Our guest speaker this evening was Nancy Panko. Nancy is an author and a founding member of NC Scribes which was started 12 years ago and is now based in Fuquay Varina. There are currently 15 members and ten of those have written 61 stories in Chicken Soup For The Soul. Sincen there are hundreds of submissions for every published story that is quite an accomplishment! And three of them had stories in 2 books at the same time – again, quite impressive. When the publisher of Chicken Soup For The Soul discovered that these writers were all part fo the same group (NC Scribes) they nicknamed them the “Chicken Coop”. Interestingly, the average aga of the writers in this group is over 71 years old.
Nancy read one of her short stories to us as well. It was called “Stuck In The Ceiling”. It was a story about how her husband learned a very valuable lesson about changing the batteries in a smoke detector that is hard to reach in a high place. Apparently, her husband and family provide some very good material for writing stories.
Nancy is a retired pediatric RN, and author of award-winning novels: Sheltering Angels and Guiding Missal. She is the author of gold medal-winner: Blueberry Moose, and silver medal-winners: Peacy Possums and The Skink Who Lost His Cents. Panko also penned her own compilation of short stories named: Chicken Scratchings – Fifty Inspirational Stories From a Mother Hen.
Nancy is a frequent contributor to Chicken Soup For The Soul and has written for Guidepost and Womans’s World magazines. Nancy is a member of the NC Scribes Writing Circle and The Millitary Writers Society of America.
She and her husband migrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in 2008 to live near their two children. They have four grandchildren and three grand-dogs. They love being in, on, or near the water of Lake Gaston with their family.
To learn more or to order one of her books you can contact Nancy at www.nancypanko.com.