Groundwaters

Groundwaters is Hosting Poetry Night

The Groundwaters Magazine Project

Hooray! We did it! Our sincere thanks go out to the Oregon Country Fair Endowment Committee for awarding Groundwaters a $1,500 grant. We also want to thank those of you who took time to write letters of support. We appreciate the trust that you’ve placed in us.

This grant will allow us to keep printing the magazine while we work to find ways of reaching as many contributors and readers as possible. We hope to encourage new and/or unpublished writers and artists to submit samples of their work to Groundwaters for publication. In the meantime, we plan to apply to other foundations for support in realizing our visions of sponsoring writing and art contests for our contributors and expanding our distribution into more areas around rural Lane County.

We still need community support… your support…, however. This grant award will pay for the printing of two and a half issues of the magazine, but we now have an additional expense to cover. We are having to buy our own printer since the one on loan from the Hays-Eberts is not going to be available after April. For now, we are paying for the new printer out of our own personal pockets, but eventually, we hope to have the funds from the magazine to reimburse our costs. The $2,000 printer is needed to print the large 11″ x 17″ paper used for the magazine as well as some other fund-raising projects we have.

So, your help and support in the way of donations, subscriptions and advertisements will be welcome and extremely appreciated in the days to come. Donations made to the Groundwaters Magazine Project will now be tax-deductible, too.

Thanks again for all of your support in helping us to maintain the quality and increase the availability of Groundwaters, free of charge, to Lane County communities.

The Groundwaters Magazine Project

Check out our new revised website at http://www.groundwaterspublishing.com! It’s still a work in progress, but you’ll find new profiles on many of our contributors, information on Groundwater’s history, its staff and its policies.

Well, things have been pretty intense the last couple of weeks, so I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. The magazine part of Groundwaters Publishing, LLC has now become a nonprofit project licensed by the State of Oregon as “The Groundwaters Magazine Project.” The project is being fiscally sponsored by the Applegate Regional Theater, Inc. (ART, Inc.) of Veneta, and we will now be able to apply for grant funding as a nonprofit entity. As our fiscal sponsor, ART, Inc. will oversee any grant monies that we receive. We have just applied for our first grant today. If it is awarded to us, it will pay for one full year’s cost of printing and distributing the magazine. I believe that we made a good case for the award and thanks to 22 letters of support we received, I don’t know how they can refuse!

That brings me to the main point of this blog posting. I want to thank each one of you who took the time to write and send us your letters of support! This list includes:

Vicki Sourdry of ART, Inc.
Judy Hays-Eberts
Colin Rea, Manager of the Fern Ridge Library
Lisa Livelybrooks of the Rural Arts Center
Jo-Brew
Quinton Hallett
Joey Blum
Linsey Kau
Herbert Medlin
Paula Krug Keys
Joan Mariner of Fern Ridge Community Action Network
Linda DeAngelo
Karen Wickham
Greg Williams
Karla Garrett
Alix Mosieur
Jane Capron
Teresa Anderson
Jean Marie Purcell
Tom Howell
Lee Taylor-Loewe of Neighbors for Responsible Growth
Ken and Jane Wickstrom

We are truly grateful to each one of you… especially since you had such short notice! So, wish us luck, because if we get funded we will all benefit. All donations to The Groundwaters Magazine Project can now be used as tax-free deductions and we can be assured of at least one more year of Groundwaters. Thanks, all!

A Plea for Help…

Happy New Year All!

2009 has started out really well for Groundwaters. The beautiful January issue is printed and distributed and is disappearing out of the racks and off the shelves faster than normal. We’ve also added a couple of distribution sites this issue. It can also be found in the Junction City Library and Books on Main Street in Cottage Grove. I will also be leaving some at the Cottage Grove Library this weekend.

Good news! In our never-ending quest for financial stability for the magazine, we are joining with ART, Inc. of Veneta, a non-profit theater group, which has agreed to be our fiscal sponsor. This arrangement will allow the magazine project of Groundwaters Publishing, LLC to apply for and hopefully, receive, grants that will be administered under ART, Inc.’s 503(c)3 non-profit status. We are very grateful to the group for giving us their support and providing an umbrella that will open up to us a new avenue of funding. Depending on how successful we are in obtaining grants, we hope to increase our free distribution and possibly institute school outreach programs and/or incentives and possible help to fledgling writers, young and old alike. We have not looked that far down the road, but whatever we decide to do, you can be assured that Groundwaters magazine, itself, will remain a wholesome showcase of the talented writers of our area for the enjoyment of our ever-expanding family of readers.

We would now like to ask you for your help. As we begin applying for grants, we need to compile letters of support from our contributors, readers, supporters and organizations. We will then include them with appropriate grant applications to show the granting agencies that we are touching lives in a positive way within our community. We’d like to invite any of you who are willing to write a letter of support to do so. Include your reasons for reading it each quarter, what you like most about it, who your favorite writers and artists are, what features are your favorites, how important it is to you to see it continue, etc.

If we all work together and gain success in this effort, we can help to stabilize the deep roots that Judy Hays-Eberts set down in the soil of West Lane County almost five years ago.

Send your letters to: Groundwaters, P.O. Box 50, Lorane, OR 97451 or send them by email to us at contact@groundwaters.org.

Thank you all, and again, Happy New Year! May 2009 be a year of contentment and increasing prosperity for each one of you.

What’s Been Happenin’?

Groundwaters has entered its fifth year of publication. Judy Hays-Eberts never imagined that her “gift to the community” would remain so loved and appreciated for so long. As Thanksgiving approached this past year, the Groundwaters‘ staff was reminded of the loving support, both moral and financial, that has kept us on course since we took over production from Judy and Sonny in January 2007. We feel truly blessed.

Judy and Sonny have moved from Veneta. They are now living in a lovely older home in a quiet neighborhood in Philomath, closer to Sonny’s work at Oregon State University. We miss their physical presence in our lives, but we are fortunate to keep up to date by email. Judy’s health has stablized enough that she has fewer days of pain than she did last year and she seems quite happy with their new home. Pat Broome and her husband Dennis spent Thanksgiving dinner with the Hays-Eberts. “…Judy showed us around her garden in the mist. She said she is looking forward to Spring when she will be able to get out in it and see what surprises the previous owner has left. She also has an almond tree and a fig tree (with some figs still on it) as well as some apples…”

Judy writes, “Philomath is a step back in time. We love it, so far. At the local Thriftway, the clerk still takes items out of the cart for the customer. Richey’s in Corvallis is even more old-fashioned (by our generation’s standards), with handwritten signs for the specials, etc. Corvallis and Philomath both seemed to have retained their past, while they have modernized at a slower pace than Lane County. It’s such a pleasure to park for free and see the shops downtown… And, we’re not as concerned about the possibility of things being stolen around here.

“We’re still living with a lot of boxes! Unpacking seems like a slow process. Hopefully, the house will be in order by Thanksgiving – when it will be full of extended family. We’re also getting to know how to live with natural gas. So far, so good…”

On another note, on page 16 of our January issue, you will enjoy the return of an earlier contributor to Groundwaters. In his story, “Natalie and Alexis,” Greg Williams has shared a familiar legend with us in his wonderful Brothers Grimm fairytale style of writing. Welcome back, Greg! With Greg’s story comes a vision for the future of Groundwaters, as well. When an appropriate graphic could not be found to accompany the story, I sought the help of some of our talented “Bubbling Up” contributors to see if one of them would be willing to do an illustration for us. A very talented new contributor, 16-year old Chelsey Franklin of Cottage Grove, has agreed to come up with an original piece of art and we are so excited to begin what we hope is a continuing tradition for the magazine.

This brings on our hope that other artists – young and old alike – will be willing to provide illustrations for Groundwaters‘ submissions. If you are interested, please contact us at contact@groundwaters.org so that we can send you copies or descriptions of upcoming articles that can be enhanced by illustrations. In the past, I’ve searched for appropriate clipart, but we have so much local talent that it seems a shame not to use it if it’s available! Please consider volunteering your talents to future issues of Groundwaters!

What’s Been Happenin’?

Submission deadline for the January issue is past, so I’m beginning the labor-intensive layout process before the holiday busy-iness gets too intense. We have a full issue – and another good one. There is lots of poetry this time, but also some great prose entries, as well. I think that one of the things that has made Groundwaters so popular is the broad expanse of subject matter and the variety of writing styles that we’re able to share with our readers. It’s so exciting to welcome back some of Judy’s original contributors (i.e. Carolyn Carney, Vallee Rose, Greg Williams) and introduce you to some new ones, too (i.e. Ellen Marmon, Ken Wickstrom, Jane Capron, Patty Byers.) Vallee Rose and Ken Wickstrom both live in California; Jane is sharing her considerable talent with us as a professional mystery fiction writer in the form of a “refresh” poem to fit the January theme. Patty, Jen Chamber’s grandmother, is providing us with a stunning winter scene cover as well as a bit of family history. We have a couple of profiles so that you can get better acquainted with some of our local people and writers and of course, some of our very special regular contributors are sharing with us some more of their wonderful stories and poems.

The Groundwaters team spent both Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22, at tables at the Fern Ridge Holiday Bazaar event. We met a lot of new people as well as some who came by to say “hi,” and we handed out a lot of issues to those who were not familiar with what we are doing. It was fun seeing everyone, but I still have a lot of cookies and popcorn balls to dispose of that didn’t sell – of course, I’m sure that my grandkids will be able to help with that chore! There were a lot of people out and about, but like us, few “merchants” were making many sales. The depressed economy was very much in evidence.

Jen and I will be at the Author and Artists Fair at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Saturday, December 6 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Atrium section of the Convention Center. Stop by and see us if you get the chance. Sorry, though – no cookies this time!

What’s Been Happenin’?

With these beautiful Fall days that we’ve been experiencing, it’s been difficult to settle down in front of the computer for long. So, once again, I am behind on the posting to my blog. I have been doing some work, however. ..

My husband Jim and I finally removed the plywood sheets that have been covering the large front windows of the Dew Drop Inn for the past 50 years or so. We found beautiful window frames beneath them that were in very good shape for their age. Both windows have six 11″ square panes across the top and two larger panes beneath them. The larger glass panes had been broken out and needed to be replaced. Four of the smaller ones had BB-shot holes in them where they had, at one time, been used for target practice. Jim has replaced the large panes and we have the small replacement panes ready to install. Removing the long-adorned plywood has revealed the old building’s special personality. To be honest, though, it no longer looks like the rough-and-tumble tavern its remembered to be… especially with that bright aqua front door and windowsill trim and the pale yellow paint with white trim around the windows. With the outside painting almost completed and the trim almost done, it now has kind of a “cottage” look. I hope that we’ll be able to complete the outside before winter. Then it will be time to lay down a new floor and install a pellet stove for heat. It’s coming along slowly because of some health issues, but it is “coming along.”

Besides working on the building, I have been compiling some statistics for presentations we hope to make to raise funding for Groundwaters. I thought these stats might be interesting to our readers, too.

Since Judy produced the first issue of Groundwaters in October 2004, we have published 664 submissions by 147 contributors. Fifty-eight of those submissions have been made by 23 writers who are 18 years of age and under.

Our most prolific writers (not including current staff members) are:

Rhonda Rauch (22)
Millie Graves (21)
Karen Vosika (20)
Renee Dodds (18)
Elizabeth Tyler Brown (16)
Jean Marie Purcell (15)
Herbie Medlin (12)
Vicki Sourdry (10)
Sylvia Bertran (9)
Pat Gill (9)
Dana Graves (9)
Avis Rust (9)
Jim Koenig (8)
Liath MacTire (8)
Jessie Stinson (8)
Dade Cariaga (8)
Nick DeAngelo (7)
Gary L. Lewis (7)
Norm Maxwell (7)
Shirley Overed (7)
Alexis Lanham (6)
Caitlyn Meng (6)
Deborah Burton (5)
Riley Chambers (5)
Wanda Edwards (5)
Sarah Spaulding (5)
Crystal Spohn (5)
June Wyant (5)
… and a whole bunch more who have submitted less than five.

We are truly blessed!

What’s Been Happenin’?

I apologize for the long delay in our blog. The past three weeks have proven to be busier than I anticipated and I just haven’t been able to get anything written. I guess that I should be much more organized and have several postings written ahead of time, but so far, that hasn’t happened… and I don’t know that it will for me, anyway. I don’t think that I’m alone in this type of procrastination. Each of us gets so caught up in our own lives and the lives of those around us, that sometimes we must just live one day at a time in order to get through it all. I’ve always been an advocate of planning ahead a bit, however.

If excuses are needed, I guess that two major ones pop into my mind. My mother, who just turned 93 years of age on September 28, came to visit for a week. If I have to live to such an advanced age, I hope that I am allowed to have the sharpness of mind and wit and the desire to live life to its fullest that define this beautiful lady who is my mother. She lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband of 19 years in a senior retirement complex where she leads an active life centered around crafts, games, reading, and wine and cheese parties among her friends. Each year she crafts wonderful things to give to her family and sell at holiday bazaars. In years past when her eyesight was a little clearer, she made delicate cross-stitch bookmarks. Last year, she made colorful tote bags. This year, her beautiful southwestern-look macrame beaded key chains are being taken in and sold in stores. She’s one of the main “home-run hitters” on her beanbag baseball team and she frequently comes up a winner in her pinochle and bingo games. She and a group of other ladies have once-a-month wine and cheese parties, rotating among their individual apartments. When her body, which needs to be supported by her bright purple walker if she is on her feet too long, gets tired, she loves to sit quietly and read and/or take a daily nap.

So, when she asked us if she could visit my sister and I for the week of her birthday, we laid aside any other plans we had so that we could enjoy and celebrate her presence in our lives. What an honor that is for us.

One of the things that I needed to do before her arrival was to complete the October issue of Groundwaters. The computer and printer that I use to print the issues lives in the bedroom in our home that is set aside for my mother’s visits. The printing process gives off an odor while the pages are being spewed out, so I knew that I needed to have them all printed before her arrival. By the time we went over to get her last Thursday, the issue had been printed and put aside until this week’s distribution.

We took Mama home yesterday and Pat, Jen and I will begin placing the issues in our distribution points today. You’ll find that this issue does not have quite the variety of authors that many do. Summer is a bad time to get people to send in their submissions – everyone is so busy – so we decided to feature those that were submitted along with our own writings that are sometimes put aside so that we can showcase others. My mother teasingly called it our “family issue.” I guess, in a way, it is. Besides my brother Jim’s and my contributions this time, the works of two of our granddaughters and our daughter, Kelly, appear. Of our Groundwaters’ family, Jen, Judy and Sonny have included a couple of wonderful pieces We were able to include three of Norm Maxwell’s stories. Norm is a prolific writer and sends us his writings almost weekly. We also were able to print more poems and song lyrics from Elizabeth Tyler Brown, Herbie and Spyder that we have in large numbers. The writings of other “Groundwaters family members” Nichole Bain, Riley Chambers, Tom Howell, Wanda Edwards, Avis Rust, Karen Vosika, Nick and Joe DeAngelo are also included. We take great pleasure in introducing Karen Wickham, Rebecca Bain, Don Baker, Bridgett Johnson-Elliott and Linsey Kau to our Groundwaters readers, as well.

I hope that you enjoy this issue. We take special delight in presenting it to you!

Themes and things…

The October issue of Groundwaters is almost complete. It’s so much fun to see how each issue shapes up. At the beginning of each, we’re not sure how it will look or what it will include. Oh, we usually know ahead of time what our cover is going to look like and because we have a theme each quarter, we have our own articles and poems to include. But, we never know what wonderful works will arrive on our doorstep from our readers and contributors. That’s the fun part!

I thought that I’d explain our use of themes. Even though we assign a one-word theme for each issue, we don’t require that our entire content be centered around it – but it’s fun if as many pieces as possible do. We try to select themes that can mean different things to different people. The October/Fall 2008 theme is “Root.” The word “root” can refer to a tree or a plant’s underpinnings or it can refer to one’s heritage or the beginning or foundation of something. It can mean “to cheer” for one’s team or refer to the way a hog digs in the ground with its nose for food.

The January/Winter 2009 issue’s theme is “Refresh.” This theme is a little more obscure and will make our writers think a bit harder about what they want to write. It can mean to begin again or to quench one’s thirst, or to change one’s thinking or actions, among others. The fun part is to see how many different meanings our contributors come up with to express the theme.

The theme for April/Spring 2009 is “Wonder;” the one selected for the July/Summer 2009 issue is “Light” while the October/Winter 2009 theme is “Journey.”

I hope that more of our writers will begin using our themes. One of those who has come on board only recently, but has managed to come up with some wonderful theme-based stories and poems, is Wanda Edwards of the Celeste Campbell Senior Center writers group in Eugene. She reflects the enthusiasm and the imagination that we are hoping to inspire and encourage in others.

We also try to match our content with the seasons and holidays covered by each quarter, too. Unfortunately, it sometimes delays publication for some submissions because they are submitted at the end of a particular season. Two works in the October issue are good examples. “Winter Waiting” was submitted to us by Karen Wickham last January after the Winter issue had already been published. We asked Karen if she would mind if we held it until at least our Fall issue covering the quarter of October through December. I think you’ll find that it’s well worth the wait. Another example that we are including this go-round is “Stumplord,” a story about tree planting in Oregon by Norm Maxwell. He sent it to us last Fall. Even though it would have been appropriate in the January 2008 issue, as well, we decided to hold it for our October “Root”-themed issue.

We encourage the writers groups who are increasingly using Groundwaters for some of their activities to use our themes as a writer’s challenge. And, by all means, send us your best! That’s what we are here for! We want to showcase the untapped talent we have in our local area. Even if you live outside of Lane County, don’t let that stop you from submitting. Groundwaters is gaining popularity in other areas, too. After all, good writing has no boundaries!

What’s Been Happenin’?

I have begun my Groundwaters contributor profiles but because of the logistics, I will try to post one every month… weekly would be too much of a stretch for me, I’m afraid.

We are busily preparing the Fall issue of GW for its October release date. I’m struck by the fact that it doesn’t have as many submitters as usual, but the quality is excellent, I think. Summer is a hard time for people to sit down and get much work done at their computers. It’s a time to get outside during what little free time most of us have and enjoy Oregon’s wonderful sunshine and summer breezes. It’s a busy time for other things, too.

The month of August was especially busy for our Groundwaters staff. We started it off with our monthly meeting on August 8. The next day, I met 23 descendants of the Jost and Jerusha Petrie family at King Estates Winery in Lorane to show them around the area where their great great grandparents had settled in the late 1800s. It was a fun day for not only them, but for me and their “tour guide,” Walt Hayes, as well. You may have read my story about the Petries in the September 4, 2008 edition of the West Lane News, but if you missed it, I am including it in the October issue of Groundwaters. It’s an interesting one.

Then, on Sunday, August 10, I opened the doors to the Dew Drop Inn, future home of Groundwaters, for another garage sale. My granddaughter, Hayley, “manned” the sale while I attended the Lorane Old Timers’ Picnic held at the Grange. That afternoon, Lorane celebrated its annual Ice Cream Social at the Fire Hall. It was such a busy day at the two events that Hayley didn’t have any traffic at the garage sale at all, but she was placated by having a great lunch at the picnic with dessert following at the ice cream social. We finally closed up early and went home around 4:00 p.m.

On Wednesday and Friday, August 13 and 15, I was invited to sit at the Oregon Author’s Table at the Lane County Fair. It was a very enjoyable experience for me. On Wednesday, I sat between Register-Guard columnists Bob Welch and Dorcas Smucker – both writers that I respect and admire. On Friday, I got to spend the day next to Jo-Brew, author and columnist for the Creswell Chronicle and Jane Lindaman, author of wonderful children’s books. I handed out a lot of Groundwaters magazines to fair-goers and authors alike and even sold a few of my books, so those two days were very enjoyable and successful for me, as well.

Jo-Brew and Herbie Medlin posed together for this picture at the 2008 Lane County Fair’s Oregon Authors Table.

Jen Chambers was busy in her own right. She attended the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland on August 15 and not only promoted Groundwaters there, but also picked up a lot of interest from literary agents for her first novel dealing with traumatic brain injuries. Congratulations, Jen! I’m attaching her report on the conference below.

Then, Jen, Pat Broome and I attended the Fern Ridge Library’s FRIENDfest on Saturday, August 23. Pat is the newly-elected chairman of the Library Board and was busy in that capacity at their table. Jen and I spent the 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. time slot reading from our respective books. We had an audience the whole time and I know that it was as much fun for the two of us as it was for those we were reading to.

I’m looking forward to Fall. The few days of rain we’ve had lately have been refreshing and I can feel the season beginning its gradual change. I just hope it doesn’t change too swiftly.

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Willamette Writers Conference
By Jennifer Chambers

I just returned from the annual Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon, a weekend devoted to the craft and fellowship with other writers. I had a wonderful time. I generally do when I indulge in the habit of further education. Plus, I was hoping to promote Groundwaters while I was there.

Such conferences are made up of mini-seminars from which to choose, in any given time slot. Since you have limited time, and the rooms generally have limited space, it’s prudent to plan well and know what you want to see going in. This was especially true for me, as I would only be able to attend one day.

I was most looking forward to a session by writer and editor Elizabeth Lyon, with whom I have had an e-mail dialogue about the magazine, and who I’ve just missed meeting on several occasions. I came into the session fueled up on endless cups of very good coffee (one of the perks at seminars in the NW) and intended to write down furiously all the bits of wisdom the veteran could brew up. I was also amped and coming off the adrenaline from a pitch session with an agent, to be honest, but it was one of those sessions that happened in my life at just the right time, the perfect doppio to my double-shot.

Ms. Lyon’s session was called, “Writing and Revising Your Novel’s Query, Synopsis, and Two Pages.” Her talk was informative, well organized and concise, but left room for questions and answers both during and afterwards. The initial focus was on the dreaded Query. Use the five paragraph format, Lyon explained: pitch, synopsis of no more than two paragraphs, short biography, and communication information. Lyon went on to illustrate with actual queries taken anonymously from her estimated 200 queries floating around her office. The anonymity was nice; I’m sure my query letters from the past could have been on her “bad examples” list. The sum of her seminar was that you should spend time crafting the query, not just the manuscript. The information was presented concisely, was well organized, and Lyon gave us a worksheet for further interest. It was a fantastic way for me to salivate over what more I could find in her book.

Another helpful session was given by Marilyn Allen; “How to Query and Pitch to Get Agents’ and Editors’ Attention.” Can you sense a theme in my class choices? Allen, too, used a handout to recap the information contained in the seminar. Her alliterative advice was fun: The Hook, The Book and the Cook. The “Hook,” is the pitch, the concisely-put teaser to make an agent want to know more. The “Cook,” is the writers’ credentials. For instance, if you want to write a cookbook, it helps if you’re Emeril—or at least that you’re a chef, a licensed nutritionist, etc. Cook credentials are your B.A., your professional experience, or the thing that makes you informed on your subject. The “Book.” of course, is your special material, condensed.

I was able to spread the word about Groundwaters, too. In fact, the person who sat next to me at lunch is going to submit her story of an alternative publishing experience. I was able to glean so much workable advice from the day. Each session was useful, and the speakers nationally recognized as masters of their craft. I recommend that anyone who wants to be a serious writer attend conferences regularly. Ms. Lyon was kind enough to sign my copy of her new book, and I’m using it right now to revise the manuscript the agents were interested in at the conference. Commitment to the craft. That’s what I want for my writing. That, and another cup of coffee, to stay up to revise the darn thing.