BETWEEN HEAT WAVES
Our Meeting Wednesday was between heat waves. Annette, Cougar and Chris joined me to honour The Muse.
Cougar read first, from Chapter One in his novel “The Viking Elf Cult Conspiracy”. It starts out with two people in Iceland talking about their suspicions about a Russian spy. This was third person past tense. It then changes point of view to Eric, a young American who is the main character, talking about graduating from college and not knowing what to do with his life. This was first person past tense. Then there was a section further into the future where Eric is talking in first person present tense about writing his story of what happened after he left college. And then the next section goes back in time again and shows Eric thinking about going to Iceland. The Chapter ends again with the first two characters talking about spying on the Russian spy, but also thinking they must watch out for Americans too. We discussed this chapter for quite a while. As readers, we found it confusing the way it jumped around in the time frame, and had been written sometimes in past tense and sometimes in present tense. We suggested moving some parts around so the story line wasn’t so broken up, and the time sequence not so confusing. Cougar said he already knew he had to be consistent with which tense he was using. The chapter used a lot of very good dialogue and both Eric’s predicament and his reactions showed a lot of humour. It promises to be an interesting read.
I read next, another “Honey” story. This was titled “My Small World” and relates an incident last year when I was in a motor vehicle accident with a semi, and had been unable to contact Honey. It also tells of Honey driving home from the dump and seeing my totalled vehicle being loaded up by a tow truck, and Honey doing a U-turn to ask a policeman what happened to the driver, his wife. Someone who talked to him that day later told me how upset he had been and that he really, really loved me. So nice to know.
Annette and Chris didn’t read. Charity had said she was unable to attend on Wednesday. We had some discussion about when the next Meeting will be. It was decided there will be no Meeting on August 1st and the next Meeting will we Wednesday, August 15th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Here’s hoping the extreme heat will be over and done with by then. Keep writing in the meantime and hope to see you on August 15th!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
PS: Here are four short sentences to illustrate points of view, the simplest explanation I’ve ever seen.
First person: I bought the candy.
Second person: You love eating candy.
Third person: Honey stole the candy and ate it.
Omniscient: Lisa thought the candy was hers but Bryon ate it because he wanted it.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Friday, July 6, 2018
THE REVIEW
HIDDEN EDITORS
Had a great Meeting here Wednesday night. Jim, Chris and Cougar joined Annette and I for an evening where the women were outnumbered by the men for a change. It was inspiring to have their different viewpoints on things that were read.
I read first, my short, short that I have submitted to Polar Expressions. I had read it before, but I think Annette was the only one who had heard it. It is the fictionalized story “Grief or Guilt”, that I wrote about another writer whose health was declining and was contemplating suicide.
Then Annette read her short, short that she is submitting to Polar Expressions. Her story was first person, a mother watching her tween daughter wanting to play in the dirt with diecast cars. Ignored by her brothers, she is finally offered a car to play with by another boy. She eventually comes back inside covered in dirt, all wide-eyed, to tell her mother he invited her to the school dance. And just like that, she went from tomboy pursuits to being a young lady. This was a great story. Annette had titled it “Playdate”, but we thought that denoted much younger children. Annette said she would research the specific name of a diecast car and perhaps use that as the title.
Jim read Chapter 3 from his novel about Emilie. She is still at the meeting for recovering addicts, and passes out from her withdrawal. Mosi tends to her and two other attendees also remain. 911 is called and an ambulance and paramedics arrive. She will be taken to hospital. This episode has profound effects on Mosi and Josh and Doris, all recovering addicts themselves. Since Jim had passed out hard copy and red pens to everyone, this evoked the editor within all of us and we spent some time helping Jim with every sentence. He emailed me later to say that was probably the best critiquing session he’s ever had!
Chris and Cougar both said they weren’t going to read. But Cougar did spend some time outlining the creative process he’s gone through in writing the novel he’s working on. We hope to have him read more of it to us.
We had some discussion about using just chapter numbers versus chapter titles. We seemed to prefer simple numbering. Choosing actual titles for things is sometimes difficult. We want our titles to pique interest, but not to mislead the reader, either. And I chose chapter numbers for my novel that I self-published at Kobo. Since I used the EPub formatting for digital publishing, I found it difficult to format the hyperlinks in the table of contents with words rather than digits.
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, July 18th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see everyone then!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Had a great Meeting here Wednesday night. Jim, Chris and Cougar joined Annette and I for an evening where the women were outnumbered by the men for a change. It was inspiring to have their different viewpoints on things that were read.
I read first, my short, short that I have submitted to Polar Expressions. I had read it before, but I think Annette was the only one who had heard it. It is the fictionalized story “Grief or Guilt”, that I wrote about another writer whose health was declining and was contemplating suicide.
Then Annette read her short, short that she is submitting to Polar Expressions. Her story was first person, a mother watching her tween daughter wanting to play in the dirt with diecast cars. Ignored by her brothers, she is finally offered a car to play with by another boy. She eventually comes back inside covered in dirt, all wide-eyed, to tell her mother he invited her to the school dance. And just like that, she went from tomboy pursuits to being a young lady. This was a great story. Annette had titled it “Playdate”, but we thought that denoted much younger children. Annette said she would research the specific name of a diecast car and perhaps use that as the title.
Jim read Chapter 3 from his novel about Emilie. She is still at the meeting for recovering addicts, and passes out from her withdrawal. Mosi tends to her and two other attendees also remain. 911 is called and an ambulance and paramedics arrive. She will be taken to hospital. This episode has profound effects on Mosi and Josh and Doris, all recovering addicts themselves. Since Jim had passed out hard copy and red pens to everyone, this evoked the editor within all of us and we spent some time helping Jim with every sentence. He emailed me later to say that was probably the best critiquing session he’s ever had!
Chris and Cougar both said they weren’t going to read. But Cougar did spend some time outlining the creative process he’s gone through in writing the novel he’s working on. We hope to have him read more of it to us.
We had some discussion about using just chapter numbers versus chapter titles. We seemed to prefer simple numbering. Choosing actual titles for things is sometimes difficult. We want our titles to pique interest, but not to mislead the reader, either. And I chose chapter numbers for my novel that I self-published at Kobo. Since I used the EPub formatting for digital publishing, I found it difficult to format the hyperlinks in the table of contents with words rather than digits.
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, July 18th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see everyone then!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Friday, June 22, 2018
THE REVIEW
TEMPTATION OF SUMMER
The first day of summer seemed to hold more allure for members than a meeting did! I was here alone Wednesday when Cougar Brenneman, a new member, showed up to check out our group. We sat and chatted for a while and then Annette arrived a little late. She had been babysitting. Cougar is an experienced freelance journalist who is now writing his first novel.
I read first, another new story about life with Honey. It’s called “Copycat” and tells of three incidents where I did something very foolish, and Honey came along behind me and did the exact same thing. And I still don’t know if that was because he didn’t believe me, or because he didn’t want me to feel alone with my stupidity. Annette laughed and said she won’t be able to look at Bryon the same way ever again.
Annette read from another story in her collection about the descendants from characters in “Pride and Prejudice”. This story was about Elizabeth Gardner and Maxwell Duncan, in the 1920s. Elizabeth is a young woman whose father took in Maxwell Duncan, a wounded soldier from World War I, and allowed him to live in their home. Maxwell is disabled and in a wheelchair, which Elizabeth finds repugnant. Her father wants her to go to a dance with Maxwell and introduce him to her friends, and she really doesn’t want to, but finally agrees. On reaching stairs at the entrance, she doesn’t realize he needs help to enter the building, but two young men she knows arrive and automatically offer their help, leaving her nonplussed at how accepting and helpful they were regarding his predicament. This is an interesting comment on how judgemental we can be of another’s disability.
Cougar said he wrote the first draft of his novel with one plot line, and has since decided to add another. So he is in the process of mixing it all together. He’s doing that by re-reading things and deciding to keep portions, or write portions, only if they really grab his interest. This is a logical approach, because if the writer isn’t interested in his own story, how can the reader be interested? Cougar’s novel is set in Iceland and includes elf magic, and he says he is using that magic himself in writing the story.
He read to us an exerpt from Chapter 5, “The Chess Tournament Blows Up”. Nineteen year old Erik accompanies Elfa and Ilya as they enter a large hall where a chess tournament is being played. Ilya is one of the players, Elfa is his girlfriend, and Erik is the outsider who wants Elfa to be his girlfriend. As Ilya plays chess, Erik and Elfa are supposed to use elf magic to boost his mental perception so he can win. They find a back corner to perform the magic from, and become entranced as they do so, but are suddenly stopped from performing by security guards. The whole scene is written sort of tongue in cheek, and along with the teen angst there is lots of humour. This would be a very interesting read and I hope we’ll get to hear more of it.
The next Meeting will be July 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. I hope to see everyone then. In the meantime, write on!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
The first day of summer seemed to hold more allure for members than a meeting did! I was here alone Wednesday when Cougar Brenneman, a new member, showed up to check out our group. We sat and chatted for a while and then Annette arrived a little late. She had been babysitting. Cougar is an experienced freelance journalist who is now writing his first novel.
I read first, another new story about life with Honey. It’s called “Copycat” and tells of three incidents where I did something very foolish, and Honey came along behind me and did the exact same thing. And I still don’t know if that was because he didn’t believe me, or because he didn’t want me to feel alone with my stupidity. Annette laughed and said she won’t be able to look at Bryon the same way ever again.
Annette read from another story in her collection about the descendants from characters in “Pride and Prejudice”. This story was about Elizabeth Gardner and Maxwell Duncan, in the 1920s. Elizabeth is a young woman whose father took in Maxwell Duncan, a wounded soldier from World War I, and allowed him to live in their home. Maxwell is disabled and in a wheelchair, which Elizabeth finds repugnant. Her father wants her to go to a dance with Maxwell and introduce him to her friends, and she really doesn’t want to, but finally agrees. On reaching stairs at the entrance, she doesn’t realize he needs help to enter the building, but two young men she knows arrive and automatically offer their help, leaving her nonplussed at how accepting and helpful they were regarding his predicament. This is an interesting comment on how judgemental we can be of another’s disability.
Cougar said he wrote the first draft of his novel with one plot line, and has since decided to add another. So he is in the process of mixing it all together. He’s doing that by re-reading things and deciding to keep portions, or write portions, only if they really grab his interest. This is a logical approach, because if the writer isn’t interested in his own story, how can the reader be interested? Cougar’s novel is set in Iceland and includes elf magic, and he says he is using that magic himself in writing the story.
He read to us an exerpt from Chapter 5, “The Chess Tournament Blows Up”. Nineteen year old Erik accompanies Elfa and Ilya as they enter a large hall where a chess tournament is being played. Ilya is one of the players, Elfa is his girlfriend, and Erik is the outsider who wants Elfa to be his girlfriend. As Ilya plays chess, Erik and Elfa are supposed to use elf magic to boost his mental perception so he can win. They find a back corner to perform the magic from, and become entranced as they do so, but are suddenly stopped from performing by security guards. The whole scene is written sort of tongue in cheek, and along with the teen angst there is lots of humour. This would be a very interesting read and I hope we’ll get to hear more of it.
The next Meeting will be July 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. I hope to see everyone then. In the meantime, write on!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Thursday, June 7, 2018
THE REVIEW
GENDER EQUALITY
Last night’s Rams Meeting had a quorum of two men and two women, a balance of genders for a change. Annette and I were fine, but Luke sported an injured knee and Jim had sliced the tip of his thumb off at work. Charity had said her daughter was ill and needed her attention, so she was unable to attend.
The evening started with some discussion about various opiates and then about the symptoms of ADHD and how debilitating they can be for the person experiencing them.
Luke didn’t read, but instead gave us the outline he had made of all the work he needs to do on his manuscript before submitting it to the agent he met at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference who had asked to see it when it was completed. Luke listed what he needs to do to finish his world building by determining the rules of his society, maps, locations, calendar, technology, religions, foods, magic systems. With writing, he needs to work on character details, scenes and sequels, transitions, plot progress and emotional progress of characters. With editing he wants to cut where necessary first, and then add to the remainder to make it better. And he wants to break up some of the dialogue sections. He’s given a lot of thought to what needs to be done, and with such a comprehensive overview, he at least knows where to start. His approach to this is very organized.
Annette had comprised a family tree of characters based on “Pride And Prejudice”. She wrote a series of short stories killing off these characters. Last night she read to us about Jane Darcy and Ronan Kinsella. Luke said next time he wanted her to read about the character who died of cholera.
Jim gave us all copies of Chapter Two of “SMART Mestiza” and asked us to read it on our own and then give feedback as it was 14 pages long. It tells of Emilia going to her first meeting of SMART, Self Management and Recovery Training, for those recovering from addictions. She meets Mosi, the facilitator, and listens as the meeting gets participants to list the pros and cons of addictions. Emilia feels safe at the meeting, and relates to many experiences of others as they are mentioned. She realizes that with their help, it might be possible for her to stay clean and sober. This chapter contains a lot of valuable information about recovery, much like a brochure on the topic, so I had to ask Jim if he wanted his focus to be on distributing that information, or if he wanted to focus on developing the story, which is supposed to be a romance. He said he thought he would condense some of the information.
Jim also showed us the book cover and the blurb for “Hunt For Jason”, the Coventry Ghosts Book 2. He said it has finished being edited by his publisher and has now gone to proofing.
By then it was 9:30, so I didn’t read my latest “Honey” story. Maybe next time. I told Luke that with his in-depth list of work to be done on his novel, I didn’t think I wanted to tackle another one myself! He thanked me for telling him how uninspiring he had been. Too funny.
Next Meeting will be Wednesday, June 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Till then, Write On!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Last night’s Rams Meeting had a quorum of two men and two women, a balance of genders for a change. Annette and I were fine, but Luke sported an injured knee and Jim had sliced the tip of his thumb off at work. Charity had said her daughter was ill and needed her attention, so she was unable to attend.
The evening started with some discussion about various opiates and then about the symptoms of ADHD and how debilitating they can be for the person experiencing them.
Luke didn’t read, but instead gave us the outline he had made of all the work he needs to do on his manuscript before submitting it to the agent he met at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference who had asked to see it when it was completed. Luke listed what he needs to do to finish his world building by determining the rules of his society, maps, locations, calendar, technology, religions, foods, magic systems. With writing, he needs to work on character details, scenes and sequels, transitions, plot progress and emotional progress of characters. With editing he wants to cut where necessary first, and then add to the remainder to make it better. And he wants to break up some of the dialogue sections. He’s given a lot of thought to what needs to be done, and with such a comprehensive overview, he at least knows where to start. His approach to this is very organized.
Annette had comprised a family tree of characters based on “Pride And Prejudice”. She wrote a series of short stories killing off these characters. Last night she read to us about Jane Darcy and Ronan Kinsella. Luke said next time he wanted her to read about the character who died of cholera.
Jim gave us all copies of Chapter Two of “SMART Mestiza” and asked us to read it on our own and then give feedback as it was 14 pages long. It tells of Emilia going to her first meeting of SMART, Self Management and Recovery Training, for those recovering from addictions. She meets Mosi, the facilitator, and listens as the meeting gets participants to list the pros and cons of addictions. Emilia feels safe at the meeting, and relates to many experiences of others as they are mentioned. She realizes that with their help, it might be possible for her to stay clean and sober. This chapter contains a lot of valuable information about recovery, much like a brochure on the topic, so I had to ask Jim if he wanted his focus to be on distributing that information, or if he wanted to focus on developing the story, which is supposed to be a romance. He said he thought he would condense some of the information.
Jim also showed us the book cover and the blurb for “Hunt For Jason”, the Coventry Ghosts Book 2. He said it has finished being edited by his publisher and has now gone to proofing.
By then it was 9:30, so I didn’t read my latest “Honey” story. Maybe next time. I told Luke that with his in-depth list of work to be done on his novel, I didn’t think I wanted to tackle another one myself! He thanked me for telling him how uninspiring he had been. Too funny.
Next Meeting will be Wednesday, June 20th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Till then, Write On!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Thursday, May 3, 2018
THE REVIEW
SEXTET
Six of us met here last night for reading and interpreting of our gripping passages that we all slave over during more than one draft. After a long absence from regular Meetings, Jim Williams joined Annette, Luke, Charity, Darlene and me, and we were pleased to see hard copy editions of his two most recently published novels.
Annette read first and we learn Maxine’s phone call from the hospital was to tell her Jarod was in a medically induced coma and it could be weeks before he is conscious again and able to communicate. She finds herself dreading his long recovery in hospital and then his need for homecare when he gets out. She starts planning to pack for her eventual departure from the relationship, and in the meantime moves into the spare room, which she plans to make her own space. Returning to Jarod’s side at the hospital, she notices Jarod’s hands for the first time and realizes they are not the hands she remembers, even though the wallet is Jarod’s. Great hook for the end of the chapter.
Luke read to us about Galena questioning Goren after he helped bury the bodies, as to why he would interrupt his search for his sister to help bury strangers. He said he had been taught to not let doing important things stop him from doing what was right. He asks her where she would draw the line and she says she thinks that is a choice each individual has to make on their own. They stop travelling for the night and make camp beside the river. Galena wants his assurance he would wake her if he perceives any imminent danger. We asked Luke if he could give us some insight to Goren’s emotions in this chapter, and also some physical descriptions or actions, that would all add to the excellent dialogue.
Charity read to us about Trixie finally waking and trying to rise from the bed. She is astounded by the amount of pain she feels, but still struggles to rise. Her mother arrives and they disagree about Trixie wanting to leave. Even though her Ma says she wants to take care of her, Trixie doesn’t trust her, and tells her there is no more gold, only the two pieces she had brought with her. She fears her Ma only wants the gold that she thinks her Pa had stolen. This chapter gave good background about Trixie’s parents and where she came from.
Darlene read to us about Ethel still at the Council Meeting trying to make her point that the town had enough water and didn’t need restrictions, when an official hydrologist, Leo Rainer, arrives and says Ethel is correct. He tells the meeting the town lies over a large aquifer and they should water their trees daily during the drought. People applaud noisily for both Ethel and the news as she leaves the stage. She goes home without Ralph and when he makes his way home later, he wants to know how she knew there was water. She had seen water welling up in a corner of the yard earlier in the spring. Restrictions were lifted and Ethel’s fines were dropped. And Ethel starts volunteering at Sunnyvale, the home for the mentally unstable, where she had feared people thought she should be living. It was satisfying that Ethel was vindicated and all the loose ends were tied up at the end of the story.
Jim read to us the first chapter in Smart Mestiza, the second book in his Mestiza series. The first one is already published. In this chapter, we meet Emilia, a young woman addicted to both alcohol and oxycodone, the latter having been prescribed for pain after a car accident. Her life had spiralled into chaos. She was estranged from family and friends, nearly bankrupt, about to lose her job, when she tries to quit cold turkey. It has been three days since she quit, she’s shaking and knows she needs help. She knows she has to go to a meeting. This is a powerful beginning and highlights one of society’s biggest problems in today’s world. It’s a timely subject.
I didn’t read as I was still having coughing fits from a recent cold. However, I did inform everyone that the final edit had been finished on “Honey Signed The Waiver”. I had also formatted the manuscript with name and address on every page, as well as the correct page numbering for the front material and for the rest of the manuscript. Then I went to the cover letter I had already written and added one sentence about my recent invitation to Beyond The Border Storytelling Festival in Cardiff, Wales. With all that accomplished, I realized there was nothing left to do, so I simply submitted it to Harbour Publishing. The next day I received acknowledgement they had received my manuscript and they would contact me when a decision is made. I think it’s quite funny and amazing I put together a book proposal from all the bits and pieces collected over twenty some odd years. Again, I want to give a big thanks to Wendy Francis for the help she gave me with the edit. And I’d better thank Honey, too, for providing such interesting subject matter!
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see everyone then.
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
PS: Charity told us she has found the perfect place to write at home undisturbed. She folds down the back seats in her SUV, which is parked in her garage. Her husband is watching hockey, but the kids don’t know where she is and walk around the house calling for their Mom. Too funny!
Six of us met here last night for reading and interpreting of our gripping passages that we all slave over during more than one draft. After a long absence from regular Meetings, Jim Williams joined Annette, Luke, Charity, Darlene and me, and we were pleased to see hard copy editions of his two most recently published novels.
Annette read first and we learn Maxine’s phone call from the hospital was to tell her Jarod was in a medically induced coma and it could be weeks before he is conscious again and able to communicate. She finds herself dreading his long recovery in hospital and then his need for homecare when he gets out. She starts planning to pack for her eventual departure from the relationship, and in the meantime moves into the spare room, which she plans to make her own space. Returning to Jarod’s side at the hospital, she notices Jarod’s hands for the first time and realizes they are not the hands she remembers, even though the wallet is Jarod’s. Great hook for the end of the chapter.
Luke read to us about Galena questioning Goren after he helped bury the bodies, as to why he would interrupt his search for his sister to help bury strangers. He said he had been taught to not let doing important things stop him from doing what was right. He asks her where she would draw the line and she says she thinks that is a choice each individual has to make on their own. They stop travelling for the night and make camp beside the river. Galena wants his assurance he would wake her if he perceives any imminent danger. We asked Luke if he could give us some insight to Goren’s emotions in this chapter, and also some physical descriptions or actions, that would all add to the excellent dialogue.
Charity read to us about Trixie finally waking and trying to rise from the bed. She is astounded by the amount of pain she feels, but still struggles to rise. Her mother arrives and they disagree about Trixie wanting to leave. Even though her Ma says she wants to take care of her, Trixie doesn’t trust her, and tells her there is no more gold, only the two pieces she had brought with her. She fears her Ma only wants the gold that she thinks her Pa had stolen. This chapter gave good background about Trixie’s parents and where she came from.
Darlene read to us about Ethel still at the Council Meeting trying to make her point that the town had enough water and didn’t need restrictions, when an official hydrologist, Leo Rainer, arrives and says Ethel is correct. He tells the meeting the town lies over a large aquifer and they should water their trees daily during the drought. People applaud noisily for both Ethel and the news as she leaves the stage. She goes home without Ralph and when he makes his way home later, he wants to know how she knew there was water. She had seen water welling up in a corner of the yard earlier in the spring. Restrictions were lifted and Ethel’s fines were dropped. And Ethel starts volunteering at Sunnyvale, the home for the mentally unstable, where she had feared people thought she should be living. It was satisfying that Ethel was vindicated and all the loose ends were tied up at the end of the story.
Jim read to us the first chapter in Smart Mestiza, the second book in his Mestiza series. The first one is already published. In this chapter, we meet Emilia, a young woman addicted to both alcohol and oxycodone, the latter having been prescribed for pain after a car accident. Her life had spiralled into chaos. She was estranged from family and friends, nearly bankrupt, about to lose her job, when she tries to quit cold turkey. It has been three days since she quit, she’s shaking and knows she needs help. She knows she has to go to a meeting. This is a powerful beginning and highlights one of society’s biggest problems in today’s world. It’s a timely subject.
I didn’t read as I was still having coughing fits from a recent cold. However, I did inform everyone that the final edit had been finished on “Honey Signed The Waiver”. I had also formatted the manuscript with name and address on every page, as well as the correct page numbering for the front material and for the rest of the manuscript. Then I went to the cover letter I had already written and added one sentence about my recent invitation to Beyond The Border Storytelling Festival in Cardiff, Wales. With all that accomplished, I realized there was nothing left to do, so I simply submitted it to Harbour Publishing. The next day I received acknowledgement they had received my manuscript and they would contact me when a decision is made. I think it’s quite funny and amazing I put together a book proposal from all the bits and pieces collected over twenty some odd years. Again, I want to give a big thanks to Wendy Francis for the help she gave me with the edit. And I’d better thank Honey, too, for providing such interesting subject matter!
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 16th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see everyone then.
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
PS: Charity told us she has found the perfect place to write at home undisturbed. She folds down the back seats in her SUV, which is parked in her garage. Her husband is watching hockey, but the kids don’t know where she is and walk around the house calling for their Mom. Too funny!
Friday, April 20, 2018
THE REVIEW
SPRING AT LAST
Finally had some dry weather this week and there were five of us at the Meeting here on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see everyone!
Charity read first from “Trixie Trouble”. Trixie’s Ma saves her from any further beating by Mundy when she shoots him in the arm. Trixie is moved upstairs, the doctor is called, her wounds are addressed and she’s given morphine for the pain. When she’s healed enough to notice things, she sees a tattoo on her collarbone that hadn’t been there before, and knows her Ma has claimed her as her own and Trixie is furious. We are relieved Trixie isn’t being hurt anymore, but we want to know if she is being saved or if she’s being used?
Luke read to us about Goren and Galeena reaching the river, where he retrieves his boots and then they travel further, in search of his sister. As they proceed, Goren tires of Galeena constantly asking questions about everything. When they reach Tunnel Road, they discover the Inn has been destroyed and Galeena admits that is where she woke up in the earthquake that morning, something she remembers. Goren searches through bodies and ruins for his sister, but doesn’t find her. He and Galeena help others look for survivors in the ruins, and then also help bury bodies. This is a very sad chapter looking at the devastation after a natural disaster.
Darlene read to us more about Ethel and Ralph and the saga of watering restrictions. Due to all the protests about the restrictions, a public meeting is scheduled at the City Hall, where registered parties may voice their opinions. In a dress embroidered with vines and fruits, representing her love of gardening, Ethel heads to City Hall, with her husband protesting her attire and objectives. He sits in front and leaves her at the back of the room where she has a young man present her slides, showing the hypocrisy of the establishment. The whole meeting hilariously degenerates into total chaos. This is an excellent depiction of democratic foibles and follies.
Annette read to us about Maxine being in a hospital lounge, extremely upset that Jarod doesn’t remember her. Instead of going home, she drives to the big store where she works. Her boss, Carl, wants to know if she has left Jarod and when she says Jarod needs her, Carl really pushes her to dump the guy. In her present state, Carl won’t let her work out front, but sets her to work in the back of the store. When her cell phone rings, she sees it is the hospital calling. That was a good hook to end the chapter and keep readers turning the page. We have seen Maxine torn between wanting her freedom from a bad relationship, and feeling duty-bound to help a man who is not yet able to look after himself. That’s a tough dilemma.
After a previous discussion with Annette about murder stories and how to commit a perfect murder on paper, I decided to read my short story “Sandy The Sailor”. It’s about the older sister of a young exotic dancer who had committed suicide after contracting Aids from a sexual encounter she was forced to endure in order to collect her pay for dancing. To get revenge, the older sister takes up stripping and sets in motion the events that kill the evil bar owner. Darlene said it was a good story and I should send it out somewhere. Bryon had given me the details of how to engineer the murder. I wrote this about 15 years ago and hadn’t looked at it for at least 5 years. It’s amazing how much work I’ve collected through the years. Is that good or bad?
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. I know the sun is coming out before then, but don’t get sidetracked by it. Write on, Rams!!!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Finally had some dry weather this week and there were five of us at the Meeting here on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see everyone!
Charity read first from “Trixie Trouble”. Trixie’s Ma saves her from any further beating by Mundy when she shoots him in the arm. Trixie is moved upstairs, the doctor is called, her wounds are addressed and she’s given morphine for the pain. When she’s healed enough to notice things, she sees a tattoo on her collarbone that hadn’t been there before, and knows her Ma has claimed her as her own and Trixie is furious. We are relieved Trixie isn’t being hurt anymore, but we want to know if she is being saved or if she’s being used?
Luke read to us about Goren and Galeena reaching the river, where he retrieves his boots and then they travel further, in search of his sister. As they proceed, Goren tires of Galeena constantly asking questions about everything. When they reach Tunnel Road, they discover the Inn has been destroyed and Galeena admits that is where she woke up in the earthquake that morning, something she remembers. Goren searches through bodies and ruins for his sister, but doesn’t find her. He and Galeena help others look for survivors in the ruins, and then also help bury bodies. This is a very sad chapter looking at the devastation after a natural disaster.
Darlene read to us more about Ethel and Ralph and the saga of watering restrictions. Due to all the protests about the restrictions, a public meeting is scheduled at the City Hall, where registered parties may voice their opinions. In a dress embroidered with vines and fruits, representing her love of gardening, Ethel heads to City Hall, with her husband protesting her attire and objectives. He sits in front and leaves her at the back of the room where she has a young man present her slides, showing the hypocrisy of the establishment. The whole meeting hilariously degenerates into total chaos. This is an excellent depiction of democratic foibles and follies.
Annette read to us about Maxine being in a hospital lounge, extremely upset that Jarod doesn’t remember her. Instead of going home, she drives to the big store where she works. Her boss, Carl, wants to know if she has left Jarod and when she says Jarod needs her, Carl really pushes her to dump the guy. In her present state, Carl won’t let her work out front, but sets her to work in the back of the store. When her cell phone rings, she sees it is the hospital calling. That was a good hook to end the chapter and keep readers turning the page. We have seen Maxine torn between wanting her freedom from a bad relationship, and feeling duty-bound to help a man who is not yet able to look after himself. That’s a tough dilemma.
After a previous discussion with Annette about murder stories and how to commit a perfect murder on paper, I decided to read my short story “Sandy The Sailor”. It’s about the older sister of a young exotic dancer who had committed suicide after contracting Aids from a sexual encounter she was forced to endure in order to collect her pay for dancing. To get revenge, the older sister takes up stripping and sets in motion the events that kill the evil bar owner. Darlene said it was a good story and I should send it out somewhere. Bryon had given me the details of how to engineer the murder. I wrote this about 15 years ago and hadn’t looked at it for at least 5 years. It’s amazing how much work I’ve collected through the years. Is that good or bad?
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, May 2nd at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. I know the sun is coming out before then, but don’t get sidetracked by it. Write on, Rams!!!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
Thursday, March 22, 2018
THE REVIEW
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
There was a very interesting Meeting here last night. Charity was unable to attend. Annette became ill and we wish her a speedy recovery. Luke is probably still packing/moving house. And Chris is stuck in a bi-weekly parenting schedule that doesn’t sync with our schedule for Meetings. I wasn’t able to reach Darlene to tell her it might be just the two of us, so she arrived. Thankfully, Jessica Taylor also arrived at the door. We first talked about a year ago, but this was the first time we met. So the three of us spent two hours filled with readings, discussions and lots of laughter.
I have been working on my collection of ‘Honey’ stories and am two thirds done this final edit. After discussion at the previous Meeting, I decided to re-read some of these stories at Meetings. Last night I read “The Best Thing”, the first story in the manuscript, but probably the last one I had written. It’s about how I met Honey (Bryon), and how we became a couple. Darlene said it sounded polished, and that’s most likely because it was one of the last stories I had written over a twenty year span. When I put all my stories together, I needed something to start the book and let the reader know what to expect. One would hope my writing had improved after twenty years!
Darlene read the next section of her story “Watering Restrictions”, about wife and husband, Ethel and Ralph, having different views about a recent local by-law that limited watering. We hear they have reached Phase 3 of the restrictions, which means hand watering only, and Ethel is still watering beyond the restricted allowance and Ralph catches her at 3:00 a.m. Somebody hangs signs on the city’s dying trees decrying the restrictions. Then Ethel discovers fines for defying restrictions tied to her trees. There are water outages at City Hall and the administrative staff all walk out and Council has to find a different venue for meetings. Ethel complains to a TV news crew and Ralph gets mad. Ralph and Ethel stop talking. One day he hears her voice, but only from the TV. We were all laughing by this point. I see shades of Desi and Lucy, or Ralph and Alice, in this depiction of marital disagreement. Very funny.
Jessica didn’t bring any of her writing to read, but gave us verbally her own background story about falling in love at first sight and then eloping to marry an American Marine. In true military fashion, they have detailed plans for how to proceed so they may eventually find themselves living together in one country, without the prospect of deportation for one or the other. Jessica says a lot of her writing has been personal memoir about lessons learned through living, and she hopes to improve her writing abilities, as do all of us. If she can write a story as engagingly as she tells one, she is well on her way.
So after considering what was read and discussed last night, it was apparent most of our writing was based on personal experience, usually with our significant other. That’s when I said the adage for writers might be true: Write what you know!
We had some discussion last night about changing dates for Meetings. We were thinking that instead of meeting the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, maybe we should meet every other Wednesday, and pick the be-weekly schedule that would coincide with Chris’s parenting schedule. What do members think of that? Let me know what you think, and we’ll discuss this some more at the next Meeting.
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
There was a very interesting Meeting here last night. Charity was unable to attend. Annette became ill and we wish her a speedy recovery. Luke is probably still packing/moving house. And Chris is stuck in a bi-weekly parenting schedule that doesn’t sync with our schedule for Meetings. I wasn’t able to reach Darlene to tell her it might be just the two of us, so she arrived. Thankfully, Jessica Taylor also arrived at the door. We first talked about a year ago, but this was the first time we met. So the three of us spent two hours filled with readings, discussions and lots of laughter.
I have been working on my collection of ‘Honey’ stories and am two thirds done this final edit. After discussion at the previous Meeting, I decided to re-read some of these stories at Meetings. Last night I read “The Best Thing”, the first story in the manuscript, but probably the last one I had written. It’s about how I met Honey (Bryon), and how we became a couple. Darlene said it sounded polished, and that’s most likely because it was one of the last stories I had written over a twenty year span. When I put all my stories together, I needed something to start the book and let the reader know what to expect. One would hope my writing had improved after twenty years!
Darlene read the next section of her story “Watering Restrictions”, about wife and husband, Ethel and Ralph, having different views about a recent local by-law that limited watering. We hear they have reached Phase 3 of the restrictions, which means hand watering only, and Ethel is still watering beyond the restricted allowance and Ralph catches her at 3:00 a.m. Somebody hangs signs on the city’s dying trees decrying the restrictions. Then Ethel discovers fines for defying restrictions tied to her trees. There are water outages at City Hall and the administrative staff all walk out and Council has to find a different venue for meetings. Ethel complains to a TV news crew and Ralph gets mad. Ralph and Ethel stop talking. One day he hears her voice, but only from the TV. We were all laughing by this point. I see shades of Desi and Lucy, or Ralph and Alice, in this depiction of marital disagreement. Very funny.
Jessica didn’t bring any of her writing to read, but gave us verbally her own background story about falling in love at first sight and then eloping to marry an American Marine. In true military fashion, they have detailed plans for how to proceed so they may eventually find themselves living together in one country, without the prospect of deportation for one or the other. Jessica says a lot of her writing has been personal memoir about lessons learned through living, and she hopes to improve her writing abilities, as do all of us. If she can write a story as engagingly as she tells one, she is well on her way.
So after considering what was read and discussed last night, it was apparent most of our writing was based on personal experience, usually with our significant other. That’s when I said the adage for writers might be true: Write what you know!
We had some discussion last night about changing dates for Meetings. We were thinking that instead of meeting the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, maybe we should meet every other Wednesday, and pick the be-weekly schedule that would coincide with Chris’s parenting schedule. What do members think of that? Let me know what you think, and we’ll discuss this some more at the next Meeting.
The next Meeting will be Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 p.m. here at my place. Hope to see you then!
Lisa A. Hatton
Author
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