’s Name, address, email address, phone # must be on the upper left corner of the first page.
  • Word count printed on the upper right corner.
  • A submission form must accompany all manuscripts
  • All other pages must have author’s name on the upper left corner above the page number.

Contest sponsored by Pearl S. Buck Volunteer Association
and the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center              

            Pearl S. Buck International, 520 Dublin Rd. Perkasie, PA 18944  www.pearlsbuck.org

September Writers Guild Meeting Recap

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We bookworms met early in the parking lot for our tailgate book swap. Many prizes headed home with new readers, but, sadly, quite a few ended up in our trunks.

Good news, though! One carton of books related to writing were rescued – to keep on hand for a lending library at future meetings: writing techniques, grammar tips, phrase finders, root word dictionary, screenplay writing, copyright and libel rules, creating characters, writing for children & teenagers, writing science fiction, fantasy and horror.

Our meeting began with the first of seven excerpts brought for reading and discussion. Continue reading “September Writers Guild Meeting Recap” →

Meeting, Swap, Signing & Contests

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A full calendar of events is unfolding at the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center over the next two months.

Tailgate Book Swap – Discover and Discard!

We begin with our Tailgate Book Swap at 1:00pm this Sunday September 18th in the parking lot adjacent to the Cultural Center (the big Red Barn). Pack your books – spines up – in boxes in your car trunks to make them easy to browse. Bring shopping bags in which to take home your treasures!

September 18th Writers Guild Meeting

Our September Writers Guild meeting will be held in the Center directly after the book swap from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. Bring 15 copies of any excerpt of your work you’d like to share. Try limiting selections to 3 pages, and add your email address on your work.

Anne Kaler, Cindy Louden, and John McCabe will share their experiences at the Pearl Buck Living Gateway Conference held at the West Virginia University campus earlier this week. They all presented papers on Pearl S. Buck along with other PSB volunteers, scholars and PSBI staff.

REMEMBER: Deadline for Fall Issue of Literary Journal is Sept. 30th!

Irish Festival & Sullivan Book Signing a Good MatchIrish Front Cover Only

Paul Sullivan’s new novel The Irishman’s Song will find a welcoming crowd at the Bucks County Irish Festival on Saturday October 1st. Paul will be featured at this outdoor event with vendors and lots of Irish music! Head over between Noon and 6pm to the Fallsington American Legion, 300 Yardley Avenue, Fallsington, PA, 19054.

Tethered by Letters 2016 Fall Writing Contest

Tethered by Letters is offering $1600 in prizes for our Fall Contest winners! Matt Gallagher will be judging short story submissions; Ken Arkind is the poetry judge; and Sari Wilson will select the best flash fiction submissions.

In addition to a weighty cash prizes, winners of the Fall Contest will be considered for publication in F(r)iction, our tri-annual journal of fine art and literature.

Click here to learn more about submission guidelines! Hurry! The deadline (November 1st) is fast approaching!

Editor’s Note: The Short Story contest costs $15.00 per submission, and both the Flash Fiction and Poetry contests cost $8.00 per entry or $12.00 for 3 entries.

Tweet a Twitter Journal…

Sue Wagner says, “This might be fun for people to try. Would make a good writing prompt for fiction or memoir.”

Can your writing go #viral? Tiny Text is looking for #ViralLit to share with the world!

Tiny Text is a Twitter journal (@Tiny_Text) that publishes #LittleLit: Twitter-length fiction and memoir, as well as serials. What is Twitter-length? 140 characters or less—spaces count! Each section of a serial should adhere to that, as well as be able to stand on its own. We’re looking for stories that amaze us by how much can fit into such a small space.

Please follow us on Twitter for weekly writing prompts and send up to three stories or memoirs at a time (including your name and Twitter handle) via a Twitter direct message or via email to teeny.tiny.textATgmail.com

We publish one piece of Twitter-length prose every other Monday and every publication gets two unique promo Tweets earlier the same day—but we’re hoping to expand that number, so send away! Submissions are eagerly read year-round. Please allow us 4 weeks to get back to you before sending more work or inquiring about the status of your submission.

We at Tiny Text look forward to your words!

In the Beginning

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By Sandy Cody Sandy Cody

For me, the hardest part of writing a novel is the beginning. Let’s say the book I’ve been working on is finished – polished and tweaked until it shines and I can’t find one more thing to change. In reality, that never happens, but at some point I realize that I’m just tinkering: changing, but not improving this story.

It’s time to move on. So, I open a new file. I can’t think of a title. Not a problem. I’ll do that later. So … what do I type at the top of the page? Continue reading “In the Beginning” →

On A Few Useful Memories

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By Anne K. Kaler, PhD

“Writers waste lots of paper but few useful memories.”

Is that a provocative sentence for a writer? Tony Hillerman uses it to end a paragraph describing how he uses a memory of an actual helicopter ride deep into a canyon as a major action in his mystery Hunting Badger.

Anne Kaler Head Shot
Anne Kaler

If a novelist as skilled as Hillerman can use his memory, why can’t we as writers use our memories – good and bad alike – to flesh out our fictions? Well, we can and we do.  Pearl Buck herself employed familiar touches in her writings to enhance the scenes.  Her children have even recognized several of them and treasured them.

In a way, we as writers inhabit many worlds, some of which are real. One of those worlds lies in our memory bank, just waiting to be withdrawn and put to use in another of our worlds, that of our writing. Of course, once the memory is withdrawn and staring us in the face, it must be transformed to fit the place it will be deposited into our story. That means that we have to revisit just how the memory affected us then and how it affects us now. Continue reading “On A Few Useful Memories” →

May Writers Guild Meeting Recap

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By Linda Donaldson

The turnout of 15 members this month yielded several new members and an abundance of work to discuss – six excerpts were shared!

We introduced new two-sided tent card name signs printed in a large font. Placed on the tables in front of each member, they work better than small name tags in allowing us to all get to know each other better. Your name signs are ready and waiting for the June 19th meeting.

Members were encouraged to register on our blog http://www.psbwritingcenter.org and become a follower in order to be sure to be notified when new posts are added. It only requires creating a free Word Press login with a unique user name and password. Then you won’t miss any of our great content.

Anne Kaler shared information about the books we have shepherded through CreateSpace under the mantle of Writing Center Press. Examples of the four publications that were handed around spanned several genres: essays, memoir, non-fiction and a novel. Continue reading “May Writers Guild Meeting Recap” →

Spring 2016 ♦ Volume 1, Number 1

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Pearl S. Buck Literary Journal

It is most fitting that this first installment of the new online Journal of the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center should take as its theme gateways, doors, windows, and openings of all kinds.  For the entire history of human written communication, text of all sorts has provided for its readers portals, entry ways into new worlds of thought, experience and imagination. The newest sort of window – computer, e-reader and cell phone screens –  has expanded exponentially the number of new worlds now available to readers.

This newest journal, with its offerings of essays, stories, and poetry, seeks to publish material that resonates with the values and mission of Pearl S. Buck International and its Continue reading “Spring 2016 ♦ Volume 1, Number 1” →