If you live in the mountains and want to write, but haven’t found the support to do it, North Carolina Writer’s Network West — Netwest — is the blogspot for you.

Netwestwriters.blogspot.com is home to writers of all ages, genres and skills levels in Western North Carolina’s rural areas.

“We are striving to serve Western Carolina’s rural literary communities,” said Program Coordinator Glenda Beall.

There are 80 members of Netwest residing in nine counties from Henderson to Cherokee including Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Transylvania, Haywood, Henderson and Swain.

Beall resides in Hayesville in Clay County and refers to herself as the “go to person” for Netwest.

After retiring from teaching in Southwest Georgia, she moved to the Southwest corner of the Smoky Mountains with her husband Barry.

Beall considers herself a “multi-genre writer,” and joined the NCWN in 1994 and soon became involved with Netwest, which is the only chapter of the statewide organization.

Beall coordinates writing events in the nine counties to help writers develop and share their work.

The Netwest blog is a prominent part of the writer’s website, which, according to Beall, receives many hits.

“My goal for the blog was to get the voices of the mountain writers outside the mountains,” Beall said.

Beall updates the Web site almost daily which posts an assortment of writing contests, articles, announcements, original written works and scholarship opportunities to facilitate mountain writers efforts as well as publish their work.

“Our goal is to hold events for writers such as workshops and form critique groups, as well as hold readings at bookstores to promote writers in this area,” Beall said.

In 2003, the anthology Lights in the Mountains: Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains was published featuring stories and poems of 53 mountain writers.

“That book sold out of two printings especially with the tourists in the area,” Beall said. “We are hoping to publish another anthology in the next year and a half.”

With the writer’s accomplishments, one of the bigger issues to overcome was the distance between the members.

“The hardest part is getting in touch with all the people in the different areas,” Beall said.

To achieve her goal of getting mountains writers heard, Beall attended the North Carolina Writers’ Network Fall Conference on Writing and Publishing in 2007 to become more computer savvy.

While attending the writer’s conference in Winston-Salem, Beall was educated about Web blogs, which is a new way people in the publishing world are building an online platform.

“We realized publishers Google people to find out about them,” Beall said. “And by having a Web blog we are getting people’s names out there because the hardest part of publishing is marketing the book.”

Building a Web presence helps establish authors and assists them in promoting their work, which has been the catalyst behind Netwest’s blog.

“Writing a book and getting published is the beginning of the work,” Beall said.

Beall feels as a writer it’s hard to compete with big cities, putting those writers who live in the mountains at a disadvantage, which is why she is actively engaged with learning and developing Netwest’s Web site.

“In the mountains, we didn’t have a way of connecting with other writers until now,” Beall said.

Netwest got off the ground in the early 1990s with Nancy Simpson who was the program director for 13 years prior to Beall.

Beall admires Simpson’s hard work and efforts in paving the way for the writing group.

“Every time the (NCWN) board changed members, Nancy would go and explain why we exist and needed funded,” Beall said.

Netwest is currently funded by NCWN as well as corporate sponsorship from United Community Banks.

Among the members are published authors such as Lonnie Busch of Macon County who is the award-winning author of the novella “Turnback Creek.”

Several poets who are members are published by Finishing Line Press including Brenda Kay Ledford of Clay County.

Other notable members include NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer of Cullowhee, Gary Carden of Sylva who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by Western Carolina University as well as Nancy Simpson who is a writer in residence at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown.

Among keeping the members in the know, Beal’s goal is to have two representatives for each county. Graham, Macon and Swain counties are currently looking for representatives.

Netwest also includes members from Western South Carolina, North Georgia and East Tennessee.

Clay and Cherokee counties have five writing events monthly featuring prose, poetry and critique groups as well as readings and writing for children workshops. Beall wants to see the same type of groups engaged in all the other counties.

Members of NCWN automatically become members of Netwest if they live in one of the nine counties.

For more information visit www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com.