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?

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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!