THE REVIEW

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