THE REVIEW

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