SML's community of writers is flourishing

"Who would have guessed that there is a large community of novelists, poets, essayists, playwrights and non-fiction writers living near Smith Mountain Lake?" asked Moneta's Jim Morrison, president and chief referee of Lake Writers. "This year, Lake Writers ran a best unpublished novel contest and received more than a dozen entries."

Not only did the writers who entered the contest have to complete their novels, but five novelists and one poet published works they didn't enter in the contest. In the newly published group were two mystery writers, an author of a children's book, the author of a middle school novel, a non-fiction work on animal communications, and a chapbook of original poetry.

Michael Davis of Union Hall added two romantic mysteries this year to his booklist. "Blind Consent," set in the mythical town of Tanglewood Falls, somewhere in the mountains of Virginia, is Davis's sixth novel. Ryan, the protagonist, must solve a mystery where the answers are buried in the secrets of the past.

Davis collaborated for the first time with Candace Morehouse on "Veil of Deception," set at Spenser Lake, a thin disguise for Smith Mountain Lake. Davis and Morehouse unraveled a mystery where sometimes the truth cuts deeper than a lie.

"Writing is a solitary pursuit," said Davis. "Most writers toil for years before they even tell anyone they are writing a novel. And then they have to fend off constant questions like 'When is it coming out,' "Where can I buy it?'"

Another mystery writer, Sally Roseveare of Huddleston, finished "Secrets at Sweetwater Cove," her second SML mystery featuring recurring characters, Aurora Harris and her black Labrador, King. They deal with a missing builder, a forgetful woman who wanders away and gets lost on Smith Mountain, and a group of men who threaten a local teenager who witnesses something he shouldn't have. Roseveare packed mayhem, murder and man's evil nature into an action-packed story.

"I can't stop thinking about stories. If I drive down a road and see a house I've never really noticed before, I begin making up stories about who lives there, what do they do for a living, what do they like to do for entertainment, are they kind or cruel, do they have a large family, are they alone? Anything I see can trigger an image that stays with me until I can write it down," said Roseveare. "Eventually, I may use those crazy ideas as part of a novel or they may trigger other ideas, which bounce off yet another set of ideas. Before I know it, my head is spinning and I have to sit at my computer and let my fingers take over."

On the other side of the fiction spectrum, Penhook's Becky Mushko took a Russian folk tale, "Rumplestiltskin," and transformed it into an Appalachian tale called "Ferradiddledumday" for elementary and middle school students.

"I wanted to write a story that came right out of the oral tradition," said Mushko. "In fact, before I wrote the book, I performed the story for years to students in all grades." The book comes with a study guide to help teachers lead discussions about the story.

New York Times best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb of Catawba agreed: "Becky Mushko's retelling of the European folk tale 'Rumpelstiltskin' brings a new-world perspective to the old story, illuminating the frontier setting with a wealth of detail: plant names, folk traditions and regional dialect. If the story had happened here, it would have happened like this," wrote McCrumb.

The book, illustrated by lake artist and sculptor Bruce Rae of Moneta, is the second one by a local writer Rae illustrated. Rae holds a special place in his heart for the original Russian folktale.

"When I was 8, I played Rumplestiltskin at the Ann Arbor Civic Theater," he recalled.

Asked what it was like to illustrate one of his favorite folk tales, Rae replied, "It was a thrill to produce 27 drawings for this story of magic and trickery."

Writing for the middle school market, Goodview's Tad Parker published "Jerry McAllister and the Slaves of the Tellusian Underground," a fantasy along the lines of "Alice in Wonderland," "Harry Potter" or the "Narnia" stories. Parker began writing the story shortly after his 40th birthday and finished it when his fifth-grade twins demanded to read the tale.

Like some of his fellow lake writerse, Parker struggled to find an agent for years before selling the book directly to a publisher.

"My next novel, "Satan's Chariot" is a work-in-progress. I find the craft of writing to be nearly a spiritual experience," said Parker. "Just being able to sit and write can be a form of meditation."

Karen Wrigley of Moneta based her work, "Beyond Woofs and Whinnie," on her experiences as an animal communicator. Wrigley said she kept hearing a voice whispering in her head that said: "Write a book." After trying unsuccessfully to ignore it, she said she heard: "Write our words because we have so much to share."

Believing that the animal kingdom wanted a voice, she began gathering stories from her communications. With voices from the silly to the sublime, from the serious to the eerie, animals spoke to Wrigley, "sharing their perspectives on how to live life." Readers who often wonder what their pet cat or dog is thinking will find inspiration in Wrigley's approach to life's lessons.

Poet Jean Huntington Brobeck of Bedford published "Musings II," a collection of poems exploring how to grow old with grace and dignity. Brobeck of Bedford holds a mirror up to life and dares readers to look into it. Some poems are painful, others are uplifting. All are thought-provoking.

Each of the lake-area writers did readings at local libraries, visited book clubs, participated in critique groups and held book signings around SML.

"I often wonder how many other writers are working around the lake," said Morrison. "Until a book is published or Lake Writers holds a writing contest, we never know what talent hides away in home offices, pounding keyboards and grinding out pages filled with interesting characters and images.It's easier to see who is an artist, a sculptor or a photographer because there are shows for their works, but writers only get noticed when a book appears in a store or on Amazon."

"Maybe one day the lake will be recognized for its artists' community like Woodstock, N.Y., or Big Sur, Calif., or Portland, Ore.," added Rae.