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
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
THE REVIEW
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
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
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