FIRST DAY OF SPRING!
It was the first day of Spring when six of us met on Wednesday. We shared a lot of laughs.
Wendy read first, a poem entitled “Pour Me A Cup”. The writer asks for a different beverage to go with different aspects of life, and at the end of life simply asks for a cup of kindness. Loved this poem.
Ron read a chapter in his novel “Stalwart Peasant” about his ancestors who immigrated to Canada from Hungary in the early part of the 20th century. He tells us about the recruiting agent who enticed immigrants with tales of how wonderful life was in Canada, and who told Joseph he was confident he could get Visas for Joseph’s two oldest sons who were of military age and consequently prevented from leaving by the government. We all enjoyed the rich account of history here.
Ellie started reading her poem “Rhythm By A Nature Path”. We were all enjoying the sensual flow of words describing nature, when she came to an abrupt halt. She hadn’t brought the second page of her poem so couldn’t finish reading it to us. Too funny.
Jason read Ch. 33, “Hell” from his novel. This chapter tells about Damianos, and how as a child he lost his family to the angoros, and how he still yearns to save his little sister. But his memories are jarred by the roar and flames from the dragon, who tells him he has failed. We were surprised to see the softer side of Damianos in this chapter.
I read next, another Honey story called “Malfunction”. I tell of an episode here at our house where we had a massive electrical failure due to a failed ground wire connector buried outside that Honey had trouble finding. When I read of him running around the yard stabbing the lawn with a pitch fork to find the metal plate covering, we all started laughing and I couldn’t continue reading. Thankfully, Wendy finished reading the story for me. I guess that was the true test of writing humour, that everybody laughed. I intend to call this collection of stories “Honey Signed The Waiver”, but Honey wants to know if the waiver is valid if he signed it before I wrote the story?
Jim read Ch. 27, where Launi, the CSIS agent, requests a demonstration by the ghost caterers so that her own staff would feel comfortable with the situation. The ghosts recruited were young and boisterous. A staff member in the physical world complained about being chased around the mansion by fine porcelain and a corn broom. Very funny.
Our next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then. This will be the last Meeting before I have surgery April 9th. Hopefully I will recover quickly and we can resume meeting in May. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Take care and don’t let that sun peeking through stop you from writing!
Lisa
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
THE REVIEW
STALWARTS FOUR
Many thanks to Wendy, Jim and Jason for joining me to honour the Ram’s Head at our Meeting on Wednesday.
Jason read first, Chapter 32, “Revised”. Gregg is regaining consciousness in the same realm as his grandmother, but he is strapped to an ambulance gurney and had been assumed to be dead by the EMTs. They are astonished at his return to life, and very reluctant to let him loose even though he’s frantic. He blurts out that he has to find the man he killed. This was a good chapter upping the tension. And Jason has learned to leave a hook at the end of each chapter that makes the reader want to keep going.
In his journey to self-publish with Amazon, Jason said he got his certified copies of his Passport to apply for the W-5 exemption from American income tax. And he also registered with CISS (Canadian ISBN Service System) to obtain his ISBN number. The path to publication is a long one.
Jim read us Chapter 26 from the second book in Coventry Ghosts. This shows Karly and Sara in the library, where Karly is teaching Sara to read. Sara feels frustrated at times but perseveres. Then it’s Sara’s turn to teach Karly how to use the energy from the Aeris to move things in the physical realm. So Sara dumps all the books on the floor and tells Karly to put them all back on the shelves. It took her till dawn to do that.
And Jim said he had finished the re-write and re-submitted his romance novel. So let’s keep our fingers crossed for him.
My daughter-in-law told me my son had been going through old papers and came across a graduation card I had given him when he finished at Royal Military College in 1998. Some writing of mine fell out of the card when he opened it and he realized he hadn’t read it before. So he read it and it brought tears to his eyes. I couldn’t remember what I had sent him so she scanned it and sent it to me. It was a piece I had written several years after my father died, in honour of his memory and since he and my son were very close, it would have touched my son. I read it to the group.
Wendy didn’t read, but her presence and her observations are always appreciated.
Jim and I had both downloaded the free Scrivener software and I spent about three hours or more going through the tutorial. It had some interesting features but both Jim and I felt it would take too much time to become good enough at using the software to make it worthwhile for us as writers. However, the experience did give me some ideas on how to make better use of MS Word.
Margaret Moffatt had two articles in the March issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. One was on the history of Likely, and the other on Horsefly.
Ellie had emailed me to say she was still busy cleaning out her office. Monica said she was travelling. And Ron said he was curling that night and couldn’t attend the Meeting. I am scheduled for surgery again on April 9th, so there will only be two more Meetings before then. My surgeon said approximately one month to recover this time.
Next Meeting will be Wednesday, March 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.
Lisa
Many thanks to Wendy, Jim and Jason for joining me to honour the Ram’s Head at our Meeting on Wednesday.
Jason read first, Chapter 32, “Revised”. Gregg is regaining consciousness in the same realm as his grandmother, but he is strapped to an ambulance gurney and had been assumed to be dead by the EMTs. They are astonished at his return to life, and very reluctant to let him loose even though he’s frantic. He blurts out that he has to find the man he killed. This was a good chapter upping the tension. And Jason has learned to leave a hook at the end of each chapter that makes the reader want to keep going.
In his journey to self-publish with Amazon, Jason said he got his certified copies of his Passport to apply for the W-5 exemption from American income tax. And he also registered with CISS (Canadian ISBN Service System) to obtain his ISBN number. The path to publication is a long one.
Jim read us Chapter 26 from the second book in Coventry Ghosts. This shows Karly and Sara in the library, where Karly is teaching Sara to read. Sara feels frustrated at times but perseveres. Then it’s Sara’s turn to teach Karly how to use the energy from the Aeris to move things in the physical realm. So Sara dumps all the books on the floor and tells Karly to put them all back on the shelves. It took her till dawn to do that.
And Jim said he had finished the re-write and re-submitted his romance novel. So let’s keep our fingers crossed for him.
My daughter-in-law told me my son had been going through old papers and came across a graduation card I had given him when he finished at Royal Military College in 1998. Some writing of mine fell out of the card when he opened it and he realized he hadn’t read it before. So he read it and it brought tears to his eyes. I couldn’t remember what I had sent him so she scanned it and sent it to me. It was a piece I had written several years after my father died, in honour of his memory and since he and my son were very close, it would have touched my son. I read it to the group.
Wendy didn’t read, but her presence and her observations are always appreciated.
Jim and I had both downloaded the free Scrivener software and I spent about three hours or more going through the tutorial. It had some interesting features but both Jim and I felt it would take too much time to become good enough at using the software to make it worthwhile for us as writers. However, the experience did give me some ideas on how to make better use of MS Word.
Margaret Moffatt had two articles in the March issue of Today’s Senior Newsmagazine. One was on the history of Likely, and the other on Horsefly.
Ellie had emailed me to say she was still busy cleaning out her office. Monica said she was travelling. And Ron said he was curling that night and couldn’t attend the Meeting. I am scheduled for surgery again on April 9th, so there will only be two more Meetings before then. My surgeon said approximately one month to recover this time.
Next Meeting will be Wednesday, March 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then.
Lisa
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