THE REVIEW

STILL LEARNING

Leah, Annette and Jason joined me on Wednesday for our Meeting of The Rams. Kristie was unable to get a babysitter so she could attend. We were very happy to see Annette recovering from her recent heart attack. There’s been no word from Jim, and we are also wondering how he’s doing. And we do know Wendy is busy with family this month.

Annette read first, Chapter 11 in “A Touch Of Wormwood”. Ally is trying to avoid John, afraid that he’s becoming too fond of her and not wanting that kind of involvement. She is tempted to search his room, but he catches her there and puts his arms around her and then proposes marriage. We did suggest that John, as a police officer, needed to be made a more aggressive character and Annette said she would think on it, but that the proposal would stay as it’s part of the ongoing plot.

Jason read his next chapter that shows Leah and David entering the barn where he has hidden the sword she wants to see. There is an instant where he sees Leah’s face older and wrinkled in the glow of candlelight. As they are about to ascend the ladder to the hay loft, there is a noise and suddenly Granny appears and scares them. We anticipate a showdown between Leah and Granny at some point.

Jason was asking me for a book review on his first novel, but I have never written a book review and told him I didn’t think my opinion mattered that much as I wasn’t a journalist who did book reviews, and I wasn’t a well-known editor or publisher, either. He assured me book reviews these days have devolved to the masses, such as at Amazon or Goodreads. I’ll keep that in mind.

Our Leah shared a summary of a business plan she hopes to submit to the Small Business Development Bank hoping for support to start a consulting company. I said I found the first page too full of generalities, but Leah assured me that’s how a business plan summary is done. Personally, I thought it would be more effective with some concrete examples thrown in to better describe the type of business envisioned. But that is obviously the writer and journalist in me. However, I was very impressed with the questionnaire that accompanied it to ascertain the type of service that prospective clients would need. Writing abilities have numerous applications, with business endeavors also included among them.

I didn’t read anything, but did pass around a book I purchased recently, “The Canadian Writers’ Guide”. It was published in 2003, but still has a great deal of relevant information, from how to find writing topics or inspiration, to self-publishing ebooks, to manuscript formatting, to Canadian Literary Agents, to Canadian writing contests, to how much to charge for magazine articles. And there were several chapters by Lois Peterson, a local writing teacher I respect greatly for her practical suggestions on many writing topics.

The next Meeting will be Wednesday, August 6th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then, and please stay healthy in the meantime!

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