THE REVIEW

WOMEN ONLY

The Meeting here Wednesday night consisted of four women. We missed seeing Luke and Guy. Charity was dealing with a family emergency. And Kay is away helping to support firefighters in the interior. Crystal and Annette were here, and Annette brought a friend, Teena Rawding, with her. Teena also writes and has compiled a manuscript of what she called devotional pieces meant to support and encourage women who have suffered domestic abuse. She hopes to self-publish, perhaps as an ebook.

Annette read first, two more chapters. In the first chapter Maxine’s self absorbed in her fear of being trapped in a relationship with Jarod because her conscience won’t let her abandon him before he recovers from his injuries. In the next chapter she is back in the ICU as Jarod is being prepped for surgery. As he is wheeled away, she faints and because she is not an admitted patient, she ends up in the long waiting line in the ER. That’s when she realizes Jarod would never be there to look after her.

Teena read one piece entitled “Can You Imagine?”. It exemplifies how an abused wife loses all confidence in herself and is unable to communicate or make choices as everything she does is criticised in detail by the husband. She eventually accepts she is stupid and cannot escape, and submits to being told how to live in every way. Then the article goes on to tell about the hope that comes after leaving the abuser. The article addressed specifics of everyday life and would be very relevant to anyone in those circumstances.

Crystal had written a short first person story from a writing prompt that said to write about a tattered piece of clothing. Her mother wanted her to clean out her closet and get rid of a particular shirt. But the shirt was her security blanket for many years and was worn through many events in her life and consequently evoked memories she didn’t want to lose. I suggested that if Crystal could cut the words to 750 maximum she could enter the Polar Expressions writing contest, deadline July 31st.

I planned to enter something in the same contest so I read two short stories and asked which one I should enter. The first was “Parade of Sorrow” about a grieving mother watching the Veteran’s Parade on November 11th. She was a middle aged mother grieving her son lost in Afghanistan. The second story I read was “Playing Trivia” about a middle aged couple on a first date at the pub, with him wanting more than she was willing to give. The group chose “Parade Of Sorrow” because it had the greatest emotional impact. So that is the one I will enter.

Next Meeting will be Wednesday, August 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see everyone then. Stay away from fires in the meantime.

Lisa A. Hatton
Author