THE REVIEW

FAME AND FORTUNE


Jason, Annette, Kristi, Marcela, Mary, and Ellie all joined me here Wednesday for another great meeting of the famous Rams! We congratulated Ellie on her win in the Shuswap ‘Word On The Lake Festival’ writing contest. She won first prize in non-fiction with her story “Beware” about the cougar encounter. The prize included $150.00 cash, admission to the 2014 Shuswap writers’ conference, and publication in an anthology. Congratulations, Ellie!

Jason read first, from book two of his “Roots Of Creation” series. Dave and his friends are still at their campsite by the whispering woods when his Grammy arrives. She chides the teens for camping so often on her property. She and Dave’s girlfriend, Leah, size each other up. Then Grammy finds a corkscrew in someone’s backpack and is delighted she can finally open her bottle of wine. She sits down to join the party. There was humour in this chapter and the characters were very realistic.

Kristi read her next chapter in “Jane And The Midnight Daisies”. It’s nighttime, and Jane is dreaming of the cat purring while being held by a ghost whose skin is peeling away. Then Jane awakes and looks out her window and sees a red glow on Miller’s Hill. She goes to investigate and finds glowing red flowers under a glowing apple tree. She picks one of the flowers, which turns black, then hears the others crying she killed their sister. This chapter was written with a lot of gory detail. True horror.

I read my latest Honey story, “Honey’s Next Degree”. It’s about Honey putting up with all my medical appointments over the past two years because of four surgeries I’ve had. He’s finally getting the hang of being a caregiver, in spite of his reluctance.

Annette read chapters 7 and 8 from “A Taste Of Wormwood”. We see Alyssa going to a medical clinic for follow-up treatment after a previous rape that she never reported from fear of being found by George West. But we hear the nurse report to someone the Alyssa was at the clinic and saying she would come back for the test results. When she does return, she spots one of George West’s men watching the clinic and she manages to leave without being seen. But she tells John she can no longer stay and look after Carrie.

From a writing prompt that required 50 words about the worst thing you did, Annette read her four sentences about drowning a worm. Very funny.

Marcela read to us Joseph Campbell’s steps in the hero’s journey, which is basically a plot outline for most storytelling. She said her sixteen year old daughter analysed these steps in “Crime And Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It’s very brave of a teenager to take that on.

Mary read to us what she hopes to be an introduction to her own personal story. The words were eloquent and flowed well but only hinted at what the story could entail. We hope she finds the courage to write it all down for herself, whether she shares it with the rest of us or not.

Ellie didn’t read, but was supportive of everyone else. We really missed Jim. I later learned he has been unwell and I’m sure we all wish him a speedy recovery. Wendy was visiting her mother in Chilliwack. And Leah had another commitment on Wednesday.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 21st, at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Look forward to seeing you then.

LISA A. HATTON
Author
Published eBooks available at Kobo Books:
FIRE: http://kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780991739615
LOVE FOUND: http://kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780991739608