November 15th, 2023

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are coming, and we thank the Nokomis Fire Department for allowing our group to use their training room for our meetings. We began collecting donations at this meeting and will continue at the next meeting. We have a card for each member to sign. If you want to donate, please attend our December 6^th meeting, bring cash, and sign the card. Our meeting on December 20^th will be our annual holiday party. Bring a simple dish and your appetite. We will have readings. Maybe you could bring a little something written in the spirit of the holidays.

 One of my favorite things about our meetings is listening to a writer read their work. I especially enjoy hearing a novice writer’s improvement over the weeks from their first attempt to their ‘much improved’ status after a few meetings. Our members are generous with their help and share their knowledge with beginners. Even as an experienced author, I learn something from every critique of every reading. Join us on the first and third Wednesday of each month and see what I mean. Don’t expect a miracle. We can’t turn you into Stephen King with one or two meetings, but we can highlight some glaring issues to help you become a better writer. And, besides, it’s fun.

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Opening up the first reading session, Peter McNally read from his memoir, Rewired. Peter suffered strokes, physical injury, and sustained seizures, all of which obliterated his intelligence and memory. Now, eighteen years later, he is writing about it. The effort and action required to perform this task are daunting. As a side effect of his work, flashes of his memory return as he delves into shrouded compartments of his damaged brain. Not all the memories are good. Peter’s writing skill has improved along with segments of his memory. Tonight’s reading showed us how frightening it can be to not understand what is happening as you suffer from a seizure. Even those around you don’t understand. Thank you, Peter, for giving us an insight into your world at that time, confusing as it was.

 

Ernie Ovitz writes historical fiction centering on the Roman Empire under the rule of Constantine. But tonight, he stepped away from that genre to bring us another historical story, a true one from his life. In Paradise Lost and Found, he tells of lessons learned from his Grandfather, a doctor in a rural portion of the upper Midwest. Learning how to tie fishing flies under the tutelage of ‘Doc’ was an experience few would ever know. Then, slathering on the mosquito gunk for a trip into the woods and arriving with a woodsman’s stealth at a Trout lake was another skill learned from the master. Watching and doing taught a young Ernie to cast his fly to just the right place. The thrill of hooking a lunker still burns bright in his memory, and with each memory comes the smell that mosquito gunk.

 

Our group is blessed to count several accomplished poets in our midst. Scott Anderson shines bright in the field. As a butterfly enthusiast (Lepidopterist), although Scott only takes pictures and not the butterfly. Now, he enters a contest sponsored by a camera company from Japan to explain his interest in photographing butterflies. As a poet, Scott chooses to present his entry in the form of haiku. Although Scott professes he does not expect to win the contest, his haiku is beautiful and worthy of praise in any writer’s group. Scott took the time to lay out the reasoning and thought in developing his poem. Well done, Scott, and GOOD LUCK.

 

Writers often have a different way of thinking, and Bruce Haedrich is no exception. Bruce explores the world with an eye on ‘what if’ foremost in his mind. What if a rogue moon broke away from a distant planet and came on a collision course with Earth? That thought has developed into a Sci-fi story. Thirty-one chapters later, the characters are strong, the story is captivating, and Bruce is writing furiously. The previous working title of Aquatinia has changed to The Janus Moon, but the plot builds. Watch for Bruce’s story coming to publication soon. Great story.

 

Another of our outstanding poets is Don Westerfield. This week, Don brought us something different. His first poem was concerning the second reading. A Poem Before Its Time, ends with:

“I faced a choice; delete it, or leave it intact.

I ended up, just filing it away,

Maybe I’ll work on it some other day.

Still, I consider it not a failure of rhyme,

Only a poem before its time.”

 Don’s poem, titled, My Truths Unfurled, contains this stanza:

“Criticisms I now take in stride

If I deem them true, and I never brush any aside.

In the end with all my truths unfurled,

Let it be said,

‘He found no disagreements with the world.”

 Don, we love your work and look forward to many more.

 

 

James Kelly writes historical fiction. His characters could have easily existed in the days of yore but are created in his mind and set to paper with skill and loving care. Maybe one or two of them are alive in history. Tremain is created, but the character and dedication of the young Sioux raised by the Calvary Officer and his family ring true. This chapter finds Tremain in Oklahoma as a Deputy Marshall pursuing a wanted fugitive named Indian Joe Devoe. Devoe and his gang killed a local Sheriff and his posse. The Marshall and his deputies track the criminals across the wilds of Oklahoma. Due to Tremain’s tracking skills and dogged resolve of the posse, they find the men camped and unaware they are being stalked by the posse. Taking them prisoner without a shot being fired. Devoe attempts to escape and rides away. Tremain uses a fifty-caliber Sharps rifle to shoot the escaping murderer from a distance of over 800 yards. The action makes the young man an instant legend.

 

Well, that’s about all I have to report for this meeting. I hope to see you all at the next meeting or our Christmas gathering. Remember, no matter what else you do, KEEP ON WRITING!

 

Nov. 1st, 2023

 

First things first, for my friends in the writer’s community. My email was hacked and eliminated. I’ve posted my new email address here on the right side of the screen. Please update your contacts list and send me a short note so I may retrieve your addresses. I am currently struggling to recover my data from my backup files. Thank you, Rod.

 

Ten of us gathered at the firehouse this evening to discuss our work and other issues we face as writers. Ernie shared some information from an article about AI. What’s happening in the world of technology is mind-boggling, as usual. Investigate carefully and protect your selves and your work with multiple backup systems. Rod read a list of 10 Rules for Writing from Elmore Leonard. After a short discussion, we moved on to the reading portion of the meeting.

 

First up tonight was Ernie Ovitz, with a reading from Imperiam, entitled A House Divided. As members of the Emperor’s family travel through Gaul, a raiding party of Frank warriors is reported pillaging the area. Even though guarded by a troop of Roman soldiers, Constantine dispatches additional units to hunt down the raiders.

 

Dennis Cathcart wrote a remarkable two-part memoir of his adventures while hunting serpents and reptiles across the globe. Tonight, he read his first attempt at fiction writing, The House in the Woods. A young boy tests his courage by visiting an abandoned house in a dense forest outside of town. His friends tease him but lack the fortitude to accompany him. The boy ventures into the woods and approaches the house but cannot summon the courage to enter it. He tells his best friend, and the word spreads that he has been to the house. At a Halloween program at the school, his favorite teacher dresses as a witch. The boy summons the courage to revisit the place on Halloween night. His friends all decline, most using made-up excuses to accompany him. Bolstered by a conversation with his Dad, the boy sets out through the dark night toward the house. Is he lost in the darkness? Continuing upon what he thinks is the proper path, he sees a light ahead. The porch light is lit. Using all of his willpower, he knocks on the door. A woman in a black witch’s costume answers the door. Is she his teacher? He can’t be sure. We’ll have to wait on publication to see what happens next.

 

Continuing with his sci-fi tale, Aquatania, Bruce Haedrich tells of a fleet of six spaceships nearing completion in space. Their top-secret mission is to take a select group of people off Earth before the remnants of a renegade moon from the planet Janus crash into Earth, destroying all life. People are chosen who are free of disease and unpolluted by drugs or outside physical dependencies. Each ship will carry 2,000 people to new planets ripe for colonization. Will humanity survive? Stay tuned.

 

With the roots of his family tree anchored in Kentucky, Don Westerfield brings us a fictional story of The Trial of Hubby Moore as related by the Editor in Chief of the Bulswit County Weekly. It seems the Bulswit County local judge is competing with Hubby Moore as they ply their trade as Moonshiners. With a complicated string of events unfolding, Hubby is arrested for killing an old friend of his that took advantage of Hubby not being around for a few days to sleep with Hubby’s wife. Hubby is scheduled to appear before this judge. Quite a coincidence, don’t you think? Well, one thing leads to another, and the trial commences. Hubby may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he has a few tricks up his sleeve. Even revenuers have been unable to find ole’ Hubby’s still. The judge dispatches his faithful bailiff to trick Hubby into revealing the still’s location. As the trial winds its way through the week, a still is discovered, a wife is unfaithful, and… well, why don’t you just read this here dern story for yourself in Don’s book Grandpa’s Book of Poetry, Prose, and Ponderings, The Musings of an Old Mind.

 

James Kelly brought another chapter of Tremain for us. It’s 1895 in Jefferson Barracks, MO, and young Tremain is about to propose to a young lady with whom he has fallen in love. He is a Lakota Sioux man raised by the MacKinsie family, and she is the daughter of a white trader and his Sioux wife. Tremain struggles to muster the courage to ask for her hand in the tradition of his people. In the meantime, he considers taking a job as a lawman in the Wild West.

 

It’s looking more like Fall around here; the temperatures are falling into the 70s and 80s, and there’s more traffic on the roads. We look forward to seeing some of our northern writers coming back soon. In the meantime, we’ll KEEP ON WRITING and reading.