Appalachia Spark LLC

12/07/2024

Our weekly Appalachia Spark Writers Guild meets again at 6 p.m. Tuesday at an undisclosed location. Want in on the fun? Message us or join our Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/25pXpyZqCX

12/07/2024

What's in the journal? 👀

06/05/2024

Congratulations to West Virginia Author Jayne Anne Phyllips on winning the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "Nightwatch." Phyllips hails from Buckhannon and Belington. Her award-winning book is a post civil war narrative set at Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia.

https://lithub.com/here-are-this-years-pulitzer-prize-winners-3/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2Lqe25VyxYZWLvbCcRyJydaderkw0kDscPGrIyvP8tdaI0rO5sVyUC8kQ_aem_AWF0w3RrXPCVT9hCArLso_ZpqG7effnLWgNO6svGkH73UxE91u1C8WoWu8N5qnkFZvcwFVoSpCqc3cnHD4lx2xiR&mibextid=NOb6eG

19/08/2023

Exciting news for a fellow Appalachian in the Buckhannon, West Virginia area!

06/12/2022

A new writer faced discouragement about a low booksigning turnout only to discover it still happens to the most successful writers! I figured this article could serve as some encouragement for your Tuesday. Don't give up!

Novelists like Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood and Stephen King shared discouraging moments in their career after debut author Chelsea Banning tweeted that only two people came to her book signing.

02/12/2022

We are finally official!

01/12/2022

I'm passing this along for anyone who may be interested!

The application for next year's fellowship is NOW OPEN!
https://tamarackfoundation.org/2023-creative-entrepreneur-fellowship-application/
(Link also in bio)
Applications are due January 31st 2023 at 11:59pm.

If you are looking for our Emerging Artist Fellowship Application, you have found it. The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts is continuing our fellowship program under a new name that aligns better with the goals of the program.

The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts’ (TFA) Creative Entrepreneur Fellows are artists who demonstrate not only a superior level of mastery in their craft, but also the aptitude to become successful professionals capable of leading well-managed creative enterprises. Fellows represent the potential for outcomes beyond the scope of their individual bodies of work and are viewed as future contributors to growing local economies and businesses that make communities more desirable places for all.

Each year, the Tamarack Foundation’s Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship program awards up to five fellowships to qualified and talented artists working in the fields of traditional and fine craft or visual arts.

The Fellowship provides technical training, mentoring, consulting, branding, and a $2,500 award to assist each fellow with the successful development and launch of their creative business. Through increased visibility, marketing and networking we assist each fellow to integrate into local and regional markets and access professional development.

As a complement to entrepreneurship training and financial literacy education, the program also provides experiences, connections, skills and relationships with West Virginia professional artists and arts institutions to support the fellows in their career goals.

30/11/2022

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to watch a blacksmith artisan in action.

26/11/2022

If you love to write and want in on the anthology project, be sure to join me this Sunday at Argo Books!

Join Melissa Toothman at Argo Books on Sunday November 27th at 1:30pm to participate in a Superhero Short Story Anthology Workshop.

I'm working on a short story anthology. Current participants (and any new ones) will each write two stories for the anthology to be published as an e-book on Amazon KDP next fall (exact date TBD). Those currently participating voted on a theme for the short stories. We are writing to the theme: superhero/super villain.

All stories ideas are open to interpretation (i.e. if a superhero to you is a first responder who risks their lives for others rather than a man in a cape with super human strength, go for your own interpretation).

I'll do a Q&A at the beginning for questions about the project.

I'll bring The Story Engine decks of character creation cards to help anyone who is stuck.

I'll bring some prompts if they want to write based off of those. I'll help participants work through/brainstorm some writing ideas if they feel stuck.

The rest of the session is optional because after I do all that, we are going to sit in a group quietly and write. I've had some of the writers say they just need a block of time to focus on their stories. So I want a space to provide that. Others write better at home and struggle to write in a group setting, so those are welcome to go home and write where they are comfortable.

Participants should bring a notebook and writing utensils, or if they prefer, a tablet, phone, or laptop to write their story on. There is no requirement to finish the story at the workshop... or to read/share what you come up with.

Submitting/publishing the story in my anthology is optional, but I do expect each participant who wants in the anthology to contribute two stories: one on the superhero theme, and one on the supervillain theme. Work on whatever theme grabs your attention first.

Anyone else is welcome to just come write with us, and write on our theme or whatever else they are working on (NaNoWriMo/ National Novel Writing Month is November). The first story submission for the anthology is due January 1.

01/03/2021

What a beautiful idea!