Ram's Head Writers' Group - Reviews

THE REVIEW

2012-02-16T12:20:00.001-08:00

WRITERS’ DEN

My living room was full last night with eight writers gathered to read and discuss some of our recent drafts. Many thanks to all who attended. Monica Buchanan is a new face who joined us last night for the first time. And Michael Hiebert joined us again after a very long absence. He has moved to Chilliwack and so attendance has been difficult, for sure. Along with Michael were his girlfriend Shannon, and his son, Legend. It was nice to meet Shannon and amazing to see how much Legend has grown in three years. And Jim joined us again, back in good health we are glad to see.

Julie read her short personal piece “Peanut Butter And Jam”, a sensual account of making and eating toast with peanut butter and jam. It made us all hungry.

Wendy read a short piece called “Nightmares”. A woman is searching in a darkened cave for her “boy” and encounters fire. She awakes from the nightmare but then sees her dog has singed fur, and she knows he was with her in the dream.

Michael read from a new novel he has started that is based on an award winning short story he had written previously. It is called “Boy Alone” and is a daily summer journal assigned as homework to the 14 year old’s class. It is written in first person and provides a very strong voice for this young boy who complains about his single mother and her meds, and her boyfriend on crack, and not knowing his real father. We know the story will lead somewhere difficult.

Monica hopes to write a self-help book about abused girls growing up still silent about their suffering and having trouble finding and using their own voices. She read us a piece of analysis she hopes to include somewhere in the book. It alludes to her own past emotional abuse and has insight into how this impacts herself and others. She writes with a great deal of emotion about a life filled with lemons and no sugar to make lemonade, and of survivors of the suffering who become a group of living dead, that impacts the reader very strongly. We hope to see how the book develops.

Margaret Florczak read a poem of hers called “Personal Science” inspired by her mother suffering from and dying of alzheimer’s. The poem gave all the scientific explanations of how the disease shrivels the brain and destroys a life. Margaret is also self-publishing a book with Amazon called “Unforgiving” which is an autobiography of her own young life and the abuse she suffered.

Jason read the chapter “Consternation” from his novel. We see Gregg’s great grandmother, Iris, visiting the grave where Jody’s parents are buried. She remembers how she met them in a snowstorm. Breaking into her reveries is Gregg’s voice calling for Jody, and she finds Gregg naked, climbing out of an open grave. There was a little bit of humour in this chapter, which was sharp contrast to the grimness of previous chapters.

Jim read Chapter 12 of his second novel in the “Coventry Ghosts” series, and we see Sarah, the kitten ghost, getting frustrated at having to learn the alphabet and the vowels in order to learn to read. She invites Carly, her teacher, back to the coffee shop to visit with the other ghosts there. The judge informs everyone that Jason, the thief of ghost essences, has escaped from prison in Mexico. Jim has had an agent request to see the first 100 pages of “Coventry Ghosts”. We hope something comes of it for him.

I read another story from my “Honey” collection. This one is “It’s Honey’s Fault” and tells of all the household and technical difficulties over the past six weeks that prevented me from getting any writing done. My listeners laughed so that was a good way to end the evening.

I apologize to Margaret Moffatt that there wasn’t time to read the next two chapters of her “Coffin And Dye” series. Hopefully I can read them next time.

Ellie was unable to attend as she has a terrible cold and Anne Berrie said she will come to the next Meeting. We are still waiting to hear what happened at a court case she was attending last December.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, March 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then. Happy writing in the meantime!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2012-01-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

EIGHTY-EIGHT!!!

Today is Margaret’s 88th birthday! Congratulations from all the Rams, Margaret!

Ellie and Jason joined me last Wednesday for a Meeting here in spite of the heavy rain and wind that night. Jim was still recovering from his surgery. He said he was going back to work today. Hope all is well. Wendy wasn’t well last week, either. Julie said she couldn’t make the Meeting. And sadly, Bob has said he’s lost interest in writing anything and will no longer be attending. We will miss him.

Jason read the next chapter, “Illusions”, where Gregg thinks he has died, but is phantasizing about Jody seducing him, which he thinks is real. Then the man in black attacks Jody and as they leave, Gregg wants to follow them. But his Auntie Samantha, who had died, appears and warns him that he will be dead if he doesn’t come with her, and that being tempted by Jody was just a trick by the man in black. Lots of sexual tension in this chapter that was very well done.

Ellie read us her poem about the Coati-Mundi, that she had submitted to the Canadian Poetry Institute and which has won 2nd place in their competition. The Coati-Mundi is a mischievous animal much like a raccoon that lives in Central America. Ellie wrote the poem to instruct young children about the animal, but also related the animal’s funny antics to give some homour to the rhyming verse.

Since I didn’t have any new writing of my own to read, I read two chapters of Margaret’s from “Cofin And Dye”. In the second half of “Goodbye Mr. Turnkey”, Coffin accidentally lets go of the wooden cart carrying Mr. Turnkey’s coffin, and the cart takes off down the hill. The coffin leaves the cart, turns over, and the remains of Mr. Turnkey fall into Slipper’s Creek. Coffin and the mourners following him, retrieve the coffin, put it on the cart, and proceed to the cemetery where Rev. Solace conducts the service and unknowingly buries an empty coffin.

In the next chapter, “Coffin Arrives Home”, Dye instructs Coffin to meet him and they go on to St. Willen’s Church on the Busby estate where a ghost in the crupt in the floor of the entrance appears every night and scares the cleaner. They are unable to keep a night cleaner and want the ghost eradicated. Dye tells Coffin he will have to dig up the tomb on Friday night and look for the metal plate that would identify who is buried there.

I apologize for this Review being so late, but I had a chance to have new kitchen countertops installed and that has been a lengthy process that kept me busy for several days.

Hope everyone is well, and busy writing a storm of words for 2012! Next Meeting will be Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Really, really hope to see you then!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-12-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

‘TIS THE SEASON

Seven Rams came together Wednesday to celebrate the Season in authorial fashion, with food and phraseology. Wendy, Julie, Jim, Bob, Ellie, and Jason all joined me, bringing snacks and some reading to savour.

Ellie brought a young adult novel she has started, urged on by the online writing course she has been taking. In the opening we see Jordy, who has lost his Dad, go outside with his mother and their Irish setter in a storm. They stand and watch the storm blow in from the ocean, each grieving their loss. When they return to the house, there is a power outage. We all liked this beginning and the promise of a good read it gave us.

Wendy now has five chapters in her story “A New Dawning”, about a middle aged woman being diagnosed with breast cancer. She is divorced and does not have a close relationship with her children. She goes into denial, refusing to tell anyone and not willing to think about anything to do with treatment. This is the beginning of her journey through self-discovery and toward changed relationships with her nearest and dearest.

I gave everyone a printed copy of my poem “The Ghost of Christmas”. It was first published in several newspapers in the mid 1980s and read on the radio by Roy Jacques at CKWX. In the past I had played the tape of him reading it each year, but no longer have a tape player, so I printed the poem and handed it out instead.

I also read aloud a letter I received with my copies of the anthology in which my piece “Freedom”, about a homeless man, was awarded an Honourable Mention. Out of 700 entries, mine was in the top thirteen. It was a very nice letter of congratulations, and my name appears on the book cover of the book as one of the authors.

Bob read more of his biography, spanning from 1938 to 1940. He starts school, and travels with his family to the San Francisco World’s Fair and then to Los Angeles to visit relatives. He heard a war had been started. And his stepsister, Mabel, died. This affected his stepmother greatly, and life was never the same after that.

Jason read his chapter “Reminiscence” where Jody is remembering Gregg’s kindness and understanding he gave her after the loss of her parents and over her injuries. Seeing him thrown into a grave at the cemetery, she assumes he is dead, as she is kidnapped by a figure that terrifies her.

In the December issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine, Margaret Moffatt has two pieces published. And her book “Blow Up The Castle” is now available at Coles in Langley (Willowbrook) and in Portland, Oregon. We ran out of time and I was unable to read Margaret’s latest chapter in “Coffin And Dye”. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to.

Scanning a list of authors in “Inkspots”, the anthology that has my story in it, I came across Gemma’s name. So there is also a story by Gemma Tamas in the same book. Congratulations, Gemma! We haven’t seen Gemma recently as she has been nursemaid to both her husband and her brother. We send our regards and wishes for the best.

Margaret Florczak recently moved and then learned her husband had to have by-pass surgery. So we send our best wishes there as well.

In spite of the world’s problems, our meeting was joyful, and at Christmas that is always a sign of hope and renewal. I wish to thank all those who brought snacks for us to eat, and their writing for us to enjoy. It is miraculous that people are so willing to share those heartfelt personal endeavors with us. Thank you for allowing us to savour the baking and for trusting us to hear or read your words.

Next Meeting will be in the New Year, Wednesday, January 4th, at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!

Lisa.

THE REVIEW

2011-11-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

OCCUPY THE PAGE!

Yes! I’m all in favour of writers asserting their right to protest by using the written word to occupy the page. With a tarp of verbosity we will shelter all the homeless manuscripts addicted to their narcissism. We will insist on our democratic right to anarchy! We must be heard, but only by invitation issued to the press, and never off the recorded page! Now calling all Rams! OCCUPY THE PAGE! RESIST EVICTION! FOREVER THE PRINTED WORD!

Forgive me, but I couldn’t resist.

Had an awesome Meeting Wednesday. Anne, Julie, Bob, Jim and Jason joined me, in spite of the rain.

Anne updated us on the pending court case against a Strata Council and a Strata Manager who have been harassing a condominium owner. It goes to court Dec. 8th and we’re all waiting to hear the outcome. This is a true event on which Anne’s story is based.

I read my next chapter in “Nigel Wingate Is Dead” where Nigel meets with his friend who is a lawyer. He tells the friend about Dee and her drowning her child and then his being visited by the R.C.M.P. asking questions about it. He wants to protect Dee. But the friend informs him he could be charged with being an accessory after the fact, and that the only way he can avoid being compelled to testify against Dee if she is caught and tried is if he marries her.

Also, I was informed by Polar Expressions that my short story, about the homeless man in Langley, made Honourable Mention in their contest. That is a step up for me, as the last time I entered a story of mine, it was included in their anthology, but was not a winner.

Next I read Margaret’s “Goodbye Thomas Turnkey”. This chapter is the funeral of Mr. Turnkey where The Reverend now asserts his belief in ghosts, astounding everyone. He then tells Coffin, who he thinks is Bob, that his task is to pull a wagon with Turnkey’s coffin up the hill to reach the graveyard. Coffin asks why not drive it there in a hearse, and The Reverend tells him they can’t afford the hearse. He is left in the cold and the snow to pull the wagon.

Jason read his chapter “Revealed” where Gregg’s great grandmother decides to do some housecleaning and finds a key that leads to a secret cupboard in the cellar where she finds several containers that had belonged to Jody’s parents. She opens one and is amazed by a book that seems to be alive. She remembers Jody’s father saying that Jody must have this book, that it was the veiled story of them all.

Jim read his Ch. 11 that shows Sara teaching Karly how to maneuver as a ghost and Karly teaching Sara how to read. They seem to be developing a friendship, and Sara invites Karly to the coffee shop to meet the others.

Julie read a poem of hers titled “The Eyes”. Each sentence is an example of how the eyes mirror the soul in each of these varied life experiences. The poem includes some profound observations by the writer.

Bob had re-written some of his personal history. He is now telling the beginning years from the point of view of the young child, where he tells us his name is Bobby and his big brother is Alfie, and that he only remembers his mother once when they were having breakfast, and then the second time when he kissed her goodbye in the hospital.

Bob said he saw an article of Margaret’s in the November issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. Regarding my novel “Fire”, I had been querying agents by email and was not at all sure my queries were being read. However, I recently received a rejection from one agent after waiting six months. So I suppose I could always receive an acceptance after waiting that long, too. Right?

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, December 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place, weather permitting. That will be the only meeting in December, so if you want to make it our Christmas celebration and bring a snack or something festive, by all means do so. Julie had asked me if she could bring something.

Hope to see you December 7th, and in the meantime OCCUPY THE PAGE!

THE REVIEW

2011-11-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

INVASION OF BLONDS

Three lovely blonds livened things at our Meeting last night. Along with Ellie, two new members, Wendy Francis and Julie Joseph, joined me and Bob and Jim and Jason. It was a busy night with lots of reading.

Jason started, reading his chapter “Taken”, which was full of intensity and some violence. Gregg is trying to protect Jody from Damian and Ligeia. Damien is capturing Jody while Ligeia torments Gregg with some sexual teasing. Damien tells her to kill him, but when she doesn’t, he tells her to watch Jody while he kills Gregg. The chapter ends with Gregg unconscious, or dead. We don’t know which yet, just that he is aware of only nothingness.

Jim read Chapter 10 of the second book in “Coventry Ghosts” with the kitten, Sara, feeling less self-confident because she can’t read. She really wants to learn to read. Instead of going with the other ghosts to learn about the pyramids, she ‘pops’ over to the library, where she meets up with another female ghost, Karly. Karly tells Sara she cannot leave her library haunt, because that’s the rule. But Sara tells her that’s not so, and has Jane Seymour’s ghost come and verify the fact. Jane then tells Karly to trust Sara.

Wendy read three of her poems, all very succinct. “Love On The Edge” showed that even though a love relationship started feeling wonderful it ended up smothering the recipient. “Owner Cat” showed how an independent cat owned the owner by becoming the faithful companion. “Love Sonnet” showed the memory of a great love, done in a Shakespearean vein.

Jason read Julie’s story “The Lost Keys of 2011”. This was a humorous account of when Julie lost her house keys while walking her dog and then the trauma of searching through park garbage containers looking for them and then finally finding them the next day while zigzagging back and forth across the vast expanse of lawn in the park at her husband’s direction while he stood on the sidewalk. Very funny.

I read Margaret’s “Coffin Leaves Polly’s”, where Coffin is back in the village of Salsbury but can’t find his bicycle. Going into the church he sees the reverend with Turnkey’s casket. Addressing the reverend’s back, he doesn’t get an answer, and the reverend thinks he’s hearing a ghost. Mrs. Willows asks Coffin in for a Scotch before church. Mr. Farmer arrives with a sprained arm and he cannot help the reverend with Turnkey’s funeral. The reverend arrives, and thinking Coffin is Bob Baker, he thinks the man can take Farmer’s place and help with the funeral. Coffin agrees to help, hoping he will be able to find his bicycle.

I read my Ch. 6 of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, where Nigel is back home, alone, in the West End when he is visited by the RCMP asking all sorts of questions about the death of DeeDee’s child. Trying to protect Dee, he sees the police are suspecting him in the child’s death. He calls a former schoolmate who is a lawyer.

Anne Berrie is still busy helping her sister, and Gemma said she will be unable to attend until maybe in the New Year. Margaret Florczak tried to attend last night but couldn’t find the house without Gemma. She now has the address and phone number and directions and says she’ll be here next Meeting.

Our next Meeting will be Wednesday, November 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-10-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

FALLEN LEAVES

Jim, Jason and Bob joined me on Wednesday for our Meeting. Anne was busy helping her sister. Ellie had hurt her shoulder and was advised to rest and relax. And Gemma was unable to attend as well.

Jason read first from his novel “Provoked”. He had a short chapter called “Examining” which saw Gregg staying up through the night to keep watch for the two weirdos he had seen earlier. His brother, Dave, woke up and wanted to know what Gregg was doing and then threatened to level Gregg if he didn’t go to bed. The dialogue between the brothers was realistic and portrayed the sibling dynamics that are fairly universal.

I read “Deposition For Separate Bedrooms”, a short piece that I had rewritten to make it fit my “Honey” collection of humorous stories. In it I recount all the annoyances of listening to Honey from when he rises very early until he leaves for work, a noisy production he uses to protest my still being in bed.

Margaret had sent her next chapter of “The Village Of Salsbury Mourns Again”. Reverend Solace was awakened at 4:00 in the morning by Mrs. Willows. When he opened the door he saw a crowd around the drain Coffin had “fallen” in. Wondering if Coffin had turned into a ghost, he asked Mrs. Willows what happened. She told him Mr. Turnkey was found face down on the ground, staring into the drain. When the Reverend asked about Mr. Turnkey’s welfare, Mrs. Willows informs him Mr. Turnkey was no longer alive.

Jim read Chapter 9, and we learn that Cheri is facing bankruptcy due to her husband’s gambling debts and repairing the damage to the coffee shop that had been caused by the ghosts. She informs Leanne and ghostly company that she will have to sell the coffee shop. They are alarmed and start making plans for fundraising. They invite Cheri into ghostdom to hear their suggestions and we learn they want to throw parties where only ghosts do the serving. Cheri says she doesn’t have the money to start another business and.Leanne thinks maybe her Mom and Dad could invest and become partners with Cheri.

Bob read from his personal history and we heard about major changes in his life in 1947. His father was not well, and his parents were moving. They decided to send Bob to live with his stepsister, Edna, and her husband, Jim, in Amherstburg, Ontario. He traveled alone by bus to Seattle, then east to Chicago and Detroit, and then back into Canada to Windsor and his final destination. He was given chores to do on the farm, tending the chickens and the roosters. But Jim was no farmer and kept the chickens and roosters separate, so there were never any eggs. Bob was roped into helping construct the new house and found the hard physical labour very taxing. He was lonely and never made any friends there, but he did acquire a new red bike.

Today the rain is pouring, the leaves are falling, and I’ve spotted giant mushrooms growing in our lawn. Fall is flourishing. Perfect excuse to stay indoors and write.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-10-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

SHORT AND SWEET

Jim and Jason were the only ones joining me on Wednesday for our Meeting.

I read Chapters 4 and 5 of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”. Jason said even though there was hardly any dialogue in these chapters, he wasn’t bored by the details I wrote.

Next I read two of Margaret’s chapters from “Coffin And Dye”. Dye and Lizzie leave on vacation, but stop first so Dye can tell Coffin about his next assignment. Recognizing Lizzie as the housekeeper he had slept with, Coffin then says he’s engaged to Trish to confuse Lizzie, who then says she and Dye will be happy to attend his wedding. In the next chapter, Coffin is supposed to enter a drain hole to exterminate ghosts of former coal miners. Instead of going into the drain, he allows himself to be picked up by Polly Parks who teaches a class in knitting Argyle socks.

Jim read Chapter 8 of the second book in “Coventry Ghosts” and we see Solak arriving in Mexico to break Jason out of prison so his ability to extract souls via his computer can be put to more nefarious use elsewhere. Solak terrifies two teenaged hoodlums into helping him for money. Jacobo, one of the teens, realizes Solak would kill them if they don’t help.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 19th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Hope to see you then. Happy Thanksgiving in the meantime!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-09-23T11:41:00.001-07:00

SUMMER’S OVER

Fall has arrived and so did the rain. Time to cocoon and do some writing. Anne, Jason, Jim and Bob were all here with me Wednesday night to honour the Muse.

Anne read first, continuing her story about the sisters of Ruth and Ida. The two women go out for dinner, to the Spaghetti Factory and Ida takes her own grape juice. She is obviously a regular as the staff all know her and smile ‘supportively’ at Ruth. Ida asks why Ruth has bothered to come and see her and Ruth tells her she discovered Ida is being sued by a Strata Council. This is well done with the dialogue between the two sisters really showcasing the spit and scratch of sibling relationships. And background information given with Ruth flashing back to a previous time enhances the difficulties of being related to someone who is bi-polar.

Jason read his next chapter called “Discovered”. We see the evil Damianos and the siren, Ligeia, stalking Jo, who arrives home from her date with Sean. Sean attacks her and tears her top, but then stops when seeing something on her back. Gregg arrives and his presence stops Damianos from grabbing Jo. Jo tells Gregg she doesn’t need him to protect her, that she can take care of herself. Looking into the bush, Gregg locks eyes with Damianos, and the latter knows Jo is the benighted child because of Gregg’s desire to protect her. This was a very well-done chapter with lots of tension in it.

Jim read Chapter 7, still at Olivia’s thirteenth birthday at the coffee shop. Leanne and the other ghosts, with the help of Piovra, performed a type of light show for Olivia and the other guests. One of those present was Shen, a student from Olivia’s school, who wanted to meet the pretty girl. Olivia’s father pointed him out to her and then regretted that when he saw Olivia smiling at the boy. But Sara, the kitten, intervened by giving Shen a ghostly ‘scratch’, which spurred him to talk to Olivia. He ended up being invited to Sunday dinner at Olivia’s home.

I read Margaret’s next chapter in “Coffin And Dye”, which was “Dye Telephones Coffin”. Dye phones Coffin to tell him he’s going away for a week with Lizzie Farmer and Coffin is scandalized. Dye is offended that Coffin thinks so little of Lizzie, and he defends her. Tootsie goes shopping for something to wear when she marries Coffin. Trish tries to talk her into a spring wedding but Tootsie doesn’t want to wait that long. She ends up buying a black suit with a red shawl, a red purse, and a red hat with three tall black feathers. Coffin still doesn’t know he’s getting married.

I re-wrote “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, putting the third chapter first, and modifying the other two chapters to follow. These I read and everyone said it read well in that order. I had found it easier to add to it as well. So now we have Nigel driving to Watch Lake and Dee telling him she murdered her child in the first chapter. The next chapter is Edna’s point of view, relating the afternoon’s events and giving background info. The third chapter now is Nigel’s point of view, telling how he met Dee and what had been going on with her and Hank. It then shows Nigel at the cabin, alone in the hide-a-bed, when Dee slips in with him during the night.

Jim said he was feeling better, more clear-headed, but is still waiting for surgery. We hope this happens soon for him. Ellie was busy writing for an online course she’s taking and waiting for her husband to come home for supper. Margaret Fluorczak was going to check out a group in Maple Ridge. And Gemma said she was helping her brother with a move.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, Oct. 5th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then. Happy Writing!!!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-09-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

EIGHT ARE GREAT!

It was wonderful to have eight members at our Meeting on Wednesday. Ellie had arrived a week early, but came back on the 7th as well. She didn’t explain to her husband why he was eating supper alone two weeks in a row. And Margaret Florczak arrived with Gemma, for the first time in a couple of years. She’s graduated from SFU now, and may attend Meetings more regularly. It was so good to see everyone, and many thanks for your generous donations to the Ram’s Head domain name fund. We are good for two years now.

Jim is still waiting for surgery, but attended our meeting and was first to read. In Chapter 6 of the second book in Coventry Ghosts, we see the ghosts Leanne, Robin, Laurie and Sara all haunting the coffee shop, excited to celebrate Olivia’s 13th birthday. Olivia makes a wish when she blows out the candle on her cupcake, and we hear her wish will soon come true.

Ellie read a memoir of hers inspired by finding an old address book from her childhood. She remembers the summer spent with her friends when she was six years old and living in Penticton in 1953. She vividly portrays their antics and the sense of freedom and empowerment they learned from their interactions and adventures.

Jason read the chapter “Connections” from his novel, and we see Gregg meeting up with Jody after his great grandmother’s funeral. She wants him to tutor her in French, but then tells him she’s going out with someone else that night. And we see Gregg and his brother Dave interacting and learn that even though Dave is older, Gregg is the more responsible one. Jason exemplified very well and true to life how the teens interact with each other.

Margaret F. read a journal entry of hers from Nov. 13/04 about her insights on aging. She sees the expansion of her mind, but the loss of her physical attributes. Even so, there is still the overriding joy of life to sustain her every day. This was a very poignant piece that spoke to all of us.

Anne Berrie has started a story based on her own experience with her sister. In it we are shown Ruth going to visit her older sister, whom she hasn’t seen for seven years. Ida battles with mental illness, but still lives on her own in her own apartment. When Ruth arrives, Ida first has to tear off the masking tape around the inside of the door before she can open it, and then greets Ruth with bloodshot eyes, and a gas mask around her neck. She then says that Ruth looks terrible. This was a priceless piece of characterization of both sisters.

I read Margaret Moffatt’s “Baronet Dye Has A Visitor” from “Coffin And Dye” Dye is alone at his office one evening, reading a letter by candlelight because Coffin forgot to pay the electric bill. He sees what looks like a ghostly apparition, but is really the housekeeper from Wagnal Manor whom Coffin had slept with. She thinks Dye is Coffin, now with a beard but still owning the Rolls, and she proceeds to proposition him, wanting to show him a good time if he pays for her room at the hotel. We have yet to learn of his reaction.

Bob told us that his wife Carole includes being a Boston Red Sox fan on her Facebook profile. Bob is a true fan who watches all their games, and was looking at something on the internet regarding the team, and there, out of two million fans, is Carole’s picture. Talk about coincidence.

If you know of other writers you think would like to attend our Meeting, please feel free to invite them. Meeting other writers inspires us all.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, September 21st at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-08-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

FORSAKEN FRUIT

The grapes and watermelon I put out for Wednesday’s meeting were largely ignored. And Bryon isn’t a fruitaholic, either, so I’ve been enjoying them by myself. There were five of us here at the meeting, an increase of 25% over the last meeting! Jason keeps saying we need to improve marketing strategies. I’ll have a sandwich board made for him and he can stand at the corner of No. 10 and 200th Street flagging down all unaffiliated writers for us. Failing that we will have to rely on the two community ads I’ve sent to the Langley Times and the Langley Advance.

Margaret sent me a copy of the Quesnel Observer with her interview and picture in it. I will save that for posterity. She was interviewed on air by CBC Northern Radio on Wednesday morning at 6:30. That had been arranged by her publisher.

I received a letter from Polar Expressions to say my short story “Freedom”, about the homeless man in Langley City, is being included in their anthology “Inkspots”, which will be published by year end, I believe.

Jason read first, a chapter of his novel, called “Devote”. We see the half brothers, Gregg and Dave, at their aunt’s funeral, and Dave is chastised rudely by his stepmother. Both boys are bored. Gregg starts thinking about his aunt, and her suicide, and wondering what drove her to it, and what is on the other side of death. Then his great grandmother tells him his aunt died thinking it was the best way to keep him safe. There is developing tension here and we liked the switch from two brothers to making them half brothers, and then making Gregg’s Mom the evil stepmother to Dave. It adds to the tension, that’s for sure.

Anne brought her thesis for me to read for her, and so we asked her to read the introduction out loud. Protesting that it was so boring, she did read it and we were all interested in learning more about the causes of serial murder; what goes into generating a serial murderer. This should give me good background for a future murder mystery!

In helping her sister who was being harassed by a Strata corporation, Anne has more than enough material for a fascinating book about strata Nazis victimizing someone with mental illness.

Anne also wants Margaret to know that her teenaged son, Trevor, is reading Margaret’s “Blow Up The Castle” and just raves about it. She said she is going to donate a copy to her son’s school library.

I read Margaret’s chapter “Perplexing Situations”, all three sections of it she had sent me. Trisha, who had proposed to Coffin, and her daughter Tootsie, both wanted to know why he had a suitcase full of women’s clothing. He explained that he wore them to catch Tootsie’s dog for her. When Dye saw Coffin looking ill, Coffin told him that Wagnal’s ghost tried to strangle him when he was wearing Mrs. Wagnal’s clothes. Then Dye proceeds to tell Detective Philmore Shorthouse that Mrs. Wagnal was murdered by Mr. Wagnal. The Detective sent a squad to the manor. Upon investigating, the police found everyone happy the ghost had been eradicated. The Detective asked to see room 30, and when Mr. Sours opened it, they found it completely empty. Mrs. Wagnal’s ghost had taken her furniture with her!

I read chapter 3 of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”. Jason and Anne both thought it should become the first chapter, even though it would put the time line out of sync. I’ll have to give it some thought and try it out. It would emphasize more explicitly the part that Nigel plays in the novel, which would be good.

Jim read chapter 5 of the second book in “Coventry Ghosts”. We see two Asian villains scheming to kidnap Jason, the genius scientist who had been steeling souls through his computer, from a Mexican prison. It is thought Jason’s power would be very useful to them.

We were very glad to see Jim recovering from failing kidneys and his stay in ER over the weekend. He returned to work on Tuesday and next week will see the specialist again. We wish him all the best of health and a total recovery.

Nest Meeting will be Wednesday, September 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then, and feel free to invite any other writers you think might like to join us, preferably those incarnate.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-08-05T09:33:00.001-07:00

MID-SUMMER

Jim, Gemma and Bob joined me Wednesday for a short meeting. Jason was housebound with his kids while his wife was away on business.

Gemma asked us to read and comment on a personal article of hers that she had re-written at the request of “Chicken Soup For The Soul”. The article is about her family immigrating to Canada and coming to love hockey. She was a radiology technician required to be on duty when games were played in Montreal, but she would sit in the hospital corridor knitting and let her young son use her reserved seat to watch the games. The article had been accepted for the Chicken Soup book “Oh, Canada” but they had asked for some changes to eliminate repetition. Congratulations to Gemma!

An interview of Margaret by the Quesnel Observer appears in their paper today, Friday, August 4th. You can find this online. In it she mentions the Ram’s Head Writers’ Group. That was nice to read.

I then read Margaret’s next chapter in “Coffin And Dye” which was titled “Arthur”. In it, Coffin has some boozy adventures and takes credit for finding the dog, Arthur. And Tootsie’s mother, Trisha, admits to having amorous intentions towards Coffin. Donny merely staggered across the hall to his own flat and passed out.

Since only Jim had heard the re-written first chapter of my new book, “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, I read that again as well as the second chapter which tells how Nigel met Deirdre in the mid 1960s, and tells of her abusive boyfriend and that Nigel gave her the money to take her child and go to her mother at Watch Lake to escape. That is where the child drowns. Jim said I was keeping up the suspense.

Jim read the 4th chapter in the second book about the Coventry ghosts, and this is where the kitten, Sara dies and meets Leanne in ghostdom, who wants her to stay with her in her haunt at the coffee shop. They are both happy to have found a ghostly friend.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, August 17th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-07-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

SUMMER SLUMP?

Wednesday’s meeting was sadly lacking in attendees. Where is everybody? Well, Gemma was saying goodbye to her beloved but ailing dog, Heidi. Ellie was overwhelmed with looking after a distant and ailing aunt and her aunt’s aging poodle. Jason just disappeared. Bob phoned to say he wasn’t well. Anne Berrie emailed to say she was involved in helping her sister.

But Jim showed up recovered from his fall, and Sharon Robinson joined us for the first time. Sharon owns Today’s Senior Newsmagazine and wants to do more of her own writing. Welcome to the Ram’s Head Writers’ Group, Sharon.

Jim read Chapter 3 in the second novel of the Coventry Ghosts series. He called the second novel “Search For Jason” and it is from the point of view of Sara, the ghost kitten. The 3rd chapter tells how Sarah died when she was chased by a dog and then hit by a car. It was a sad chapter.

Recently Jim submitted a romance novel to Harlequin and they sent him acknowledgement of same, and said response could be anywhere up to 24 weeks. He is also a judge in a published book contest in White Rock and has admitted he personally dislikes some of the entries. I won’t say which ones.

Margaret had some interesting news. Her publisher wants to set up an interview for her with the paper in Quesnel, because the bookstore owner wants her to have some notoriety before she does a book-signing there. Also, Margaret’s article, “Happy Birthday Vancouver!” is in the July issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. Margaret had sent me three more chapters in “Coffin And Dye”, but I only read the first one which was “To Wagnal Manor”. This is where Coffin proceeds to the manor and is compelled by Mr. Sours to dress in the clothes of the murdered Madam Wagnal in an attempt to rid the manor of her ghost. After losing his patience waiting for Mr. Sours to return, he wanders the halls in female attire, looking for Mr. Sours and proceeds to terrify all who see him, including Tootsie who was there meeting the Commissioners about her dog, Arthur. When she was driving home, Coffin passed her at great speed in the Rolls.

I had spent some time re-writing for the 3rd time the beginning of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead” and read that. I had gone back in time and using 3rd person, wrote about the death of a child in 1969 that starts the mystery rolling. I started with the point of view of the child’s grandmother, but there will be a number of points of view used in this novel. Jim and Sharon said they both wanted the story to continue and are eager to hear what happens next. So I guess that’s a good start for a mystery.

Sharon read us a published personal story from when she took her children, younger then, to Halloween night at Potter’s Nursery. It’s called “Potter’s Haunted Potty” and tells of the predicament when her young son needed a bathroom but absolutely refused to use the haunted outhouse that night. Hilarious. Sharon was also trying to write some serious personal things that were full of emotion for her and we encouraged her to do so. And we sincerely hope Sharon will return to many more meetings with the Rams.

Since the last time I wrote a Review, I have played some more with my eReader. After many frustrating attempts I was finally able yesterday to transfer correctly to my eReader an ebook I downloaded onto my PC from the Digital Library that the Fraser Valley Regional Library belongs to. By ‘correctly’, I mean in such a way that I was actually able to have the eReader open it so I could read it. No small feat this, and I only have about 10 days left to actually read this novel as the lending period was only for 21 days. I assume it will self-annihilate when the time elapses. Can’t have that with hard copy now, can we? And I won’t have to drive the digital file back to the Library.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, August 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

HOCKEY HIATUS FINALIZED
(The Canucks Lost)

The Rams finally met again on July 6th after a seven week break for hockey finals. The games kept falling on a Wednesday.

Gemma, Bob, Jason and I, and Margaret by proxy, met last Wednesday and since I did most of the talking the meeting ended early.  Barinder has moved to Kingston and is doing her psychiatric residency at Queens, but asked to still receive emails from the group. Jim had a bad fall and was recovering at home. Ellie was interviewing someone to housesit and dogsit while she goes on vacation. Don’t know where Anne Berrie is.

Gemma arrived with her book “What Heidi Knows” which she has self-published with Xlibris. I will email to you a scanned copy of the card she gave me in case anyone would like to order her book. Sadly, Gemma’s dog Heidi is very ill and she has been tending to Heidi constantly. It is only a matter of time until Heidi passes on, and Gemma felt compelled to see her story in print.

Bob is the only one who completed the assignment of writing 500 words about hockey. He wrote 458 words about the Canucks bid for the Stanley Cup in 1982. A friend acquired three tickets for Bob at the final game, and so he was able to watch the Canucks lose to the New York Islanders. He’s only been to one NHL game since.

When Margaret was trying to send me her latest chapter in “Coffin And Dye”, she tried emailing it a number of times and then finally emailed “I’m okay!” She had been sitting at her computer in her kitchen as two of her sons tried to unplug the drain under the kitchen sink. They had removed the piping when third son arrived and wanting to check things out, he turned the water on. Margaret’s letter about it all afterward was hilarious, so I read that first, and then her chapter “The Complaint”. In it Tootsie has received a letter from the Commissioners requesting her and Coffin to attend their office regarding the disappearance of the dog. Coffin didn’t want to go, so he told Tootsie Arthur had been seen in their own neighbourhood and he would search there for him. Meanwhile, Dye starts briefing Coffin about their next assignment regarding the ghost at the manor of Baron Willis Wagnal, who was rich from processing jute from India. The Baron had married a local immigrant from Ireland who was found murdered when he returned from a trip to India. The murder was never solved and her ghost haunts the mansion. Dye told Coffin he could drive the Rolls when he goes to investigate.

I discussed my search for online character charts to print and use when starting a story. I found some that were very long and detailed. They’re great for main characters for a novel, but are way too long for minor characters or for characters in short stories. So I compiled one of my own that’s only one page and handed it out. Then I admitted that while organizing my online files for writing projects, I realized I have the beginnings for four different novels, but haven’t really progressed with any of them. I did re-write the beginning of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead” in third person instead of first. The prologue I started with was intriguing, but the following chapter was not. So I have to re-think the whole concept of what I am writing. It is based on a true story and I think I need to let go and write fiction only using the original event as a starting point.

Online I had found a site explaining briefly the Snowflake method of story building. Jason said it is a method he has used and it helped him find problems that needed attention in his story structure. I haven’t used this method as I don’t know if I can be that detail oriented about what I want my story to be before I actually write it. If anyone else has used this method, please let us know about your experience with it.

Jason didn’t get to read and was quite happy to call an end to the meeting. He could hardly breathe through his nose after having been hit by a stick while playing hockey himself. Ouch. Jason gets to read first next time.

And the reason I am late doing this Review is that I received my birthday present (I’ll be 60 on the 15th) from Sonny on Friday. It is a Pandigital eReader. My weekend was very intense trying to get started with this device. I charged it and tried to read the books already loaded on it, but the pages wouldn’t turn. Saturday I spent time with Pandigital tech support and had to reset the system to factory defaults. Because the Pandigital is a wireless device, I was then faced with trying to go wireless with our internet in the house. My brother gave me a used wireless router which I brought home. Bryon hooked it up for me and we had internet access on our computers, which were still connected by wire. But my brother never gave me the original CD for setup so after hours and hours of unsuccessful attempts to get into Cisco Connect to change security settings for the router, I went out and bought a new router with its own CD. After Bryon hooked that one up, we didn’t even have internet. That meant talking to Shaw tech support several times. By then it was Sunday afternoon. After shutting down my computer and restarting several times I finally got into the internet and downloaded a Windows Service Pack that took about two hours. After that I was able to register the router and set security. Then I was able to access the Kobo bookstore through my eReader. I downloaded several free books, old classics, and went to bed to read some Stephen Leacock with my backlit eReader that does not require any bedroom lights to be on so I can read while Bryon sleeps. But by then I was so tired I went to sleep while he was still watching T.V.

Today I went to the digital library that the Fraser Valley Regional Library belongs to, to download a good book to read, but everything is on hold. You still have to put your name on a waiting list to borrow. So why in heavens name do you have to wait to read a digital book from the library? That I don’t understand. I still don’t have a digital book I actually want to read.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, July 20th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Hope to see you then. I’ll show everyone my new toy.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-05-21T11:30:00.001-07:00

HOCKEY GAME IS MUTED

Since Ellie and Jason both said they would not attend Wednesday’s meeting because they wanted to watch the hockey game, I did have the T.V. turned to the game, but muted. That way we could catch the score but still talk about writing.

I had been away last weekend and came home sick, so I hadn’t written anything. Bob has been watching baseball so his writing takes back seat. Anne Berrie says she was having trouble letting go of the mindset that comes from only writing fact. We encouraged her to give fiction a try and experience how freeing it can be to suddenly realize you don’t have to answer to anyone else’s parameters of truth. Go ahead, tell all the lies you want! You have permission.

Jim was the only one with anything to read. He is busy with the first draft on his third novel in the Coventry Ghosts series. He did read to us Chapter 2 of Coventry Ghosts 2, which gave the background story of Sara, the kitten ghost. Jim says this second novel in the series is from the kitten’s perspective.

We had a long discussion about query letters and the process of submissions. Jim has done lots of research on the appropriate agents to submit to for his genre, and has verified that they all belong to AAR, the Association of Authors’ Representatives. He submitted his first novel to an agent in New York who responded to his query several weeks ago, and is still waiting to hear the verdict.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, June 1st at 7:00 p.m. at my place. If the Canucks are playing, I will turn the tube on, but with volume muted, so watching the game is no excuse to stay away. Even if we haven’t written anything, we can always discuss something about writing and/or getting published. If we don’t have our own writing to showcase, it’s still important to support those who have written something. It’s not fair when we abandon the other writers when we ourselves lag in the production of prolific recorded verbosity. Hope to see you June 1st.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-05-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

The women have deserted me. I was alone here with the men at last night’s meeting, and my husband was out of town. Tsk. Tsk. As my mother would have said. The funny thing was that Bryon was working at a mill up in Quesnel and ran into Margaret’s son, Marshall, while we were sitting here reading Margaret’s latest installment in “Coffin And Dye”. How’s that for coincidence?

I read Margaret’s chapter “Ghosts At The Hamlet” where Coffin and Tootsie rush back to the constabulary because they were told Arthur, her dog, had been found. But when they arrived, a woman brought in a black cat that Tootsie was allergic to. She was very upset. The officer read the original report, and nowhere did it say the missing animal was a dog. Coffin was annoyed, but refused to fill out a complaint for which he would have to attend a meeting with a Board. They returned home. But Tootsie went back on her own to fill out the complaint.

Jim shared with us his query letter that elicited a request for his manuscript. Congratulations! It was very well written and now I have to rewrite my own, especially since I received another rejection for my novel.

I am entering a story of less than 750 words in the contest at Polar Expressions. I had three to choose from and asked the boys to help me decide which to enter. They had previously heard “Next Sunday” and “Watching a Veteran’s Parade”, and last night I read “Freedom” a story about a homeless man. They were unanimous in choosing “Freedom” as my entry.

Bob read more from his personal history and we learned about all the young military personnel (soldiers, sailors, airmen) that used to visit their home during the War. Most of these men were friends of his older stepsister. She eventually found one she married.

Also, a belated happy birthday to Bob. His 79th birthday was on Monday, May 2nd, and his family helped him celebrate with delicious ice cream cake.

Jason didn’t read. His time has been consumed with other adventures, which I’ve told him he must write about.

Our next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 18th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-04-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

EASTER BUNNY CAME EARLY

Bob and Barinder and I held the fort here for The Muse on Wednesday. It was more of a social evening for a change.

Barinder read a poem of hers titled “Us” that starts out with racial undertones and then speaks of the narrator being thawed and then consumed by love, but eventually grows barbs and attacks the lover and is then discarded and ‘rusts’. I thought the poem was excellent but Bob didn’t understand it. We told him it was a woman’s thing to see the meaning.

Also, Barinder told us she wrote an article, “The Therapeutic Effects Of Art-making In Patients With Cancer”, which is being published in the next issue of ARTS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY. Congratulations!

The other good news is that Jim has had a request for his manuscript for “Coventry Ghosts” from an agent he sent a query to. That is amazing, too. Congratulations to Jim as well!

Bob and I didn’t read, but I did have some things to handout. When I attended the session on Memoir writing given by Ed Griffin, he kindly gave us some notes on the topic which I was willing to share. I also had another copy of a query letter that had elicited a request to read the manuscript. That letter was written by a member of The Murrayville Library Writers’ Group.

Very kindly, Bob made a point of telling me that meeting as The Ram’s Head Writers’ Group since 2003, he has often seen dramatic improvements in the quality of writing put out by our members. That was good to know. Thank you for saying that. And my thanks, too, for the lovely flowers you brought from your garden.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 4th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-04-07T11:45:00.001-07:00

BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!

It was a fun Meeting here last night. Jim, Anne, Jason and Bob all joined me in anticipation of Margaret’s latest installment of “Coffin And Dye”.

I read Margaret’s chapter, “Ghosts Of The Hamlet” first. The dog, Arthur, had made off into the fields with the skeletal head of the knight. Mr. and Mrs. Lark wanted Coffin to rectify the situation of the missing artifact. Coffin explained the dog was just returning the knight’s head to its original gravesite, and the ghosts would follow it. Consequently the hamlet would no longer be haunted. The Larks were happy, but Coffin and Tootsie had to find Arthur. They reported him missing to an officer at the constabulary, who seemed taken with Tootsie and vowed to do everything possible to find the missing dog, in spite of Coffin saying he had thought the dog was going to be a damn nuisance.

Next I read a story of my own for my “Honey” collection. It recounted my predicament when I left a kettle burning on the stove overnight and found a mess welded to the stovetop in the morning. I told of my laborious efforts to clean up the mess and of having to buy a new kettle before Honey came home from working out of town.

Bob had several additions to his personal history that he read to us. He told of how he used to go shopping with his stepmother and would bring groceries home in his wagon. The only public library in town at that time was the Carnegie Library at Main and Hastings. And he told of the house next door at the back of the lot, and the neighbours planting a vegetable garden taking up the whole front yard. He wasn’t allowed to socialize with these people and wasn’t allowed to play with a young girl who came to visit.

Jim had previously emailed us all his story “Wilders” that he is entering in a writing contest about White Rock in 2061. His story shows a young family living mostly in isolation as humanity is dying out after global warming. They have to travel miles on foot to buy supplies at a fortified post, and on their return are attacked by a ‘Wilder’, who was of a wild human-like species. The story concept is intriguing and the build-up of tension was well done. I really enjoyed reading it.

Jason read his next chapter “Provoked”, where Damianos is still in the church and hears a disembodied voice telling him salvation lies in translating a spell and then performing the ritual, but he must first find the young girl who possesses the Book of the Nornir. After accomplishment, he is told he can do as he pleases with the girl. Damianos asks the voice if he is God, and the voice replies “Better”. This is a very haunting tale foreboding much evil. It is well written and tight, without any unnecessary wordage.

Anne didn’t read but says she has started several poems that she is having trouble finishing. We wish her luck with them.

At this point I have to say that I can’t stress enough the importance of making backups of your writing. Anne had the misfortune of losing a very promising story she had started when she changed computers. She thought she had a backup and erased the hard drive and disposed of the old computer at the Salvation Army. Then she couldn’t find her story. She will have to re-write it. And Jim told us the sad tale of his niece, a writer, moving here from Calgary and having to leave her car at the side of the highway with a flat tire and bent rim while she went for help. When she returned, her car had been broken into and her laptop stolen with all her writing on it.

So, everybody do a backup. And if you don’t want to be bothered with a 3 ½ inch floppy, or a USB flash drive, or a memory card, or burning a CD, then I have a solution for you. Get yourself a gmail address (it’s free) and email all your writing to yourself. You can access your gmail from any computer and you shouldn’t ever lose it. There you have it. Five ways to do a backup. No excuses now.

I sent out a notice of a writing event at the Museum of Flight at the Langley Airport on Saturday, April 9th and thought I would tell you I will be attending. It is about memoir writing and Ed Griffin is the instructor. It is from 1 – 4:00 p.m. and admission at the door is $5.00. If anyone else is going, let me know.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Looking forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-03-18T15:56:00.001-07:00

IRISH STEW

Seven of us were here on Wednesday telling tales for St. Patrick’s Day. Some of us were in green, and I did serve everyone green Jello.

Jason read first, a continuation of the story he read that ended with “God has left the building.” This section was called “Desire” and was a heated exchange between Damianos and the siren, Ligeia, about the killing of the pedophile priest. He wants revenge against the angels who had masqueraded as spiritual superiors but had been traitors. Stay tuned for the next installment.

I had a book of novelists’ answers to questions about writing. One question pertained to making time to write. I read the response of one frustrated author/housewife/mother to point out to Jason that his life as author and stay-at-home-Dad was in keeping with other good company.

Ellie read an epic rhyming poem for preschoolers called “Flying On The Grass”. It is born of a child’s imagination when he wants to fly and he envisions all the adventures he would have but ends up deciding maybe watching the clouds while lying (or is that laying, Jim?) on the grass is a happier pursuit. We hope Ellie can find her way to having this published in a picture book for children.

Barinder had emailed us her piece “Fantasy” which is a really great story line in the fantasy genre about a love triangle between a healer, a magician, and a black witch. This is mostly a story outline that needs some work to develop it, but it has great potential.

Bob read more of his personal history during the years 1941 to 1943/44. Unfortunately we were running out of time and I stopped Bob after 6 ½ pages, single spaced. It’s not that easy to condense a whole life on just a few pages. We marked where Bob stopped reading and that’s where he can start next time.

Anne Berrie joined us for the first time in about a year. She said she handed in her thesis. We’ve missed her unique perspective during that time.

Jim didn’t read this time. He didn’t even bring his laptop. He said he felt naked without it. However, he did have some news. Six months after his latest granddaughter was born, his daughter and son-in-law are expecting again. That’s just about the best story for any author.

Margaret is settling in Quesnel and has lots of visits from her sons and their families. She and Marshall both think they made the right decision to move closer to family. But she is talking about a possible trip down here to the coast and said she would drop by for a visit. We’ll have to see if she can make it for a Meeting of The Rams.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hopefully spring will be well established by then. Am enjoying the extra daylight at night but having trouble arising if the sun isn’t up yet. I’ll feel better when the cherry trees and the daffodils bloom. Hope to see you all April 6th.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-03-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

AFTER THE WINDSTORM

After the windstorm on Wednesday, five of us gathered here to honour The Muse.

Jim read his short story titled “Men’s Room Memorial” about the antics of the coffee shop employee trying to close and finding a dead man on the toilet. The owners arrive and the comedy continues. And then the family wants a memorial for the deceased, to be set up in the men’s room. Very funny. We spent some time critiquing the story and suggesting Jim change where it starts and that he write it from Anna’s point of view, the employee. He thought that might work better, too.

Ellie read a poem that had been inspired by the death of her uncle. It raises all the questions that accompany death as to where the soul goes and what happens next. The death of a loved one does that to us, makes us stop to question the verities of life.

Bob had a revised version of his personal history that he is writing for his family. He read over 6000 words, but the version ha gave me to follow along with only had 5653 words. Hilarious. Bob would be reading along and I’d be frantically looking for the right paragraph to follow along with, but couldn’t find it because it wasn’t there. We still had a good history lesson as Bob started with what he remembered beginning in 1936, around the time his Mother died when he was just 3 years old.

Jason and I didn’t read. But maybe we will start first next time. Barinder wasn’t able to attend and I later learned she wasn’t well. Anne Berrie had promised to attend and pick up some books Margaret left for her, but since her thesis still wasn’t finished she didn’t make it either. Hope to see them both next time.

I guess Margaret is busy getting settled in Quesnel. No news from her yet. I will let you know if I hear from her.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Since that is the day before St. Patrick’s Day, feel free to dress in green and kiss the Blarney Stone before you tell your tales. See you then.

Lisa

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THE REVIEW

2011-02-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

FOND FAREWELL

Wednesday was our last chance to say farewell to Margaret. She has been an inspiration to us all, and her unfailing enthusiasm and cheerfulness have been a real blessing to us. We shall miss her dearly, but hope when she gets settled in Quesnel that we can still keep in touch over the internet. We wish her all the best in her new adventure and we are glad she will be closer to more family members.

Jim asked for some serious critiquing of his story “Kelsey” and had forwarded it to all of us ahead of time. So we brought our print-outs and spent some time re-working every page with him. Jason had done quite extensive editing and cutting and his work on Jim’s story made it much tighter and stronger. It was a good collective project and a lot was accomplished with the story.

A new member, Barinder Singh, joined us for the first time. She’s from North Delta and it’s amazing she would drive that far to be part of our group. She has written a lot of poetry, but is now drawn toward writing fantasy and wants to write a novel. She shared with us what she thinks could be the beginning of one about a young boy and girl in this world who get acquainted in the dream world and then find each other in the real world. The boy has a ‘golden heart’, which Barinder says will become the center of her story. She had titled the piece “The Bedtime Story” but it was suggested she call it “The Shutter”, as the boy often shuts himself off from others so they couldn’t see his golden heart. We look forward to hearing more about this story.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin And Dye” where we see Coffin and his new female friend, Tootsie, at the Lark’s farm. They find the skull which was probably from a knight at the time of William I in 1066. The Larks say they have never seen any ghosts so Coffin then tells everyone he can see ghosts in the neighbours’ fields. Tootsie realizes he has lied to her about investigating a murder. Just then her dog picks up the skull and takes off with it.

We really hope Margaret will email us subsequent chapters for us to enjoy.

Ellie read a story she has started that she hopes to develop into a children’s book. It starts out in poetic form with fairies painting a forest scene. The next chapter is prose and starts portraying problems of environmental issues. It will be interesting to see where this story goes.

Bob and Jason and I didn’t read, but we all enjoyed being together and listening to all the other marvelous writing that is happening. Margaret left two books here for Anne Berrie who promises to attend the next meeting. I told her she could always read her thesis to us.

In a letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun on Thursday, Nathaniel Poole, a member now living in Victoria, had written about people in Canada sending money home to family members in other countries being fleeced by banking transfer fees. Something to think about, for sure.

In yesterday’s Langley Advance, I have a letter to the editor about rules of our Medical Services Plan being detrimental to both patients and our provincial budget. That is a system I take exception to.

It is absolutely wonderful we have the freedom to write and publicize our beefs with government and know we won’t be imprisoned or tortured, or have to demonstrate for days or weeks or years against a dictatorship just to have that right. Let us all be grateful.

Nest Meeting will be Wednesday, March 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. You and your Muse are both invited. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-02-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

NORTH TO QUESNEL

Margaret is moving to Quesnel at the end of February to be closer to more family members. If there’s a writers’ group up there, I’m sure they will be happy to invite her to join them.

On Wednesday, Margaret read first, another chapter in “Coffin and Dye”. Coffin is getting ready to go to Sparrows Bridge on his bike when he’s offered a ride instead with a neighbour’s daughter, Tootsie, and her dog Arthur. When she asks him why he’s going to Sparrows Bridge, he lies and tells her he’s a private detective trying to solve a murder at Lark’s farm.

Bob joined us again and it was good to see him. He brought a piece of writing about ‘Jacoby Bros., Manufacuring Jewellers’ that was in the B.C. History magazine, written by Ronald Greene, current president of the B.C. Historical Federation. The article focused on the souvenir coins they used to make that were considered counterfeit by the American government and caused problems through the years. Bob wrote a letter to the editor adding information about the problems that were caused by these ‘coins’.

Jason brought a short story he had written called “Alone”. It shows a pastor who is remorseful about abusing young boys when he is confronted by a sexy female figure. He chastises her for trying to seduce him in “God’s” house. She sprouts black leathery wings and he realizes she’s an incarnation of the devil. As she strangles him, she tells him that God has left the building. The story was well written and portrays justice being meted out to one who deserves it. So tell me, was the female figure really the devil then?

I had been working on my novel, making a few changes to improve readability and flow of words. I was also trying to rename it from “Fire” to something else. I Googled all the titles I was interested in, and almost all of them had been previously used. The one I ended up with was “Latent Peril”, which I thought intimated a mystery. But everyone at the meeting was against my changing the title. Their reasoning was that “Fire” was just one word, easy to remember, and more likely to be recommended by word of mouth. So there you go. I won’t change the title. It sure saves me a lot of re-printing.

And speaking of printing, I recently inherited a used laser printer/copier/fax/scanner. I only had to buy a toner cartridge for it, which is more expensive than an ink cartridge, but is good for 2500 pages at least. So now I have an easy way to print my own manuscripts quickly. I have two printers hooked up to my computer now. The other one is ink jet and does all the same functions, just slower, and will do colour too. When did writing get to be so complicated?

Had an email from Amanda, whom we haven’t seen for several years. Her son is now 20 months old, and they are expecting another child late May, early June. She is still writing kids’ books, and also started her own business teaching baby sign language called Sticky Hands. Hope we get to see Amanda again some time.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, February 16th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. It will be our last chance to see Margaret before she leaves. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-01-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

KEEP READING

With such miserable and wet winter weather, it’s that time of year to just curl up with a good book and forget the rest of the world. But if you’re a writer, you just might have to write the book first.

On Wednesday, Ellie read us three poems. “Patterns In The Ice” was a poem about the snow scene in her back yard. And “Winter Pond” was another picture in words from the same yard. The third poem “The Best Word ‘Needed’” was about a grandfather going to help his young cowboy grandson build his own home. It was written with a country flavour and spoke of both the older and the younger men needing each other.

Ellie will be doing a public reading today, Sunday, January 23rd, at the Small Ritual Coffee Society (a coffee shop) in White Rock. Jim said he might try to be there to hear her.

Margaret has had advance copies of her book ordered from Georgia, Holland and Scotland. Nice that we have an international author in the group! She also related a personal story of finding the wing of a fly in her marmalade. When she phoned to complain about it, the Asian voice on the other end said he would send her some coupons, but then was adamant that he couldn’t find thirty-second avenue, he could only find three two avenue. Margaret told him to send them to three two avenue and she would receive them.

The next chapter in “Coffin And Dye” that Margaret read, was “Coffin Moves Again”. Dye wants Coffin to do another job for Mr. and Mrs. Lark at Sparrows Bridge, where human skeleton pieces had been found. Dye wants him to go and look at the bones. Coffin doesn’t want to. Dye tells him to ride his bike, it would only take an hour to get there, and to dress warm.

Jim read Chapter 15 from “Coventry Ghosts”. In this chapter, Sara the kitten ghost is told to follow John, husband of the coffee shop owner, to the casino and keep him out of trouble. So she follows him, but once there she is fascinated by the slot machines and manages to get inside one where she uses her powers to line up similar images, thinking it’s a great game, especially when the humans playing it get so excited at their winnings.

Also had Jim read a short story from the series he’s doing for the coffee shop writing contest. This story was an amusing account of what happened when a patron died on the toilet in the washroom. We told him to call it “Men’s Room Memorial”.

Ellie read my novel and had some good suggestions for minor changes in wordage that would add strength to the story. She also suggested “Ignited” as a title. But then we were all discussing topics and Jim said men like to play with fire, telling us how his Dad sets a fire in his fireplace for lighting in the morning. And right then I grabbed the phrase “Playing With Fire” to use as a title.

I read two pieces that were written on the topic of watching a parade of veterans. The first piece was fictional about a woman going to the vets’ parade every November 11th in honour of her son who had died in Afghanistan. After writing it I felt it could have been a little cliched, so I wrote another piece which I called “The Making Of A Soldier”, which was non-fiction, relating things my son told me through the years to illustrate how he changed and grew away from home through his life in the army, and yet was still a responsible person achieving his goals.

Jason wasn’t able to attend last Wednesday, either, due to family responsibilities. He said he has some writing he wants to share with us, so hopefully he’ll make the next meeting.

And our next Meeting will be Wednesday, February 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. As Valentine’s Day is approaching, feel free to bring any writing you have on that topic that you’d like to share with us. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2011-01-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

WINTER FORTITUDE

In spite of the inclement weather of Wednesday, four of us still met to honour The Muse.

Margaret read a letter by Danny Halmo that was in the Langley Times on December 31st, thanking the people of Langley for their generosity of spirit to those less fortunate this past Christmas season. It was a good reminder of how difficult the holiday can be for some people.

In further adventures of Coffin and Dye, Margaret read of a stranger sitting down across the table from Coffin at a pub and the stranger telling him about how hard it is to keep tenants when the apartment building he owns is haunted by ghosts. Coffin tells him to just paint the premises and advertise the building as newly renovated. Dye receives a call from Mr. Creeps to tell him not to bother coming to exterminate ghosts, as he’s going to renovate the building. And Coffin is told by his landlord’s nephew that he has to vacate temporarily as his suite is being renovated.

In December I was invited by CBC to enter a flash fiction contest they were running, where the entry was between 100 and 250 words and started with “The snowman grinned malevolently…” and ended with “…buried alive.” I wrote a piece and submitted it, but didn’t win. Without saying who wrote which piece, I read my entry and the winner and two runners up. Margaret picked mine as the best, although the winning entry was also good. It’s nice to know I have a loyal audience.

Jim read Chapter 14 of “Coventry Ghosts” where we see the villain Jason return to his lab in Mexico with his laptop that has captured ghost essences. He’s hoping to resurrect his dead parents and keep them with him forever. This Chapter is setting up the character and his background so we understand what drives him.

Ellie read a piece recently written called “Walking A Winter Picture”. It is a very literary description of a recent walk in a snow-covered field and is a painting in words. You could feel yourself there, too, looking through her eyes.

I want to re-title my novel and was asking for suggestions. Ellie kindly offered to take it home with her and skim through it to see if anything suggested itself from the page. I did purchase the 2010 Canadian Writers’ Market and am planning on submitting to book publishers in Canada. After doing some research, I was quite surprised to find many of them saying they do not accept online queries or submissions, and a number of them even requested submission of full manuscripts in hard copy. Very interesting. That probably cuts down on the number of submissions they receive and have to deal with, n’est-ce pas? And of course that would definitely restrict the number of American writers submitting north of the 49th.

Jason emailed that he wasn’t able to attend the Meeting due to not feeling well.

Bob called to inform me he would not be attending meetings, for awhile anyhow, maybe permanently. He said he had lost interest in writing. I was so sorry to hear that and his presence will be sadly missed.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, January 19th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Sweep the winter blues out of your house and away from your Muse. Think of spring and renewal and write with your longing for life. And then come and read your words on the 19th. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-12-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

AUTOGRAPHED COPY

Margaret, Jim and Bob joined me for our Meeting on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see Margaret close to her vibrant, chipper self again. She presented me with a signed copy of her book, “Blow Up The Castle”. Her publisher told her to always sign with her legal signature so it could be traced for authenticity after she becomes famous. Margaret also had emails from readers in Georgia and Arizona who had purchased her book and read it, laughing all the way through. They had bought copies from Amazon.com so there you go. She’s already making her mark internationally!

The downside now is that her publisher, West Pro Publishing, will no longer operate as a standard publisher but is moving to be only a vanity press, where the author pays all costs. That is so sad for authors.

Bob re-read two of his historical articles from the last meeting as Margaret and Jim had not heard them.

Margaret made up for her absence and read us two chapters from “Coffin And Dye”. We hear Mr. Creeps, the owner of the apartment building at 13 Ivy Lane, telling Dye that he can’t keep any tenants because of ghosts in the building. Unknown to Dye, that is where Coffin has moved. Dye thinks the ghosts were workers who moved crates of opium when the building used to be a warehouse. He tells Creeps he’ll come to take a look on Monday morning. When he arrives, Creeps shows him the building, and points out the two flats in the attic. Creeps wants to know about the ghosts in the lobby. Dye takes the job to eradicate them.

Jim read us the second half of Chapter 13 of “Coventry Ghosts”, where volunteer ghosts are hunting for the person/machine devoiding ghosts of their essences. Two young ghosts are captured and can not be found by the others. Meanwhile, Leanne’s boyfriend, Robin, dies and has to fight to become a ghost instead of moving toward the light. He succeeds and joins Leanne in her realm.

I was lazy and instead of reading, I played a tape of Roy Jacques reading my poem “The Ghost of Christmas”, which he read on air at CKWX on December 24, 1985. He had supplied me with a tape of his reading and I like to bring it out and play it every couple of years as I love listening to his voice reading my words. He gave my work such distinction and hearing of his passing filled me with sadness. Bless his soul. Jim and Margaret said I should ask the station to play it every year, but I don’t know if that would work as their format now is all news, and not the country station they used to be. But it’s amazing to think I had five minutes of fame twenty-five years ago!

Our next Meeting won’t be until Wednesday, January 5th, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all in the meantime, and I hope to see you in the New Year!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-11-21T14:34:00.001-08:00

HANGING IN THERE

Three of us kept the fires of creativity burning at our Meeting on Wednesday. Bob and Jason joined me and we all had something to read. Margaret was still not well. Ellie is still otherwise occupied. Jim worked a very long day and wasn’t able to attend. And I don’t know about anybody else. I’ve had three ladies ask about joining the group, but so far none of them have arrived at the door.

For a change, I read first, the third chapter in “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”. Jason asked me all sorts of questions about what I hoped to do with this story which made me think more deeply about it. He thought I should start with a scene I want to use for the climax of the story, and then tell retrospectively how that happened. But Bob thought that would detract from the suspense of the mystery. I did say I wanted to show the disintegration of a family, step by step. So far I’ve written in first person, past tense, but I may have to switch and rewrite in third person, past tense, so I can include all I want to show. Have to think about it some more.

Bob had three pieces to read. They are in response to a request from the Vancouver Historical Society Newsletter for articles under 450 words about the history of Vancouver. Bob’s first story was “Visiting The Aorangi” about he and a female friend going aboard a docked liner in 1951 and being given a guided tour of the former WWII troop ship. The second story was “Wreck Beach” and Bob’s experience there cooking potatoes in the coals of a fire with his Scout troop in 1944. And the third story was “My Memories of David Spencer Dept. Store”, where he used to go shopping with his father. He loved the Christmas displays and having lunch in their dining room with a bank of windows overlooking the water. It became an Eatons store in 1948.

Jason read Chapter 3 of “Provoked” which now has this part of the novel focused in a totally different plane of existence with different characters. It shows us the people of the Nornir and The Source, a piece of which is in the necklace worn by Jodie, in the earthly realm, portending the conflict about to ensue. The writing was nice and tight and portrayed the menace they are all facing.

Our next Meeting will be Wednesday, December 1st at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Hope to see you then.

I did ask if people want that to be the last Meeting of the year, or if they still want one on December 15th as well ? It was suggested I pose the question in this blog. What are your thoughts? Do you want a little holiday celebration where everyone brings a snack? Or would you rather have the time free for other pursuits? And if we have a Meeting on the 15th, who would attend? I would appreciate your response on this, either way, RSVP. Thanks.

Happy Writing to you all.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-11-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

UN ET DEUX ET TROIS!

One by one people dropped out of coming to Wednesday’s meeting. I didn’t know whether to cancel, or hold the meeting in case people whom I hadn’t heard from still showed up. As it turned out, Jim arrived on time, and then Jason arrived after 8:00, when he was finished having his son’s picture taken with his soccer team. Margaret was ill, Bob was still playing bridge, and Ellie is busy with renovations and an agility class.

Jim read two short stories from the collection he is writing for the Coffee Shop Author contest. The first story was “The Oddest Coffee Shop” where a female customer in search of a great latte enters a coffee shop where no-one is allowed to leave until they finish their coffee. Meanwhile, the interior of the shop and the attire of the owner keep changing. It’s spooky, but the customer is finally allowed to leave when she finishes her latte, which she says was the best she’d ever had. Jim’s second story was “The Coffee Shop Escape” where a female customer is accosted by a male customer whom she rejected. He stalks her, but she calls for police protection, and thinks she is safe when the stalker is apprehended, but then discovers the policeman is the serial killer. Using her own killer driving instincts with her BMW, she rams the policeman and makes her escape. These were two very interesting short stories I thoroughly enjoyed.

I read the second chapter of “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, which gives a little more background information on the narrator and about Nigel and his wife. I don’t know whether this could be a novel, or just a very long short story. I did spend some time doing an outline to give myself some direction with it and will see where it takes me, I guess. I did submit my previous short story “Treachery?” to the CBC contest.

When Jason arrived he told us about the time he spent at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. The critiquing session by agents that he had signed up for was a great disappointment, as he had intentionally arrived early and submitted his first chapter, only to have the venue swarmed by others at the last minute and his manuscript got buried in the pile and not read at all. It should have been done first come, first served, but wasn’t. And he says he probably won’t attend again until he has a completed novel to take with him. He feels there isn’t much more offered to him there that he would find beneficial.
Jason did read to us his rewritten Chapter 2, which is again tightly written with defining action and descriptions that tell us what the goals of the antagonists are and make us want to keep reading.

Ellie said she talked to an editor at the SIWC about her children’s story, and was told if she does a re-write, the editor would take a look at it. That’s encouraging.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, November 17th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place and I do hope to see you then. Keep writing in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-10-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

PUBLISHED BOOK AUTHOR!

Margaret came to Wednesday’s meeting with the first copy of her published book “Blow Up The Castle”. It was quite exciting to see her stories in print. She has drawn a poster about her book which I will forward to everyone in a separate email. Margaret pointed out to me that the author’s bio on the book was taken almost word for word from her bio on our website. So there you go.

In honour of Halloween, Margaret read an article of hers published in The Vancouver Sun Oct. 26th, 2004, “A Dead Mother’s Visit With Her Daughter” which details how Margaret saw an apparition of her deceased mother at about the same time her father passed away.

Ellie had two poems to read. The first one, “Fall Morning Ritual” was a humourous account of her and her dog’s morning ritual of going outside for the dog to do its business, and then the mishap of Ellie stepping in it. But the dog caught a mole, so the excursion wasn’t a total loss. The second poem was “A Change, Your Sister”. This starts out lighthearted as a young girl is happy when she’s allowed to tag along with her brother and his friends, until one day when a vicious rape occurs. It’s a powerful poem speaking volumes about life’s uncertainties.

Jason is attending the Surrey International Writers’ Conference and plans to submit the first chapter of his novel for a “flash” critique in front of all participants. So he brought it to read to us beforehand. The title of the trilogy is now “The Roots of Creation” and the first book’s title is “Provoked”. The rewrite Jason has done is remarkable. The story starts with a teenaged sexual assault where the heroine is saved by a sinister figure and sees the blood of her teenaged assailant in the swimming pool. The writing is tight and the story grabs the reader right away. Good luck, Jason!

I read a short story I wrote touching on the topic of elder abuse, partly in response to ads on T.V. lately, but also the result of someone else’s personal story. But rather than allowing a happy ending, I ended with a question about the new caregiver, because I wanted readers to really think about issues facing seniors and not think it’s always going to work out just fine if somebody else takes care of the elders in our lives. Elder care is never easy for anybody, on either side of that equation. I title the story “Treachery?” and hope to enter it in the CBC Literary Awards Contest.

Jim read Chapter 13 of “Coventry Ghosts”, where we see Leanne trying to alleviate Robin’s pain and discomfort from his leukemia and the necessary chemotherapy sessions. She cannot save him, though. While helping Robin, she is asked to attend a meeting of the Ghastly Committee because ghost essences are still disappearing, and it is thought some human is using some apparatus to capture and steal them. This is an exciting storyline and I’m sure young readers will want to keep turning the pages.

Gemma has said she was busy working for three months, but hopes to maybe attend our next meeting. Ellie and Jason are probably both at the SIWC right now. Margaret will not be at the book fair at that conference today, as the physical challenges of going there were too great. But her publisher will be there with a display of Margaret’s book. Bob is still busy playing bridge.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-10-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

FAITHFUL FOUR

Jim, Margaret, Ron and I were the four who were faithful to The Muse last Wednesday. Bob is off learning to play bridge with his wife for a few weeks. Anne B. is re-writing her thesis. And Jason was busy parenting while his wife was away on business.

Margaret read of Coffin deciding to move since he was worried about Sam Chou’s ghost that also resided where he lived. He rented an apartment over Ling’s laundry, but couldn’t access the communal toilet since another tenant was in there reading on the throne. So then he moved to 13 Ivy Lane. Unknown to him, Dye received a request to eradicate a ghost at that address.

Sometime this week, Margaret’s book, “Blow Up The Castle” should be out. And she will be doing a signing at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference on the 23rd, from 5:30 till 7:00 p.m.

Ron was recovering from his daughter’s wedding, so didn’t have any new work to read. But he did share with us his friend’s experience at being accepted by a New York agent, who told him he was accepted because he could write. So what did that mean? Steps in the process of getting there were: meeting the agent, submitting first page and a half, then submitting the next 50 pages, then the rest of the manuscript, and then doing the suggested re-write of 2/3 of the book. Ron also recently posted another article about his father’s dementia on his website at www.rdyoungwrites.com if you want to check it out.

I read another story for my “Honey” collection called “Mr. Sticky”, about our experience buying a newly demonstrated consumer product and then bringing it home and trying it out. I also read an article from the Vancouver Sun which was a copy of a letter from Hunter S. Thompson applying for a job as a journalist at the Sun in 1958. The application was wildly aggressive and totally hilarious.

Jim read the last half of Ch. 12 in his “Coventry Ghosts”, where we see the ghostly essence of Ilancueitl being sucked into the laptop of the evil Jason. Ilancueitl and Sherlock had been investigating the disappearance of the Green Lady’s essence, when Sherlock felt Ilancueitl disappear. He gathered her ghostly shell and went to inform the Committee. Jim has finished the first draft of his second novel in this series but is not willing to share it with us yet. Also, he has again entered the Coffee Shop Authors’ Contest. This time he is doing a collection of short stories to enter.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. The Muse cordially invites any Halloween stories you might offer to sacrifice for communal consumption. Hope to see you on the 20th.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-09-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

BOOK REPORT

Jason, Ellie, Bob, Jim and I were all at Wednesday’s meeting. Margaret hurt her back and was unable to attend. Gemma couldn’t make it, either. And we don’t know where Anne Berrie is these days. If Bob signs up with his wife to take a course in playing Bridge, he will miss the next three meetings.

I started by recommending that everyone read “Sunray: The Death And Life of Captain Nichola Goddard”, in honour of our upcoming Remembrance Day. And I strongly believe it should be required reading for all Canadian high school students. My reasons are several. As I writer, I found the book easy to read and very informative about the military setting here and in Afghanistan. As a Canadian, I think Nichola Goddard has more than earned status as a true Canadian hero we should all be familiar with and be proud of. And because Major Sonny Hatton and his wife Chantal Hatton, both pictured and mentioned in the book, are my son and daughter-in-law. I know they were close friends with Nichola and her husband, Jay, and Nichola’s death was devastating to them.
The book is a new release and is authored by Valerie Fortney, a journalist with the Calgary Herald, and is published by Key Porter Books. I borrowed the book from the Murrayville branch of the FVRL. My brother has purchased a copy from Hemmingway’s Book Store in Abbotsford. Unfortunately, Chapter’s Langley did not have a single copy in their store as of today’s date.

Jason is working on his novel’s rewrite with his wife, and says they are on a roll with it. He thinks reading bits and pieces to the group is too disrupting for his writing process. There aren’t enough meetings to keep up with all the chapters.

Ellie read a personal story about kayaking off Crescent Beach early one morning and encountering two grey whales. She had heard they pass that way migrating north and was astounded at how lucky she was to see them, one only 4 feet away from her kayak. She found the experience surreal and felt blessed by the encounter.

Bob re-read a piece he had written in 2003. It was from his history of jewellery manufacturing in B.C. The first manufacturer appeared in 1893, and Jacoby Bros. was established in 1909. We learn about the early processes of making jewellery and that some equipment came from New York, by ship, down around the Cape of Good Hope.

I read a short story titled “Busted!” about a teenaged girl with a crush on her school’s star basketball player. He embarrasses her at school at the beginning of grade 10. She applies herself to her studies but still thinks about him. In April he invites her to a party at another friend’s house. She attends, but is horrified at the wanton behavior of her peers and leaves just before the police show up. Years later she remembers that night as she flicks through her Yearbook and realizes that’s why she never became a party girl with the in crowd. The men who listened to me read this thought the descriptive detail I used could have been eliminated, but Ellie thought it worked with the story. Men and women want different things when they read, apparently.

Jim read Chapter 12 of “Coventry Ghosts” where Leanne and Sara, the cat, are at the coffee shop with other ghosts, cleaning up the mess after the explosion. Leanne sees that John, who works there, has a gambling problem, and Sara agrees to follow him and try to keep him out of trouble. Jim told us he’s received several rejections on this novel from multiple submissions to agents that he had sent out. But they all wished him good luck in placing his work.

Margaret’s book “Blow Up The Castle”, being published by West Pro Publishing, is almost ready for release. Her publisher has asked Margaret to do a book signing at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference on Saturday, October 23rd, 5:30 – 7:00p.m. Isn’t that exciting? So if you’re there, be sure to drop by and support Margaret that day.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-09-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

BACK TO CLASS?

August gave us a nice break, so out meeting on September 1st felt like the beginning of school again. Ellie Halcrow joined us for the first time and she said she enjoyed herself and we certainly enjoyed having her here.

Bob read first, a personal piece called “Summer Time”, about the summers he spent as a child during the late ’30s and early ‘40s. There was a lot of rich detail about Boundary Bay and Crescent Beach during those years.

Ellie had two unique pieces to read. Her “Lips Of The Spider” was a piece in first person telling of a sensual first date that has the mood shattered when she ends up with a dead fly on her lips from the wine she was drinking. There was fantastic setting of mood here, and we all chuckled at the ending. Ellie’s second reading was a powerful poem called “Good Loua Be With You Child”. It’s a vivid description of the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti as seen by a young child.

Margaret read the next chapter in “Coffin And Dye”. We see Coffin at the grand piano in Handel House playing “Jesus Loves Me” with one finger, when he hears a muffled voice saying “I am Sam and want to come down.” Coffin runs away, but the voice was from Sam the handyman who was stuck in the attic. Coffin writes his report and says the ghost turning the pages of music was Handel, and there were other apparitions of noted individuals there as well. The result of this is that the Handel Society is pleased to have such renowned ghosts and they decide not to have them exterminated and consequently do not hire Coffin & Dye.

At my request, Jim read “Poached Trout”, a very funny short story he wrote about a man seeking to impress a woman he wants to bed. He offers to cook something she’d like, and she requests poached fish. Thinking poaching means stealing, the young man goes out at night in a small boat on Deer Lake and throws dynamite in the water and then collects all the dead fish. He spends the rest of the night cleaning them, grabs a quick nap and then barbecues the fish for the young lady. He does win her over when she learns of all the trouble he has taken to please her.

I read a piece called “Nigel Wingate Is Dead”, which is the beginning of a murder mystery. I don’t know at this point if the story will be a long short story, or will become a novel. And I’m not certain if I will continue writing it in first person or switch to third person, which would give me more leeway in telling the story. But everybody at the meeting liked it as it was, in first person, so will take that into consideration.

Gemma emailed that she was unable to attend on Wednesday. And Jason said he was planning on a romantic evening with his wife before a vasectomy scheduled for Thursday morning. We wish him speedy recovery. Although, as Susan can attest from conceiving her fifth child after her husband’s vasectomy, there are no guarantees!

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, September 15th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. May you all be plagued with a proliferation of written words like fallen leaves on your lawn. May you gather them and contain them and let them explode on your page. And then bring them to the next meeting for the rest of us to wonder at. See you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-08-08T10:35:00.001-07:00

SUMMER’S HALF GONE

Five of us still met on Wednesday in spite of the heat. Sad to think that summer is half over. I can tell, because parents have started buying school supplies at Walmart. If you need any office supplies, now is the time to stock up.

Bob read “The Stove”, an account of his further problem buying electrical goods. The first stove he got was problematic, so he returned it eventually after many long discussions with out of country and off-shore call centers. He finally received a stove from another store and has been trying out the oven. Making bread, he thought it needed another couple of minutes in the oven, so he sat to watch a baseball game while he waited, but it was two hours before he remembered he had something in the oven. We told him to get a portable timer he could carry with him.

I read a short piece called “Stop The Sunset” about Honey draining the car battery checking out his plug-in cooler, and then hoping to re-charge the battery with a solar charger as the sun was setting. I am accumulating pieces for my “Honey” collection.

Margaret read of Dye telling Coffin that the Handel House Association wanted them to identify their ghost before they decided whether or not to have it eradicated. He read Coffin the note from Miss Noteworthy. Dye told Coffin to go to the Handel House and play the piano and watch to see if a ghost was turning the music pages. Coffin was reluctant as he didn’t play very well. Dye told him not to worry, there wouldn’t be anyone there to listen except the ghost.

Jim read the rest of Chapter 10 where Olivia returns to the Wired Monk from being in the ghostly realm with her sister. Olivia’s tea is still warm. Leanne’s boyfriend arrives and so does Leanne. With her ghostly eyesight, she sees a malignancy in his bones and tells him to see a doctor.

Jason didn’t read. He feels overwhelmed with how busy it is during the summer with two young children, a boy and a girl, and getting them to all their organized activities. Unfortunately, being so organized precludes spending time with friends or just playing for fun, for either them or him. Hmm…. Something to think about. I really think Jason should be writing about the trials and tribs of being a full-time parent.

We are taking a break for the rest of August, and the next Meeting will be Wednesday, September 1st at 7:00 p.m. at my place. Take your Muse on vacation with you, but be sure to drag both of you back for the next Meeting. See you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-07-24T15:01:00.001-07:00

ME AND THE MEN AND A BLUEBERRY FLAN

Unfortunately, Margaret was not well, and Gemma couldn’t attend, and Anne Berrie was absent, so there were just me and four men here at the meeting last Wednesday. And none of them refused the blueberry flan I had made, sans sucre.

Jim read first, part of Chapter 10 in his novel “Coventry Ghosts”. This is where Leanne is able to bring her sister, Olivia, into her ghostly world, while time stands still in the real world. Leanne has become a most powerful ghost. There is going to be a General Dissembly to choose new members for the previously decimated Ghostly Committee, and Leanne wants to see women appointed this time. This is a really fun read.

Ron attended for the first time in many months. He read Chapter 5 from his “Of Stalwart Peasants”. This chapter is from the point of view of Burkholder, the Land Agent, looking to sell Hungarian peasants on emigration to Canada. Joseph is one in the crowd, and asks a lot of questions. The Agent reads a bulletin, a glowing testimonial from previous immigrants in the Hungarian colony at Esterhazy. Joseph pays the fee for the Agent to obtain visas for all his family to emigrate, but questions the ability of the Agent to obtain them for his sons, who are of the age for military conscription. A lot of interesting history here.

Jason read Chapter 13, where Greg and Dave are at home. We learn Greg knows about a party that Dave hasn’t told him about, and that Greg is having trouble discerning what was real and what was illusion earlier in the day. Dave admits to Greg that he’s desperately hoping to be picked up by one of the professional scouts that will be at his hockey game on Friday, so that he can leave town for good. Then Jason told us he might scrap this chapter because he didn’t think there was anything happening to move the story along.

The only writing I had done was a letter to the editor that was published in The Vancouver Sun on Wednesday. I commented that I was one who had complained the last time about the long form census, as I have lived in the same house since 1994, and we received the long form every single time it came around. It just seemed to be a little redundant collecting the same info from the same people in the same house every time.

Bob didn’t read anything, but he is still waiting for his new stove, so maybe we will have another story from him on that topic eventually. He has been without a stove for several weeks now.

Big thanks to Jim for the large bowl of ripe plums he brought from the tree in his yard. I’ve been nibbling on them since.

Next Meeting will be here at my place on Wednesday, August 4th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then, and may your inspired thoughts bear the fruit of eloquent composition in the meantime. If not, make jam.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-07-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

DOWNSIZED

Our meeting last Wednesday was smaller in number, only four of us, but not in enthusiasm. Gemma, Bob and Margaret were here with me to enjoy a more leisurely get-together, and the strawberry shortcake I served as a treat. Jason said his wife was away on business and he was busy parenting that night. Jim had a previous engagement. Anne was unwell again with another cold. And Danny called Margaret and said not to pick him up to attend any more meetings.

Margaret read of Coffin going to speak at the British Society of Ghostly Encounters. Dye was wrong in his directions, and Coffin had a long walk from the train to the theater, where he was to change into his Duke of Cumberland costume. He changed and stood in the hall, waiting for his cue to go on stage, but ended up appearing as the Duke in a play instead of giving a talk about his ghostly encounters. He then missed the train home and ended up staying at the Stars Inn. The next day, Dye belatedly told him the Society cancelled their meeting.

Bob read more of his electronic difficulties. He lost his internet signal while watching a baseball game on his computer and his wife phoned the service provider where she was put on hold. Eventually she learned payments for the new PVR they had bought had not come out of their bank account automatically. Since Bob was behind in doing bank reconciliations, he was not aware they were behind on payments. Consequently, the service had been terminated on a Wednesday. Of course Bob made the necessary payments and service was eventually restored on the Saturday, in time for him to watch a 4:00 baseball game. Now we are waiting for Bob to write about his escapade buying a new stove.

Gemma read the final chapter of the gigolo Bob defrauding Barbara. He takes her to a picnic in Stanly Park, and then to Hastings racetrack. He tells her he has a sure bet on No. 2 in the 5th race. She gives him $10,000.00 to place a bet. No. 2 wins the race but is then disqualified and No. 3 is first. Bob had placed her money on No. 3, but tells her he is sorry she lost all her money. Gemma said the novel continues with Bob swindling money from other people. So we don’t know yet if he gets caught.

I have to write something under 750 words on the topic of ‘ears’. Margaret and Gemma and Bob were generous with suggestions so we will see what I come up with.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Wednesday, July 21st at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-06-20T14:45:00.001-07:00

JUNE SCRIBES

Eight dedicated Rams met here on Wednesday to prove we can still write in spite of springtime lures of other pursuits.

Margaret read of Dye telling Coffin he was expected to do some public speaking about the ghost of the Duke of Cumberland. Dye provided him with a costume similar to what the Duke had worn during the battle of Culloden, and assured Coffin he would not have to travel in it, just don it when he arrived. And we are all waiting to hear what adventures Coffin will encounter now.

Jim told us of the Harper Collins writing contest of 1000 word entries having to contain ten of some 40 words Harper Collins had chosen from their new Canadian Dictionary. Jim’s entry was “Conversations With God” in which a male deceased agnostic discovers God is a woman and heaven is not at all what he expected. Jim had underlined all the words he had used from the list, many of which are pure Candadiana.

Danny was still slaving on his screenplay, which he said would be mailed to an agent in the next week or so. Starting on page 6, we see Danny back at his girlfriend’s where he has unhooked the gas line. Police arrive and he is handcuffed and driven away. Then there is a flashback and we see Danny as a young child, first in 1961, then 1962, getting into daring escapades, foreshadowing how problematic his life will be.

I read “Next Sunday”, a humourous personal story about my Honey going to Value Village and buying a used guitar. I plan on entering this piece in the humour contest at SFU.

Jason read Ch. 12, where Greg wakes up in the school cafeteria to learn there is a student lockdown due to a police incident in the nearby woods. He has trouble telling the difference between his dream and reality. Later, after the all-clear, he sees Jodie leave with Sean. He wonders how his dream related to what really happened. Then he sees the unusual car with the driver with the black-rimmed hat. Jason is still keeping the suspense going.

Gemma read some more of Bob and Barbara. They dine while watching the races, and when Bob collects the money from the race Barbara bet on, he only gives her one third of her winnings. He takes her home but refuses to stay with her, and goes to spend the night with Mary instead. In the morning, he meets with Jim, the jockey, trying to collect the money Jim owes him, which Jim doesn’t have. Bob tells him to fix a race that night.

Anne read the continuation of Lilly’s story. Still playing Barbies at her friend’s house, her sister comes to get her. Her father has had a heart attack. Her sister Ingrid is crying, and her older sister, Evie, is also crying when she gets home. On the way home, she sees her Dad’s car with the doors open and somebody punching down hard on something on the seat. We were all waiting to hear what happened to Lilly’s father.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, July 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. In the meantime, Happy Canada Day, and may your writing flourish like the weeds in your garden!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-06-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

WHERE’S THE SUN?

My creativity is stating to atrophy from the lack of sunshine. I just feel like curling up and sleeping, much like my stunted planter of herbs. However, there were eight of us at the last meeting, in spite of the rain.

Margaret read first, telling of how Coffin found a place to park his new bicycle that Dye gave him. Unfortunately, his neighbour, Harry, wasn’t pleased, comparing Coffin unfavourably to Sammy Chou, the previous tenant. But Coffin was also upset with Harry for spending so much time on the toilet they shared. To bother Coffin more, Harry told him his flat was haunted by Sammy Chou.

Danny brought his model flying saucer that he had made while hospitalized. It was made to 1/16 scale and actually flew. Danny is also working on a screenplay for his autobiography, which is being submitted to a Hollywood agent interested in auto racing stories. Margaret, Bob, Jim, Margaret and Danny read various parts of the first scene so we could see what Danny envisions for it. The screenplay can only be 120 pages maximum, in 12 point font, each page limited to a set amount of screentime. There’s a lot to consider writing for the screen, but Danny’s excited about the project, working on it fulltime.

Ruth-Ann read a children’s short story, about Olesia Marie, a young girl bullied at school by Steven. She tells her parents and her Dad says to tell the teacher, and her mother says to ignore Steven, that he probably likes her and wants her attention. She also complained to her girlfriend. The next day she sees Steven feed a hungry dog from his lunch. Later he pinches her arm as she walks by, and she says “I love you, too!” and kisses him. He never bothers her again.

I read a short piece that I had written from doing some clustering on the topic ‘Memories’. I had started writing a poem, but it slid into prose and is still very short, less that 200 words. It’s about visiting my parents at their country home one day to notice how lonely and deteriorated things looked, about a year after my youngest brother had died. It turned out to be a rather poignant short piece, maybe prose/poetry?

Gemma read the next chapter about Bob and Barbara, the younger gigolo and the older woman. She loves him and he just wants her money. He takes her to the races and talks her into letting him take her money to place her bet for her. Now we all want to know what happens to her $10,000.00.

Jason read Ch. 11 of his novel. Greg feels cold and confused, trapped in an alternate reality. He sees people parading to their ruin and doesn’t know what to do. There’s a dragon and Greg hears voices. He sees a man trying to grab a floating sword, then there is a flash and the sword comes straight down, almost hitting Greg. It looks like the sword that Ludwig had. Lots of tension in this chapter, left with a desire to keep turning the pages.

Jim didn’t read. He’s been working on his query letter when he has time. He was very tired having to work a lot of overtime, completing built-in furniture that people want before the HST kicks in.

Bob didn’t read either, but told us about a war book he had been reading. He did say there are some missing parts in his own personal history that he had written, so he was thinking of doing more with that piece of writing.

Further news regarding the HST July 1st: We will still pay only 5% on books, but we will then pay 12% on magazines and newspapers.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, June 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then and may you be hounded by your Muse to write in spite of the rain.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-05-23T10:48:00.001-07:00

STORMY WEATHER

In spite of the storm on Wednesday, we did have a meeting. My power stayed on, thank goodness. Margaret’s son Marshall was well enough to bring her to the meeting even though some tree branches were down along the way from Aldergrove. Unfortunately, when they went home later, their power was off and both had to climb three sets of stairs in the dark to reach their apartment. Marshall phoned to tell me they made it home though.

Margaret read first, telling us that Dye wanted to buy Coffin a present for going to the Moor in a kilt, looking for ghosts. Dye went shopping. First he looked at furniture for the office. Then he went to a dealership and looked at Rolls Royces. That’s when he decided what he would give Coffin. Coffin thanked him effusively for the generous gift, but honestly didn’t know what he would do with another bicycle.

Jim had both a query letter and a synopsis for “Coventry Ghosts” that he wanted to send to an agent. He asked us to go over them and make suggestions to improve them. We went through both missives sentence by sentence and made all sorts of suggestions. Hopefully we were a help in the process.

Anne brought a story she had started writing and felt compelled to continue. It was about Lilly and her friend, Tricia, young girls playing Barbies. Tricia wants Lilly to leave her Barbie overnight with her, but Lilly doesn’t want to as Tricia has stolen some of Lilly’s Barbie accessories in the past and Lilly wants to prevent that from happening again. We are shown the manipulative tendencies specific to Tricia’s personality and Lilly’s attempts to avoid them, but still remain friends.

Gemma brought two versions of the same story, one in first person and the other in third person point of view, and asked us to choose which we preferred. We all chose the first person point of view as it was more immediate.

Jason read from Chapter 10 of his novel, and we see Greg still in the woods watching the siren as she bends over Dave, but stares straight at Greg. Greg becomes sexually excited at her presence. She picks up the fallen pendant with a stick and gives it to Greg. Bruce warns Greg to stay away from her. He falls, and wonders if he’s dead. There’s a lot of sexual tension in this scene, and a deepening mystery.

Unfortunately, neither Bob nor I had anything new to read. Thirty lashes each with a limp bookmark.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, June 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then, and I wish you prolific writing in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-05-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

MISSING MARGARET!

Margaret was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting as her son, Marshall, who drives her, was very ill. We all wish them both the best of health and well-being.

Gemma was also away due to health concerns and needing to be a driver for others. And Anne and Jason were missing as they felt they had to cheer for the losing Canucks in the hockey game. The Canucks should never play when the Rams are gathering!

Bob attended, even though the Boston Red Sox were winning their game. He said he has a new granddaughter, Josephine Rose.

Bob read first, “Something New”, which was a condensation in 3 paragraphs of his saga about buying a new entertainment system and trying to get it to work. He left out the parts about their computers and focused solely on the audio/visual systems, cutting down from 7000 words. That was an amazing edit, for sure.

Ruth-Ann attended for the first time and bravely read a short story called “Cheap Psychotherapy”. It tells of an esthetician studying to become a psychiatrist who gives free advice to her beauty clients. It’s an interesting premise and we would like to know how the clients’ problems are resolved.

Danny read a chapter of his autobiography called “Flying Saucers Really Do Exist”. It tells of Danny desperately wanting to get out of the psychiatric hospital and deciding the best way to do so was to show some signs of working towards that goal. So he starts building a miniature (but working) flying saucer in the wood shop. And it passes its outdoor test flight with flying colours. Danny then takes an IQ test and he scores exceptionally high. In the meantime, he absolutely hates having all the other patients referred to as his “peers”, especially as some of them he just wants to kill at times. True dichotomy of the bi-polar?

Jim has submitted the prologue and the first several chapters of “Coventry Ghosts” to the coffee shop writing contest he was part of. He also did a public reading of the prologue and first chapter at the Coventry Wired Monk in Cloverdale, as they were his ‘sponsor’. He said his granddaughter and a number of other children were there to hear him read and it went very well. Jim read the end of Chapter 8 for us and we see Leanne being attacked by other ghosts and being forced to sink to Drakko (ghostly hell). She meets Moog, who gives her a ball of light that’s all powerful, and she returns, able to vanquish all her enemies. We are then introduced to a character devising a laptop to capture ghostly essences, which is another reason to keep turning pages.

I had a copy of the May issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine and read Margaret’s article, “The Walker” about Edward Payson Weston, who spent his lifetime walking great distances.

Jim brought the last issue of Eclectica Magazine which included pieces by Jim, Gemma and myself. We are sorry to see the demise of this magazine.

On Friday, April 30th, the Vancouver Sun printed a Letter to the Editor from Nathaniel decrying the federal government’s refusal to fund international aid for mothers and children that would include abortion in other countries, even though it is available here in Canada. It’s always brave to point out the hypocrisy of the self-righteous. Let them be slain by our pens!

I recounted my attempt to purchase a suitable ebook reader that I could use at night without having a lamp turned on, as Bryon complains about my reading in bed with the light on when he wants to sleep. Last year some models were back-lit, and I thought that would be the answer. But they no longer make backlit ebook readers, they all use e-ink so the page/screen can be read outside in broad daylight. But then I saw an ad for The Source that mentioned a back-lit ereader so I went to check it out. Since the demo was not charged properly, I had to buy one and bring it home and charge it before I was able to determine it had been falsely advertised and there was no way you could use it to read in the dark without another light turned on. So I returned it.

Also, I did check out what was available in free book downloads and there again I was disappointed. The free books are mostly classics, where the copyright has expired and no author has to be paid royalties. Which is good for authors, not for ebook readers. Otherwise you have to either pay to purchase a download, or pay to belong to a site where you can download books. And, after checking, I discovered you cannot use Chapters’ Gift Cards to purchase ebooks.

I did talk to somebody at the Sony store and asked if they still had the backlit model from last year, but no, they didn’t. However, he suggested I buy a leather case for the ereader, in which you could insert a book light. The cost for case and light was $80.00, but he said the light was an excellent quality. I asked if the case could just hold an ordinary book, and he said yes. So then I said I should just buy the case and light and I wouldn’t need the ereader. He didn’t know what to say. I politely told him I would stick to buying hard copy books and then I went and spent my Chapters’ gift certificate to buy one of their expensive book lights. I clip it onto my lapdesk and the light’s neck is long enough to arc over my book when I put it on the desk so it’s not a problem turning pages. Will have to tell my son, the computer engineer, that sometimes low-tech works better.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 19th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then, hockey game or not.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-04-22T14:32:00.001-07:00

BAND OF HEROES

Seven of us were heroic and attended the Meeting last night. Bob, from memory, recited the dates that certain goods appeared in our world during the last century or so, correcting things mentioned in a joke I had emailed him. The rest of us just read words we (or someone else) had written.

Margaret read to us of Coffin enjoying himself at the Thistle Inn, dining on haggis. The Scotsman who had picked him up from the rock on the moor, returned him to same after they had celebrated Robbie Burns Day. Coffin fell and knocked himself out. Since he had been missing for so long, Dye called the Police, who found him and sent him to hospital. They asked Dye what the two had been doing on the moor, dressed in kilts. Dye explained they were ghost eradicators. When he reached the hospital, a nurse told him Coffin said he saw the ghost of the Duke of Cumberland in battle on the moor. Dye agreed to have Coffin speak publicly about his sightings.

Danny, after visiting the Langley Writers’ Guild and listening to Ed Griffin talk about the steps of the Hero’s Journey, decided he needed to re-write the beginning of his autobiography, which he then read to us. He told us racers don’t race on Easter Sunday or on Mother’s Day, because if they died in an accident on either of those two days, it would be just way too traumatic for any mother to bear. The first chapter, called “Page Zero”, is set on Mother’s Day in 1967, when Danny is 7 ½ and his brother Mike is 5 years old. Danny is looking forward to racing his go-cart after church, an activity he shares with his Dad while the other children stay with his Mom. But Mike wants to go with them and follows them to the car, where their father tells him to return to the church. Mike goes to cross the street and is hit by a Ford Galaxie 500. He is seriously injured, but does survive and recover. After seeing such an emergency and that his brother was rewarded with lots of toys, Danny’s boundaries expanded and he was no longer afraid of any consequences to racing.

In response to a reading of his autobiography, Danny received a letter from Tomas Newman, a producer/director now working on “Bong Of The Dead”, who wants to help Danny get his book published and wants the film rights to it. Exciting news for Danny.

Gemma read a personal, untitled, article about being unable to breathe and landing in hospital with bronchitis. After tests she is told to quit smoking, given a puffer and sent home, but is still unable to quit smoking and she admits she will have to die of something anyhow. Jim suggested she ask her Doctor about using Zyban to help quit, as that’s what worked for him.

“For The Love Of Heidi” is another piece Gemma read telling how, a week after her bronchitis episode, she went to do a movie shoot. The hairdresser had a dog that had suffered from arthritis as badly as Gemma’s dog, Heidi, and she gave Gemma some herbal remedy she swore had helped her dog. Not liking the smell of it, Gemma administered it to herself as well as her dog, and after 5 days they both became very sick. She then decided to throw it away and they both recovered.

I read a collection of 4 small pieces I called “Minutiae”. The first paragraph told of my shivering in the cold while staring at a display of summer swim toys. The second paragraph describes seeing a table of twelve deaf people in a local, noisy pub, and how their method of communicating by sign language succeeded in spite of the noise, and also excluded those who could hear. The next short piece described a middle aged couple on a first date at the pub, and overhearing their conversation. The man was wooing her but she was resisting and after they left, we wondered if he was going to score that night or not. The fourth piece I read told of two men in their sixties meeting at the pub for a drink, and how their conversation started with anger directed at their wives, but after 4 beer each they had mellowed and thought the women pretty wonderful. These pieces were my attempt to capture some pictures in words.

Jason read Ch. 9, and we see Greg follow Bruce into the forest. Bruce tells him the Shadows are chasing Jodie through the force put out by the pendant, and since Greg was carrying it, they were after him. When they come to a clearing, Ludwig and his car are there, and he has a sword and threatens them. Greg hears Bruce talking to someone who is not there, very strange. The pendant in his pants heats up, he pulls it out and hears a voice saying “Don’t run. She lies in wait.” Bruce enters the clearing and he and Ludwig square off. A young woman appears in the clearing, with Dave following. The woman changes into a centaur and leaves Dave wondering where the sensual woman and her charms had disappeared to. Dave goes into the trees and Greg goes to follow but the voice says “Don’t go into the trees.” Then the pendant burns his hand and he drops it and the voice says “She’s here.” There was lots of suspense in this chapter and we all want to know what happens next.

Jim read Chapter 6 of “Coventry Ghosts”. This chapter shows the ghost, Leanne, and the kitten’s ghost, brought to court in ghostdom for unghostly behavior. The prosecutor, the ghost of King George IV, says she should fade away or exile herself. Leanne is defended by the ghost of Jane Seymour, who strives for gender equality in the right to haunt. The judge tells King George that he can do the banishing of Leanne and Sara, but he is unsuccessful and then it is Leanne’s turn to exile him and she succeeds, proving she is the stronger ghost. Absolutely charming tale with lots of humour and plays on words.

Jim also has a blog in connection with the Coffee Shop Author contest and he has written another short story there that you can read and comment on at www.coffeeshopauthor.com/blogs/jaw/conversation-god

On Saturday, April 24th at Porter’s Store at the 5 corners in Murrayville, from 10:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m., there will be a number of Langley’s published book authors doing readings and signings and selling their books. Yesterday’s Langley Times has a write-up about it on Page 31.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then. Bring your Muse.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-04-11T13:45:00.001-07:00

APRIL SHOWERS

In spite of heavy rain, seven of us did meet on Wednesday to invoke The Muse. Unfortunately, Michael and Gemma weren’t able to join us due to ill health. Hope they are both feeling better.

Margaret brought a sample book published by the same company publishing her “Blow Up The Castle”. She’s still uneasy about the final form her own book will take.

From “Coffin and Dye”, Margaret read of the two men going to pick up the Rolls after it had been repaired. Dye insisted they wear kilts to blend with the ghosts from the Battle of Culloden. They rented the kilts and then went to the moor where the battle had been. It was cold and a fog rolled in. Coffin got lost, but finally managed to catch a ride to a nearby pub with a Scotsman going to celebrate Robbie Burns Day. We all love Margaret’s wry humour.

Danny read two chapters from his autobiography. The first was “So Where Am I?” where he tries to equate the forensic psychiatric hospital where he is held to a vacation resort. He describes the place, which had been a previous army facility and he shows the fear experienced by those inside what feels like a secretive enclosure, and the resultant suicidal thoughts. In “Waiting For N34”, Danny tells how Saturday is Bingo day for those invited, where winners take in $5.00. He is hoping for N34 to be drawn so he can win, which causes a deep realization of how low he has sunk. This is where he turns to a higher power and asks for help to redeem his life. The first chapter Danny read so exemplified the anxious, veering thoughts of someone who is bipolar and not coping. It was very realistic. And the second chapter he read finally shows a glimmer of hope.

Jim read Ch. 4 of “Coventry Ghost”. Tammy witnesses the death of a kitten she would have adopted. When the kitten passes over, she is adopted on the other side by Leanne and the two become ghostly partners. Later, Olivia invites Tammy to come to the coffee shop at night when she and her Mom are cleaning, so Tammy can meet the ghost. Tammy gets to meet both Leanne and Sara, the ghostly kitten. Finally, Leanne and her family learn from Tammy that the other woman who tried to help her was Cheri, the owner of the coffee shop. They decide to invite Cheri to attend one night after midnight. Jim’s story is progressing nicely and he has some wonderful descriptions of the ghostly appearances and antics, and the end of the chapter leaves the reader wondering ‘what next?’ I can see young girls being enthralled with this story.

Jason read Ch. 8, where we see Greg and Dave at the edge of the forest listening and cringing at the screams they hear. The trees are jumping and there is a weird moving light. Dave backs away but Greg goes into the forest and is assaulted with a foul odor and sees smoke. Bruce sneaks up on him and covers his mouth so he can’t scream. He tells Greg the Shadows can feel the power of the pendant he carries. Bruce is following the Shadows to keep them from harming Jodie, the Akomadron. There is a lot of suspense and mystery in this chapter which would definitely be a page turner for any reader.

Anne said she and her son often walk the Huston Trail in Fort Langley and had seen some abandoned trucks there. The trucks sparked an idea for writing a novel, and she has renamed Fort Langley as Fort Hendy. The book’s title is “Ankle Bone”. Anne read us the prologue where we meet Sy and Squid, two young male friends sparring verbally with each other. The story sounds very promising and with Anne’s background in criminology, I’m sure she can put together a story we’d all want to read.

We did point out that she needs to decide beforehand what point(s) of view she will use to help the reader understand more clearly whose head she is in when telling the story. And we also mentioned past tense and present tense should be considered beforehand as well. The most immediate connection of reader to character is with first person, present tense. The most often used is third person, past tense. Nowadays there are many books that use multiple persons, past tense. In this case it’s best if each character has their own chapter. Next best is if they have their own scene, or section in a chapter. With a few stories characters only have their own paragraph. But never, ever, ever put two characters’ points of view in the same paragraph or the same sentence. If you have a main character you want the reader to care about, then stay with that character’s point of view. With omniscient point of view, the narrator has an overview of his/her own as well as the narrower view of every character. In this instance, the reader is further removed from the characters and doesn’t relate to them as easily, but if writing an historical epic, this can allow for a lot of background information to be given to the reader. Lots to think about, that’s for sure. It bears doing some research of novels you liked before you start.

Neither Bob nor I did any reading. Bob said he is still trying to write his electronics saga. I’ve been toying with some ideas and making notes, but nothing finished on the printed page yet.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 21st at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-03-21T12:11:00.001-07:00

THE GREEN TEAM

The meeting on the 17th saw six of us sporting some green and spinning yarns. Unfortunately, Bob wasn’t present that night. Said he didn’t have any green clothes to wear, only a green emerald.

Margaret read first, as usual. Dye and Coffin were lamenting their loss of Lord Mossity’s business of eradicating ghosts at Mossity Manor. However, the Rolls had been repaired and was ready to be picked up. Dye then informed Coffin their next job would be to expunge the four spirits haunting the back of the Rolls, whom he thought were expired Highland soldiers from the Battle of Culloden. But Coffin had only invented them to explain why the Rolls had been damaged.

I read my short story “Fine Print” which will be published in the April issue (also the final issue) of Eclectica Magazine. This story was my response to “The Stepford Wives” and has a modern woman seeking a refund on the malfunctioning male homemaking machine she had bought for her home. Strange, but the story always has a more favourable reaction from a female audience. Now why is that? Recently, I was asked for a bio/blurb to go with this story, so it’s a good idea to have something ready in case you are asked for one. This is the 4th or 5th time I have had one requested.

Danny read from his autobiography, recounting the 30 day assessment he endured in a psychiatric hospital. He learned that a severe manic episode at 40 is not unusual. Staying in the Forensic Assessment Unit was a big step up from the jail he had been in. He spent a lot of time doing tests, true or false, and then more detailed ones. He was finally diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Danny listed all the nuanced references to his condition, but I didn’t record them. After that Unit, one could progress to the Forensic Treatment Unit, and then to the Forensic Rehabilitation Unit, each on a lower floor, closer to the exit. Danny felt he was housed with a bunch of ‘mixed nuts’ and thought the nursing staff were the only ones he could communicate with.

Jason read Ch. 7 of his novel. Greg is still at school, watching Jodie, and sensing the power she has over their classmates, especially all the boys who turn to watch her. He recalls how she suffered without her parents, and he’s afraid she will turn to Sean for comfort instead of to him. Unable to stay in the cafeteria with Jodie ignoring him, he goes outside in the rain. His brother, Dave, joins him, all gaga over a girl he has met. The two of them hear screams coming from the nearby forest.

Gemma reads further from a story of hers where the gigolo, Bob, arises in the morning and goes to the deli to bring back breakfast for Barbara. She wants him to move in with her, but he only wants her money. He kisses her and makes an excuse, then leaves for the day.

Congo, a dog belonging to Gemma’s friend Ariane, died recently and Gemma had written two letters on the topic. One was from the deceased Congo to Ariane, and the other was from Gemma to Congo. Both expressed the love and devotion between animal and human.

Jim read Ch. 3 of “Coventry Ghost”. Olivia asks of Tammy what she knows about the ghost and feels that Tammy might have been the ‘pretty girl’ who tried to help her sister. Meanwhile, Patty decides her husband needs to learn that his daughter’s ghost haunts the coffee shop and conspires with Olivia to have him come down there one night while they are cleaning. He arrives, and is greeted by his dead daughter’s specter. He faints, twice.

Marilyn has a short piece published online at Writing Raw. It is “ForePlay” by Mike Malone, her pseudonym.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then, and Happy Easter in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-03-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

WINNERS ALL!

At the end of the Olympics, we all feel like winners. Seven writing athletes attended the meet here on Wednesday with everyone competing in friendly fashion.

Bob read first, an update on his electronic woes. All systems failed, but rescue by a neighbour restored television viewing at least. Full restoration is waiting for greater “Visions”.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin & Dye”. Dye is explaining to Lord Mossity about the plague in 1664 when many people died, and he thinks the ten ghosts seen in the Manor were plague victims buried in a mass grave on the property. He tells Lord Mossity the grave should be dug up but the Lord is extremely reticent to have that done. Dye then goes on to explain about the great London fire that destroyed parts of the city but eventually ended the plague. Unfortunately for Dye, Mossity decides he and his wife will move to France and the Manor will become a museum, ghosts included, no eradication necessary.

Jason read us Chapter 6. Greg is at school avoiding a bully, waiting for Jodie to come to her locker. Classes start, but Jodie is late and he is still waiting. He is agonizing about wanting to tell her how much she means to him, how to tell her, how to give her the necklace. Jodie finally arrives, with Sean, who than kisses her goodbye and pushes Greg into his locker as he passes him. Jodie is upset that Sean didn’t stick up for himself and tells him he is too immature, and then walks away. Greg hears his grandmother’s voice telling him to give her the necklace and he calls Jodie, but is unable to say anything more. She pauses, but then keeps on walking away. There is a lot of teen angst in this chapter, which most thought added to the tension.

Danny read from his autobiography. The first short chapter he read was “The Rudest Awakening”, describing the jolt of reality in having his mug shot taken and finding himself in cuffs. The next chapter was “Fifty-One Up” about his stay in jail before being transferred to a psychiatric unit. He described the fights with other inmates, the shackles and cuffs, the bad food, the Sally Ann band at Christmas, and his desire for redemption. He told how the only thing that kept him going was the attention from family and friends who came to visit. On Jan. 10th, he was finally transferred to the psychiatric unit, in shackles and cuffs and wearing an orange jump suit, driven by two officers. On the 401, they started speeding, hiding the speed behind a piece of paper on the dash. But because Danny knew about racing, he could tell when the speed increased and he estimated they were doing 140 MPH. in their Chevy Caprice. Scary stuff, but some really great detail here.

Jim read Chapter 2 of his ghost story. The young Olivia wants to help her sister thank the people who had tried to save her, but doesn’t know who they were and couldn’t get the information from her sister’s ghost. She decides to investigate herself, and starts doing volunteer work at the coffee shop anytime she goes there, to get an ‘in’ with everyone. She has a chat with a girl named “Tammy”, who works there and is the only one who admits the place is haunted.

I read a short story about the new coffee table project I initiated with Honey for the beginning price of ten dollars, and which eventually cost us several hundred. Everybody laughed and I keep telling honey the table was “Only Ten Dollars”.

Gemma didn’t read, but did give me the latest issue of Writers’ Digest. My subscription had expired, and lucky Gemma received two copies of the same issue. Also, I hear rumours of some children’s stories Gemma has that Margaret suggests she bring to read.

Margaret brought us several copies of the March issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine and I see that Marilyn has an article in there, “The Last Tsar”. Congratulations!

The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 17th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. That is St. Patrick’s Day, green attire suggested (a welcome switch from red). I’ll see if I can remember to colour the water and the ice cubes. See you on the 17th.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-02-20T15:19:00.001-08:00

ATHLETES WE’RE NOT!

In spite of the Olympics, six of us showed up for the meeting on Wednesday.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin & Dye”. At home the next morning with a hangover, Coffin realizes he left the Rolls at Mossity Manor. He took a taxi to retrieve it, but couldn’t find the Rolls. He found his way to the kitchen and explained his predicament to the cook who had seen the ghosts he’d only imagined. She told him he parked at the side entrance, not the front. He retrieved the Rolls but then got stuck in the mud. A shepherd pulled him out with a tractor but that tore off the bumper, which would take 2 weeks to fix. He tells Dye that four ghosts in the back seat had frightened him and he’d gone into the ditch. Dye accepted the explanation.

Jason read us Chapter 5. Greg looks out his window every morning and sees Jodie leaving for her morning run. He longs to be with her. Dave tells him he’s a stalker, why doesn’t he just go with her instead? Then Dave tells him Jodie’s been seeing Sean at school. Greg misses his former closeness with Jodie. How could he possibly give her the pendant when she seems to just ignore him. He feels a strange presence and hears a voice whispering, “Save us. Go to her.” His mother comes into the room and he hides the pendant and decoys his mother with Dave’s Playboy magazines. This chapter started with a good set-up of scene, giving it a mysterious setting. And the scene swayed back and forth from ephemeral to reality. It was well done.

Jim read Chapter 1 of “Coventry Ghost”. Patty is the new cleaning lady at the Wired Monk, and it was her daughter, Leanne, who was killed in front of the coffee shop the year before. She brings her younger daughter, Olivia, with her after midnight to help with the cleaning. The two daughters share a telepathic bond, even though Leanne had died. The dead daughter’s ghost appears to both Patty and Olivia at the Wired Monk. Jim gave us an excellent, vivid description of the ghost’s appearance.

Marilyn has been sending out some writing. One piece went to Today’s Senior Newsmagazine so keep your eyes open for it. And another piece, “Deaf P.O.V.”, she sent to Eclectica, and it has been accepted. Way to go, Marilyn!

Jim says Exlectica has asked if they can include his short story, “Janina”, in an anthology they are putting together. Congrats!

Bob didn’t read anything at the meeting as he was so tired he was falling asleep and consequently left early. Well, he said he was tired and it wasn’t our writing that induced the slumber. Hope he’s recovered. Anne Berrie finally joined us again after her convalescence from back surgery. She proudly showed us the scar down her spine, a gold medal for overcoming pain. Gemma wasn’t able attend due to serious back pain. Hope she’s recovering, too. And I was still trying to recover from an awful cold. So there you go. The sun comes out, Spring is almost sprung, and some of us just want to keep hibernating. You do know the time changes to Daylight Savings on March 14th? That’s just three weeks from tomorrow.

Next meeting will be Wednesday, March 3rd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then. Good health and happy writing to everyone in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-02-11T20:03:00.001-08:00

GO RAMS GO!

The Ram’s Head Team is off and running, all of us wanting our own gold medal for surviving the 2010 Winter Olympics here on home turf. Bob asked if we were going to take a break from meeting while the games are on, but no one was so inclined. After all, we’re artists, and certainly not to be outdone by the mere physical exploits of others. Meeting as usual next week, Wednesday, February 17th, at my place at 7:00 p.m.

At last week’s meeting, Margaret brought several copies of the February issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. It included an article by Margaret about one teacher’s note to her at Valentine’s one year. Also in this issue is a sort of apology to Gemma for printing a poem that only differed from one of hers they had printed by one or two words. Gemma had complained to them, but their apology did not include her name.

I handed out copies of B.C. Book World that Bryon had collected from the ferry when he went to the Island. This issue included a lengthy article about electronic publishing rights of authors being violated outrageously these days. It’s an article anybody signing with a book publisher, especially an American one, should be aware of.

Bob hadn’t written anything, but mentioned a book he had read, a biography of Roald Dahl who wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. He said it was an excellent story, and we told him he has to write a book report.

Margaret read her next chapter, where Coffin drives the Rolls to the writers’ meeting at Mossity Manor. Lord Mossity introduced him as Lord Coffin, just back from Safari in Africa. Coffin tells Lord Mossity he saw ten ghosts heading to the kitchen, and then the cook says she saw them too, which upsets Coffin because he had only fabricated seeing them. Still upset, he left by the back door, in a hurry to catch a bus, completely forgetting the Rolls.

As Margaret’s first book is in the process of being published, she told us her publisher asked if she would be willing to do book signings at Chapters. Margaret isn’t at all sure she would care to do that. But if called upon, I’m sure some of the rest of us would go out to support her.

Jason read Chapter 4 of his urban fantasy. Greg and the others are still in the dark living room, listening as Gran talks about the afterlife, and the existence of hardship on the next plane. She also talks about the 2000 year old journal, and about her coming death. She tells Greg to give Jodie the pendant and to start their pre-ordained odyssey. There was a really great build up of tension and mystery here.

Jim has started another novel connected with the www.coffeeshopauthor.com writing contest. He is sponsored by The Wired Monk where he goes to write in Cloverdale. Taking the challenge a step further, employees and patrons at the shop have signed on to allow Jim to use them as characters in the story. Consequently, they want to read his latest chapter every time they see him. Talk about incentive! His novel is called “The Coventry Ghost” and he read the prologue. We see a teenage girl outside the coffee shop hit by a car and die. She keeps trying to reclaim her damaged body, but isn’t successful. Not wanting to leave, she becomes a stranded ghost. The prologue was well done and grabbed our attention right from the start. Will love to hear how all this develops.

Had an email from John Ireland, who is now working again as a journalist in Raratonga, Cook Islands, while his wife is still in New Zealand. I think this is for the next 7 months or so. John did say he hopes to be back in the Lower Mainland come October, but didn’t say if that would be for a visit or permanently. He did hope to make it to a meeting and it would be great to see his face again after the past few years.

About two weeks ago, Bob and I both caught sight of a letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun that was signed by Nathaniel, so I emailed him. He is still in Victoria, and belongs to a writers’ society there for critiquing, but said he misses us over here. He is still doing rewrites of his latest novel (I think that’s the one of settlers coming from Scotland to the Red River in the early 1800s). And he said to say hi to everyone.

And last but not least, I finally tracked down Michael. My emails and phone calls weren’t reaching him, and his blog and been abandoned, so I did some sleuthing and finally obtained a phone number for him and called. We had a lovely chat, catching up on the past year or so. Michael has signed with an agent in New York who is interested in a number of his novels, and made comments about working with someone on a movie. This is all fascinating news. If he can arrange a ride next week, he hopes to come to our next meeting and it would be awesome to see him again.

As for me, a lot of my time is being taken up with medical appointments now that I am on track for double knee replacements, and this Review is the only writing I’ve done. This medial journey is all the result of a car accident 31 ½ years ago. Maybe I should cave in and do the autobiographical novel, now that it might have a happier ending.

Tomorrow is the opening of the Olympics. Are you going to be writing, or watching the athletes? As I said, next meeting is next week, Wednesday, Feb. 17th, 7:00 p.m., here at my place, in spite of the games. GO RAMS GO!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-01-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

GOING BACKWARDS

Those of us at the meeting last night signed a birthday card that went with the flowers Gemma brought to give to Margaret for her 86th birthday, which was earlier this month. She said from now on her age is going backwards in years. Here! Here!

Jim brought the latest issue of Eclectica Magazine, which includes a short story and a recipe by him, a poem by Anne Berrie, and another short story by me. And on the back cover it says to look for something by Gemma in the next issue. Way to go, fellow Rams!

Those arriving at my place last night thought perhaps they were on the wrong street. They did notice that our house was the same, just that the monster hedge across the street was gone, and the houses on the next street over were now visible. But without the hedge protruding six feet into the middle of the road, there is now ample parking space for visitors again.

Jason said his notebook died, so he spent the necessary funds and now has a brand new Mac desktop computer that he loves.

Bob read first, sharing the reply he received from the Boston Red Sox to the fan letter he had sent them. They thanked him graciously and said they were flattered by his loyalty as a fan.

To finish his story about the electronics nightmare he and Carole went through at Christmas, Bob read the second half of his story. Between all the extra equipment needed and the scheduling problems with installers, it’s a wonder they didn’t both decide to join the Amish. However, everything now works and the dust has settled, sort of. He thinks his sons are now annoyed that he didn’t consult with them about it all.

Margaret read her next chapter, “Ghost At Mossity Manor”. Dye and Coffin have received a letter from Lord Mossity who has seen a female ghost and her dog in his library. Since he has a writers’ group coming to meet there the following Friday and is afraid of their reaction if they see a ghost, he wishes to hire Dye and Coffin to eradicate the ghost. Dye tells Coffin he should go to the meeting as a writer, as Dye is busy renovating their office. But Coffin refuses. So Dye offers to let Coffin use the Rolls Royce if he goes. Of course Coffin changes his mind.

Gemma read part of a 5000 word story she has, which is untitled. An older woman named Barbara is awakened by a phone call from Bob, a man she loves. He says he’s coming to visit her and she agrees to meet him at the airport. Bob dallies with the much younger flight attendant and is in no hurry to see Barbara. When he does see her, he’s appalled by her wrinkled skin, but falesly tells her she’s beautiful, and then takes her home and beds her. He just wants her money. (Jim said he’s still waiting to meet the woman who would like to keep him in the style to which he would like to become accustomed.)

Jason read Chapter 3 in his rewrite. Greg is still in his Great Gran’s living room, and she tells him of strange magic in the forest, and tells him to beware the shadows. She also tells him he and Jodie are destined to be together and that Jodie must wear a pendant she pulls from the secret compartment of an old book, and that he should give it to Jodie for her 16th birthday. Greg’s mother shows up and starts drinking wine. His brother, Dave is also there, as well as Bruce, who magically starts a fire in the fireplace and says it is ‘an Indian thing’. When Greg’s Mom gets upset and says they are leaving, Great Gran then tells them all she’s dying and Greg’s Mom starts crying.

Jim read to us his rewrite of the beginning of his romance novel, “High Fashion”. The rewrite works much better, and even though it still opens with the heroine dreaming of a sexual encounter with a stranger, it’s not a long enough dream to eclipse any later sexual encounter with the as yet, unmet, hero. The rewrite was a much smoother read.

Marilyn said she had hoped to attend last night’s meeting, but ended up going to a meeting on genealogy, her pet passion, instead. Ron was unable to attend as he is caring for an aging father. And Danny had phoned Margaret and Marshall to say he had to work.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, February 3rd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, feel free to bring anything you’ve written on that theme. But then, lack of love is sometimes a good theme, too. As Jim’s benediction/curse goes: May your Muse bonk you up the side of the head, bang around inside your brain, and flow out of your fingertips.

See you February 3rd.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2010-01-10T15:41:00.001-08:00

JANUARY JOTTINGS

Our meeting on Wednesday was a little smaller in the number of participants. Bob and Danny were both under the weather, and Ron was on Vancouver Island.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin and Dye” or is that “Dye and Coffin”? Anyhow, Coffin is at the Museum with his whiskey, waiting among the wax models for the appearance of a ghost he needs to identify. Falling asleep, he has a most vivid dream of Lucy who entices him into undressing her and then she seduces him. But alas, he is caught and is being beheaded when he wakes up. Later, at the pub across the street, he tells Dye the ghost in the Museum is definitely Lucy.

Discussing Margaret’s first book, “Blow Up The Castle”, she was able to tell us she now has a signed contract with West Pro Publishing that she is happy with. Her niece, who had handled paperwork for Margaret’s sister’s published novels, had read the contract and told Margaret it was about as good as it gets. For Margaret’s sake, the rest of us sighed with relief. The book may be ready in a month or so.

Gemma was concerned with possible plagiarizing of one of her poems that had been previously published in both a magazine and an anthology, and now appeared with a few words changed in a current magazine issue. Margaret advised her that she should definitely pursue the matter, and we hope to hear what the eventual outcome will be.

Jason read Chapter 2 of his novel, which is in the process of a re-write. We see Greg awakening in his Great Grandmother’s living room, after his nightmare, and he checks his hands to make sure they are normal, and not animalistic. He overhears his Great Grandmother telling a man named Ludwig that she wants the chest. Greg sees a sword under Ludwig’s coat. After Ludwig leaves, he asks who the man was, but his Great Grandmother wants to know what he had been dreaming. Greg tells her he’s terrified of losing control of himself. This Chapter continued the suspense of the first, and we applaud Jason for what he is doing with the novel.

Jim read to us the first chapter of “High Fashion”, a romance novel he has started. It began with a really steamy sex scene that the women were shaking their heads over. We all told Jim that if he starts with the climax, there’s no reason for a reader to read the rest of the novel. As women who read romance novels, we do think there is a pretty rigid formula for this type of genre fiction. But hey, if men are to write romance and read romance, maybe the placement and significance of sex in a novel will change. But ain’t that the way? Men want the sex and women want the foreplay?

Even though Ron was away, he did send me the link to his new website at http://www.rdyoungwrites.com/ if you want to check it out. He did offer to exchange links with http://www.ramsheadwriters.ca/ which I will take him up on, as soon as Sonny comes back from training troops for deployment to Afghanistan down in the California desert. Sonny is our site administrator as most of you already know.
Thanks to Jim and his burgeoning success as a published writer, he and I both met today with Jane Blackmore and Robynn Maher, editors of Eclectica Magazine. They have been working for over a year to get their magazine up and running. It is published 8 times a year, the next issue due out Jan. 21st. The magazine is a forum for all sorts of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, recipes, artwork, etc. and submissions are most welcome. However, there is no payment to writers or artists for anything published. Anne Berrie, Jim, and I will all have something appearing in the next issue. You can learn more about the magazine and find out where in the Lower Mainland to buy a copy on their website at http://www.voicefortheunheard.com/ .

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then with your latest written creations. Keep Writing!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-12-21T14:25:00.001-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009

Our Holiday get-together last Wednesday was a great little party, and we had way too much food. Bob’s pecan tarts and the salmon & cream cheese spread Gemma brought, made with the salmon Laszlo smoked, stole the show. And there were all sorts of chocolates cookies and nibbles and cheese and crackers, and Tim Horton’s Timbits. The Muse was impressed.

Unfortunately, Anne Berrie and Ann Robertson were both under the weather and unable to join us. Hope both ladies are feeling better.

Margaret read a poem she had written back in the ‘70s when she worked as a copy writer for the Lougheed Mall. It was a takeoff on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, but written to include the names of all the stores existing at the Mall at that time. Very well done.

Ron read a short story he had written, “A Christmas Miracle in Walnut Grove”. It told of his tennis association showing up just before Christmas to play tennis at a court that was on its last legs and which flooded regularly. He described all the various non-athletes that showed up to play and then were drowned out by freezing rain. On Christmas Day he felt compelled to visit the court and when he arrived he saw 6 new covered courts and all the players showed up to play. “Santa” was an old drinking buddy, Raymond Chan, who worked for the Christmas department of the Chinese Government monitoring the internet for Santa wishes. He had seen Ron’s blog and brought a new product in response, an instant indoor tennis court. Excellent story for Christmas.

Jim brought a printout from the International Pun Contest and I read them all, to many moans after each one.

Some of us had some wine, some had pop and some had water. Then I read Stuart McLean’s “Christmas with the Turlingtons” from his “Secrets From The Vinyl Café”. I was laughing so hard I found it difficult to keep reading. So if your Christmas is short of your expectations, be sure to read this story and re-evaluate.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 6th, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you all then. In the meantime, all our very best wishes to you and yours for a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Lisa and Bryon

THE REVIEW

2009-12-05T11:22:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Seven of us met on Wednesday, and Anne brought some chocolate brownies for us. She won’t be driving for a few weeks after surgery scheduled for Monday, so we won’t see her again until the New Year. We all wish her a speedy recovery.

Margaret read “Ghost In The Waxworks”, the next chapter in Coffin & Dye. Mr. Fox was concerned about the ghost at the wax museum at the Borough of Whistle. He wanted the it identified. He believed it was the ghost of Lucy Walter, the mistress of Charles II. Dye would only allot a week to identify the ghost. Coffin, afraid of ghosts, bought some whiskey to take with him to the Museum after dinner, where he would do a stakeout to catch the ghost.

Margaret is also in further talks with the publisher interested in her book “Blow Up The Castle”. We are all waiting to hear what transpires.

Danny read four pages talking about the time just before his breakdown. He gave us a lot of detail about group therapy, a social worker, anti-depressants, suicidal thoughts, side-effects of meds, suicidal ideation, erectile dysfunction, Viagra (and the opposite problem), girlfriend excluding him, dreading Christmas alone, and more suicidal thoughts. We were shown how thoughts of suicide were underlying everything else in his life.

Bob rewrote his fan letter to the Boston Red Sox and mailed it. We hope he gets a reply.
And then Bob read to us his account of all the electronics failures he and his wife have been plagued with recently. At various times they lost the use of T.V.s, computers and phones. A nightmare, to be sure. And Bob has yet to finish the story for us.

Anne read “Barbie Goes To The Lake”, an epic poem recounting an episode in her childhood when she took Barbie and Ken outside, and got into mischief with her friend Trish. Very comical.

Margaret and Gemma were both published in the December issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. Margaret’s piece listed some well-known Christmas carols and then gave their history and told who wrote them. Gemma’s story, “A Christmas Present”, was about a hospital worker going home late on a snowy Christmas Eve in Montreal, to find her husband and son waiting for her with the gift of a new puppy. Very touching.

In the January issue of Eclectica Magazine, Jim, Anne and I will all be contributing authors. Jim and I have had short stories accepted, and Anne has two poems accepted. This group is doing very well, indeed.

I showed the group the anthology “Below The Canopy” which I received last week. It included my short piece “His Rant”.

Since Holidays are near, I asked the group if they wanted to have a meeting on the 16th or if they wanted to take a break until the New Year. Consensus was that we would have a little Christmas party on Wednesday, December 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. I’ll put out some wine, and everybody will bring something to snack on. Bob said he would make some of his pecan tarts. So be sure to join us that night and we will toast The Muse and be merry and jolly. If you have anything with a Christmas or New Year theme to read, bring it along. And I can always read Stuart McLean’s “Dave Cooks The Turkey” to give us a good laugh. Really hope to see you on the 16th.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-11-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

ECLECTIC

Six of us braved the storm on Wednesday and met to honour The Muse.

Bob was feeling stressed over all the electronics turmoil at his house during the past few weeks. But he phoned me since Wednesday to say his computer is up and running again and he could now receive his email. I told him he must write a story about his computer and T.V. saga of despair.

Margaret read her next chapter in “Coffin & Dye”. Dye had leased a small, shabby office over Reeds Books, for the new partnership of Coffin & Dye, Ghost Eradicators. Coffin was not impressed that Dye had signed a lease for 2 years. However, Dye had also placed an ad in the local paper and their first customer arrived, a Jordan Fox. Margaret has also sent an item to Today’s Seniors Newsmagazine, which she thinks will appear in their December issue.

Ann brought a poem to read that she said was a happy piece compared to the darker ones she had read previously. She read “The Gray Goose Goober”, a humorous animal story in meter and rhyme that illustrates the circle of life and death and also points out the need of animals, too, for familial companionship.

Jason had re-written, again, his Chapter 1 and read it to us. This time it captivated listeners right from the very beginning, portraying a frustrated sexual encounter between Greg and Jodie, and also exposing the fanciful menace that will permeate this urban fantasy he is writing. We were spellbound as he read and we all gave him two thumbs up on it.

Jim read some erotica for seniors, a short story called “Dirty Old Man” which portrays the very lusty sex lives of a married couple in their 80s and the acceptance and emulation of same by all their offspring. Jim also said his story “Janina”, about a young woman’s struggles on a houseboat during a violent storm, has been accepted by Eclectica Magazine for publication in their Issue #7. Congratulations from all of us.

Lastly, I read a new short story I wrote on Monday, “Enemy At The Gate”, a humorous account about disaster striking during the 2010 Winter Games. Everyone laughed at the end, so I think I accomplished what I wanted with it. The next day I submitted it to Eclectica Magazine and it has been accepted for their Issue #8, which comes out Jan. 21st, perfect timing just before the games. Thanks to Jim for their website address.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, December 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-11-06T14:39:00.001-08:00

WINTER’S APPROACHING

With both the time change and wet and stormy weather, I’m afraid there’s no stopping Old Man Winter from arriving soon. But the threat of his appearance didn’t stop The Rams from meeting again last Wednesday. There were eight of us here to honour The Muse.

Margaret read first, her second chapter called “A Day Of Judgement”. Coffin has a sleepless night after Dye made him a job offer and arises with a pounding headache. He discovers a message from Dye to say he has leased office space for the ghost hunting business, and asks Coffin to meet him there. Coffin rides his bike over and is quite pleased to find the leased office space is luxurious, and has a gorgeous secretary. When Dye arrives, Coffin tells him, of course he’ll work with him. But then Dye explains that Coffin was at the wrong address. Margaret also had a picture of the Rolls Royce that Dye drives, from the 1930s.

Danny said he is going to chop his long manuscript into 2, and Book 1 will deal with the time he spent on the racing circuit. He read a section of Book 1 called “Taking One For The Team”, which details the lurid sex lives of those who traveled the circuit and congregated on the infield.

Bob wrote a fan letter to Mr. John Henry, principle owner of the Boston Red Sox, telling him why he had been a happy fan since the mid 1940s. Danny thinks the letter will result in Bob receiving some free offering for such long-time loyalty.

I read two items that I will be submitting to the anthology the Murrayville Library Writers’ Group is producing. One was my poem “Sweet Betrayal”, about a man’s obsessive love for a woman who turns on him and kills him, only “she” is the bottle. The second piece was a first person humorous prose piece about my ‘Honey’ finally going to see his cabin up in the Caribou in March one year.

Jim read a chapter from the 3rd book of his trilogy where he introduces a new character who will work for Joseph and his pregnant wife in a company that uses green technology in construction to “better’ the world. The new character is a young Aztec woman who grew up and achieved an education in spite of the racism she experienced where she lived in Mexico. Both the green technology and the issue of racism are timely topics in today’s world. And the way Jim portrayed her first day at a secondary school vividly describes the culture she came from.

Jason, when he first signed on for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, had made an appointment with an agent, but later thought that might be premature and didn’t know how to get out of trying to sell an unfinished product. However, at the conference, he learned the agent was a no-show and he was given a time slot with another agent. But at the meeting, he learned the second agent only handled non-fiction. Strange how prayers are answered. However, he did learn his particular genre is called urban fantasy. Now he has a definite pigeon-hole to define his work.

Gemma’s “Collateral Damage” is in the November issue of Today’s Senior News Magazine. Two thumbs up, Gemma!

Ron had done some research on Hungary from the 1800s and brought a print-out to show Gemma, as he couldn’t read it. It was in Hungarian, and Gemma is our official translator of Hungarian into English.

November 11 is fast approaching. I hope you buy a poppy to remember the fallen and to support the living vets.

Next meeting will be Wednesday, November 18th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then. Bring your Muse, your talent and your love of the literate. I’ll supply ice water to drench all egos and cookies with calories to inflate them back up again.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-10-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

IN THE DOGHOUSE

As all our male members started arriving Wednesday, I was afraid I would be the only woman present. But then Margaret and Ann both arrived and we were a total of six men and three women. What an awesome group!

I am in the doghouse for a critique I did of a rewrite Jason sent me of his first two chapters. He said I totally crushed his self-confidence and I am repentant. Since I have never read a single fantasy novel, I have no business critiquing one. According to Ann, this genre is usually written with almost its own vernacular, which I know nothing about. It is a genre I have absolutely no experience with and so I ask if any of our members have resource material for Jason, to please forward it to him. Thank you so much.

I mentioned a Vancouver Sun article about the Kindle, a digital format for reading books. One problem seemed to be that page numbers were not apparent in the application, and so it was difficult to mark how far you had read in a particular novel. Ron did say he thought use of the Kindle in Canada was still not available. Does anybody know for sure about that?

After drawing up a timeline for an anthology that will be produced by the Murrayville Library Writers’ Group, I shared the steps involved. It’s a long process from start to finish.

Margaret read her umpteenth draft of Chapter 1 in “Coffin & Dye”. This draft read extremely well and the chapter unfolds mostly through conversation between the two men, a much better way than the previous narrative form. And of course, Margaret’s detailed descriptions bring that whole place and period of history to life for us.

Danny read his latest composition for his book, trying to verify how the family dynamics and sibling rivalry caused family dysfunction. Any specific problems or incidents mentioned were very interesting, but there needed to be more of them. This piece still needs some work to delete some of the rant and analyzing, and put in more actual people and incidents to help the reader connect with parties involved.

Robin joined us after a long hiatus. He explained with writing he likes to start with poetry and eventually work it into a song. Much of his writing comes from a desire to “play”, and is often light and humourous. He read us a recent poem, “Beware! Toe Shrapnel Flies!”, a funny and very exaggerated account of what happens when he gets his wife to cut his toenails.

Jason read Chapter 4 of his novel, and this account has an angel writing a journal of events, explaining the necessary key had been delivered to the boys. This chapter evoked a lot of interest and supplied suspense. Everyone wanted to know what would happen next.

Ann read a poem entitle “Disclosure”. It is a nineteen year old daughter telling her mother about the sexual abuse she suffered from her father when she was aged 5 to 11, while the mother was often passed out drunk. The mother doesn’t believe her and accuses her of collusion with her sister, saying they are both liars. The mother tells the daughter she has to leave the home. This poem is a very stark portrayal of family trauma and is dynamic enough to win a contest, I’m sure.

Ron read the next chapter in his novel. We see the csendorseg (mounted police in Hungary) confront the protesting peasant farmers’ union. They charge the peasants and a small boy is run down and seriously injured. The policeman responsible stops in concern. The child’s father appears and is distraught. The policeman is ordered by his commander to arrest the father, but refuses to do so and allows the father to leave, carrying his child. (This policeman will also emigrate to Canada.) This was a great way to show the conflict between rich and poor in Hungary.

Jim read his first chapter in his novel “Dimensions”. This portrays a married couple with children fighting and breaking up. But as the husband is now forty, he is “pulled” out of that incarnation and plopped into another. This chapter was well written and much sleeker in the storytelling. Jim said he spent time removing adverbs and adjectives and consequently the story stands up much better.

Also, Jim has kindly forwarded to all an article on manuscript formatting which is well worth reading for anyone submitting their writing to agents or publishers. The competition is fierce, and the formatting of the manuscript is its dress code. If it isn’t dressed properly, it won’t get in the door.

This weekend, Jason and Ron are participants in the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. Hope they get as much as they hoped from it. And I did ask they bring back the free handout information for the rest of us, things like the booklet from the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. It’s always good to have the latest news from local publishers.

Next meeting will be Wednesday, November 4th here at my place at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Jason will let me out of the doghouse by then. Happy writing in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER WRITERS

Eight writers convened Wednesday night to deliberate, debate and confabulate the merits of our written words. Ann Berrie was the new face in the crowd and we welcome her to this flock of Rams.

Margaret read first. She had re-written chapter one of “Coffin and Dye”, and now had most of the story told through dialogue as opposed to the former narrative style. Much better flow.

Bob has given up the idea of finishing the complete history of the jewellery business in B.C. and will now concentrate of finishing the sections he is familiar with in manufacturing and retail. He read two paragraphs about the vocation of jewellery sales people and the territories they covered. Another paragraph dealt with the number of watch-maker jewellers who took up their craft on returning to civilian life at the end of WWII and then retired en masse in the 1980s, which resulted in large chain stores stepping in and buying their inventories and locations.

Ron read the rest of the chapter he had started last time. Joseph and his friends are still in Keszthely, Hungary and walk to the monastery where they meet with the booking Agent to learn about emigrating to Canada. They are offered 160 acres of free farmland, but Joseph is skeptical and starts asking questions. What is the winter like? Is the winter longer and the growing season shorter? Has the Agent been to Canada? What are the costs? When are they due? What exactly do they cover? The Agent had answers, but Joseph was still dubious about his honesty.

I read a rhyming poem in Iambic Tetrameter, called “My Lady Muse”, which I wrote that afternoon because I hadn’t written anything else. I did read once that if you are suffering writer’s block, then you can at least write about not writing. So I did.

Jim has outlined the next 4 chapters of “Dimensions”, to carry on from the short story he read last time. He is also working on the trilogy he had already written.

Ann brought two of her poems to share with us, both razor sharp depictions of disturbing images. The first poem, which Jason read, was “From Now On” and is the distressing experience of a young girl being raped and realizing that continuing incestuous abuse would be her fate. The other poem, untitled and not ended, was a stark picture of the victims during the holocaust. These are powerful pieces that need to find a much wider audience to appreciate them.

Gemma brought her poem, “Let It Go”, to read. It is discourse between a single apple and the very old tree that produced it, with the young apple wanting its freedom, but the tree refusing to let go until the fall when its leaves were gone. Parent and child?

After the last meeting, Jim and I did a lot of emailing and online editing of his short story “Dimensions” without using any paper. He emailed the story to me, I turned on Tracking Changes under Tools, made the changes I thought it needed, and emailed it back. When he got it, he went under View and turned on Markup so he could see the changes I’d made, which appeared in red. Then he made more changes and sent it back to me and I turned on Markup and could see my changes in red and his in blue. And for every party that makes changes, another color is used. A very interesting process and good to know.

Gemma also brought submission guideline from Whitmore Publishing, a company accepting submission for standard publishing (not self-publishing or vanity publishing). You can find their guidelines at submissions@whitmorepublishing.com .

Jason was asking for help in understanding more effectively the elements of fantasy fiction novels. If anyone has any resources to share, please contact Jason. His address will be on the email I send with the link to this Review. You can find it by clicking on File and then on Properties.

Next meeting will be here at my place, Wednesday, October 21st at 7:00 p.m. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-09-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER SEVEN

Wednesday saw another wonderful meeting with seven of us present: Bob, Margaret, Gemma, Jim, Jason, Ron and myself.

Bob has recently read a book called “Sweet Francaise”, about WWII in France. The author died before she finished the book, and the daughter later had it published. But the author had left notes on changes she wanted to make to her manuscript and they were included in the published version as a 16 page appendix. Now that is due diligence as an author, making notes on changes that should be made.

Margaret read her first chapter in her new book, “Coffin and Dye”. These two characters in later life meet up in a fish and chip shop and recall their school days together. We learn Detective Coffin is a widower and that Sir Donald Dye banishes ghosts. The two begin to chat about working together.

Gemma read a personal piece called “Collateral Damage”, about how she incurred her current injuries. She was walking Heidi on a leash when two other dogs approached aggressively and in the turmoil, Gemma still held the leash and ended up on the ground, with back injuries and dog bites. She is slowly recovering and will submit this piece to Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. So keep your eye out for it.

Jim read a revision of “Dimensions”, which he intends to submit to Writers’ Digest Short Story Contest. Some of us made suggestions and Jim has since rewritten again and sent us his 6th draft. The piece has really taken shape.

Ron read Chapter 2 of his novel. We see Joseph deciding to go with other friends to town to meet with an Agent from the North Atlantic Trading Co., who was recruiting immigrants to Canada. The group left early in the morning and walked 4 hours to town. They went first to view the Palace, and became upset with the disparity between rich and poor. In unison, they all peed on the fence.

Jason read us the end section of Chapter 2, still at the funeral reception in the backyard. A stranger with a German accent tells the boys he wants to show them something. Greg follows the stranger, and Dave unwillingly follows his brother. The stranger goes to his car parked on the road, a 1972 Olds Delta 88. He gives the boys a key and tells them to beware the dragon. We tend to feel this is the real beginning of the story as the action draws us right in at this point. Jason said with many rejections already received he needed to rethink his story.

I read the beginning chapter of my new novel, which I’m calling “Murder” as the working title. The first chapter is mostly background info to show setting and main characters from the previous novel now here in this one. But there is mention of a rapist, twice, which is where the mystery begins. I had some interesting experiences doing research. Wanting to know when the MSA News of Abbotsford changed its name to Abbotsford News, I called the paper. Can you believe it? Nobody there could tell me. I then went to the FVR Library and “Ask A Librarian” online. They got back to me the next day. Also wanting to get some info on restoration procedures for smoke damage, I called Edenvale Restoration. They told me to call their head office in Toronto. So I went online and found the info I wanted from another company. Another question I had was where would a seventeen year old from Abbotsford be held in custody after being charged with an offence. Since he was injured before that, I also wanted to know if he would have had a police guard in hospital. My brother put me in touch with a court clerk who canvassed several JPs and co-workers to get me the answers. I have now organized a 3” binder to hold all the pieces I am collecting for this latest literary endeavor.

Susan recently had an article in St. John’s Telegram about the Terry Fox Run, and will have another one on the collapse of the Berlin Wall published soon. She has also sent out two simultaneous submissions for her young adult novel “Geofind”. If you ever want to know anything about Newfoundland, ask Susan. She’s our East Coast Correspondent.

Members present on Wednesday were saying they find it hard to critique effectively without the written version to look at, and would also appreciate having time beforehand to read the pieces being read. Consequently, they have asked that those planning to read please email their chosen writings to them ahead of time. Can that be done?

Next meeting will be at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 7th, here at my place. Really look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-09-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

ADVERSARIAL ADVERBS

Jason, Ron, Bob, Jim, Danny and Margaret all joined me Wednesday night for another awesome meeting. They just keep getting better and better, both the meetings and the writers. Unfortunately, Gemma was unable to join us as she is recovering from injuries recently suffered handling her dog. Bob and Jim returned copies of her manuscript after reading it, and I have those copies here. We hope Gemma is feeling better and will be able to join us again soon.

I started the meeting with my latest news. My short story, “His Rant”, was short-listed in the Polar Expressions contest, and consequently will be included in their anthology “Beneath The Canopy”. This story was written several years ago when we were drawing weekly writing prompts from The Bucket, and this prompt was about somebody living over a 3-car garage. I tweaked it so the word count worked for the contest, and there you have it. Don’t throw out anything you write. You never know when some opportunity may arise for submitting it.

Margaret read the Epilogue from “Blow Up The Castle”, which tells us what happened to the three reverends after 1936. During WWII and after, their lives changed considerably. Rev. Peabody and Marie married and went to live with his nephew Hamish, in the castle. Rev. Peasly emigrated to Canada after Barker died. And Rev. Peacock, Marigold, and Joey the parrot moved to the seaside. All three reverends passed away on the same day. And those walking the beach can still hear Joey calling “Blow up the castle!”

Danny read his chapter “Did It Hurt Right Away?” While working the Nascar infield, Danny suffered a badly broken left foot when a 400 lb. battleaxe (I don’t know what that is?) fell on it. This chapter gave us very graphic descriptions of the pain and gory medical procedures when the bones became infected. Fortunately, Danny still has his foot, attached to his leg, that is.

Ron read us his Chapter 1, where we are introduced to Joseph and his wife, Julia, in Hungary. They are farmers, in their fifties, with five children aged 12 to 21. Although they own some land of their own, they work for a large farm to earn enough to support themselves. We see them cutting the grain with scythes, the method of harvest at that time. But Joseph is told there won’t be much work the coming year, as the large farm is bringing in machinery to do what many men did by hand. That’s when the decision is made to emigrate to Canada, where free land is being offered.

Jason read us Chapter 3 of his novel. The setting is the reception after the funeral. The father removes himself from the crowd and sits alone. Laura plays hostess to a number of elderly friends of the deceased. The two sons behave like typical teenaged boys. Greg is snarky to his father. Dave criticizes him. The two argue. Greg is hot for Jody, a neighbourhood girl, and he asks her if she believes in heaven. This is a difficult question for her as her parents are both dead. The two wrestle, but Dave interrupts them. This chapter shows us more of the family dynamics.
Jim shared with us five different drafts of the same sentence, where he was trying to eliminate adverbs. The original sentence was: When she quickly turned her head, her hair seemed to stretch and elongate then as quickly return to its tightly packed state as her curls fought centrifugal force. The final sentence read: With each quick turn of the head, her hair stretched and elongated then snapped back to its original state. What a process rewriting can be! We agreed maybe we should all go and read some Hemingway to learn about succinct condensation of verbiage. Jim admitted he had just reread “The Old Man And The Sea”. Hilarious. The following is Jim’s journaling about being plagued by adverbs:

Adverbs are my enemy! As soon as I wrestle one to the ground there is another before me, taunting. It is a never-ending fight and I tire of the battle. What else can I do? I struggle on and on, forcing one to submit and then another.

One day I will defeat them! I will complete a manuscript barren of the (bloody) buggers. Then I will laugh at them, when I have faced them all down.

Right on, Jim. We’re all behind you!

Bob didn’t have time to write anything between baseball games, but he kindly fixed glasses of ice water, and served cookies and banana bread for me. He is always a help in that department. Many thanks.

And thanks to all those who donated for the domain name. Much appreciated.

Next meeting will be here at my place at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16th. Hope to see you then, and by all means, bring your Muse.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-08-23T12:07:00.001-07:00

WE’RE A TEN!

Ten of us met Wednesday night for another exciting meeting of dedicated scribes. Norah Dunlop and Ron Young were two new faces. Welcome to the fold.

I started by telling everyone the September issue of Writers’ Digest has a lot of excellent material in it. There is a list of agents looking for new writers. There are some very good sample Query letters. And there are several articles looking at various aspects of memoir writing. Worth picking up a copy if any of those topics interest you. I also put out a number of writing resource books that I am willing to lend, but I did ask for a list of who took what as I don’t want to lose any of them in the process.

Jim said he had been inspired to write a short story after receiving two emails requesting submissions that I had forwarded. His story was called “Dimensions”, and Danny read it aloud so Jim could hear how it sounded. It is about a male who changes realities every time he reaches his 40th birthday. That is when he is removed from that lifetime and plunked into another where he begins again at age 16. The story has him leaving a wife and 2 children when he turns 40. But before he is inserted into his next 24 year lifespan, there is a glitch and he wakes up beside a beautiful woman whom he wants to make love to. In this short lifespan, we see him trying to find some coffee and trying to figure out how the appliances work, since all these daily essentials are different with each incarnation. But very suddenly he is removed and wakes up at age 16, on a farm, where he toils till he’s 40. He wants to, and tries to commit suicide, but is unable to accomplish his desire. So he works the farm till his next transition. Fascinating theory. Jim says he is also half way through the 2nd draft of his novel.

Margaret read us the last chapter of “Blow Up The Castle”. The clergy of the area have come to Castle Hall to meet and listen to the Bishop, whom most of them have never met. Unfortunately, Rev. Peacock had to bring Joey, his parrot, with him and he was hidden under the reverend’s coat. As the meeting progressed, Joey looked out from under the coat and all the clergy, dressed in black and white, appeared to him to be penguins. On seeing a model of a clipper ship resembling one blown up by pirates, Joey immediately assumed the worst and screamed “Blow up the Castle!” The Hall was evacuated in five minutes flat. Margaret said she has a publisher currently reading her story collection. We all have our fingers crossed for her.

Ron read from his first draft of a novel about Hungarian ancestors who immigrated to Canada around the late 1800s and early 1900s, entitle “Of Stalwart Peasants”. Ron read his prologue, about Alistair MacArthur’s career as press secretary for Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior. It was Sifton’s idea to populate the prairies with immigrant farmers, ideally eastern European Slavic peasants who could settle and work and farm, which caused a great deal of controversy among the predominantly English population that existed outside of Quebec at the time. There was a great deal of relevant Canadian history in this prologue, and fascinating to us listeners.

Danny read the prologue from his book. We hear he is seriously depressed and suicidal after his breakup with his love interest. He unscrews the gas line where she lives. Suddenly there are the sirens of police cars and fire trucks. He is in the midst of a breakdown. Then Danny read the next paragraph, which tells us he was born August 14, 1959, the oldest of eight. Danny’s writing is very gritty and to the point, portraying the pain and angst of what he was going through.

Bob had some more writing about the history of B.C.’s jewellery business to read. This chapter is about the salespeople who worked in the trade and traveled the province during the last century, which could be a difficult process. In 1958 they formed the B.C. Chapter of the Canadian Jewllery Travellers Association, which eventually organized jewellery buying shows, which brought the buyers to them instead. In 1987 their show was the first event held in the new Canada Place Convention Centre. But the show in 1995 was their last.

Jason read his 2nd Chapter. We see the funeral for Iris, who passed away. Her great grandsons are teenagers, not really wanting to be there. Greg is bored and wants to be gone. Dave is more spiritual, and asks for the appearance of an angel. Outside, he sees a form take shape from the dust, but his father calls him and says he can drive the car. His mother’s thoughts are all about the details of catering to all the guests after the funeral. This was a good chapter for showing us the family setup of characters we assume will be major players in the novel.

Gemma brought copies of her book, “What Heidi Knows”, and asked for some volunteer readers. Bob and Jim each took a copy and we look forward to their views about this dog story. Gemma also has a poem accepted for the anthology being put out by Polar Expressions. Congratulations.

Lynette and Norah and I didn’t read anything. But we sure enjoyed listening to everything. Maybe we’ll read next time.

The contest deadline for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference is 4:00 p.m., Friday, September 4th. You can find contest guidelines at www.siwc.ca

Next meeting will be here at my place on Wednesday, September 2nd at 7:00 p.m. Look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-08-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

THE SONG OF SEVEN SCRIBES

There were seven of us again on Wednesday, all eager to meet and share with other writers. Gemma wasn’t able to attend, but Danny Halmo joined us for the first time, so we were still seven in number.

Margaret read first, her second to last chapter in the Peabody series. In ‘The Bishop’, we hear that Mr. Lamb, the farmer, is depressed about the loss of his still. The innkeeper tells him about a recipe that doesn’t require machinery to make, and so Mr. Lamb makes a concoction he calls ‘The Bishop’, and then puts up a sign inviting everyone to come and ‘enjoy The Bishop’. Marie sees the sign and rushes home to tell Rev. Peabody that the Bishop is staying at Mr. Lamb’s farm, instead of with them at the manse. Rev. Peabody thanks God for small miracles, as now he won’t have to give in to Marie and renovate the manse to accommodate such an esteemed guest.

Lynette read us “Who Is Salome?”, a lot of background information she had gathered after seeing the Strauss opera. But we were concerned that Lynette was only recapping what others had done, rather than telling us what she thought the story was really about. And we all encouraged her to write her own version, giving today’s world the female perspective of this character.

Danny read from his autobiography “One Flew Over The Racer’s Nest”. In the year 2000, he had a fight with his brother Tom, at Easter. Five days later Tom was in a car accident and ends up hospitalized. Shortly after that, Danny’s friend Walt was driving, drunk, and also badly injured in an accident. He is hospitalized two beds away from Tom. Unfortunately, Walt never recovered and died a year later.

Danny also read two poems from his book. ‘Les Miserables’ was about being on suicide watch while in jail in protective custody, awaiting transfer to a medical facility. ‘Hey Buddy’ was about finally being able to get over an ex-girlfriend with the help of friends.

Jason read to us a rewrite of his prologue, which strives to give us the context of the world where his novel takes place, an imperative in fantasy novels. As listeners, we thought things were a little slow until the arrival of the dragon and all the fire and action thereafter. I think Jim was the only listener who had read any fantasy, so the rest of us didn’t really know how much validity the change of prologue would have. I don’t know if we were any help at all.

Jim read to us further along in his first chapter, where Joseph sits down beside Daniella at the tennis club. He feels attracted to her and loves the fluidity of her long dark curls when she moves. But at the entrance of his former tennis partner, whom he had hurt, he feels obligated to take her to lunch and gets up and leaves. Daniella heard him admit he hurt the other woman, and is impressed he wants to make amends. She thinks she should ask him out on a date herself.

Bob didn’t have anything to read and nor did I. Maybe next time. Jim and Danny both have said they want to hear something Bob has written about the jewellery business.

I recently had a manuscript printed up down at Staples and found it to be a good solution. The manuscript was an MS Word document burned to a CD, 229 pages in length, double spaced. I took the CD down, and they printed the manuscript at $0.08 a page for that number of pages, which turned out to be less in cost than buying an ink cartridge and doing it myself at home. And the finished product came in a box, something to remember when you need a manuscript box for shipping. They also have a lot of options for binding, as well. So if you are thinking of putting together a publication of your own, be sure to go down and pick up their brochure.

Regarding Susan’s young adult novel on geo-caching, it was interesting to note that an activity now offered by Langley City is a family Saturday course on learning to geo-cache. I still think there’s a growing market for her novel.

Next meeting will be Wednesday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Bring your Muse and I look forward to seeing you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-07-26T14:12:00.001-07:00

SUMMER TALES

Wednesday’s meeting saw seven of us gather to shoot the breeze, spin the yarn, and frolic in the fiction. An awesome good time!

Jason Vance was a new face. He’s writing a fantasy series based on the theme that because heaven is boring, individuals are allowed to experience the drama they crave by incarnating in physical existence where they are challenged by the illusion of so-called reality. The story includes characters and a dragon, entities lost on the astral plane, a murder, and an out-of-body experience. The first book is called “A Rude Awakening”, and is complete. Jason is looking to start submissions.

I read my Synopsis for “Fire”, and also my query letter to an agent (who rejected my ms.), as Jason said he would like to hear how I had written these two items.

Jim rewrote his first chapter 5 times after the last meeting, and read his revised beginning, with the focus now mostly on Joseph, through his own point of view, and also through that of his housekeeper. It more clearly stresses his mental illness, which is what catches the reader. Jim said he had also written a short story, and we hope to hear it sometime.

Margaret read her second to last chapter from “Blow Up The Castle!”, where nobody knows for sure if the Bishop is coming to visit, or where he is staying. Mr. Lamb, the sheep farmer who now has no still, brews up a new concoction he calls the 'Bishop', and puts up a sign inviting everyone to meet the 'Bishop' at his place. Marie thinks the real Bishop is going to stay with Mr. Lamb. Of course, Reverend Peabody is relieved that the Bishop is staying elsewhere, as he does not want to give in to Marie's demands the manse be updated and prettied up.

Bob is still watching baseball. He came all dressed up and looking spiffy, on his way back from a memorial service in Chilliwack.

Gemma has finished doing her re-writing of “Heidi Knows”, and says that’s it. No more. She’s tired of working on that story and will now turn her attention to other writing.

Lynette attended on Wednesday, and we were so pleased to see her after such a long time. She said she’s finally doing some writing again. She recently saw a play about Salome, and was struck that all the works about this Biblical character have been written by men. She really wants to write something that will give a needed comment from the female perspective.

We had some discussion about what constitutes the criteria for a Young Adult novel. I remember Susan researching this when she was here, and the main rule is that the protagonist must be in the age group of 13-18, and navigating the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is usually first or third person point of view. Average length is 40,000 to 75,000 words. It does not contain erotica, and any profanity must be used sparingly. And it is wise not to beat the readers over the head with moralizing. Teenagers are pretty savvy and they can slam a book shut as well as they can slam the door.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Wednesday, August 5th at 7:00 p.m. and I hope to see you then. And in the meantime, don’t melt in the heat wave.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-07-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

BACK IN PRODUCTION

Wednesday’s meeting was exciting, with five of us here, and after a month without a meeting. Gemma has decided to come back to our meetings after taking a long break to recover from injuries sustained in a car accident. And we have a new member, Jim Williams, who attended Wednesday as well. Jim has written an exceptionally long novel he is turning into a trilogy, and wants some serious feedback on his endeavors. Welcome, Jim, to the fold.

I shared some pictures and a note received from our dear Susan out in Newfoundland. There was an awesome picture of her and Chris with their five offspring, and a cute one of Declan with a hockey stick, standing by the net. As soon as school was out, they were all heading to Lancashire, England to visit Chris’s birthplace.

Sylvia Taylor attended a recent meeting of the Murrayville Library Writers’ Group, and talked about the publishing industry, the function of editors, and the basics of acceptable prose. She said the U.S. publishing industry has been in free fall since last year and the economic downturn, and that American agents and publishers are NOT accepting any new writers. But the Canadian publishing industry has still been plugging along, the same as always, as Canadians are wont to do, not huge or mega-successful, but still viable. Unfortunately, that means American agents and writers now have their eyes on getting published up here. Where is Canada Customs when you need them?

On the subject of what editors or contest judges look for, these are the points she stressed, in order of importance:
- Formatting of manuscripts!!! (double spaced, 12 point font, acceptable margins all around, pages numbered top right, title & author name & date top left every page, except for blind contest entries)
- Punctuation
- Language
- Point of view (only one per scene if using multiple points of view)
- Tenses
- Descriptions
- Dialogue
- Character development
- Show, don’t tell
- Story arc
- Weaving of plot and sub-plots
- Showing character remembering, or thinking, or use of flashbacks.

Sylvia also said that she is judging a novel writing contest back east this summer and with over a hundred novels to consider, there is a system judges tend to follow. They read the first page, the last page, and maybe every fortieth page in between to check for story arc.So there you have the latest info from somebody in the know
Jim was the first to read from his novel, “Power Tends To Corrupt”. Book One of his trilogy is “Joseph And Daniela”. In the first chapter we are introduced to Joseph, cutting back on his meds in order to fuel his obsession for writing. He wants control of the creative process, which he doesn’t have taking medication for a mental illness that is hinted at, but not clinically defined. Jim does a good job of showing Joseph’s teeter-tottering between reality and illusion, and how members of his household react. We look forward to meeting Daniela, the other protagonist in this story.

Margaret read another story from her Peabody collection we are now calling “Blow Up The Castle!”. The latest story is “Sheep Dip”, and tells of two detectives going to visit Mr. Lamb after his still blew up. He steadfastly maintains he was only brewing sheep dip, and that was what blew up. Margaret is almost at the end of the Peabody collection and is already planning another series of stories about a detective. Go, Margaret!

Gemma has done a lot of thinking and revising of her canine novel “What Heidi Knows”. She will use points of view of two different dogs, Heidi and Checkmate, and will title chapters/sections based on periods of history (ie: ‘Age of Innocence’).

Bob and I did not have anything of our own to read. I think Bob’s been watching baseball, and I’ve been very busy typing a manuscript for another writer.

Meetings this month are a little out of whack since the first Wednesday was a holiday. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then, and be sure to bring your Muse.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-06-07T12:54:00.001-07:00

HEAT WAVE

Wednesday’s meeting was in the middle of the heat wave, but there were four of us here enjoying my air conditioning anyhow. Gemma arrived first, bringing a gorgeous orchid plant in apology for her long absence. We were thrilled to see her. And our faithful cohorts, Bob and Margaret, also attended.

Gemma wants to enter two contests, one at Polar Express and one at the Poetry Institute of Canada. She plans on sending one poem and one short story to each. With her short story “Out Of Order”, Gemma had to cut back the word count, and read to us her revision. If anything, it sounded even more powerful recounting a child choosing death rather than an upbringing in a convent when her own mother doesn’t want her. Gemma also read to us her short story “The Chase”, a humourous account of an escaped white pet mouse taking refuge in a mother’s purse. Because her boys are so upset at losing the mouse, she goes shopping for another one, but at the pet store the original mouse appears and is finally apprehended by the Mom. Gemma and I also exchanged finished novels for each other to read.

Margaret had her article “Gibsons” published in the June edition of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. It tells of how friends she met while vacationing there during the summer later introduced Margaret to the man she married.

Margaret read a prologue she had written for her Peabody collection. It tells of the three reverends meeting at Cambridge University and becoming fast friends. They went their separate ways after graduating, but later all came together while officiating at three different churches in Wickerton. After some discussion, the title “Blow Up The Castle!” was chosen for Margaret’s collection of stories. That was the command often repeated by Joey, the parrot.

The next chapter “New Year’s Eve” was read by Margaret. Mr. Lamb, the sheep farmer, was bottling his distilled whiskey for their dinner guests up at the house, the three reverends. Mr. Lamb was sampling as he bottled. Mrs. Lamb wanted her guests to use noisemakers at midnight, when the church bell was supposed to ring. But there was a very loud explosion instead when the still blew up.

I read a revised story of mine called “His Rant”, which had been written when we took subject matter from ‘the bucket’. This is the story I entered in the contest at Polar Express. I did receive a rejection from the first agent I queried about my novel. Have to look for others to approach. The latest issue of “Writers’ Digest” suggests sending multiple submissions to agents, rather than one at a time.

Bob said he hadn’t done any writing as he’s been so busy, and of course, it’s baseball season, too.

As Margaret’s going on vacation, and the first Wednesday in July is a holiday, our next meeting isn’t scheduled until Wednesday, July 8th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Would love to see you then.

Happy Writing!

Lisa

RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2009-05-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

SPRING IS SPRUNG

Wednesday’s meeting saw the faithful trio of Bob, Margaret and myself here to share our writing pursuits.

Bob is going to submit his story “Going Downtown” to the short story contest at the Poetry Institute of Canada. He brought it along and asked for help in re-writing it for submission. So we read the story aloud and verbally edited every paragraph and ended up with a version that satisfied the three of us. Great fun. But that only worked because Bob had brought a hard copy for each of us to look at. Smart man.

Margaret read two chapters from the Peabody collection. Peacock is interviewing applicant number five for the position of his housekeeper. Her name is Mrs. Mousley, but she was scared off when Joey started crying like a cat, a habit he picked up while visiting Marigold. Mrs. Mousley was afraid of cats. But she had suspiciously reminded Peacock of Goldie, as in Goldie and Sylvester, who had bombed the Inn on Guy Fawkes Day. Then Rev. Peasley visits and strongly advises Peacock not to hire applicant number six, as she is Miss Dye, who had talked to the town about the resident ghosts of the area. Peacock doesn’t believe in ghosts. But Miss Dye likes Joey, his parrot, so he hires her. She then asks him to call her by her first name, which just happens to be “Marigold”.

I read a short story by a writer at the Murrayville Library Writers’ Group, about a young girl growing up in Jamaica and staying at a boarding school. The girl and her sister and a friend had to take their dirty clothes and linens each Saturday to the on-site laundry, where they were terrified by the mechanic who looked after the boilers and equipment. This was an actual memoir and very interesting to read.

Last week I sent off a short story submission to Polar Express. Am also organizing things for the next novel I will write, putting together a binder with sections for character development, plot outline, chapter outline, research, and the actual writing I will do. This is something I learned I need while doing the first novel. It certainly simplifies the work process and is a great aid when I can’t remember how I spelled somebody’s name or in which chapter something specific happened. No problem with a short story, but by the time I had over a hundred pages in my novel, it was a real nuisance trying to find something. The chapter outline I did after writing each one became invaluable to me when I did the rewriting.

Hope everybody is enjoying the gorgeous spring weather that has finally arrived. It was sure a long time coming this year. Now we can take our notebooks outside to write!

Next meeting here at my place on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then. Happy Writing!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-05-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Since I didn’t write a Review after our meeting in April, I will have to include news from two meetings this time.

On April 1st, Bob and Margaret joined me and Margaret was the only one who read. From the Peabody collection, she read “The Intruder”, which sees Marie come back to the smelly manse after staying overnight at the Inn. She opens the doors and windows to air the place out, then goes to get eggs at a farm. Meanwhile, Peabody gets up to a cold house and calls police to say there’s been an intruder, and the policeman tells Marie, who thinks it’s bad luck because the Xmas tree was removed before New Year’s. Peabody tells her he feels guilty for removing the tree, so then she feels sorry for him and puts the kettle on.

In Seniors Today, there was an article called “Just for Laughs” by Laszlo Tamas, Gemma’s husband.

On May 6th, Bob and Margaret again joined me for another meeting. Margaret brought pictures showing a brass plaque that’s on a pole in Vancouver. The plaque has Margaret’s story “Dinner At Love’s Café” on it. Isn’t that a great way of preserving an author’s work?

Bob read from his jewellery history, about the hub of the business being in the area of Hastings St. and Cordova. There was a very large diamond robbery on 1906, with $8500.00 in rings stolen, and a shot fired at a clerk pursuing the thieves. One thief was caught with 9 diamonds in the butt of a revolver. Bob also read an account of this episode from the Vancouver archives.

Margaret read about Reverend Peacock’s Christmas at Marigold’s in Gretna Green. Unfortunately, he fell out of the hole in the wall bed and Marigold called a vet to attend to his injuries. The vet was more interested in Joey, the squawking parrot. On his return home, he started interviewing for a new housekeeper. He kept praying for another Marigold.

While Sonny and Chantal and baby Grayson stayed with me in April, I asked Chantal to read my novel “Fire”, which she did. She said it was a good read and she really wanted to learn the identity of the arsonist. She also said there weren’t any parts in the book that she felt she had to slog through. This was all very pleasing for me to hear. Chantal is well educated and an avid reader of fiction, so I highly respect her opinion as a reader. After that good news, I sent off my first submission to an agent, which included cover letter, synopsis, and first two chapters.

Now I am getting organized to start another novel. I plan to continue with the same characters in the same setting, but this will be a murder mystery.

Ann is currently taking a course in the History of Africa at Kwantlen, and plans to take a creative writing course in the fall. Her community hosted a talk by Doris Reidwig about having her first novel published.

In yesterday’s Langley Times there was a call for submissions of poetry or short stories to a contest where a lot of submissions will be included in an anthology. You might want to take a look.

Next meeting here at my place on Wednesday, May 20th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then, even if you haven’t written anything.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-03-22T10:46:00.001-07:00

SPRING AHEAD

Wednesday’s meeting was just ahead of the first day of spring. We were a group of four; Robin, Bob, Margaret and I. It was great to see Robin again.

Bob had been doing some more research regarding his memoirs of the WWII years. He went looking for the ship that transported Canadian soldiers to Hong Kong. He found a picture of the HMT Awatea on which the soldiers traveled. Bob thinks it was a New Zealand ship. They were brought home later on the CN ship Prince Robert.

Trying to decide how to write his novel, Bob is taking inspiration from Marcia Muller’s collection of short stories, “Somewhere In The City”. He says he wants to write a series of short stories that include the same main characters, in different vignettes. But Bob feels he must first complete his history of the jewellery business in B.C. and consequently brought an excerpt on Zuker and Company to read to us.

Robin’s had time to work on some songs while he’s been recovering from his knee replacement surgery. He brought along the typed lyrics to “Little Glass House By The Sea”, a rousing ballad about a young man in love with the women down on the beach. Then Robin gave us the CD to play, with the recorded song on it. Very interesting. And as well, Robin turned on my electric keyboard and played a bit for us. Another song Robin has been working on for years is “No Someone”. It is a very sad song about a man not having someone to ask “Do you love me?” anymore.

Margaret read another story from her Peabody collection. Rev. Peasly and his dog, Barker, go to visit Rev. Peabody, who confides that Marie has called him an old fogey. Peasly tells him it’s a type of compliment. Barker sniffs at the Christmas tree, which is the one stolen from Peasly’s yard and then sold to Peacock, who gave it to Peabody. But Barker was happy to recognize it and lifted his leg against it in greeting. Peasly and Peabody try to clean up and get rid of the smell of urine by turfing the tree out in the yard. Marie comes home and is disgusted by the smell of urine and goes to stay at the Inn.

Time had flown and I didn’t read any Chapters from my novel, but I am working on the Chapter Outline, which I could use for a longer synopsis by simply removing chapter headings from the document. Will see how this works out.

Next Meeting Wednesday, April 1st at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-03-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

It was great to hear Susan’s voice again when I listened to her on CBC Radio on February 26th. She was a guest commentator on The Point and along with Kevin Paterson, offered her opinions on the federal government’s increased sentences for violence in public places, on the validity of zoos in today’s world, on giving things up for Lent, and on stem cell research. It was an hour long program and a lot was discussed. And it was mentioned several times that Susan was a writer and a mother of five. The latter seemed to be the bigger claim to fame on the show. Hoorah for Motherhood!

The expected opening of a new book store in Chilliwack by a lady keen to support and promote local authors is generating excitement, especially since she asked I forward the notice of same to our members. Bryon and I hope to go out to visit when it opens, and Gemma has asked to go with us as she has a book she would like to take out to put in the store on consignment.

Bob started writing his first fiction novel, “The Consultant”. He said it was really difficult and knowing you are supposed to catch the reader with the first paragraph he wrote four versions of same and was still stumped. Margaret and I went through a process of elimination on the four, and picked what we thought was the best one to use as it started directly with some action, rather than background information. We did tell Bob not to worry about perfection to begin with, just to write. It can all be improved later for a better read, but you should first get the story down on paper.

Margaret was doing some research on Gretna Green. When she Googled it, all she got was one sentence. When she pulled out her own very old encyclopedia she found a whole page of information. She feels sorry for today’s researchers relying on the internet and feels they are being shortchanged on historical facts.

In her Peabody collection, Margaret read that Rev. Peabody was remembering his experience of Christmas with so many houseguests. He had not felt obligated to conduct a funeral service for the dead spider. And he did not admit finding the cat with the rat’s remains. Hamish did tell him he should take a wife to prevent himself from becoming an old fogey. Peabody tells Marie he has an important question to ask her. She thinks he’s going to propose. But he only asks if he’s on old fogey.

I read the next chapter from “Fire”, where Cam is at work at the bowling alley Saturday morning, with all the little hooligans. Lucy’s brother, Rick, arrives and threatens to hurt Cam’s Mom if she doesn’t stay away from the Detective.

Last week I finished the rewrite of my novel, so am now looking at starting to send it out. I have a one-page synopsis, but still need to write a longer one. Am currently typing up my chapter outline, which I may be able to use for the longer synopsis. It’s annoying that different agents and publishers want it in different lengths.

I explained to Bryon that I had a one-page synopsis, but needed to do a twenty-page synopsis, and maybe one in-between. Being an engineer, he came up with the most practical, time saving solution. “Just change the font,” he said.

Next meeting here at my place Wednesday, March 18th at 7:00 p.m. Would love to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-02-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

STILL WRITING

Bob and Margaret and I were still the only ones present at our meeting on Wednesday. Does that mean we’re the only ones still writing?

Bob is recovering slowly from surgery he had 2 weeks ago, but was able to complete the piece he was writing about his memories of the WWII years. He read about seeing an aircraft carrier in Vancouver harbour, a small one that only carried 5 or 6 planes. He told us the allied invasion of Normandy was called Operation Overload. The Canadian infantry spent the winter of 1944-45 in Holland. CPR steamships ran the ferry to Victoria as part of the transcontinental railway system. In 1944 patients from Shaughnessy Military Hospital were seen in Bob’s neighbourhood. On April 12, 1945 there was an assembly at school because Roosevelt died. On May 6, 1945 the war was over in Europe. After the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. That fall Bob was sent to a boarding school where the cadets wore uniforms that were old leftovers from the Boer war. He remembers taking a trip with his parents from Ontario to Detroit to Chicago and a train trip on the Golden State Railway which traveled on the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway Line (AT&SF). He loved that name.

Margaret read “The Royal Bedroom”. Marie was reading the Christmas mail and learned that Hamish and his wife Matilda and their adopted son, Gaylord and his two pets were coming to visit Rev. Peabody for Christmas. Marie had already invited her own son and daughter-in-law and their two children and two pets. Where would they all sleep? Rev. Peabody found her in the office as she was planning to turn it into an extra bedroom. He wanted to know if she was cooking supper as they hadn’t had any lunch.

Then Margaret read the next chapter, “Dear Diary”. Marie is writing in her diary about the Christmas holidays they had with seven guests and four pets. The remains of Mandrake, the English black rat, were found in front of Angora, one of the cats. Aristotle, the second cat, attacked the turkey. Gooseberry, the 8 legged spider in the canning jar got loose and Rev. Peabody stepped on him. Marie was relieved to see that for the next Christmas, they were invited to the Flemish castle with Hamish and Matilda to celebrate.

I read Chapter 17 in my novel. Fiona woke up Saturday morning on Easter weekend, thinking she’d have the day to herself. She heard Cam leave for work. She relaxed over coffee and remembered her years with her husband before he died, and then saw how lucky her job in the complex was as it enabled her to be close by for Cam as she was working. She couldn’t do anything more about the arson fires until Monday or Tuesday and she planned to have dinner at home that night with her son. Then she checked telephone messages and learned an emergency Council meeting had been called for that afternoon to discuss the fires and she would have to attend.

Next Meeting on Wednesday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

WEDNESDAY’S CHILD

We have moved our Meetings to the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month and hope that might make it possible for more to attend. According to the nursery rhyme, “Wednesday’s child is full of woe”. But the original version from 1887 had “Wednesday’s child is loving and giving”. So whatever inspires your writing, pain or pleasure, Wednesday can handle it all!

Bob had written more about his childhood memories during WWII. He did some research on Zombies and Zoot Suiters. Zombies were draftees in the army as non-fighting forces. Zoot Suiters wore a strange fashion made in Chinatown with high-waisted baggy-bottom trousers that had a very narrow cuff. The jackets were very long, double breasted, and had padded shoulders. Bob also had many pictures of aircraft used during WWII and we enjoyed looking at them.

Margaret read “Bearer Of Gifts” from her Peabody collection. The farmer, Mr. Lamb, who raises sheep, noticed that somebody stole all his mistletoe. Peabody went to cut down a Xmas tree but found somebody else had already cut it down and it was gone. Then Rev. Peacock answered his door and from a young boy, bought a Xmas tree and some mistletoe, which, because he was going away to visit Marigold for Xmas, he then gave to Peabody.

Margaret and I both received our copies of “Summer Tapestry”, an anthology which includes our short stories; my “The Perfect Size” and Margaret’s “The Assignment”. Nice to see my name in a book instead of a newspaper or magazine. Is that a step up?

The February issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine has Margaret’s story “The Hat” and a reprint of Gemma’s “New Year’s Resolution”. I read Margaret’s story out loud. It’s about one day in 1945 when she went to a shop on Granville St. to buy a hat, and a huge explosion rocked the street and blew out windows. The ship Greenhill Park had blown up in the harbour.

Bob has decided to forego writing the history of the jewllery business in B.C. and focus his talents on writing a novel, humour and a little mystery, based on all the interesting stories he has told us on the side. That way, he can use all that’s most interesting if he’s writing fiction instead of fact. He was all smiles talking about it. This could be fun.

Robin Ryan is recovering from knee surgery and some complications since. We wish him a speedy recovery and return to good health.

Bob had day surgery on Friday, and though I haven’t heard anything since, we assume he, too, is recovering.

Next Meeting here at my place at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18th. Would love to see you then. Happy Valentine’s Day in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2009-01-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

IN BETWEEN SNOWSTORMS

We did have a Meeting on Thursday, when enough snow had melted for people to get around, and before the next snowfall comes on Tuesday. Bob and Margaret were here, and Cameron Dueck also attended for the first time. Cameron said he writes poetry, short stories and plays; a little bit of everything. We welcome him to the fold.

Bob started by reading an article from the Vancouver Historical Society detailing a visit to Vancouver on July 18, 1915 by Teddy Roosevelt and his wife.

Then Bob proudly told us he had written 2508 words on a topic other than the history of the jewellery business in B.C. He read to us his boyhood memories of local events and news received during WWII. Very interesting. We had told Bob that if writing about the jewellery business had become too onerous that he should consider writing on subjects that did grab his attention. It is true that if the writer is bored then he/she will probably bore their readers as well.

Margaret read another story from the Peabody collection , “Greetings From Marigold”. Reverend Peacock received a Christmas card and letter from Marigold. She told him she had married Jasper in Gretna Green in Scotland and that was where they were settling. Jasper’s aunt and uncle had disowned him because he married outside the Jewish faith, and her Catholic family were not communicating with them either. Therefore, she invited Rev. Peacock and his parrot, Joey, to visit and stay with them over Christmas. Margaret has said this story is nearing the end of the Peabody collection. We shall greatly miss hearing about these beloved characters she has brought to life for us.

Cameron read to us two of his poems. The first one, “If Totem Poles Could Talk They’d Probably Cry” detailed the dying tribal life and how the tribal voices are being stilled. It is a very moving poem. He said it had been published in an anthology, but we think he should do more with it. The next poem was “British Columbia” and it was a picture painted in words of all the beautiful vistas that B.C. has to offer. Both these poems were strong pieces of writing that spoke to the listener very clearly.

I received from Susan an envelope with several goodies. She sent two issues of the newsletter “Word” put out by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador. That organization is probably similar to the Federation of B.C. Writers. Also included in the parcel was the January/February issue of Atlantic Business magazine, in which there is an announcement of Susan and her husband, Chris, starting their own business in communications/consultancy called “48 Degrees Inc. We wish them good luck with this business venture.

I did attend a meeting on the 15th, at the Murrayville library, of a recently formed writers’ group. It was interesting and I was happy to see the whole time was spent discussing writing topics only. There was a printed agenda for the meeting which included a specified time slot for writers to define what writing goals they hoped to meet before the next meeting. I thought this was an excellent idea as it gives the incentive of having a deadline to meet. Also received at this meeting was a list of library resources for writers, which I will forward in a separate email..

After some discussion, it was decided that we will switch meeting nights from Thursdays to Wednesdays. Our meetings will now be the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Hopefully that could eliminate scheduling conflicts for some people. Our next meeting will be here at my place at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4th. Hope to see you then. Bring your Muse.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2009-01-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This winter’s weather has made it difficult to get together. Margaret was the only one who made it to the meeting here on Thursday. In her 80s, she puts the rest of us to shame.

Margaret read another story from her Peabody collection, “Wednesday Evening At The Theater”. The Reverends Peabody and Peacock had gone to the theater to see an historical play they were interested in, with a castle being part of the last scene. It was during that scene that a loud scream was heard and everybody rushed to evacuate the theater. Peacock had been sound asleep, so Peabody urgently led him out. When they arrived at a restaurant, it was learned the scream in the theater had been Peacock’s parrot Joey, hidden under his coat, who had screamed “Blow up the castle!”.

Margaret and I had a discussion on preparation of long manuscripts for submissions, and the wisdom of submitting to agents or publishers. I had purchased Writers’ Digest’s book on Literary Agents for 2009, which Margaret borrowed. She and I are both getting near the time to start sending out queries/synopses/outlines/sample chapters for our books.

January saw three Ram’s Head writers published in Today’s Senior Newsmagazine: Gemma, Carolann, and me.

Susan sent a note at Christmas with three tear sheets of articles she had written that were published in The Telegram in St. John’s. It’s good to see she’s keeping her hand to the keyboard since she moved back to the east coast.

I am just plugging away at the 2nd draft of my novel and the only writing I’ve done lately has been a series of letters to Sonny in Afghanistan via email. He says he really hasn’t received any news from anybody except for my letters. However, he has received many parcels, just no letters. Until the 23rd he is on leave, at home with his wife and son in Kingston. Then he returns to Kandahar until February 19th, when his deployment ends. Maybe when he’s home sometime in March we could ask him to update our website for us.

On January 13th, I’m going to check out the writing group that is starting up at the Murrayville branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library. They will only meet once a month, the 3rd Thursday. I thought a little networking wouldn’t be a bad thing. If anyone else would like to show up that night, in their meeting room, you would also be welcome, 7:00 p.m. Coffee and decaf available. Maybe cookies. Just like home.

Next Meeting for The Ram’s Head here at my place on Thursday, Jan 22nd at 7:00 p.m. It would be wonderful to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-12-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Bob and Margaret joined me Thursday night for our meeting. And I did have some Christmas baking to share.

Bob brought an article Susan had sent him, that she had written and which was published in The Telegram in St. John’s. It was a personal article called “Baby Wonder”, about her and Chris having Declan, their fifth child, after the failure of his vasectomy. The article had a full page spread and family pictures, and a warm and fuzzy ending. Nice to see that Susan is in print again.

Bob also brought an article by Pete McMartin in the Vancouver Sun about restaurants being too pretentious, and they are now losing patrons who are becoming more conscious of their spending since the economic meltdown of 2008.

He didn’t have any writing of his own to read, but Bob did say he replied to the letter he received from the Lt. Colonel.

Margaret read from the Peabody collection about Sir Donald Die being unable to rid the town of Wickerton of all its ghosts. But Rev. Peabody didn’t believe his manse had any ghosts and he went up to bed. Shortly after, Marie came in and saw the swaying rocking chair and smelled tobacco smoke, but nobody was there and the Reverend didn’t smoke. And Rev. Peasly was beginning to think the reason Barker gnawed on furniture was that he sensed the presence of ghosts.

I read the next chapter in “Fire”. Cam and Miles and Lucy are together at Cam’s. Miles had arrived to say there is a fire at #337, which is owned by Lucy’s Dad. Cam phones his Mom. Lucy phones her Dad, who is very angry and she becomes upset. Cam tries to comfort her even though he has his own suspicions. Miles just wants to go watch the fire. There are a number of phone calls from news media wanting information, and Miles is even more anxious to be out where the T.V. cameras might be. Cam gets his jacket and dons his favourite baseball cap as well, and the three of them go to watch the fire. Cam’s Mom is avoiding the media, but Miles rushes toward the T.V. crew.

We are taking a break over Christmas now. The next meeting will be Thursday, January 8th at 7:00 p.m. at my place. In the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and be sure to spend some time with your Muse.

Best Wishes to All the Ram’s Head Writers and hope to see you in the New Year,

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-11-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

LAUGHING ALL THE WAY

Margaret was still laughing at Thursday’s meeting about her exploits trying to vote in the civic elections on the 15th of this month. She wrote and sent a letter to the editor at both The Langley Times and The Langley Advance, which I spied in both papers. The mavens in charge of voter registration were making her jump through hoops they couldn’t see to prove who she was and where she lived, just to cast a ballot in voting booths where the pens didn’t work. And her son, with the same last name and the same address, had just voted. Only a writer would laugh at and write about the ambiguity of bureaucracy. Thank God for free speech (press).

Margaret also had a bad bruise on her right arm. There was a paper jam in her photo copier, so she pushed her hand in to pull the paper out, but got stuck. Not able to reach the phone or carry the copier over to it, she resorted to giving her hand a mighty pull and injured herself. Who says writers don’t need WCB coverage? This is dangerous work!

Bob read first, a letter he received in response to his letter he sent to “any Canadian soldier”. The reply that he received was from Lt. Col. Mark John Gendron. He is a legal advisor to the Regional Command in Afghanistan. This is his 3rd deployment overseas, and he has been there this time for almost a year. He is married and lives near Kingston, Ontario. Fascinating.

Bob also read a short piece he had written that day, called “Retirement”. It was an introspective piece musing about how his life had always been too busy to just sit and enjoy watching nature, as he had done for an hour on Thursday. It’s an excellent piece of writing and we encourage him to send it to Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. We could tell Bob put his heart into writing this piece and think he should do more of that.

Margaret re-wrote her chapter “Ghosts”, deleting some names and changing others. She read the second draft for us and we all agreed it reads much better.

I read Chapter 15 from my novel, which has Fiona and Tanner doing dinner at a local restaurant after he gets his car from the impound lot. He is grilling her about the complex she manages, trying to find somewhere to look for the arsonist, some motive for the crime. She takes a call at the end of their dinner, thinking it’s her son asking when she’s coming home. But he’s calling to tell her there’s another fire and #337. Tanner starts to ask her what’s happening, when his own phone rings and he’s told the same thing by the police department.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a short piece called “Nostalgia”, about a New Year’s Eve that Bryon and I listened to old records. Last week I submitted it to Today’s Senior Newsmagazine and hope they will use it for their January issue.

Next meeting here at my place Thursday, December 4th at 7:00 p.m. Really hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-11-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER RAIN

In spite of the heavy rain, Bob and Margaret joined me for a meeting of three on Thursday.

Bob read first, listing three different jewellery manufacturers. They were Birkett & Cobold, Dave Manson, and H.J. Anstie. Bob is finding it hard slogging collecting information for his informal history. It’s hard to get motivated to search the archives for the data he thinks he needs. He finds that endeavor very dry and boring. Hmmm. Maybe the project needs a rethink.

Margaret read another chapter from her Peabody collection, entitled “Ghosts”. The collapse of the mine under the cemetery disturbed a bunch of ghosts, which started haunting the residents of Wickerton. Residents were all relating tales of being haunted by spirits in their own homes. Sir Charles Coffin, Baronet of London, was called in to help with the situation. There were quite a few characters in this chapter, all with names starting with the letter “C”. As a listener, it was difficult to keep straight who was who. It might be easier to do so when reading the actual words on the page. We suggested Margaret change a few names. She said she would do that and then we can compare the two versions to see which reads best.

I read chapter 14 from my novel, “Fire”. Cam arrives home just after 10:00 p.m. after he gets off work at the bowling alley, and finds his Mom isn’t there. The answering machine has a nasty message threatening his Mom, and he starts to panic, wondering where she is. Lucy, his girlfriend arrives, and tries to calm him down. He eventually phones the Detective to ask if he knows where his Mom might have gone. The Detective says he’ll have her call him. When she calls right away, he clues in to the fact his Mom is with the Detective, having dinner. He’s not impressed, but no longer afraid for her safety. He turns his attention to Lucy and takes her jacket. A lighter falls out of her pocket, but she doesn’t smoke. He wonders what else he doesn’t know about her, and wonders if she has anything to do with the fires.

On Friday, I picked up the November issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine at the IHOP restaurant in Langley, and was pleased to see Gemma’s story “How My Sister Saved Her Marriage?” was in it on Page 6. Congratulations Gemma!

I had a request from a writing website called Writing Raw to exchange links. Unfortunately, since Sonny, our administrator, is still in Afghanistan I have no way of updating our website until he returns next spring, except for using this blog. He can’t do it from over there, and I’m not technically savvy enough to do it myself. This particular website is for writers who want to “meet” online and submit pieces and critique for others as well. I will forward the link to you in a separate email in case anyone is interested.

Next meeting will be Thursday, November 20th, here at my place at 7:00 p.m. May you all be motivated to write in the meantime. Love to see you on the 20th.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-10-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

TOGETHER AT LAST

Finally on Thursday, October 16th, at least three of us were able to meet and honour The Muse, after several cancelled meetings. Bob and Margaret joined me, and Bob also brought his dog, Sidney (spelling?).

I did mention to them that I had found some letters my father had written to my mother during WWII, on R.C.A.F. stationery and asked if there was somewhere that would be interested in having them for historical purposes. Both Bob and Margaret suggested the R.C.A.F. Museum at the Langley Airport. I will have to make enquiries there.

Margaret read first, two chapters from the Peabody collection. The first one, “A Plan Hatched”, saw Rev. Peasly dressed up and hiding beside a headstone in the cemetery, trying to spy on Marigold. Unfortunately, Marie spotted this strange figure and reported it to the police. In the meantime, Peasly goes home but the Constable later knocks on his door to ask if he’s seen any strange character around. In “The Second Plan”, Peasly is again hiding in the cemetery and hears strange noises he thinks are coming from the grave. Scared, he runs up the hill and disappears into a sinkhole caused by the underground mines. Found next morning by Mrs. Ticks, two inebriated miners are later cajoled by Mr. Lamb into rescuing him, but he wasn’t down very far and only had to step onto the first rung of a ladder to get out. After his night in the sinkhole, he learns that Marigold is marrying Jasper Bond, not Rev. Peabody after all.

Bob read an extra piece he wrote that he will add to the section on E.J. Trailing. He wrote that because of meeting Margaret in our writing group, he learned that she had met and remembered David Laird (who later became a jeweler) when they stayed in the same house one summer as teenagers. He had offered to fix her watch and had taken it all apart, but was unable to put it back together again. Margaret’s father had to pay a jeweler to fix it properly.

I read Chapters 12 and 13 from my novel. Cam and Lucy make plans to spend the evening together watching a movie at his place, but Miles shows up and they snub him by saying they’re going to spend the evening as boyfriend and girlfriend. Miles leaves. And Fiona and Tanner are getting to know each other when she drives him to get his car at the impound lot. She doesn’t know if she should stick to just business or if she’s really attracted to him. (Bob said he could see kissy-kissy coming.)

Next meeting here at my place on Thursday, November 6th at 7:00 p.m. Really hope to see you then. In the meantime, keep your pen to paper or your hands on the keyboard and keep writing. Happy Musings!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

THE UN-REVIEW?

The past several meetings have not materialized, so it is a little difficult to send out a Review to keep members updated. Meetings were cancelled when main participants were away or had other reasons for not attending. However, I’m still hopeful that the group will continue and so I keep scheduling meetings anyhow. The next meeting is set for Thursday, October 16th at 7:00 p.m. at my place.

Margaret has had a short story accepted by the Poetry Institute of Canada for inclusion in an anthology. I’ve had one story accepted by them as well. They do not pay for submissions, but neither do we pay for entry in their “contest”. However, we are invited to purchase the anthology. Which, when you think of it, is no different than giving your writing to a non-paying newspaper or magazine and then buying that same issue that you are published in. Anything to say and prove we’re published, right?

Marilyn had an article (or story?) published in the September issue of Senior Newsmagazine. I haven’t seen it, but thanks to a tip from Carolann, I’m hoping Marilyn was able to get a copy of that issue for her own collection of tear sheets.

Saturday, I attended the used book sale at the Fraser Valley Regional Library in Langley City. As well as a number of paperback novels, I bought two reference books. One is “Amateur Detectives: a writer’s guide to how private citizens solve criminal cases”. The other is “2008 Martin’s Annual Criminal Code – Canada Law Book”. The law book has some fascinating information and even though it is very dry reading, it does give the definitions of crimes and the range of sentencing for same. Both these books have lots of incredible background for writers of crime/mystery stories, if anyone is looking for that sort of knowledge. The book sale continues until October 11th.

That’s all the current news I have for this week. Hope you’re still writing and would love to see you and your Muse on the 16th. Happy Thanksgiving in the meantime.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-09-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

TO SWEAR OR NOT TO SWEAR?

Bob and Margaret faithfully came for a meeting Thursday night. They both had something they had written to read.

Margaret brought a copy of the September issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine, which had published a compilation of James Moffatt’s anecdotes about being a conductor with B.C. Electric. Jim was Margaret’s late husband. The piece was called “B.C. Tram Memories”.

Bob brought along a booklet entitled “Windows To Our Past” which was a small pictorial history of B.C. Interesting photos to look at.

Bob read about Hawken & Company. He told about the younger brother, Roy, who started as a delivery boy and told Bob one of his jobs each morning was to go to three places and get the day’s take for Sam Albert. Those were places of prostitution. The three Hawken brothers manufactured jewellery and did repair work when they had their own business.

Margaret read two chapters from the Peabody collection. Rev. Percy Teasdale invites Marie to Jasper’s 50th birthday party, but she declines. At the party, Jasper’s Aunt Hester and Uncle Hedley announce that Jasper is engaged to Marigold. Jasper is expecting a Jewish wedding ceremony, and Marigold is expecting an Anglican one. In the next chapter, Rev. Peacock listens as Marigold (who is his housekeeper) comes in late. He has to get up and light the morning fire as she sleeeps in. When she does get up, she flashes her engagement ring at him. But he thinks she’s going to marry Rev. Peabody. Then Peacock and Teasdale decide they have to verify who she is actually engaged to and they decide Peacock, dressed in disguise, will follow her when she leaves the house.

I read Chapter 11 from my novel, where Fiona meets Detective Verttersly, who is upset that his car, which he had parked on the roadway inside the complex, has gone missing. In this chapter I had him use the word “hell” three times. Bob insists no policeman would swear like that. And I think otherwise, especially since his car, owned by the police department, was impounded by Fiona. Does anyone else have any insights on this? To swear or not to swear?

You will be glad to know that Sonny, our website administrator, is on his way home to Kingston from Afghanistan for a two week leave. Their first child is due any day, so we are all hoping he will be there for the happy event, before he heads back to Afghanistan till his next leave in January.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, September 18th at 7:00 p.m. Hope you can attend and bring a Muse, yours or anyone else’s. Any Muse will do.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-08-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

THE LEGEND

Thursday’s meeting was so much fun. Michael has his car back on the road, so he attended and brought his 15-month old son, Legend. He is such a cutie, but was a little apprehensive of strangers and stuck very close to his Daddy.

Bob read first about a family-run jewellery manufacturing business I’m not going to name because Bob said the only gossip he could come up with about them was that the grandson was an a--. And he couldn’t put that into his accounting of their business to liven it up.

Michael brought a short story collection which included one of his stories. The book was put together by friends of Jay, who was battling cancer. Michael’s story was “Off-Season at Jay Lake”, where the narrator is observing strange insects and creatures at Jay Lake. But when Michael started reading, Legend started competing with his own story-telling in a language we didn’t understand. The louder Michael talked, the louder Legend talked. Michael handed the story to me to finish reading, but that didn’t stop Legend. He is definitely going to upstage all of us. He’s already a storyteller.

Margaret read about Marigold enjoying dinner with Jasper at the hotel after the play. Even though he’s almost 50, Jasper is now contemplating marriage in order to inherit from his Uncle. He invites Marigold to his 50th birthday party at his Aunt and Uncle’s. In the meantime, Marie has contacted Percy Teasdale, a relative of Rev. Peabody, and he asks her to go to the party with him.

Marilyn wrote a story on Mario’s ongoing life saga which she read to family and friends when they were recently celebrating Mario’s 75h birthday. Hope she comes sometime to a meeting and reads it to us.

Margaret had been looking for a box for her manuscript, and I picked one up for her at Packaging Depot (on 200th by Logan) for $1.67. If anybody needs one, that’s where to look. And Margaret has a Laser cartridge free for the asking. It is compatible with Samsung ML-4500. Also, this is the week to re-stock your home office. Just about everything is on sale for students right now, so load up on paper, pens, notebooks, dictionaries, etc. And then write, write, write!

Next meeting is here at my place on Thursday, September 4th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-08-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

HISTORY LESSON

Bob and Margaret showed up faithfully Thursday night in spite of the heat wave. He brought a number of 3-ring binders he gave to me and Margaret, and some magazines I will send to some soldiers.

Margaret said she was writing an article about the Wigwam Inn at the north end of Indian Arm. Bob brought in a map to show her its location. Margaret and I both remembered visiting the Wigwam when it served as a tea room, a day trip by boat up the Arm. Bob remembered there being a bar in the basement, and a bartender who drank all the leftover dregs from visitors’ glasses. He said it was also a cat house in its timel. He thinks it is now owned by a yacht club.

Many thanks to Susan for all the lovely pictures she sent showing scenes from their holiday on the west coast of Newfoundland.

Ann spent some time in Gimli, Manitoba, connecting with family she had never met and learning more of her Icelandic heritage.

Margaret read first, “Marigold’s Date”. To thank her for the ride to the stag party, Rev. Peabody was taking Marigold to a play in London. She had to buy new clothes for this overnight trip with the man she hoped to marry. She bought traveling clothes, evening dress, and brand new undergarments. But then Peabody was asked to do a eulogy at a funeral, so he told Marigold he would meet her in London. She traveled alone, and he arrived late and then took her to a lowly restaurant for dinner instead of to the hotel dining room. They attended a risqué play about Adam and Eve, and Peabody said he couldn’t stay to continue watching, especially after Eve made a remark to Adam when he dropped his leaf that he had neither of his nethers. Then Marigold learns Peabody isn’t even staying at the same hotel as her. She’s affronted, but stays to watch the play. And then Jasper, who had sold her the new clothes, takes the empty seat beside her.

I read Chapters 9 and 10 from my novel, where Fiona meets with the Fire Chief and then has the Detective’s car towed off site, thinking it is an errant visitor parking in the roadway. And Cam is at home and tries coping with the family that is burned out of their Unit, and then a resident Fiona had just fined, as well as the Detective wanting to know where his car is.

After reading the submission information to the Poetry Institute’s creative writing contest that Margaret had forwarded, I submitted 3 entries. Deadline is August 11th, and today is the 10th.

Next meeting is here at my place on Thursday, August 21st, at 7:00 p.m. Hope your Muse will bring you along that evening.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

SUMMER AT LAST!

Hello fellow Rams. Gorgeous weather we’ve been having. Finally. The trip Bryon and I made to the Okanagan was a lot of fun. A daytrip to Vernon while up there saw us at an independent bookstore on the main drag. Interesting to see what interests the local population. The two largest sections were automotive and cooking. I asked to be directed to the section on writing, and it consisted mostly of dictionaries. The only book connected at all to the writing field was “Get Published” by Meg Schneider and Barbara Doyen published by Adams Media. Not quite finished reading it, but it has a lot of pertinent information on what to do after you’ve finished writing an article, short story, novel or non-fiction book.

Bob and Margaret joined me here on Thursday to appease The Muse. Bob still hasn’t done any writing but had brought a number of magazines for Margaret. However, I asked a favour of them: I asked to keep about five mags to forward to some of our soldiers in Afghanistan who never receive any mail at all. Two of the National Geographic issues have articles about issues in Afghanistan, so they are especially appropriate. Thanks Bob and Margaret.

Bob also brought a pile of piano sheet music to give to Margaret, who now wants to get her piano tuned. She hadn’t played at all since her husband passed away.

Margaret showed us an article from a 1939 Star Weekly (Toronto Star) that she had saved about the clans of Scotland. She also had a book she used for research, “Tartans And Highland Dress”. Then she read to us “The Reverend’s Kilt” from her Peabody collection. Peabody was going to a stag party for the innkeeper that was being held at the Duke of Marsh’s residence and he had to wear a kilt, which he was very reluctant to do. He went shopping and was told if he’s not a member of a clan, he should wear a Jacobite or Caledonian tartan, but Peabody thought them too colourful. When the tailor learned he was a Reverend, he showed Peabody the dull grey clergy tartan, and matching shorts to wear underneath. Peabody purchased the outfit and left in trepidation as he would have to ride his bicycle to the event.

Then Margaret read the next chapter, “Malcolm, Where’s Your Trousers?”. Peabody dressed in the clergy kilt and shorts, and left for the stag. He planned to walk and then catch a taxi. Marie saw him walking away, and he appeared to be dressed only in a hat and overcoat. She phoned Peasly, who tried phoning Peacock but got Marigold first. She listened to their conversation and decided to go searching for Peabody to rescue him. Meanwhile, Peacock phoned the police. But Marigold found Peabody and offered him a ride to the stag and they had a good laugh about the predicament, and foiling the police search.

The next chapter was “Rev. Peabody Reflects”. After the stag, he was home and remembered the Duke showing him some art he bought, “The Last Supper”, painted by Marie. He recalls the debacle of mistaken art that had become “The Last Slipper” instead. Peabody went to bed and Marie cleaned up after him. She found a slip of paper with Teasdale’s address.

I read Chapter 8 of my novel, which sees Cam at home the next morning after the fire. His Mom is out, the ringing doorbell gets him out of bed. It’s Detective Vettersly, looking for his Mom, and he leaves his card. Then Cam’s friend Miles shows up and the two boys discuss their Moms, their girlfriends, over breakfast, and we see the common circumstances in their lives that are part of their friendship. They then make plans for the rest of the day.

Gemma’s husband, Laszlo, is home recovering after his surgery. Lynette and her family are off to Europe next month for her son’s wedding. Marilyn is super busy with the ham radio and community policing activities she is involved in.

Many thanks to those who have volunteered to write or send parcels to Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan who have received no mail. It is appreciated by both me and Sonny. Caring about these people as individuals in a difficult situation does not automatically translate into an endorsement or promotion of war, only compassion for other human beings. Thanks for letting your heart take precedence.

Next meeting here at my place, Thursday, August 7th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then, and Happy Writing in the meantime!

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-06-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

JUNE BLOSSOMS

Four of us gathered Thursday to honour The Muse. Gemma was finally able to join us again, and it was so wonderful to see her.

Bob had a wedding picture of his son Rob who tied the knot in Paris. The picture was included with a wedding invitation for their second wedding here at home. Interesting. Would that be called double jeopardy?

Bob said he also sent a long piece of snail mail to Sonny. If anyone else wants to send an ordinary piece of mail to Sonny while he’s in Afghanistan, let me know and I will give you the mailing address. Letters can go postage free, but postage on parcels has to be paid as far as Belleville, Ontario, from where the military picks up mail and forwards it.

Gemma brought me a gift of a salt crystal candle. She said it’s supposed to aid concentration and to use it by my computer when I’m writing. Will give it a try.

Gemma read first, a short story about her younger sister, Zsuzsa. As a youngster in post-war Hungary, she was caught charging candy to her mother’s grocery account at the store. As a young woman, she married a Frenchman. Faced with an empty nest years later, she applied to go to a nursing school when her older husband was retiring. When asked why she wanted to go into nursing, she said it was to save her marriage. Gemma plans to send this piece to Seniors Newsmagazine, so if anyone sees it, be sure to tell me.

Margaret read of Peabody getting a phone call from Marigold, who was so upset he was going to marry Marie. With both women wanting him, he was having nightmares and headaches. He gave the solitaire ring back to the innkeeper, who had entrusted Peabody with its safekeeping for him. The innkeeper told Peabody not to bother telling either Marigold or Marie about his intentions. But then Peabody started to think that maybe he should take a wife after all.

First I read the winner of the writing prompt in Writers’ Digest, a short story called “All Star Dinner”. It was a sad commentary on a mother’s grief after the loss of her son. Then I read chapters 6 and 7 from my novel. Margaret said she finds it interesting and she always wants to know what’s going to happen next. And Bob said it reads much better now than the first time around.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, July 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-06-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

SOGGY JUNE

The cold and wet weather notwithstanding, Bob and Margaret joined me Thursday night for a meeting. Bob brought a book for Gemma, “Lonesome”, which is a first person dog story set in B.C. But Gemma has to come to a meeting to get it. I’ll have to write a story about blackmail sometime.

Bob brought along his story “Going Downtown”, which he had asked Susan to critique. She had made some changes, maybe not understanding he had written this piece first person from his experience as a five year old. We suggested Bob do some re-writing and clarify for the reader right at the beginning that the narrator is a five year old male child, so that following observations make sense to the reader.

Margaret had another Peabody story, “Mr. Lamb’s Still”, and she had drawings of a still to show us. As she read, we heard of Peasly, Peacock and Mr. Lamb planning a party to celebrate Peabody’s engagement to Marie, but without actually mentioning the engagement. The party took place at Mr. Lamb’s home, with the overproof spirits from his still as the main refreshment. Peabody enjoyed the party and all the congratulations, even when he won a dart game, but still didn’t know everybody thought he was going to marry Marie.

I read chapters 3 – 5 in my novel, mostly dealing with the scene of the second fire in the strata complex that Fiona manages, and giving background information. Bob said it reads much better than he had remembered it and Margaret did feel the suspense as I was reading. So there you go, it probably works better as a whole story than just single chapter selections. Continuity may be important in reading a novel.

I sent an update on The Ram’s Head listing to Lois Peterson. LPWordsolutions gives a listing of writing groups in the Lower Mainland, as does the website for The Federation of B.C. Writers, the latter updated by Sylvia Taylor. Lois and Sylvia are both creative writing teachers based in Surrey.

Next meeting here at my place Thursday, June 19th at 7:00 p.m. Please join us as we would love to see you.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-05-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

PEACAN PIE

Margaret showed up with peacan pie as a treat for Bob. Bob brought magazines for Margaret, and I gave her some books to take for the library at her building.

Bob read first, a little more of Trayling and Waters. In the 1970’s they were asked to make a mold and cast a brass replica of a very large gold nugget. It was gold plated and put on display at Eatons, near their front door. Somebody smashed the showcase and stole it.

Margaret read “Rev. Peabody Decides”. He considers Peasly’s request for a lifetime commitment, while Marie arrives and refills his hot water bottle. He knows he can’t do without her so goes to see Peasly who admits he had been going to propose to Marie. Peabody had thought he wanted Marie as a housekeeper, so says he wants to keep her for himself. So of course, Peasly then tells Peacock that Peabody’s going to propose to Marie.

I started re-reading my novel, chapters 1 and 2, showing the scene of the second fire in the townhouse complex where Fiona works, and she and her son live. I’ve been re-writing, adding descriptions, trying to up the suspense by making the cause of the first two fires similar, and just cleaning up the prose generally. It’s a lot of work.

There is an extra Thursday in May, but the next meeting is still Thursday, June 5th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope you can make it whether you’ve written anything new or not. Writers still need to meet with other writers. Always happy to see you.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-05-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

DEDICATED WRITERS

Bob and Margaret and I were the three who met here on Thursday, all with something to read. But I should tell everyone, that even if you haven’t written anything to read, you are still very welcome to attend, as those who have written still need your support, too.

Still writing about Trayling and Waters, Bob read that he had perhaps downplayed their importance. They were, in fact a very large and successful operation for many years, and also very good to their employees. Their operation had a magnificent view of the North Shore mountains, but Bob did notice they replaced clear windows reinforced with bars, with opaque windows that employees could no longer see out of as they worked. When their business ended, their models and molds sold for higher than usual prices to other businesses.

I read next, a piece I now call “Mom’s Memorial, May 1, 2008”. It was to acknowledge my Mother’s love and the loss I feel since she passed away in March. Since Mothers’ Day is next Sunday, I will also post this piece on our Blog, right after this Review. And if anyone else has something about Mothers’ Day that has not yet been posted to our website, and would like to see it on our Blog, then by all means, send it to me and I will put it up. Just make sure it has a title and your byline on it.

Margaret was able to read 2 chapters from her Peabody section. The first was “Solitaire” and tells of Marie, Rev. Peabody’s housekeeper, finding a solitaire engagement ring in his desk drawer and she assumes he’s going to propose to her. She then tells Marigold, who is Rev. Peasly’s housekeeper. But Marigold has assumed Peabody was going to propose to her, and is consequently very upset and tells Peasly and Peacock, who then hatch a plan for Peasly to propose to Marie himself to make sure the truth comes out. The next chapter sees Peasly fortifying himself with alcohol to go to Peabody’s to propose to Marie. But she is out and so he tells Peabody that he had come to ask for a lifelong commitment, neglecting to say he meant from Marie. Peabody misunderstands and tells Peasly he’ll think about his proposal.

Margaret had a number of drawings to show us. She usually prints them out on envelopes, but was having trouble doing so with her new copier. The pictures were done in stages, with trees, buildings, and human figures drawn separately and then added on wherever she wanted them to form a whole picture.

I mentioned two books on writing that I had purchased and recommend. One is “How I Write” by Janet Evanovich. It is a fun-to-read overview of steps in creating and publishing a novel, by a bestselling author. The other book is “Writer’s Guide To Character Traits” by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D. This one is published by Writers’ Digest and the author is a practicing psychologist and uses over 30 years of experience to explain and give very useful lists of character traits seen in people, relationships and in group situations. The book is written specifically as a resource for creative writers. Just amazing information.

Also of interest to local writers, there is a huge used book sale happening every Saturday in May in otherwise empty shop space on the SE corner of the old Safeway Mall in Cloverdale. It is just across the lane from the Legion’s north side. Books are $1.00 each, 6 for $5.00, or $20.00 for a box full. Bryon and I spent two hours there yesterday and came away with a box full. These are mostly books now discarded from public libraries. Awesome.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, May 19th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then, even if you haven’t written anything.

Lisa

MOM'S MEMORIAL, May 1, 2008

The icy fingers of winter still clench the land, holding back the luscious green of spring. And frosty breath still blows through the walls, shivering my aching bones. It is the first of May, but summer’s balm is still just a dream.

Mothers’ Day approaches and my heart is heavy. This will be the first year since being a youngster that I cannot give my Mother a card or a gift. She has left this plane of physical existence, and I can no longer touch her or see her smile. It has been forty-three days since she left, but I am only now starting to feel the loss. The hours spent on the paper detritus of death staved off my grief. Now there is nothing to hold it at bay and I must face the loss of the one person I know loved me unconditionally. And it is here that my tears begin.

She loved all children, not in an overly sentimental fashion, but by her calm and quiet acceptance of each child exactly as is. She told me once that it was in caring for children that one could keep going in spite of any difficulty. Striving to meet their needs always put your own in balance. And the all consuming necessities of children could always obliterate one’s selfish preoccupations with self. It’s hard to bemoan the loss of frivolous pursuits when a child needs feeding or any kind of caring. Mom taught me to care for the child first, and everything else would work out, too, in its own good time.

And she taught me there is nothing wrong with putting family first, that they are the ones who need you the most. She was always there for her own, even though I often sought outside the circle of her love. But each time I realized that coming home to where I knew I was loved was always the best way for me. In return, I hope I was able to give that same love to my own children.

She suffered greatly in the end, and I do not know why. Or maybe I do. Maybe I wasn’t ready to let her go. When I did pray for her release from pain more fervently than I did for her to continue living, she left very quickly. I wasn’t there at the end, but seeing the peace on her countenance soon after, I know she’s gone to a better place.

So, Mom. I cannot give you a physical card or gift this year, but I can give you all the love in my heart and tell you it will always live on, because of your selfless devotion to me. That is my Mothers’ Day gift to you.

Love forever,

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-04-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

SPRING QUARTET

Four of us met Thursday night, glad it’s spring and glad to be with other writers. I chatted first with Margaret, trying to explain to her how to achieve double line-spacing in Wordpad, since it can’t be formatted to do so automatically. She says there are days she would far rather just deal with a typewriter.

Bob read more about Trailing & Waters, who were the largest jewellery manufacturers in Western Canada, and Jacoby Bros.’ biggest competitors. It was common to offer credit to customers, but T & W were quite generous in their terms of credit. In the 1970s they became members of the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and were then required to have a fully qualified gemologist on staff. In 1982, they were required to supply an audited financial statement to their bank, which was not supplied. Their loan was called and the business shut down for a month. T & W reopened, and later manufactured a number of pieces that were sold at Expo ’86. It was common for their employees to bank their overtime and unfortunately they were unable to collect it when the company went into receivership in 1987.

Margaret read “Outfits For Joey” from her Peabody collection. Rev. Peacock washed Joey’s dress and asked Marigold to sew more outfits for him, but she adamantly refused. So he took Joey in his wet dress to shop for new attire. Joey started swearing again. They first looked at baby clothes that were still far too big, and then went to a shop that sold doll clothes. At the latter establishment, a little girl made friends with Joey and dressed him up. Joey loved the attention and insisted on more than one outfit. Peacock gave in to keep Joey from swearing.

In April’s edition of Seniors’ Newsmagazine was an article of Margaret’s entitled “Yesterday’s R.V.”. It was a write-up that had been published in England years before about a motorhome from 1923 that was quite lavishly equipped for the time. It was large enough for a family of four plus a cook/maid and chauffeur. The butler slept in the van that traveled with them to carry all their supplies. This was in Europe. It sold for 7000 British pounds and only went 15 kms/hr.

I read two short pieces. One was written several days after the death of my mother, telling of how our roles reversed in the years I spent caring for her. The other piece is a comment about being devalued in society as I age. I haven’t quite finished the second piece yet.

Marilyn also read two pieces. The first was “Pillar Of Strength” which gives personification to a marble pillar that is surrounded by ivy. The second piece was “Illuminations”, telling about words bursting into her conscious awareness and the frantic need to write them down. And then she talks of finding words in her pen, and what incredible loss she felt when her favourite pen ran out of ink.

Amanda’s house has been sold and they will soon be moving, but she wasn’t sure where yet. Elaine’s father passed away, this morning I think, and she has headed to Thunder Bay to be with her mother and other family at this sad time.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, May 1st at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-04-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

REUNION

Thursday’s meeting was a wonderful get-together for four of us. Margaret, Marilyn and Bob joined me after a month’s hiatus due to my Mother’s passing. My sincere thanks to all for your expressions of sympathy during that time.

Marilyn read two of her poems for us. The first one was SKINS, a listing of all the different types of skins found in nature and daily life. The second poem was NORTH WORDS, enumerating words like Inuit and kayak, that are particular to the Canadian north. Interesting concepts in both these poems.

Bob read more about T & W, (Trailing and Waters) who had been his competitor in the manufacture of jewellery. In the 1960s, the making of charms became very popular, and T & W had some unique pieces. Jack Waters, still a heavy drinker, died in November of 1970 at the age of 53. The company seemed to be overstaffed and Bob thought it was because many of their procedures for labeling and packaging were outdated and time consuming. Drinking continued to be heavy at T & W, and some salespeople who called on them preferred to do so in the morning while others who liked to party did so in late afternoon.

Margaret read another story from the Peabody collection, JOEY SEES DR. NOAH. Rev. Peacock takes Joey, the parrot, to see the Doctor because of his penchant for cursing. Peacock had dressed Joey in a dress and bonnet as he thought the Doctor was allergic to feathers. When they arrived, the parrot was given a stool to perch on, but poor Peacock was made to stand. Dr. Noah told Peacock to replace Joey’s vocabulary with words that were more acceptable, but Peacock already read the bible to him every night. The doctor wanted to know why the bird was in a dress, and Peacock said it was to visit him. The doctor then said Peacock needed help more than the bird. Peacock later learned the Doctor was allergic to ferrets, not feathers. But Joey now refrained from cursing any time he was wearing the dress.

I read a short, first person piece called THE PERFECT SIZE. It is a funny account about my acquisition of a used dress form for sewing and Honey’s attempts at making a stand for it. And I know it was funny because everybody listening had to remove their glasses and wipe tears from their eyes at the end. I have since submitted it to THREADS magazine for consideration. Writing something short gave me a nice sense of completion that takes so very long to get when writing a novel.

Marilyn read again, a piece called END OF THE LINE, written by her friend Mike Malone. It is written in two points of view, father and son, and tells of their inner thoughts and feelings when the son admits, at 36, that he is transgendered. The father is a widower who has one daughter living far away, and though he dearly loves his son, he also sees this will be the end of the line for his family. Meanwhile, the son misses his sister’s female companionship and sees his own decision ending a time of pretending to be someone he is not. Pretty deep emotional issues at play for both these individuals and you can’t help but pray they get past the feeling of deep sadness this piece evokes.

Margaret brought me a book called SOURCES. It’s a resource of names and contact info for organizations, companies and agencies. Quoting the book they are “Canada’s finest directory of human contacts. When you need analysis, commentary and information from people in the know, this is the place.” If anybody would like to borrow it, it’s here.

I had a number of books to give away and all but one was fiction. Margaret took most of them for the library in her apartment building.

Ann wrote her piece on floods and mailed it off. Robin was going to attend our meeting but came down with a cold. Last Sunday Bryon and I ran into Nathaniel and Tracy at Princess Auto. (Writers hang out at strange places.) They looked great, and love the sunshine they get living in Victoria’s harbour. Their boat is now moored in front of The Empress Hotel. And Nathaniel says it’s been difficult getting a regular writers’ group over there. People seem to be kind of cliquey. One group was full of drama, and while he was away on a road trip, it just disintegrated. But he’s trying to start another.

Marilyn said she would like to host a meeting sometime, but no definite date has been set for that yet. So unless you hear otherwise, the next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, April 17th at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then, with or without your Muse.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-03-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

ANXIOUS FOR SPRING

Bob and Margaret joined me Thursday for a meeting. We are all hoping for a warmer Spring to start happening soon. Maybe the time change will help. At least it will be lighter longer in the evenings for those of us who don’t like driving in the dark.

Bob read more about Trailing and Waters, the manufacturers who were their main competitor in the jewellery business. We learned they seemed to be heavy drinkers and could be seen going out and returning to their premises with a brown paper bag every day.

Margaret showed us a drawing she made of the dog, Barker, who turned out to be a spaniel. The chapter she read was about Barker going to see a pet psychiatrist for excessive barking. The good Doctor blamed Rev. Peasly for the problem because of the name he’d given the dog. But the dog quit barking after having a good chew on the leg of the Doctor’s Chippendale chair.

I had a letter from John Ireland that I read. He and his wife are now back in New Zealand, enjoying their summer weather. They are at Napier, on the east coast of the North Island. John is working at rewriting “Brown Girls” to see if a friend’s publisher might be interested in it, as well as hoping to get hired by the community newspaper. He says a paperback costs $25.00 there. And he says hello to all the Rammers.

I read two versions of my one-page synopsis, first draft and rewrite. I had some good suggestions from Nathaniel and also did research online. But every time I read it I still want to tweek it here and there. Gave it to my husband to read, and he said it moved and conveyed a story line with lots of action, so I guess that’s good, coming from somebody who never reads fiction? However, he did take exception to my starting a sentence with the word “But”, as it is a conjunction and the PEng. in him believes in correct grammar. I ignored him on that comment.

Nathaniel seems to be busy working on his boat and doing repairs on others. Last two entries I read on their blog were about boat repairs. I told him he should be writing a manual on boat repairs. He could probably make a fortune at it.

Amanda is working on formatting her Robot poem and another story for submissions. Last I heard from Carolann was that she and her husband were trying to move from Walnut Grove to Surrey. I haven’t heard from anyone else lately. Any updates out there on writing endeavors you’d like to send me?

Next meeting here at my place on Thursday, March 20th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see some more of you then, even if you haven’t written anything. Communion of writers is always important. Good luck with your writing.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-02-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

GOING GREEN

Hello Dear Fellow Rams. There were only three of us here Thursday night and we made a decision to “Go Green” and reduce our carbon footprint, in accordance with the goals of our Provincial Government. Meetings will now be just twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays. Same place and same time. Next meeting will be Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Bob read from his history of the jewellery business about Trailing and Waters. At one time their payday was Saturday morning, and the boss would offer employees a drink and ask if they wanted to play cards. And he often won back the money he had just paid them.

Margaret read from the Peabody collection. Marie tells Peasly and Peacock that the button had been found in Peobody’s pocket, and they accept her apology for having them treat the bird and the dog with laxatives, after which the bird took up swearing again. Peabody arrives and apologizes, too, and they all end up having a drink together.

I read Ann’s “Peacemakers”, which she had emailed me. It’s about a future genetically selective society in which fat people are preferred as they are considered more peaceful, something wanted after nuclear destruction. But the twist is their leader is secretly slim and fit, and wears a fat suit in public. Really funny.

I am currently looking at writing a synopsis of my novel for future attempts to have it published. Am still gathering information on how to do this. By what I see from looking at markets, everybody wants one in a different length (one page, two page, chapter by chapter). So that’s what I’m working on.

Enjoy all that gorgeous sunshine out there and I hope the extra dose of Vitamin D inspires all in their writing. Again, next meeting here at my place, Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2008-02-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Here’s to my friends who answered the call
And met at The Ram’s Head, one and all
Writers, editors, poets, too
Such joy in knowing all of you.

My life was blessed when we came to meet
And brought our words to share and read
I’ve known for years, only a writer understands
The wrestle to express
Through pain and tears
All that we see and comprehend
Writing down in verse or line
Explaining life and love
In runes of time
To leave some proof that here we are
Who gather close from near and far
In praise of writing from the heart.

Convened together, we are a troupe
Here’s to The Ram’s Head Writers’ Group!

Lisa A. Hatton ©

THE REVIEW

2008-02-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

END OF WINTER?

After another week that had another dump of snow that made travel treacherous, there were four of us who did get together Thursday night. Bob and Carolann were both wearing red for the Chinese New Year. I was the one who had forgotten all about that directive I had handed out last week. Shame on me.

Bob brought an article from the Vancouver Sun he had cut out that was written by our long distance member, John Ireland. It was in the Travel section, entitled “An Urban Gypsy’s Travel Log”. We assume it first appeared in The Calgary Herald, where John said he was working. Nice to know he’s still out there somewhere.

All three other members at the meeting brought me a copy of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine so I could read Gemma’s poem “My Valentine Gift” that was in their February issue. It’s about Gemma in a rush to get home with Valentine treats for her dogs.

I read first, the final chapter in my novel, “Fire”. It is a scene showing Fiona at her office contemplating all that has happened over the past four days. Tanner arrives and readers are left knowing they will have an ongoing relationship. Mystery has been solved, arsonist and arsonist/murderer caught, and romance kindled. Now I guess I have to start a rewrite.

Margaret read of Peasly and Peacock being very unhappy and disgusted while looking for the brass button in excrement of the bird and dog. Meanwhile, Peabody finds the button in the pocket of his cardigan. When he tells Marie, she slams the door in his face. He then catches the coffin train to the cemetery, eventually finding Laura Bell’s grave where he leaves the button. But as he leaves the cemetery, a bird flies off with the button.

Carolann read a poem called “Winter”. It was inspired by Elaine’s poem about the angel of winter. But in Carolann’s, winter is a male angel, and she is telling him to be gone. A sentiment we can all share at this time of year, I’m sure. She said she had a Valentine poem she’ll read this week, that was written last year at this time with the beginning that was started here at a meeting by a group of us, but we couldn’t finish it. So we had challenged others to write their own version, and some did just that and the results are posted on our website. Carolann wroter her version, but hadn’t done anything with it. So now we’ll get to hear it.

Next meeting here at my place, Thursday, February 14th at 7:00 p.m., Valentine’s Day. So does your Muse love Chocolate? Mine just dreams about it. Hope to see you Thursday.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-02-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

WEATHER BLOCK

Only three stalwart writers made it to the meeting Thursday night. Bob and Margaret attended for the whole two hours, and Lynette showed up briefly to say hello and she dropped off some books. It was good to see her smiling face again. She says she thinks about us often, but just has too much on the go at the present time to attend. Elaine stayed home due to ice rain that was falling in her neck of the woods, and I think Carolann didn’t want to drive that night either. Amanda emailed that she was going to visit her mother.

Bob didn’t have anything to read, but told us about spending many hours watching a documentary about Dachau, a Nazi extermination camp during WWII.

Margaret read her next Peabody chapter. Marie goes to visit the gypsy/clairvoyant who lives in rather a posh residence. She wants to know where the brass button is. Claire, the gypsy, is well dressed and bejeweled as she reads from her crystal ball. She tells Marie the button is in an enclosure, and that Marie will receive a marriage proposal. Marie is excited as she harbours a love for Rev. Peabody. Marie then visits Peasly and Peacock to ask them to give the dog and the bird each a laxative.

I read Chapter 50 in my novel. This sees Cam trying to get information about Lucy or to visit her, to no avail. Because she is a victim of violence, she is prohibited from any visitors but her father. An ambulance arrives with Lucy’s brother Rick badly injured from crashing his truck when police were pursuing him. The cop who arrives with Rick is able to give Cam some information on Lucy. Later Miles and Tanner show up, and Tanner offers to take Cam in to see Lucy. Just one Chapter left to write.

Sure hope the weather warms up and stops being a threat to travel. And also hope winter weather hasn’t stopped anyone from writing. Next meeting here at my place, Thursday, February 7th, at 7:00 p.m. That is the Chinese New Year, and it is the year of The Rat. Come to the meeting wearing red to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. If you want a new beginning, wear all new clothes head to toe. Hope to see you Thursday. KUNG HEI FAT CHOI!

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-01-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

WEEK OF THE FULL MOON

It was not a good week for some. Charlie Thompson had surgery for a new heart valve, but is recovering. Amanda was sick with an infection. And Ellie is without a driver’s licence at present. Best wishes from The Ram to all our members.

At our meeting Thursday night, I showed the other four who were present a recent issue of Woman’s World magazine that had a full 2 page article on Whistler. This is an American magazine, so I was surprised to see a Canadian destination in their travel section.

I read first, Chapter 49 of my novel. This is starting to wind things up and had all main characters together, tying up some loose ends and explaining some red herrings that had been placed in earlier chapters. Just 2 more chapters to go. I also read an article I had clipped from the Vancouver Sun, about Marjory Harris, a centenarian who has just published her 5th book. But she didn’t start writing till she was 90. Now that she’s losing her sight, she says she’ll dictate her next book into a tape recorder. No excuse for any of the rest of us now.

Elaine read next, an introspective poem about winter called “Mibahiah’s Song”. The name of this character refers to the angel of winter, and the poem ruminates on the quandary of how the seeming harshness of winter can also be beautiful and still bring with it the promise of spring because of this angel.

Margaret read her next Peabody chapter, “The Button Vanishes”. Peabody is getting ready to go to the cemetery, but then can’t find the brass button. He screams for Marie as he’s down on his hands and knees looking for it. She comes down in her nightdress and uses a term of endearment when asking what’s bothering him. She asks if Joey or Barker might have eaten it. Then she vacuums but still no button. She decides to pray for its return, but will also seek the help of a clairvoyant.

Carolann had written a children’s story, “The Toy Party”, which she read. A little girl goes to sleep, and while she’s sleeping her toys come out to play. It would be an enchanting story for children to hear.

Next meeting here at my place Thursday, January 31st at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then.

Lisa

THE REVIEW

2008-01-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

RENEWAL

Sonny says if I’m going to post The Review on the blog site, then I have to start using more creative titles, preferably expressing some theme from each meeting. So, please help me with “theme-atics” each week because I really do find it easy to stay in the same old rut. Could really use some of John’s expertise with headlines here.

Thursday’s meeting was fantastic, with eight of us all eager to praise the Muse.

Bob read an article by Susan’s husband Chris, that appeared in the Canadian Geographic about the Trans Canada Highway ending at a dump in Newfoundland. Then he read more of his jewellery business history, telling about Flewwelling who started a factory in 1912 on West Hastings. One of their employees liked to hide a bottle of his favourite libation in the toilet tank so he could take a swig or two at regular intervals.

Margaret Florczak showed up after many, many months and I mistook her for someone else. I felt like such a dunce. My sincere apologies. Anyhow, Margaret is still taking English courses at SFU and had served on the editing board of their student journal. So, as both a writer and editor, she wrote a fascinating article called “Everything I Didn’t Want To Learn About Rejection . . .” She told of different types of rejection letters that writers receive, and also about the many different reasons for editors not accepting pieces of writing. We especially liked her skillful handling of both points of view.

Robin also attended on Thursday and brought a whimsical piece of prose called “Pendulum To Pizza”. He first spoke of Galileo and the pendulum of the clock, and then of a possible descendent in the Wild West, who learned to bake cakes while imprisoned and then later returned to Italy to bake pizza, in a leaning tower, no less.

Carolann read us her 32nd poem, called “Another Year”. It was in honour of her husband’s recent birthday after a year of ill health and by-pass surgery and recuperation.

Margaret Moffat read more of the Peabody saga. He is telling Peacock and Peasly about the button he bought from the gypsies. And he also tells them he wants to search for Laura Bell’s grave. He plans to take the coffin train from Necropolis Stn. To Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England, which was the world’s largest cemetery back then in 1935. Margaret also brought drawings she had made of the three Reverends. Amazing talent.

Ellie read some more of the girl who is betrothed, against her will, to Alvin. She bathes, and then dresses in beautiful clothes, aided by a maid who doesn’t speak to her. She is escorted to a dining room where Alvin awaits in the company of a young man. He introduces her to the young man, who is his nephew, to the nephew’s mother, and to a tall man in a hooded cloak. The latter is the Mage Solan, who has mesmerizing blue eyes.

Amanda had three items to read. The first piece was used on a card she gave to a friend who had just given birth to her fourth son. Entitled “Another Son”, it chronicles many things mothers of growing boys contend with and then asks her to treasure them as too soon the boys grow up and leave home. Her second reading included keen observations of mostly young people in a coffee shop, and these were very astute perceptions. And the third reading was a sensual and sensuous piece telling of a woman drinking wine at a party and her encounter with and then lingering desire for a man she meets.

I think it was Margaret Florczack who mentioned a contest for a short, short stories at the Writers’ Union of Canada. I don’t have any more information than that, but you can probably find more by looking up their website.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, January 24th at 7:00 p.m. Love to see you then. Happy writing to you all in the meantime.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW

2008-01-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

THE RAM’S HEAD REVIEW
January 12, 2008

Another year has dawned and empty pages beckon the Muse from its hibernation within us. Days are also getting longer and it’s time to rouse and let it be known “WE ARE WRITERS!”.

There were four of us here to read at Thursday’s meeting.

Bob started with a memoir, “Going Downtown” written in first person as the child who lived in Vancouver and experienced travelling downtown with his stepmother to have lunch, visit his Dad’s shop, visit the old Woodwards with its huge grocery floor and decorated windows, and to visit the PNE and watch the parade. Interesting depiction of another era in the life of Vancouver.

Margaret has started another on-going Peabody saga she calls “The Gypsy and The Button”. Peabody is alone one evening and visited by a Gypsy woman and her son who are selling odds and ends from a basket. The Rev. Peabody buys a brass button that looks familiar to him and phones his brother Mathew about it. (To be continued…)

Carolann read a piece that started as prose and ended in poetic form that she will read at the funeral of a neighbour who just recently passed away. Touching.

I read two letters. The first was from Nathaniel, in response to my query I had sent to an email address I found on a blog where he wrote about his writing and trying to find a publisher. We had no way of contacting him after he and his family left their home in Abbotsford last spring so it was wonderful to finally make contact again.

The second letter had been forward to me by Suan from a friend of theirs’ who decried the difficulty of finding a publisher for his two completed novels. In his research, he did learn that publishers of novels prefer writers have experience writing and getting short stories published first, before they will even think of putting into print a novel they have written. So he turned his hand to writing short stories, and much prefers them, and has had one accepted for publication by a Vancouver magazine. So there you have the other side of the story.

I then read Chapter 48 in my novel, which has Cam trying to staunch the flow of blood from Lucy’s stab wound, waiting for ambulance attendants to arrive. Their arrival coincides with that of two police officers who then start asking him questions in a threatening manner, but he is rescued when Tanner and his Mom arrive. He shows Tanner the journal Rick kept detailing the arson fires.

Carolann brought January’s issue of Senior Newsmagazine, in which she had one prose piece and one poem published. Also, two Christmas stories by Gemma were in the same issue. Our girls were on a roll!
Ellie was unable to attend as her son from Toronto was in town and she was having dinner with three of her four sons, always a special treat for her. Elaine emailed that it had been her birthday the day before and her children were coming to celebrate on Thursday, so she was unable to attend.

Next meeting will be here at my place on Thursday, January 17th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then whether you have writing of your own to read or not. It’s still important for us to support the ones who have written something, right? May communion with your Muse be long and deep, blessing or curse, as you so choose.

Lisa

The Ram's Head Review Dec. 9, 2007

2007-12-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

THE RAM’S HEAD REVIEW
December 9, 2007

Season’s Greetings to all the Rams. Four of us gathered here Thursday night even though Margaret and Bob were the only ones who had written anything. Bob’s wife Carole is recovering from surgery, and Bob is busy homemaking and caregiving. Elaine was occupied with an ailing family member. Amanda finds Xmas time so busy. No word from Carolann. Anyhow, those present did decide we will not have another meeting now until January, and free everyone for other pursuits for awhile.

Bob had one paragraph to read called “The Undertaker”. Jacoby Bros. used to buy old gold dental pieces from a man they assumed was an undertaker, and it was Bob’s job to remove unwanted foreign material and then test for karats.

Margaret showed Bob her ring given to her by her husband, and after scrutinizing it with the lens he carried in his pocket, Bob told her it had been manufactured by Jacoby Bros. Small world.

Ellie read more of the girl, Saria, finding her rooms in Alvin’s castle very luxurious, with fine tapestries, carpets and a large bed with curtains. When left alone she opens her trunk and finds several books she hadn’t packed herself. She hides them. Someone brings her a tray of food, and someone else lights the candles, and someone else brings her a bath. Yet nobody at all speaks to her.

Margaret reads a Peabody chapter called “The Last Rites of Riley”. Rev. Peabody has to give the rites for two men named Riley. Because Dalton Riley had caused him to lose his big toe, Peabody is unable to say anything nice about him. Then he highly praises the life of Farley Riley. But afterwards, we learn the coffins had been mixed up and Marie was told Peabody should be praised for criticising the life of Farley Riley, who was a murderer and had been in the first coffin. Marie didn’t tell Peabody the truth.

I read a nice email letter I received from Susan, detailing events since Declan was born. Lots of news.

Next meeting will be here in January, but haven’t decided yet whether it will be the 3rd or the 10th, as I’m not sure what my work schedule will be that first week. But I will let everyone know beforehand. In the meantime, hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and that The Muse is also an invited guest. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Lisa

THE RAM'S HEAD REVIEW Dec. 2, 2007

2007-12-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

Dec. 2, 2007

Bob’s wife Carole and my daughter-in-law, Chantal, are both recovering nicely at home after surgery, with devoted husbands in attendance. Good news to hear.

And while I’m snowed in here today, so is my daughter Sarah in Thunder Bay, with howling winds and four-foot snowdrifts. And Susan in Newfoundland said they had their first snowfall, too. She also said she likes staying home with Declan, finding it peaceful while he sleeps by the fire, and that family and friends keep bringing over food for them so she hasn’t even had to cook. Lucky girl.

Bob read first Thursday night. We heard about a ringmaker who had been an emplyee of theirs, who had very greasy hair. He would wipe his hands full of gold filings in his hair and then put his hat on and leave at the end of the day. He was fired when caught. And in ’82, when a customer was going through hard times, at his request they removed a large diamond from his wife’s ring and replaced it with a cubic zirconia. They sold the diamond for him, and their friends never caught on the stone was no longer a diamond.

Ellie read of the girl being hustled into a carriage at dawn, without being able to say goodbye to her mother. Over several days, they travelled into the mountains and arrived at a large pallace where she was led to a suite of rooms by a young man carrying her trunk.

Margaret read of Peasly and Peacock dressing up as Lord and Lady Bugwater. Peasly bought 2 sponges for Peacock to use as a bosom, but had a bath with them first. Peacock wanted to know why they were so wet. They went looking for the candlemaker, who had Joey the parrot, and was now missing after an explosion, but they found him in town at his sister’s. He was only too happy to give them the parrot in a box, as Joey had caused the explosion to happen when he screamed out :”Blow up the castle”.

Carolann had several poems to read. “Anger” was about feelings of anger wanting out in spite of denial they exist. “After She’s Gone” was about a man experiencing emptiness after his wife’s funeral. And 2 more poems, both entitled “Ode To Itrend”, were about Carolann enjoying working at a call center that did telephone surveys. On the one hand it was frustrating and very competitive, but on the other it was well paid work. Interesting.

I didn’t have anything to read, but did supply banana/orange/apricot bread for a treat.

Next meeting hear at my place Thursday, Dec. 6th at 7:00 p.m. Happy writing in the meantime, and hope to see you Thursday.

Lisa

2007-11-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

THE RAM’S HEAD REVIEW
Nov. 25, 2007

Six of us met Thursday in honour of The Muse. Carolann brought me a copy of “The Rag”, a quarterly magazine here in the Valley, mostly for women. I believe she and Margaret have both had something published in it in the past.

Carolann, had two poems to read. “My House” was a nostalgic recollection of memories one could have of a former home that no longer exists. Since I love pictures of old homes, this poem gave me the ‘warm & fuzzies’. In “No One Cared”, Carolann wrote about the sight of Robert Dziekanski dying when he was tasered by the RCMP. But she switched from a first person account to third person opinion at the end, and did admit she had trouble continuing in first person as the event was so terribly disturbing.

Margaret read about Rev. Peasly being sorry he filled Rev. Peacock with dread about losing his parrot. He told Peacock not to wear the costume again, and said he would go as Lord Bugwater to see if he could get the parrot back, and Peacock could be Lady Bugwater.

Ellie read more of the girl who had dropped cake in her betrothed’s lap. Her Uncle, Aunt and Mother were all horrified. She wept. Her Uncle stuck her across the side of the head and she crumpled. When she awoke, she was in her room and there were other people there with her, wearing the colors of Alvin, her betrothed. They made her change into mountain clothes, and she knew she was being sent to the mountains with Alvin.

Amanda read three poems, but only two of them were hers. First she read Jack Whyte’s poem, “My Friend”, about the withdrawal from living of a friend after he suffered a personal loss. Then Amanda read “Keep This Darned Dog Home”, her own poem about her Grandmother’s dog who kept running away, but would come home with a note on his collar telling her to keep him home. And then we heard Amanda’s rewrite of “The Robots Are Rising”, and how thought of them rising and marching, gives the young boy the strength to tell his parents to stop fighting. We love the rhythm and imagery in this children’s poem.

Bob didn’t have anything to read. His wife Carole had some testing done at the hospital, and is also scheduled for surgery on the 30th, so he has been busy with other things. We wish Carole the best of health.

I read Chapter 47 in my novel, where Fiona is packing to stay with Tanner, and is interrupted by a resident who accuses her of being the reason arson fires occurred in the complex. Tanner sticks up for her, drives her to the Office so she can work to get the water main fixed and water turned on again. They hear sirens, and Bert comes in to tell them they should go over to Lucy’s Unit, which she knows is where Cam is.

Sonny is very busy preparing for deployment to Afghanistan in April, and has little time to administer our website. So he has set up a blog for us to use until he returns in 2009. This means I can post The Review to the blog, which will be linked to our website. Eventually, you will just be able to click on it from our website, but in the meantime, you can find it at www.ramsheadwriters.blogspot.com

Next meeting here at my place, Thursday, Nov. 29th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you then. Keep writing in the meantime.

Lisa

New Forum for Lisa's Weekly Reviews

2007-11-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

Greetings Rammers!

As I am preparing to head off to Afghanistan and time to administer the ramsheadwriters.ca website tightens due to training commitments from now until April and then will be non-existent from April 08 through Feb 09, I have created this page to give Lisa a forum in which to publish her weekly reviews, but also to encourage dialogue between members of the Ram's Head Writers' Group and a few others. The blog is currently open to the public, and anyone can comment on the blog entries.

On Thursday, I will add a link from ramsheadwriters.ca pointing to the blog page, which can also be accessed by pointing your web browser to http://ramsheadwriters.blogspot.com. At the moment, clicking on Home at the left will take you to the Ram's Head Writers' Group Home Page.

Happy blogging! I encourage you all to comment.

Sonny
administrator
ramsheadwriters.ca

18 November - Susan's exciting news!

2007-11-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

Bob had some exciting news at our meeting Thursday night. He had a phone call from Susan to tell him her newest son, Declan, was born at 11.59 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13^th. Mother and child are doing well. Our congratulations to you and your family, Susan.

I read first Thursday, a poem I had written one other winter when there had been a storm and a power outage. And of course, that’s what the poem is about. It’s called “High Noon”, signifying the 12:00 that all sorts of appliances and electronics flash after a power outage.

Ellie read some more of the girl held captive by her uncle. She manages to shut the secret panel door. A maid comes to prepare her for a betrothal dinner in the hall. She meets the much older and very ugly man her uncle wants her to marry and suffers through the dinner. But when she is supposed to feed him a piece of betrothal cake to seal the deal, she deliberately drops it in his lap.

Margaret read to us of Rev. Peacock looking for his parrot, Joey. He went back to the Inn dressed in costume as the Captain of H.M.S. Pinafore. He meets Sylvester and Goldie, who had caused the rocket to go astray, and they tell him they know where there’s a parrot. They take him, in a very familier motorcycle sidecare, to see Mr. Wiebe, a candlemaker who is adamant that the parrot is his. Relating this to Rev. Peasley, he learns the Pinafore sunk with all lost except the Captain, and it had been bringing opium to England. There was a bounty out for the Captain.

Bob didn’t have anything to read and said he’d had a very difficult week. The storm on Monday caused both Ellie and I to be without power for hours and hours, but nobody else had power failure. Elaine is away for the next 2 weeks, visiting family in Thunder Bay. Amanda was meeting with Michael for help in preparing a manuscript for submission. Carolann had a meeting on cholesterol to attend.

Next meeting here at my place, Thursday, Nov. 22^nd at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you all then. Bring your Muse.

Lisa