Annual writing contest interview with participants. Here is Clint Exum, the library's outreach specialist with more information about the library's annual writing contest and some interviews with participants.

NCLBPH is in the midst of having a second writing contest. Our writing contest is NCLBPH's way of giving its patrons an avenue to express and explore their writing abilities. In this contest, patrons can submit their stories and potentially win a prize and have their story added to our collection.

The contest is divided into four age groups. There are three divisions for people under the age of 18, and an adult's division. And we hope to have the contest every year immediately after our summer reading program. The contest does have quite a few rules.

This year, we're accepting submissions in accessible formats. There is a word count of 5000 words for all submissions, including audio submissions. We want all entries to be completely original works. So no fan fiction. We would also prefer patron submissions be their own works. However, if they work with a collaborator, they'll need to list their collaborators and how much of a contribution the collaborator made. For example, if a patron were to write a song and have something someone else perform it, they would need to list the performer and make that clear in the entry.

Anyone who was interested in the full list of rules for the 2021 contest can visit the webpage at SLNC.info/WC21. As we host this contest each year, our rules will evolve to respond to the different situations we'll encounter. Patrons who are interested in the contest but don't know where to begin in the writing process can visit our writing resource page located at the bottom of our writing contest page. Next, we have some interviews with participants from our first writing contest.

Ed's entry was me and my dog. This entry was a song. When we had first envisioned the contest. We had not expected to get a song and it was a welcome surprise. The song is about a man and his dog sitting on the porch during a summer evening, just enjoying each other's company and the environment. You can listen to the song now by visiting statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/media/357.

Another contestant from last year Christine entered a story titled The Bunnies. This short story won first prize in the adults division. The story is about a woman and her dog noticing something unusual about the growing number of rabbits in the neighborhood. I can't really say any more without giving away the unexpected turn of events. When her story is converted into a talking book, ordering instructions will be in a future Tar Heel Talk newsletter.

Our last guest is Avery his entry is titled to The Haunted Hunters. This was the only entry in our younger ages division. But don't let the fact that it won by default lead you to think other entries would win easily. Avery showed a tremendous amount of creativity, story structuring skills and a sense of adventure with his entry, The Haunted Hunters and his story, a group of friends with supernatural powers use their abilities to take on supernatural foes. His story will also be available as a talking book in the near future. Be sure to keep a lookout when we have the talking books ready.

How long have you been a patron of our library? Ed?

I moved to Durham in August of 2015 and I think by early 2016 I had connected with Division of Services for the Blind and got connected with the library through them so it would have been early spring time 2016. 

Okay, so it's about a little over five years now.

Yeah.

Okay.

Christine.

I believe I've been a patron for approximately 15 years.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I was very happy to find out about the library because I have vision difficulties due to my MS and it's just been great to have all this material to read and use.

Avery.

Yeah, I'm really kind of not sure when I started. But it's been a while.

What was the inspiration for your entry? Ed?

Well I submitted a song I that I had written in summer 2020. And I spent a lot of time that summer with with the COVID shutdown just at home sitting on my front porch, with my Seeing Eye dog and my guitar and just came up with a song about sitting on my front porch with my Seeing Eye, dog and guitar and and the writing contest theme was Imagine Your Story. And I came up with a little bit of a story about spending a lot of time on the porch during the pandemic. So I just thought it was worth submitting. And I liked that the library was sponsoring the writing contest and figured why not. So I sent it in.

Christine?

Well, the story, The Bunnies is partly just based on what I did last summer, I do have a little black and tan phantom poodle. And last year with COVID, I was walking the dog a lot. And it's kind of boring just to walk around the block. And he's not a very aggressive dog. But there were so many rabbits that I started pointing them out to him. And again, he's like, okay, there's a bunny. And then one day I kind of led him into chasing them. So there's a large part of the book that's all about the dog, you know, chasing rabbits and learning how to chase rabbits. And that's just based on what really happened. And I thought it was kind of funny that the dog didn't know how to chase rabbits. So I wrote that down.

And then of course, I encountered neighbors walking around the block, and I exaggerated their characters and tried to make them a little more funny than what they really were. But that's how I got started. That was my inspiration.

Avery

From my book, so how I created it was kind of a different, different elements to add to this story, like different elements, like kids have superpowers, I kind of like that idea. And then the pumpkin in the story. I just thought that might have been a little like funny, you know, like a funny element. And then I have the unicorn in everyone's like, unicorns are pretty and stylish. So I turned a twist on the unicorn and made it a bad unicorn.

Yes, I remember, and I did enjoy gravel's character too.

I did as I was writing it.

How long have you been writing? Ed?

I've been writing music songs since the early 1980s. Yeah and just in general, you know, writing all my life, various form forms of writing, but creative writing, particularly lyrics and poetry since the early 1980s, and delve into other things from time to time,

Christine?

I've enjoyed writing since I was a kid. And, you know, telling stories, writing stories. And I liked English. That was one of my favorite subjects at school, and I've always been kind of a bookworm. And later went to law school. And I think I learned a lot. It's kind of ironic, but I learned a lot more about writing there because you have to be concise and they really evaluate things at a high level. As far as like punctuation and stuff like that, so I learned a bit more, I'm sure I've got a long way to go. But that helped.

Avery?

I do enjoy, like, I do make up some stories. I'm very creative. And like, sometimes I have original, original ideas. So I haven't really been writing a whole lot, but I sometimes I do thinnk of stories.

What other sources would you say your creativity comes from? Ed?

Life in general, just I write about what goes on around me. What I observe what I experience. You know, my family, my kids, the woods. I love the outdoors. Nature is is an inspiration. What goes on around me, is what inspires me. What I'm feeling, what I'm experiencing. And the song I submitted Me and My dog was what was going on with me at that time of my life, in terms of being cooped up from the pandemic, and just wanting to make good use of the time.

Christine?

I mean, I'm sure that since I do read a lot, and I've, you know, there's just a lot of books, I can't point to anything in particular. But I don't want to mention any writers, but okay, one of them, I'll say, Beatrix Potter, my oldest daughter, when she was a little girl, she loved Beatrix Potter, and she loved bunnies. So and Beatrix Potter was a real sweet woman, who really loved the little animals that that lived around her, and, you know, wrote about them and kind of made them human like, but also kept a lot of their natural characteristics.

Avery?

Sometimes I do listen to TV and and I kind of play games and that kind of inspiration. And sometimes my own experiences.

What would you say to your fellow patrons who are thinking about entering it? Ed?

Go for it, what a fabulous opportunity, you know, just that we have the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped available to us, is just a wonderful, wonderful thing. It's a way of staying engaged. It's, it's a way of motivating us to maybe step out of our comfort zones. And I know, I run into a lot of people who are blind or visually impaired, who like to write, through the work that I do teaching through Division of Services for the Blind, lots of people say they, they like to write, and this is an opportunity to take that one step further and enter a contest or competition and share your work and just see what comes of it. It's just a great opportunity, great exposure, great way to connect with other people. So yeah, it's an it's easy to do, the library makes it easy to enter this by giving sort of no limits on how you can submit your work, whether it be written form, recorded form, braille form. Just, it's easy to do, if you've got something you think is worth sharing. Go for it.

Christine?

I'd say do it, it's fun. And you might not, you know, think that you're a great writer or whatever, but just start writing. And the earlier you start, you can go over it. You can send it out to friends and family and let them you know, give their, you know, suggestions or critiques. You know, I think that's good. Also try to write about something you know about, you know, don't try to write about nuclear submarines, unless you've been on a nuclear submarine. You know, keep it close to home. And there's always a story. You know, if you think about it, and let your imagination run Wild.

Avery?

um, I would say, give it a try and read if you have an idea, like, go for it and write what you know, and don't be afraid to try new things and try your own thing.

Do you remember how many takes you had to do for your song? Ed?

That that recording, while it took me, you know, probably over the course of a couple of weeks to, to write it and, you know, work out that the count arrangements and such. And that that's kind of how music works for me, I'll come up with a lyric or a verse, and a, and a riff or something. And I'll keep working with it. And over, not very long a week or two, you know, come up with a pretty close to finish song. And that was the case with me and my dog. And then to record it. I remember that I was just out on my porch. And I just was that it occurred to me that I should submit this to the writing contest. I hadn't been thinking of doing that. And then it came to me, submit this, why not? And so I recorded it, I believe on my iPad. And I don't think I did multiple takes. Once I decided to submit it. I played it enough over the week or two before that, that I felt pretty comfortable with it. And when I decided I was going to submit it, I just turned on the Voice Memo app on my iPad and made the recording and sent it in. So it's not, you know, it's not technically well produced or anything. I didn't go into a studio, I just sat sat out on my porch one afternoon with my iPad and hit the record button on the Voice Memo app. And there it is. But it did take me probably a couple of weeks to actually write it and arrange it

How long have you been a guitarist? Do you play any other instruments?

I've been playing guitar since I was 25. I picked it up fairly late in the game. I bought a guitar in 1985 in a little guitar shop in in Brooklyn, New York. I took it home and just I've been playing ever since. And no I don't play other instruments. I have a couple of guitars that I play with but that's pretty much it.

Do you have other songs available for people to listen to?

I do. I mostly play music, you know for myself and I'll share them with with close friends. I'm not I'm not a obviously career musician, or if anyone's heard my song. You know, my voice isn't the most beautiful thing but I love to sing I love to write songs. But it's mostly a personal thing. I do post some of my song videos on on my Facebook page. So my friends and family can hear it you know, sometimes you know send it out by text or email to friends and family members. But if you're looking to buy my albums and my CDs and download stuff from iTunes, not gonna find it that way. But, you know, it's always been, you know, when I'm asked what's on your bucket list. One of the things on my bucket list is to just sit on a stage someday with my guitar and play a couple songs for a small audience at an open mic or something like that. I like to write songs I like it's a good feeling. Most of the stuff I write has some sort of, you know, upbeat or whimsical air to it that I would think you know people would be able to enjoy. But it's for the most part limited to me and friends and family on Facebook and and such.

So it's a very personal thing for you.

Yeah, it's one of my daily habits. I play music, write songs and work on stuff pretty much every day, but it's just at home for the most part.

Christine, do you have a fear of bunnies cannot be trusted?

No, I'm not afraid of bunnies. But the last couple of years, there have been an excess of rabbits. And I'm also I like to garden and the rabbits eat my plants. And sometimes they just mow them down to the ground so they can't come back. And so I'm a little frustrated with rabbits. I'm not exactly afraid of them.

But they cannot be trusted. That's what I'm getting.

No, don't fret, and they look so cute. But they'll chew up your vegetables and your flowers in a heartbeat.

Avery, your main characters all had superpowers? Which of those superpowers would you want most?

These are kind of in my book. I think I did telekinesis and that one, Yes. Yeah. I can't remember that. But this is what I would say if I had if, if someone asked me like, what, how would you would have like any Pandora? I would say, like, like from like, if like I would kind of look at the image and like just click my fingers, like, snap my fingers and they would come out of the code or whatever. come alive. Oh, that'd be nice. Yeah.

Yes. I can't remember. 

Yeah. But this is what I would say if I had if someone asked me like, what, power you would have, like any power? I would say, if like I would kind of look at the image and like just click my fingers, like, snap my fingers and they would come out of the code or whatever. Come alive.

Oh, that'd be neat.

Yeah.

Your story felt like I was placed in the middle of the team's journey. If you continue writing, would you ever explore a prequel or sequel?

Possibly. I mean prequels are kind of hard for me to follow when something comes out and then you know, prove them, it's kind of hard for me to follow sometimes. So maybe a sequel would be easier to do after the like movie or thing you know, after what they did. So like part two.

 Alright. This has been Clint Exum the outreach specialist for NCLBPH. Now I turn you back over to Craig.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai