Facilitator: Joyce Leo and Kathleen Sales
Membership Status: Currently closed
Mission Statement:
Have you always had a story in the back of your mind? This group is intended to bring that story to life with a disciplined, supportive approach. After an initial “getting to know you” session, we will be meeting once or twice a month (as decided by the members) for constructive feedback and mutual support. Kathleen “Kitty” Sales has offered her home in Lenoir City as our regular meeting place where we will discuss submissions that are emailed to the group members prior to the meetings.
Writers at all levels are welcome as we can all help one another. This will be a closed group when we have at least six members. Joyce will be in charge of the “paper work” and Kitty will offer her meeting place and expertise as well. Meetings will be in the late morning or early afternoon. (We are both retired and not able to navigate at night or for distances.)
Joyce Leo has taught at the high school and college level, specializing in literature, psychology and creative writing. A retired private therapist with Gestalt and Jungian training, she is currently working on a Proustian-infused novel of consciousness of a Lolita-like character. Joyce’s publications include a book of poems Catching the Dream; a short play, “A Higher Calling,” included in Lisa Soland’s 30 Plays for Passionate Actors; a non-fiction short story, “Call Me Isabella,” in the Blount Library publication entitled Foothills Voices. Her play Voices of the Valley: Black Voices of a Company Town Called Alcoa, Tennessee won an award from KWG and was chosen for performances as part of the Bicentennial celebration of Maryville College and the Centennial of the City of Alcoa. Her full-length screenplay, Crossing the River, about the Underground Railroad activities in Friendsville during the Civil War won a finalist status in the World Creative Arts screenwriting contest.
Kathleen Sales is a retired psychiatrist who has always loved to write. She received honors for her writing while in school and continued to write poetry and fiction stories while working. Since retiring she’s published two novels, Saving Superman and Attack from Within, which follow a protagonist and family suffering from severe PTSD. Joyce Leo and Rita Reali are currently editing her third novel in this series. Saving Superman received 5 star reviews, an Indie Reader approved sticker, and was on Indie Reader’s best fiction list in 2014.
If interested, please send a writing sample of 3 to 5 pages and a brief bio, along with your writing goals to Joyce Leo at joyceleo@wildblue.net. You must be a member of the Knoxville Writers Guild to be an applicant. Contact KWG on their website to join. Creative nonfiction prose will be considered if submitted, but the group focus is intended to be on fiction and/or memoir formats.