During our session together I’d like to present poetry (and all art for that matter) as a vehicle of consciousness that can be used to travel across different landscapes of perspective, whether it be personal memoirs, societal reflections, cultural observations, surrealist experimentations, dream sequences, philosophical inquiries, spiritual exclamations, political diatribes, or any other topic one is keen to explore with a scenic view. I’ll provide my thoughts on how a healthy mind, body, heart, and soul can help a writer to be more focused and clear-sighted in their expressions. We’ll also go through the various stages of the creative process: initial brainstorming, pen touching paper, revision and editing, time for letting the poem brew, submitting and publishing, and putting together a manuscript.

About Scott Thomas Outlar

Outlar has had more than 2,000 poems published in over 350 literary venues since beginning to submit his work in 2014, along with dozens of essays, articles, and short stories. His work received Best of the Net nominations in 2015 and 2020, and three Pushcart Prize nominations in 2016. His poem “Kingdom of Chaos” won the 2016 Nibstears Poetry Cave Contest in Nigeria. He received the 2017 Award for Excellence in the field of Literature from Setu Magazine. Selections of his poetry have been translated into Albanian, Afrikaans, Bengali, Persian, Italian, French, Dutch, Kurdish, Malayalam, Serbian, and Spanish.

Scott’s Books

Amanda Vining photo

Amanda holds a BS in Biology from Georgia College & State University. She began her career as an educator with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. After leaving the DNR, Amanda became a formal educator with Baldwin County School System and Jasper County School System. Amanda began her museum career at the Museum of Arts and Sciences (MAS) in Macon, Georgia, where she served as Curator of Environmental Science
(2011-2020). While at MAS, Amanda developed a love for sharing the world around us with the many students who visited on school field trips. During her time as Curator of Environmental Science, Amanda launched a storytime
program for preschool children.

Since 2020, Amanda has been serving Georgia Writers Museum as a volunteer on the Education Committee. Amanda has brought her love of sharing stories with students by launching Peaches’ Reading Pasture. As Museum Manager, Amanda looks forward to serving the community and helping to inspire those within our community to put words to paper and share their stories.

Amanda was born and raised in nearby Shady Dale, Georgia. Her husband, Rodney, is a native of Eatonton, and they currently reside in Putnam County. They have three children.