Karen MacMurray, a librarian at South Piedmont Community College (SPCC) and chairwoman of the oversight committee for the writers conference, said she had the idea last winter. "We all have different motives," she said. "I'm a bibliophile— I love to read, I love to write."
Over the years, she's worked with a lot of writers and has attended eight writers conferences. "When I got here, I noticed that there were not a lot of younger people getting involved in writing so we decided to do this conference," she said.
MacMurray brought her idea before the Anson County Writers' Club, which is made up of about 10 regulars. "When Karen brought up the writers conference idea, we jumped on the bandwagon," said Elbert Marshall, president of the club. "Everybody has been very supportive of this endeavor. And it is a huge endeavor, particularly for Anson County."
The conference could easily have been held in Union County, he pointed out, but the club members felt it important to stay in Anson County.
"From a tourism standpoint, it'll draw people from inside, as well as outside, Anson County," Marshall said.
As of Friday, about 50 had pre-registered for the conference— including people from all over North Carolina, South Carolina and one from as far as Maryland. While pleased with the response, Marshall and MacMurray say they're hoping for 250-300, and are hopeful that more folks will show up on the day of the conference and register there.
The writers' club has sent out e-mails to all colleges, libraries and writers' groups within 100 miles, and regularly publicized it in local newspapers.
The Anson County Writers' Club provided the seed money to get the conference planning started, and then SPCC and Carolina Romance Writers signed on to help sponsor the event. The president of Carolina Romance Writers also helped to get several of the romance authors lined up for the conference.
Sandy Bruney, founder of the writers' club, and Dorothy Morrison, who works with SPCC, have also been heavily involved in the planning.
"Everything has just fallen into place," MacMurray said.
Two popular North Carolina authors— Robert Inman and Robert Macomber— will participate in the conference, as well as Wadesboro's own, Lillie Templeton. Judi McCoy, whose "Hounding the Pavement" will become an ABC television series next year, will also give a presentation during the conference.
For a complete listing of the authors to be featured, visit www.ansoncountywritersclub.org. The Carolinas Writers Conference is set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 4, with registration starting at 8 a.m. Registration is $30 per person. Anson County and South Piedmont Community College students may register for $6 (with an I.D.). An online and/or a printable application is available at www.ansoncountywritersclub.org.
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