THE REVIEW

DRENCHED IN WORDS?


Wednesday’s Meeting of the Rams was fun and interesting for the six of us who were here, in spite of the constant rain in the forecast. That would be good writing weather, right?

Wendy read first, a poem she had recently rewritten, entitled “Whale Song”. It was a poetic song to recognize the voice of the whales as they lament the loss of sea life and the sanctity of their environment to the depravity of mankind. This was a very powerful piece that validated the song of the whales.

Lorelie read us a letter she had written to a CBC reporter chronicling the true story of having their home built by an unscrupulous contractor and the ensuing legal and insurance and renovation nightmare that resulted. We all encouraged her to write this in story form, complete with characters, shady and heroic, and pivotal scenes with dialogue. And we also want to know the human impact on her and her husband and their marriage from this horror story.

Margaret F. read a poem entitled “Inquest Regarding the Death Of Ross Allen”. It was a long poem, over 1400 words that detailed events and showed how incapable healthcare, police and social services professionals were of preventing the suicide in hospital of a young man who had complained of being depressed. And it shows the horror the mother witnessed of all those people doing so very little to assist her son. It is sad to say that probably very little in the system has changed.

In further discussion with Margaret about her work on “Babes In The Wood”, she informed us she had hired two individuals to sort through all the research she had done through the years and put it all in chronological order for her. Then the rest of us suggested she make the story her own personal one and write it from first person so she could give us the emotion that compelled her to do the research and would allow her to include her own thoughts on what happened.

Jason read Chapter 24, “Destroyer”. We see Ligeia in her tent next to where Jody is captive, and she is perusing a book written by her ancestors in another language, trying to find out what Jody was. We learn Ligeia had murdered her own mother, as was the custom with the syrenes. She eventually learns that by her ancestors, a jivita was called a Destroyer. This was another good chapter of character development and gives us another piece of the puzzle.

I read last, a personal piece entitled “A Thousand Words” telling the background for a man’s picture, in a thousand words, that could not be discerned from the picture. It told of meeting and having an affair with a trucker who was later charged and convicted of sexual assault on his step-daughter, and my honestly not knowing the truth of the matter.

Jim didn’t get to read, because it was 9:00 all too soon. But he will read first at the next meeting.

I have uploaded an ebook manuscript entitled “Love Found” to Kobo and it should be available for purchase in the next week sometime. It is just a small collection of three short stories for $1.99. I did this as a trial run for other ebooks I want to publish with Kobo, just to figure out how to design and format one, and how their process works. I think Kobo is one of the best ebook publishing sites that has happened to Canadian authors who want to self-publish. They are a Canadian company, situated in Ontario. Royalties are 70% and you can stipulate payment in Canadian funds that are deposited directly into your own bank account. If there are any legal issues down the road, everything defaults to Ontario and Canadian law. Their uploading process is very simple and easy to follow. However, I do recommend the Smashwords Style Guide for instructions on inserting a table of contents and internal hyperlinks in your manuscript.

Julie told me she still had a bad cold she couldn’t shake. Amanda had to work late and said she should be at the next Meeting. Ellie said she had bursitis in one shoulder and had injured her upper back. And I haven’t heard from anyone else.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, November 7th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then. Happy Halloween and don’t eat too much candy!

Lisa