Thank you for making our last meeting such a success. It was the first meeting hosted by our newest member, Russell Giordano, and he did a fantastic job. Actually I heard it was the first event he's ever hosted at his place. Let's hope there will be many more! Present were Russell, Kerry Pobanz, Jerry Chesnut, Valerie Shimoyama, June Saunders, Richard Panzer, and Bob and Karen Beebe.
Bob started things off by sharing some words about what holds writers back (basically fear: fears about your own ability and fears about how others may respond to your work). Fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work. Fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work. He followed this up with 8 tips for creating compelling conflict in writing fiction.
Following this, Russell bravely presented a debut piece: a reflection on the life of an old friend who recently passed away. Its theme, one we can all relate to to some degree: unfulfilled potential; what might have been; how things could have been different if our response, or the response of others to our circumstances, had been different. We hope Russell will continue developing this piece.
Next Jerry presented the latest installments of his ongoing story: the next chapter from where he left off, and a chapter slated to be near the end of the work. In the former, protagonist Jerrod proposes a first ever class reunion from college. The latter focused on Jerrod's relationship with his teenage son and reflecting on his departed wife. Heavy stuff. Jerry is nothing but honest. We pray for the continuing development of his story.
Our next meeting is scheduled for this Sunday, May 17, 3:00-5:00 pm, at Jerry's house (11 Sorbello Road, Paramus). Kerry will present another essay on life in the spirit world (see the attachment). We expect Valerie to offer one of her writings as well looking back on her life.
I am attaching a couple of submissions I received for the upcoming second issue of The Spirited Goldfinch. I look forward to any of your comments at the meeting.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Of the People
My apologies for getting this off so late. We have a meeting scheduled for this Sunday, but first...
Our last meeting took place on Sunday, April 19, at the Pobanz residence. Present were Kerry Pobanz, June Saunders, Valerie Shimoyama, Jerry Chesnut, Russell Giordano, and Bob and Karen Beebe (and we thank Carol for all the nourishments provided during the course of the meeting). Bob began by reading something about "Turning Your Characters Inside Out", in other words revealing the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters in your writing (the main ones anyway). This is importance if you want your readers to care about what happens to them. They have to be able to get inside their heads, to "be" them in a sense.
Then we heard from someone who is very good at doing that, June, who presented a newly written chapter of her Civil War novel that goes back and tells how her two main protagonists, Gabriel and Simeon, first met each other and what happened to build a friendship between these two very different kinds of personages. She even threw in a little known story about young Abe Lincoln getting into a fistfight with the local tough, ultimately winning the respect of the townspeople and the tough himself.
So, our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, May 3, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the home of Russell Giordano (91 Warren St., Apt. 1B, Nutley). Russell will present a little something (haiku, poem, some kind of vignette?). Then Jerry will come forth with the latest installment of his work-in-progress. Should be exciting, so I look forward to seeing you there despite the late notice (mea culpa).
God bless you all!
Bob
Our last meeting took place on Sunday, April 19, at the Pobanz residence. Present were Kerry Pobanz, June Saunders, Valerie Shimoyama, Jerry Chesnut, Russell Giordano, and Bob and Karen Beebe (and we thank Carol for all the nourishments provided during the course of the meeting). Bob began by reading something about "Turning Your Characters Inside Out", in other words revealing the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters in your writing (the main ones anyway). This is importance if you want your readers to care about what happens to them. They have to be able to get inside their heads, to "be" them in a sense.
Then we heard from someone who is very good at doing that, June, who presented a newly written chapter of her Civil War novel that goes back and tells how her two main protagonists, Gabriel and Simeon, first met each other and what happened to build a friendship between these two very different kinds of personages. She even threw in a little known story about young Abe Lincoln getting into a fistfight with the local tough, ultimately winning the respect of the townspeople and the tough himself.
So, our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, May 3, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the home of Russell Giordano (91 Warren St., Apt. 1B, Nutley). Russell will present a little something (haiku, poem, some kind of vignette?). Then Jerry will come forth with the latest installment of his work-in-progress. Should be exciting, so I look forward to seeing you there despite the late notice (mea culpa).
God bless you all!
Bob
Friday, April 24, 2009
Online Promotion - words we don't know
Hi all. I haven't seen the group for a while, but when I run across something interesting I like to post it here. This is an article I ran across at
http://havemacwillblog.com/2009/04/11/10-words-you-dont-know/ It is reproduced in it's entirety for you below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people who find this web page will surely know one or two of these words, because that’s just the way of the world. But most of you will not know these words and, to be honest, you will not find them hard to forget. Here’s the list of ten, randomly selected from a much longer list of obscure and strange words:
1. Anopisthography. This refers to the practice of writing on just one side of the paper. When I have a notebook that opens left-to-right I’m not an anopisthographist, but when the pages are bound at the top, I convert to anopisthography immediately. I’ll bet most of you are the same. I’ll also bet that all of you suffer from “post-it anopisthorgraphy.” Only a curmudgeonly pinchpenny would fail to do so.
2. Quomodocunquize. Quomodocunquize is a word for recessionary times. I’m hoping it will see much greater usage now that so many of us are impecunious. It means: to make money by any possible means. Naturally that includes both immoral and amoral means, but could also include ingenious means, such as making money from Google Ads by doing nothing more than blogging about unusual words.
3. Jentacular. What could be more jentacular than the smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the stove and the rustle of cornflakes as you pour them into the bowl. The answer is: nothing, really, as long as you live in America or the UK. However, if you live in Scandinavia, such things are not jentacular at all - although the sight of sliced cheeses and cold meats on a plate certainly are. Jentacular means relating to breakfast.
4. Pigmentocracy. From the presidential perspective, 2008 saw the end of pigmentocracy in America - pimentocracy being government by those of one skin color. To noone’s surprise, pigmentocracy tends to be the rule in most countries. The US is now one of the few exceptions.
5. Squaliform. This means shaped like a shark. It’s the kind of word you don’t get to use very often, even if you know it. All sharks are, by definition, squaliform. But not many other denizens of the deep are similarly shaped. Also, should you actually be sailing in shark infested waters, and you see the cliché sharks fin sticking out of the wave, you’re more likely to explete the presence of the shark than calmly pronounce “I believe there’s something squaliform out there.”
6. Quickhatch. A quickhatch is not what it sounds like (to me); a relatively premature chick emerging from its egg. It’s something else entirely. Hugh Jackman portrays a human quickhatch in the X-Men movies, with the latest movie in the series being very specifically about Hugh Jackman’s acquisition of his quickhatchness. A quickhatch is a wolverine. Apparently the word derives from an American Indian word.
7. Gossypibom. I love really really specialized words and gossypibom is a great exemplar. A gossypibom is: a surgical sponge accidentally left inside a patient’s body. It’s a surprising fact that patients occasionally leave the operating theater with a little souvenir from the surgical team. Statistics suggest that it occurs about 30 times per week in the US and a couple of times a week in the UK (but they do more operations per person in the US.) Things left behind include swabs, clips, screws and surgical implements. Only the first on this list is actually a gossypibom.
8. Noxal. When people discover, to their dismay, that they are the proud owner of a gossypibom, they are likely to regard it as a noxal thing. As a word, “noxal” has, on occasion, been used to mean noxious, but the meaning of this adjective is properly a little more specialized than that. It pertains to damage or wrongful injury from an object (or possibly an animal belonging to someone else.)
9. Hypothecary. I’m sure you’re well aware what an apothecary is. It’s an alternative word for pharmacist. A hypothecary, however, is not a hyperactive pharmacist. It’s much more topical than that. A hypothecary is a mortgagee - someone who loans money to house buyers. Under normal circumstances hypothecaries simply make a living by gathering interest payments from the mortgage. In recent times hypothecaries bundled up tranches of property loans into derivatives and sold them to banks all over the world. This created an unsustainable financial bubble. The bursting of the bubble gave rise to a stock market crash and a huge increase in unemployment. This left many people with little option but to quomodocunquize.
10. Xenobombulation. I’ve got a white paper to write right now, and I really should get on with it, but I’m xenobombulating again. Xenobombulation is the act of avoiding ones duties, malingering, even feigning illness or pulling some stunt like writing a blog post when you really should be getting on with real work.
ttp://jonlomb.1-family.com - Free Classified Ads
http://jonlomb.veretekk.com - Online promotion by Veretekk
Also try any of these free classified ad sites for your online promotion
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Automotive.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Boats.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Books.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Business.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/BusinessOpportunities.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Clothing.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Computers.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ComputerSoftware.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Education.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Electronics.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Employment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Entertainment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Hobbies.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Jewelry.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Pets.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/RealEstate.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesNeeded.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesOffered.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Sports.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Travel.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Video.shtml
http://www.lulu.com/content/5548827
http://blogfather.net/blog.php?FID=6103
NJ Writers Group - The Spirited Goldfinch
http://havemacwillblog.com/2009/04/11/10-words-you-dont-know/ It is reproduced in it's entirety for you below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people who find this web page will surely know one or two of these words, because that’s just the way of the world. But most of you will not know these words and, to be honest, you will not find them hard to forget. Here’s the list of ten, randomly selected from a much longer list of obscure and strange words:
1. Anopisthography. This refers to the practice of writing on just one side of the paper. When I have a notebook that opens left-to-right I’m not an anopisthographist, but when the pages are bound at the top, I convert to anopisthography immediately. I’ll bet most of you are the same. I’ll also bet that all of you suffer from “post-it anopisthorgraphy.” Only a curmudgeonly pinchpenny would fail to do so.
2. Quomodocunquize. Quomodocunquize is a word for recessionary times. I’m hoping it will see much greater usage now that so many of us are impecunious. It means: to make money by any possible means. Naturally that includes both immoral and amoral means, but could also include ingenious means, such as making money from Google Ads by doing nothing more than blogging about unusual words.
3. Jentacular. What could be more jentacular than the smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the stove and the rustle of cornflakes as you pour them into the bowl. The answer is: nothing, really, as long as you live in America or the UK. However, if you live in Scandinavia, such things are not jentacular at all - although the sight of sliced cheeses and cold meats on a plate certainly are. Jentacular means relating to breakfast.
4. Pigmentocracy. From the presidential perspective, 2008 saw the end of pigmentocracy in America - pimentocracy being government by those of one skin color. To noone’s surprise, pigmentocracy tends to be the rule in most countries. The US is now one of the few exceptions.
5. Squaliform. This means shaped like a shark. It’s the kind of word you don’t get to use very often, even if you know it. All sharks are, by definition, squaliform. But not many other denizens of the deep are similarly shaped. Also, should you actually be sailing in shark infested waters, and you see the cliché sharks fin sticking out of the wave, you’re more likely to explete the presence of the shark than calmly pronounce “I believe there’s something squaliform out there.”
6. Quickhatch. A quickhatch is not what it sounds like (to me); a relatively premature chick emerging from its egg. It’s something else entirely. Hugh Jackman portrays a human quickhatch in the X-Men movies, with the latest movie in the series being very specifically about Hugh Jackman’s acquisition of his quickhatchness. A quickhatch is a wolverine. Apparently the word derives from an American Indian word.
7. Gossypibom. I love really really specialized words and gossypibom is a great exemplar. A gossypibom is: a surgical sponge accidentally left inside a patient’s body. It’s a surprising fact that patients occasionally leave the operating theater with a little souvenir from the surgical team. Statistics suggest that it occurs about 30 times per week in the US and a couple of times a week in the UK (but they do more operations per person in the US.) Things left behind include swabs, clips, screws and surgical implements. Only the first on this list is actually a gossypibom.
8. Noxal. When people discover, to their dismay, that they are the proud owner of a gossypibom, they are likely to regard it as a noxal thing. As a word, “noxal” has, on occasion, been used to mean noxious, but the meaning of this adjective is properly a little more specialized than that. It pertains to damage or wrongful injury from an object (or possibly an animal belonging to someone else.)
9. Hypothecary. I’m sure you’re well aware what an apothecary is. It’s an alternative word for pharmacist. A hypothecary, however, is not a hyperactive pharmacist. It’s much more topical than that. A hypothecary is a mortgagee - someone who loans money to house buyers. Under normal circumstances hypothecaries simply make a living by gathering interest payments from the mortgage. In recent times hypothecaries bundled up tranches of property loans into derivatives and sold them to banks all over the world. This created an unsustainable financial bubble. The bursting of the bubble gave rise to a stock market crash and a huge increase in unemployment. This left many people with little option but to quomodocunquize.
10. Xenobombulation. I’ve got a white paper to write right now, and I really should get on with it, but I’m xenobombulating again. Xenobombulation is the act of avoiding ones duties, malingering, even feigning illness or pulling some stunt like writing a blog post when you really should be getting on with real work.
ttp://jonlomb.1-family.com - Free Classified Ads
http://jonlomb.veretekk.com - Online promotion by Veretekk
Also try any of these free classified ad sites for your online promotion
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Automotive.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Boats.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Books.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Business.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/BusinessOpportunities.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Clothing.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Computers.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ComputerSoftware.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Education.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Electronics.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Employment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Entertainment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Hobbies.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Jewelry.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Pets.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/RealEstate.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesNeeded.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesOffered.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Sports.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Travel.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Video.shtml
http://www.lulu.com/content/5548827
http://blogfather.net/blog.php?FID=6103
NJ Writers Group - The Spirited Goldfinch
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Trans-Siberian Experience
Dear Friends,
I hope that you all enjoyed a Happy Easter this past Sunday. Finally the weather seems to be cooperating and we are looking forward to a very nice weekend. Our last meeting was held at the home of June Saunders with all of the accompanying hospitality. Thank you, June! Present were June, Valerie Shimoyama, Jerry Chesnut, Kerry Pobanz, Russell Giordano, and Bob and Karen Beebe. I began the meeting by presenting an article by Alan Rinzler on "Falling in Love with Your Characters." He begins, "are you an author who'd rather spend time with your fictional creations than with a real significant somebody who's waiting in the next room?" Well, hopefully we are not that extreme, but the point is to be a good (great) writer you have to make your characters real. Most great literature rests on the foundation of great characters: Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, the March sisters, Don Quixote, etc.
From there, I (Bob) presented the most recent addition to my budding novel (now all of 9 pages) about an American riding the Trans-Siberian railroad who has all his money stolen and misses getting back on the train after a stop at a village on the shores of Lake Baikal. There he meets up with an orthodox priest which is destined to become one of the great relationships in literature (well, maybe that's being a little presumptuous). In any case I am very grateful for all the feedback I received at the meeting. Since then I have added a few more pages in which the two engage in a fluctuating conversation in the priest's church office. It is a clash of civilizations on one level, but one where each has something to teach the other. From here, the American guy begins a long trek physically and spiritually back to his family waiting in St. Petersburg.
So our next meeting is this Sunday, April 19, 3:00-5:00 pm, at Kerry Pobanz's house. June Saunders will be presenting another chapter of her novel, which you should have already received. As she explained, this one goes back to a previous period in the novel to give some background to the relationship between her two main male characters. Unfortunately, Russell won't be able to make it this time, so his "homework assignment" is now due on May 3 (the next meeting).
See you this Sunday!
Bob
I hope that you all enjoyed a Happy Easter this past Sunday. Finally the weather seems to be cooperating and we are looking forward to a very nice weekend. Our last meeting was held at the home of June Saunders with all of the accompanying hospitality. Thank you, June! Present were June, Valerie Shimoyama, Jerry Chesnut, Kerry Pobanz, Russell Giordano, and Bob and Karen Beebe. I began the meeting by presenting an article by Alan Rinzler on "Falling in Love with Your Characters." He begins, "are you an author who'd rather spend time with your fictional creations than with a real significant somebody who's waiting in the next room?" Well, hopefully we are not that extreme, but the point is to be a good (great) writer you have to make your characters real. Most great literature rests on the foundation of great characters: Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, the March sisters, Don Quixote, etc.
From there, I (Bob) presented the most recent addition to my budding novel (now all of 9 pages) about an American riding the Trans-Siberian railroad who has all his money stolen and misses getting back on the train after a stop at a village on the shores of Lake Baikal. There he meets up with an orthodox priest which is destined to become one of the great relationships in literature (well, maybe that's being a little presumptuous). In any case I am very grateful for all the feedback I received at the meeting. Since then I have added a few more pages in which the two engage in a fluctuating conversation in the priest's church office. It is a clash of civilizations on one level, but one where each has something to teach the other. From here, the American guy begins a long trek physically and spiritually back to his family waiting in St. Petersburg.
So our next meeting is this Sunday, April 19, 3:00-5:00 pm, at Kerry Pobanz's house. June Saunders will be presenting another chapter of her novel, which you should have already received. As she explained, this one goes back to a previous period in the novel to give some background to the relationship between her two main male characters. Unfortunately, Russell won't be able to make it this time, so his "homework assignment" is now due on May 3 (the next meeting).
See you this Sunday!
Bob
Saturday, April 11, 2009
What are the key elements to an effective Online Promotion ?
As of March 2009, Google reports that their index contains over 25 Billion web pages. In addition, Google engineers have discovered over 1 trillion unique Internet addresses. The Internet is truly a vast, (and rapidly growing), repository of the world's information.
There are approximately 6.7 billion people in the world today. Currently, only a fraction, or about about 1.5 Billion have access to the Internet. The distribution favors Asia, with 657 million, Europe with 393 million, North America with 251 million, Latin America with 173 million, and the rest of the world with a little over 100 million.
Although Asia has the largest number of users, the percentage of users with access to the Internet is also the lowest. Only 17% of the population of Asia is online. Japan (72%), and Korea (74%), have high percentages of their population on the Internet, but China and India both lag far behind. In Europe the percentage is nearly 50%, and in North America it is over 75%. Asia is clearly the area with the most potential for growth.
Certainly the size of the web at 25 billion is impressive, but more importantly, how can your customers find your web site on the Internet out of the billions of web pages that exist ? Regardless of whether you are promoting a book, a product, or a service on the Internet, the principles of online promotion are the same.
It doesn't matter how big the Internet grows, your customers will probably find your web site using one of the major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, etc.
The most popular search engine on the Internet is Google, by quite a wide margin. Over 63 % of Internet searches are made through Google, according to recent information.
If you want to get good search results on Google, the basis of any online promotion should first consider the keywords by which your site can be found. This is one of the most important things to investigate. It is worthwhile to carefully consider the keywords you select when an online promotion is created.
Think of it in terms of advertising. Every word, every image in advertising is carefully crafted to create an impression in the minds of potential prospects. The "impression" on Google is not based on image, or on aesthetics, or clever ad copy, but solely on quality content using keywords. That is the critical importance of keywords on Google and the other search engines.
Do the keywords that you plan to target generate a significant amount of monthly traffic on Google ? Obscure keywords will not generate significant traffic for your web site.
Another key component is to use these keywords to create original written content. You may not feel that you are a professional writer, but you do not need to be one. Believe it or not, there is no ranking on Google that gives credit for writing ability. In reality, if you own your own business, who can create content in your own unique way for your particular product better than you can ?
Quality content sprinkled with keywords is the fertilizer that will grow good results on Google searches. Since spring has now arrived, it is definitely the time to plant some good keyword seeds for your business on the Internet.
http://jonlomb.1-family.com - Free Classified Ads
http://jonlomb.veretekk.com - Online promotion by Veretekk
Also try any of these free classified ad sites for your online promotion
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Automotive.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Boats.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Books.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Business.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/BusinessOpportunities.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Clothing.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Computers.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ComputerSoftware.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Education.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Electronics.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Employment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Entertainment.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Hobbies.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Jewelry.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Misc.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Pets.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/RealEstate.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesNeeded.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/ServicesOffered.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Sports.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Travel.shtml
http://jonlomb.1-family.com/Video.shtml
http://www.lulu.com/content/5548827
http://blogfather.net/blog.php?FID=6103
Thursday, March 26, 2009
NJ Writers Group - The Spirited Goldfinch
Hi all !
Does anyone have cacoethes scribendi ?
It sounds like some kind of exotic disease, but actually it is Latin for an "insatiable urge to write". I hope all of you are blessed with this benign disease.
If you didn't have a chance to check out the last set of links I posted here, scroll down below a couple of posts to check them out.
Here are some additional internet resources.
http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/links.html
http://www.stevens-arce.com/Links.html
http://www.artistresource.org/poetlinx.htm
http://www.google.com/Top/Arts/Writers_Resources/
PS - don't forget to add The Spirited Goldfinch http://www.lulu.com/content/5548827 to all of your blog and forum posts.
Good Luck in your writing endeavors !
Does anyone have cacoethes scribendi ?
It sounds like some kind of exotic disease, but actually it is Latin for an "insatiable urge to write". I hope all of you are blessed with this benign disease.
If you didn't have a chance to check out the last set of links I posted here, scroll down below a couple of posts to check them out.
Here are some additional internet resources.
http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/links.html
http://www.stevens-arce.com/Links.html
http://www.artistresource.org/poetlinx.htm
http://www.google.com/Top/Arts/Writers_Resources/
PS - don't forget to add The Spirited Goldfinch http://www.lulu.com/content/5548827 to all of your blog and forum posts.
Good Luck in your writing endeavors !
Thursday, March 19, 2009
February Meeting
We had a very inspiring meeting of our group a week ago Sunday at Valerie Shimoyama's apartment. Thank you, Valerie! Present were Valerie, June Saunders, Kerry Pobanz, Richard Panzer, Jerry Chesnut, Bob and Karen Beebe, and newcomer Russell Shen, invited by Valerie (welcome!).
Bob started off the meeting by sharing some responses he had received from people who had heard about the publication of The Spirited Goldfinch and about the existence of our group. Several writers, both published and nonpublished, wrote very encouraging messages, expressing a desire to contribute to the next edition of the journal (still this summer, hopefully!) and wanting to keep in touch. One writer, an English professor from Washington State connected to Free Teens, already sent in a short story he had written. Concerning the journal itself, we have currently sold over 30 copies. Slightly short of being a best-seller, but it's a start.
Then Jerry shared an update on his sort-of autobiography, which is growing more fictional as he brings us up to the present and into the future. Whether fact or fiction, however, Jerry continues to delight us with his inimitable style and way with words (e.g., "all shows led to the Friday Night Movie, the last stop before test patterns and pre-civilization.")
From there we heard from June on her latest chapter of "Into the Breach," entitled "First Blood." The Civil War has begun, young men are going off to war, while Gabriel stays back to wed Genevieve to protect her from the shame of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. In this chapter, June did a masterful job at conveying the conflicting feelings at work as they attempt to sort out their relationship.
Our next meeting is scheduled for this Sunday, March 15, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the Beebe residence (26 Amity St., Little Falls). Valerie is supposed to present some of her work. If, perchance, she is not ready, I will present one of my short stories. In this case, I will send it out by the weekend for you to read.
God bless you all! I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
Bob started off the meeting by sharing some responses he had received from people who had heard about the publication of The Spirited Goldfinch and about the existence of our group. Several writers, both published and nonpublished, wrote very encouraging messages, expressing a desire to contribute to the next edition of the journal (still this summer, hopefully!) and wanting to keep in touch. One writer, an English professor from Washington State connected to Free Teens, already sent in a short story he had written. Concerning the journal itself, we have currently sold over 30 copies. Slightly short of being a best-seller, but it's a start.
Then Jerry shared an update on his sort-of autobiography, which is growing more fictional as he brings us up to the present and into the future. Whether fact or fiction, however, Jerry continues to delight us with his inimitable style and way with words (e.g., "all shows led to the Friday Night Movie, the last stop before test patterns and pre-civilization.")
From there we heard from June on her latest chapter of "Into the Breach," entitled "First Blood." The Civil War has begun, young men are going off to war, while Gabriel stays back to wed Genevieve to protect her from the shame of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. In this chapter, June did a masterful job at conveying the conflicting feelings at work as they attempt to sort out their relationship.
Our next meeting is scheduled for this Sunday, March 15, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the Beebe residence (26 Amity St., Little Falls). Valerie is supposed to present some of her work. If, perchance, she is not ready, I will present one of my short stories. In this case, I will send it out by the weekend for you to read.
God bless you all! I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)