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
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
THE REVIEW
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
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
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