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
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
THE REVIEW
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
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
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