THE REVIEW

SPRING’S PROMISE


It was a fun Meeting on Wednesday with the beginning of Spring, and the change to daylight saving time.

Ellie read her poem “March” which gave a detailed sensory account of seeing sharp shins beheading pigeons in March, before the end of winter, when food supplies are short. Her line, “Nature’s life cycle, a deathly ending of winter” we thought was very powerful and we thought it should be the last line of the poem as it emphasized the dark event that had just happened.

Wendy read us a personal piece about her grandmother. She starts by telling of the end of Granny’s life when Wendy was just seventeen, and then goes on to tell how Granny had lived with them and made Wendy and her sister her whole life as she cared for them while their parents were at work. The piece was a loving tribute to her grandmother, intended to be shared with family.

Julie was with us, but didn’t have any new writing to share this time. However, we are always grateful to those who come to listen to the rest of us read our scratchings. It’s always important to support each other that way.

Jim read his latest rejection letter which he received for his submission of the first hundred pages of book one of the “Coventry Ghosts”. The agent was Brown and Miller, and they had done several in-house readings before they said they found the concept intriguing but they still declined to handle it.

Next Jim read to us Chapter 13 of the second book. Jason, the antagonist, has been broken out of jail and is being abducted by the henchman of a criminal mastermind who wants Jason’s skill at usurping ghost essences through his computer to use for nefarious purposes. The abductor and Jason hop a train, and even though Jason has injured his knee, he is still forced to comply with orders to march when they get off the train.

Monica read to us from her second chapter in her self-help book. This reading told of the verbal and emotional abuse she suffered from her father, and how dysfunctional her family was. Instead of crying, she internalized her pain and believed things were her own fault. She tried unsuccessfully to gain her father’s love and acceptance, but also fought with him because she couldn’t accept the hypocrisy of his lifestyle. He had many lovers and boasted openly about it, while her own mother stayed silent. The whole family worked like slaves on the farm. We were spellbound by the telling of the background in this chapter and we all want to hear more.

I read another “Honey” story called “It Was Time” about learning that I needed to take a cane with me when I went on a boat trip with my Honey when we were up at the cabin. I did some research on word lengths for short story collections and hard copy publication seems to be in the 40,000 to 50,000 range unless it’s an anthology, which is quite a bit longer. However, I did learn that short stories are finding a market in self ePublishing and a single story is often listed for $.99. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see a revival of an interest in short stories? They have been almost invisible since magazines quit printing them because of cost factors.

Jason read Chapter 14 of “Provoked”. This is about Gregg’s brother David. We see him at school, more interested in partying with his friends than in academics even though he’s starting to feel a need to find some purpose to his life. He’s somewhat worried about his brother’s absence from school, but much more interested in an upcoming party. He secures a date with a girl for the party, and then lets two of his friends ply him away from school and the three of them are drinking while cruising in a car. This is a great piece of characterization and an unusual chapter of daily living in the physical world after previous chapters revealing esoteric dangers. The switch back and forth ups the suspense.

If anyone is interested, this is a reminder about the upcoming presentation on e-Publishing being held at the Murrayville Library on April 19th at 7:00 p.m. The speaker will be Russ Crossley, who has books published both in hard copy and ePublished.

Also, on March 31st at 2:00 p.m. at Millner Chapel Hall is the book launch of “Water In The Wilderness” by local author Doris Riedweg.

The next Meeting of The Rams will be Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.

Lisa