Wednesday, October 19th, 2022

The aftermath of hurricane Ian is still with us. Debris strewn along the path of the killer storm still haunts the residents. But we are making progress. I’m sorry I couldn’t get the blog completed earlier. I took a short vacation. Nine participants attended this meeting, and seven had work to share. We did have a brief discussion before getting on with the reading portion of the meeting. One or two members of the group suffer from hearing impairment issues. At least one uses an app on his phone to translate the speech into written words so they can follow along. That led to a recommendation that we use Google Translator to translate languages into ones we are familiar with, such as Spanish to English. I’ll have to try that.

I received this email from Ed Ellis

Edwin Ellis

Dear Rod, It is with much regert that things need to change as Diana started to enter a new phase. She has been diganosed with old age dementia. 

 

Diana helped me through my issues with the spirit of a caring wife, now it’s my turn to provide the same.

 

Blessings and all the best.

 

Ed

 

***

As we moved into our reading time, Ernie Ovitz led us off by reading from the third book of his work in progress, Imperium. The third book, The 13^th Apostle, depicts an evening out for young Romans as they gamble in a game of dice and imbibe with their favorite beverages. The combination of friendship, drink, and gambling results in loose talk and gossip. Junius Basis is the Praetorian Prefect and is facing substantial fiscal issues. How will he handle them?

 

Gaia is not too worried about her lifespan, but she does send a warning that the human race could cause an extinction–their own. Bruce Haedrich reads his latest letter from Gaia, in which she explains; what is comfortable for humans as far as the CO2 concentration is bordering on being much too low for the biology on earth. During the Jurassic Era, CO2 levels hovered near 2500 ppm. Today it is 180 ppm, a dangerously low level. At 150 ppm, plants will die of CO2 starvation, and animals, including humans, will also die of hunger.

 

Peter Frickel shared some thoughts which came to him during the fury of the hurricane as poetry. Six insightful and enlighting poems, short and sweet, came borne on the wind and rain. My Body Was Speaking To Me; In The Mountains Of Africa; She Was A Lioness; Recent Interlude; Dreaming In Africa, and My Heart, were all too beautiful for this writer to describe. You must hear them and enjoy their meaning entirely.

 

Don Westerfield delves into a different genre, far from his norm. The Age of Bots looks at the future when humans have developed Artificial Intelligence in machines to the point where they supposedly think for themselves. Unfortunately, that may not work as well as intended. One little glitch…

 

The Pencil is an instrument that writes but cannot write. You are the writer. The pencil must be pushed to form the words on the paper. Scott Anderson gave us a poem about his favorite pencil with Japanese graphite and California redwood. And, as an extra special treat, he shared a photo of his dog dressed in the Halloween costume, a delightfully cute dinosaur. Scott also explained, What Constitutes Haiku?

 

When Richard Cope took the floor, we looked forward to hearing more of Le Cent. Vauchon reads Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Parie to Sophie, and a relationship develops, even though it cannot move forward. Vauchon is a leaper, and Sophie is enamored with a rapscallion sailor.

 

Terri Weintraub shared an essay entitled Why I Swim. Not a fan of aquatic critters or waves, Terri prefers swimming in her pool as it is therapy for sorrow. Her father died in a boating accident on a fishing trip. He either drowned or suffered extreme hypothermia, and none of the rest of her family enjoys swimming. Besides, not going to the beach saves her from putting up with Grinches in Speedos.

 

Okay, that’s about all for this edition. My memory is foggy after being away for almost a week and having fun. But I do remember, KEEP ON WRITING! Till next time, I’m looking forward to seeing y’all again. No, I’m not changing this word. That’s the way I speak.

 

October 5th, 2022

Here we are, our first meeting after hurricane Ian. I suspected there would be a small gathering but was surprised when twelve writers showed up. The storm caused some damage to our writer’s homes, but most of those in attendance suffered minimally. I’ve not heard of any of our members who’ve suffered an injury. Our thoughts, prayers, and good wishes go out to all who suffered through the storm.

God Bless!

Rod introduced a topic for discussion. How do you include BACKSTORY in your work? The subject of backstory is most often appropriate in fiction writing but does occasionally appear in other genres. The force behind character-driven stories is often not part of the current events, and the explanation comes as a backstory. Some writers open their work with a data dump of backstory and get it out of the way early in the narrative. Others work it into the story with flashbacks of varying length and detail. How do you do your backstory?

***

As we moved on to the reading portion of this evening’s meeting, Scott Anderson led us off with an enchanting poem, The Bistro. As he enters the restaurant, he meets the menu, each taking the form of a customer residing at the various tables in the establishment. Scott’s skill as a writer comes to the fore as he assigns each sumptuous dish a personality and traits we recognize. The meeting almost ended as hunger pangs danced in our minds and tummies.

Climate change looms large in the media as we struggle with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Bruce Haedrich attacks the subject head-on as he reads Climate Change Part I from his work Gaia Part II. Bruce presents compelling arguments gleaned from extensive research and historical evidence. Allowing as although man has contributed to the factors which affect subtle changes in the climate of our earth (Gaia), the natural cycle of events are the driving forces behind what we now call climate change. Bruce’s essays have a way of presenting arguments and theories in a positive posture. He makes the reader think.

If you ever get the chance to see the world through the eyes of a healing addict, your mind will see a different reality. Tish Mcauley allows us a glimpse into the distorted lives of those living in a drug culture. Friendships and intimate relationships are destroyed instantly by the need and unquenchable thirst for life-altering substances. Greed, fear, and lust drive families to distrust or even betray each other in the twisted reality of their altered state. For Tish, this narrative requires her to face her demons while healing the wounds in her mind.

Physical beauty and deformity are similar yet vastly different. Richard Cope addresses both in his latest work, Le Cent. As his protagonist suffers from the deforming disease Leprosy, a beautiful young woman, Sophie, gives the suffering solace in care and empathy. While Sophie herself faces a relentless assault of romantic advances by a notorious Lothario, she is seen by those around her as “Charity in the flesh.”

A first-time reader, Terri Weintraub, brought us a moving letter she wrote on her late husband’s birthday. The inspirational words flowed from her to the paper and evoked a response in the listeners. Each word carried remembrance, forgiveness, and longing, present and unfulfilled.

James Kelly brought us a glimpse into his saga of the Mackenzie family in reading an excerpt from Tremain. Tremain Mackenzie is the son of a Lakota Sioux war chief, Shadow Hawk, adopted by the Mackenzie family after his father’s death. Raised in the white man’s world but taught his people’s ways, Tremain earned his peers’ respect in both cultures. In this segment, Tremain is an officer in the ranks of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. As they prepare in Tampa, Florida, for their assault on the Spanish in Cuba, Tremain is surprised as he meets his Mackenzie brother, who has also joined the ranks of the newly formed regiment.

An old man daydreams of flamingos as they flock to a muddy plain in Africa, and he envisions a former lover in Peter Frickel’s story of the final hours of a former legionnaire. As the old man writes a letter to his lover, he sips his aperitif and remembers. His faithful dog waits by his feet and knows his master is failing. As the old man lingers in the café on the way to mail his letter, he tells the proprietor he plans to reunite with his love. At closing time, the old man is mort, his letter unmailed. Look for Peter’s story to discover the outcome.

As a youngster, Rodney DiGruttolo had many adventures while growing up around Sarasota. He read one such experience recorded in his book Snakes, Spiders, and Palmetto Bugs. Entitled A Kitten in the Woods, he tells the story of Skeets and his friend, Stan, as they encounter a mama bobcat and her kitten in a gully formed by a brook in Beneva Woods.

 

Well, that’s about all about the last meeting, it was informative and fun, and we heard some great stories. Join us again on October 19^th for our next meeting at the firehouse. Until then, KEEP ON WRITING!