In their own words
Writers, poets seek place to call home
You might imagine that with all the resources of the internet, an aspiring writer doesn’t need a physical home.
Joan Barrett Roberts and Donna Hanson would strongly disagree. Their vision is to create a brick-and-mortar location in Benton County that would support writers in ways as small as helping a new graduate who needs a resume and as big as author talks with internationally known names.
Roberts is the dreamer, founder in 2015 of the Bella Vista-based Village Lake Writers & Poets. Hanson is the current president and the force of nature determined to take the 501(c)3 nonprofit into the future. And both are convinced that just as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art teaches and inspires artists and theater companies like Theatre-Squared and Arkansas Public Theatre train and mentor actors and technicians, Village Lake Writers & Poets can be that “conduit” for everyone who makes art with words.
Roberts retired to Bella Vista after a career as a teacher. Growing up one of seven children in the oilfield town of Seminole, Okla., where her dad was a welder and her mom a nurse, she attended Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts and graduated as a teacher in 1970 at 21 years old. She started teaching science in Sand Springs, Okla., then followed her husband’s work around the midwest, teaching wherever they settled. Called to northwest Arkansas by family in the region, Roberts and her husband eventually retired to Bella Vista, and she started a new avocation.
“In 2014-15, I was active in writing poetry and doing poetry readings at the Writers’ Colony in Eureka Springs and at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville,” she explained. “Also, I was granted a Fall Fellowship at the Writers’ Colony, which was amazing! However, it was becoming more challenging for me to drive back and forth at night from Bella Vista.
“On a fall day in 2015, I drove by the newly opened Artist Retreat Center to see if they had a local writers’ group. I met the dynamic owner and director, Sara Parnell, (and) as I visited with Sara, she said, ‘Why don’t you start one?’ Sara offered to sponsor the writers’ group and allowed us to use the ARC as our home base and event space. Wow! I was astonished and surprised to hear myself say, ‘OK!’ And that was it!
“As soon as I left the ARC, I went to The Weekly Vista newspaper office and placed a newspaper ad stating the meeting’s time, date and place open to anyone interested in forming a local writers’ group. … At every turn and each request, Bella Vista patrons and community members stepped up, volunteered, turned out to support us, and said, ‘YES!’ We did everything together from the ground up, literally. If someone had an idea, we worked together to make it happen.”
Among the offerings of Village Lake Writers & Poets were monthly meetings; a Saturday evening event series with authors, poets and musicians performing; art installations, film screenings, concerts and more; an annual literacy project for junior high students; workshops with writers with names as big as Crescent Dragonwagon and Nancy Hartney; and a scholarship fund for young writers.
And then, just as Village Lake Writers & Poets was celebrating its fifth anniversary, covid forced all its activities online. And during that challenging time, Parnell sold the Artist Retreat Center — and the organization found itself homeless.
That’s where Hanson picks up the story. Also retired to Bella Vista — from Cincinnati — she returned to her love of reading and writing when a serendipitous find inspired her.
“I started writing ‘Heroes All’ after my father passed away in 2005,” she began. “I found a briefcase under a table on his back patio — (and) inside was the Scrabble board he played with me in high school, photos of my brothers and my mother and me, a Cribbage board, his Rolodex, and 63 photographs of his shipmates on the LST 374 during World War II. That briefcase contained the story of his life.
“This discovery set me on a course to find out more about his service, his shipmates, his ship and the battles they endured. I wrote the book to honor them.”
“Heroes All,” published in June of 2022, “follows a group of young sailors aboard a landing ship (LST) from her departure in 1942, to North Africa, Sicily, Salerno and Normandy in 1945,” Hanson said. “Rather than focusing on the battles, the story focuses on these young men and the bond they form.”
She’s sold about a thousand copies through Barnes & Noble, Kobo, IngramSpark, Google Books and Amazon; raised $1,000 each for the LST 325 Memorial Museum in Evansville, Ind., and the LST Veterans Association; and learned a lot of lessons she wants to share through Village Lake Writers & Poets.
“Since I’ve been called to
lead (VLWP), I would say that it’s my personal goal to provide the infrastructure for artists and writers to engage in accountability groups, critique groups, to network, to sell their work and to meet virtually or in person with like-minded individuals,” she said. “It’s a new network for me. My professional peer group were engineers or individuals with connections to aeronautics/aviation and technology. My biggest challenge is just getting to know this unique group of people.”
Aspiring writers meet the second Wednesday of the month at the Bella Vista Public Library, but Hanson dreams of a place to call home, where Village Lake Writers & Poets can once again host book signings and lectures, schedule Saturday workshops and provide resources for every kind of writer, novice or expert.
“My goal is if you’ve always wanted to write a novel, a book of poetry, family stories, or a recipe book, we have a place for you to work and expertise to help you.”
“In a perfect world, my dream would be for the group to again establish a home base, office, and event space at the former Artist Retreat Center’s historic cabin in Old Bella Vista,” added Roberts. “If not, then to receive a multimillion-dollar donation to build a new community center in Bella Vista — a place to call our own!
“I often dream that I’m in a place surrounded by books and writing tables,” she enthused. “I hope that writers continue to work together to create an active organization that supports creative storytelling in all
forms while providing vital programs, scholarships, writing contests, events, workshops, and conferences for our community.”
At a recent meeting, these writers offered to share their aspirations and successes with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
Windy Elstermeier of Rogers
Genre: Personal development
Book: “MOVE: Pivotal Solutions For Your Life,” “a motivational personal development book,” comes out this month via Ingram Sparks.
Q. What was the first book you ever fell in love with and why?
A. The most life-changing book I ever read was Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends & Influence People.” I have read this book several times in my life.
Q. How does this organization help you — or how do you hope it will help you — with being or becoming a published author?
A. I joined Village Lake Writers because every time I went to a meeting, I learned something.
Q. What’s next for you as a writer?
A. This book has inspired four more books. I already have the outline for the next book. So I am looking forward to continuing down this motivational personal development path.
Charity Bradford of Bella Vista
Genre: Science fantasy Books: Amazon for print and Kindle; audiobooks on Audible and iTunes
Q. Did you start your journey as a writer as a youngster or did writing have to wait its turn in your life?
A. I played at writing in high school but never finished anything. Looking back, I believe it was partly because I hadn’t lived enough life to find my endings. And part of it was not being brave enough to speak my truth. When I was 28, I almost died. That was my wake-up call. Writing became my way of dealing with the grief and post-traumatic depression that came afterward.
Q. When was your first book published (if you have been) and what is its title and plot line? How many books do you have in print?
A. My first novel was published in February of 2013 by WiDo Publishing. It’s about a scientist in a futuristic world that has dreamed about an invasion all her life. She’s also hiding the fact that she has magical powers. Of course, there is a strong romance thread woven in with the adventure and action. Since then, I’ve published four full-length science fiction novels and one collection of short stories. As River Ford, I’ve also published 10 sweet romance novels in print, ebook and audiobook.
Q. What’s next for you as a writer?
A. “Demon Rising,” book three in one of my science fiction series, will come out on Feb. 21. After that will be a mad dash to complete “Catch Me If I Fall,” book two in the Seasons of Sugar Creek series, by August.
Jennifer Lehmann of Bella Vista Genre: Romance Books: amazon.com/author/romancebyjeni
Q. Did you start your journey as a writer as a youngster or did writing have to wait its turn in your life?
A. Both. In high school, I wrote teenage love stories. I had a separate notebook that I carried with me that I’d write my stories in. My stories were about teenage girls and the daily drama of peer pressure, friends, family problems, and of course boy crushes. Eventually, the ages of my characters graduated from teens to young adults. I wrote an adventure story about a truck driver who helped a woman with amnesia and protected her
from the evil men who were after her. Twenty-five years later, this story was published. It is the second book in the Angel series, titled: “Dirk’s Angel of Destiny.”
Q. What is your writing process like?
A. I keep a notebook or notes page in my phone with me at all times so that when ideas or thoughts come into my head, I write them down. These ideas and thoughts then get entered into my computer where I am either organizing them and developing a story or adding to the current story I’m working on.
Q. What would you say to aspiring writers?
A. Just write. If you have a thought, write it down and see where it takes you. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be out of your head.
Lea Ann Crisp of Bella Vista
Genre: Children’s picture books
Books: Available on Amazon
Q. What was the first book you ever fell in love with and why?
A. My favorite book as
a child was Grimms’ Fairy Tales. I loved any book with fairy tales. My mother also had many beautifully illustrated poem books, and I would memorize the poems and study the art.
Q. Did you start your journey as a writer as a youngster or did writing have to wait its turn in your life?
A. I started writing poetry in college, but it was as a young mother that I was inspired to write a children’s book. I would make up stories to help my children with a fear or a troubling situation. My stories helped them, and I thought they might help others.
Q. What are the biggest challenges for you as far as getting published or distributed?
A. One of the biggest challenges I have right now is finding a traditional publisher who can expand the reach of my books. I worked with a very small publisher for my first two books, and they are only available on Amazon. Finding the right publisher can be a challenge as many do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.