EPIC Update — 5 Min Read
Try new things, meet interesting people, make life richer at CCC
By Autumn Ware
EPIC Update — 5 Min Read
Try new things, meet interesting people, make life richer at CCC
By Autumn Ware
When I first arrived in Carteret County in December 2020, I was in a creative funk.
I started stories but abandoned them after a sentence. I wrote what I had to write for my copywriting clients, but I had no reserve energy for my imagination. Like a lot of people at the time, I was in survival mode. I spent most of my time during our early days Down East sitting at the window and watching four painted buntings – a rare sight I’m told – squabble at a bird feeder Jack built for me.
Sitting with the buntings throughout the winter and spring of 2021 inspired the first stirrings of creative energy. I tried sketching them, and then painting them. Then, I drew Jack and our son Fain, sphinxes and house cats, coral and lichen I found on walks. Not for any purpose other than the pleasure of looking more closely at things and learning about them. I was waking up after a long hibernation, and I was curious and excited to be clambering out of the hole I’d been in for a year or more.
By summer, I felt ready for a more substantial creative challenge. With butterflies in my stomach, I registered for Creative Writing with Tom Kies, an Edgar-nominated mystery author, through Carteret Community College’s Life Enrichment program. I was hoping to jumpstart my storytelling energy and maybe make a few writer friends, but that course did so much more for me. I can even trace EPIC Carteret’s origin back to the community Tom cultivated during those six classes.
When I first arrived in Carteret County in December 2020, I was in a creative funk.
I started stories but abandoned them after a sentence. I wrote what I had to write for my copywriting clients, but I had no reserve energy for my imagination. Like a lot of people at the time, I was in survival mode. I spent most of my time during our early days Down East sitting at the window and watching four painted buntings – a rare sight I’m told – squabble at a bird feeder Jack built for me.
Sitting with the buntings throughout the winter and spring of 2021 inspired the first stirrings of creative energy. I tried sketching them, and then painting them. Then, I drew Jack and our son Fain, sphinxes and house cats, coral and lichen I found on walks. Not for any purpose other than the pleasure of looking more closely at things and learning about them. I was waking up after a long hibernation, and I was curious and excited to be clambering out of the hole I’d been in for a year or more.
By summer, I felt ready for a more substantial creative challenge. With butterflies in my stomach, I registered for Creative Writing with Tom Kies, an Edgar-nominated mystery author, through Carteret Community College’s Life Enrichment program. I was hoping to jumpstart my storytelling energy and maybe make a few writer friends, but that course did so much more for me. I can even trace EPIC Carteret’s origin back to the community Tom cultivated during those six classes.
Melissa Kelley, Emily Carter, and I serve on the board of Carteret Writers together, and this past summer, we coordinated with the community college to co-host a summer writing workshop series. It all started with Tom Kies' creative writing class at CCC.
It was a packed classroom, which surprised me at the time. Now that I’ve gotten to know the area better, it seems par for the course. People here like to learn new things.
Tom made a similar observation during our conversation at Floyd’s 1921 in August, “You’re seeing people become more public about their talents, and they’re trying new things. You can see it through college courses where people want to try new things because it improves their life. They’re painting, or they’re sculpting, or they’re writing.”
Carteret Community College offers opportunities to explore a wide variety of interests and to meet people who share your desire to grow. Wherever your curiosity and creative energy nudges you, CCC’s Hobbyist and Life Enrichment classes are fun, educational, and affordable.
If you couldn’t make my September workshop Fear Factor: Decoding the Psychology at Work in Horror, I’m hosting a four-evening generative writing workshop called Creative Kinship: Tapping into Your Literary DNA in October. If you wish spooky season was just a little longer, join my late November/early December writing workshop Winter Hauntings: Unveiling the Art of British Ghost Storytelling to extend the eerie.
For additional information, contact Heather Boney at (252) 222-6207 or [email protected].
It was a packed classroom, which surprised me at the time. Now that I’ve gotten to know the area better, it seems par for the course. People here like to learn new things.
Tom made a similar observation during our conversation at Floyd’s 1921 in August, “You’re seeing people become more public about their talents, and they’re trying new things. You can see it through college courses where people want to try new things because it improves their life. They’re painting, or they’re sculpting, or they’re writing.”
Carteret Community College offers opportunities to explore a wide variety of interests and to meet people who share your desire to grow. Wherever your curiosity and creative energy nudges you, CCC’s Hobbyist and Life Enrichment classes are fun, educational, and affordable.
If you couldn’t make my September workshop Fear Factor: Decoding the Psychology at Work in Horror, I’m hosting a four-evening generative writing workshop called Creative Kinship: Tapping into Your Literary DNA in October. If you wish spooky season was just a little longer, join my late November/early December writing workshop Winter Hauntings: Unveiling the Art of British Ghost Storytelling to extend the eerie.
For additional information about Winter Hauntings or any other Life Enrichment course, contact Heather Boney at (252) 222-6207 or [email protected].
