March 6th, 2024

 

Hello again. Eight of our regulars, plus a first-time attendee, gathered on a damp evening to explore the mysteries of writing. We welcome Nancy Old to our fold and hope she enjoys our group. Nancy is writing a memoir to share with her grandchildren. A noble undertaking.

Last week, an automatic update to my Microsoft program changed the default font. It now appears to be Aptos (Body) instead of my old tried and true Times New Roman. The blog program does not yet support the new font so, this is still the New Times Roman. I'm not sure yet, but I might change back. I’ve submitted my work for publication in Garamond. It works well and is very readable. Of course, the font size is adjustable in all fonts. I have a problem with my vision and tend to use a larger font, 12 or 14, on my computer, but adjust it to fit the book page size for publishing. As I write this, I notice the spacing between letters is more conducive to reading than with Garamond. I like that the letters are less complicated in their formation. Think about this for a while, give me your opinion at the meeting on March 20^th.

 

We started the meeting by discussing how we chose names for our characters. Is it random? Maybe names from the past in our lives? How about old family names? That’s just a few ways mentioned. Have you ever checked, on the internet or any other way, if your character’s name appeared in another author’s work as a main character or with a minor mention? Do you really want your character to be named James Bond? Okay, maybe his mother was a big Ian Flemming fan. I suggest you read an article by Kathryn Goldman of the Creative Law Center in July of 2021 entitled – Are Fictional Characters Protected Under Copyright Law? She references a case before the federal court in Maryland concerning Tom Clancy’s character, Jack Ryan. The court ruled, and I have a copy of the four-page summary. I need a lawyer to explain it, but I think I’ll not name a character, James Bond or Jack Ryan.

 

Moving on to the reading portion of tonight’s meeting: 

 

Don Westerfield brought us a short story that he’d entered into a contest sponsored by a local newspaper. Although he did not win, he did receive an honorable mention. The Chapel Door is an intriguing story of a man, down on his luck and depressed, who meets a young boy on a bridge over a fast-flowing stream. As he tries to build the courage to jump into the rolling waters below, the boy asks, “Not gonna jump, are ya?” His interaction with the small boy leads him to a Chapel Door and inside a grieving woman. Look for Don’s story in one of his books soon.

 

Bruce Haedrich must have put on his ‘Pondering Cap’ as he brought us a list of thoughts voiced by many great thinkers. From the Butterfly Effect to thoughts by Nadeem Aslam, Elizabeth A. Johnson, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Bruce ponders the interconnection of events. His own anthology, The Girl in the Red Shirt, explores the theory as the actions in the stories interconnect throughout.

 

Taking the floor for the first time in her first meeting, Nancy Old brought us a story intended for her memoir, Backyard Memories. In a rural setting outside Nashville, Tennessee, life was simple. Raising food for the family was part of life, but some of the necessary actions might seem cruel to a small child. When killing a chicken for dinner meant wringing the fowl’s neck or chopping the head off with a hatchet seemed cruel to a five-year-old Nancy, she learned life is not always playtime and good things. Sometimes, good things start off not so wonderful. Nancy is a good writer. Her work will be fun to read with practice and fine-tuning.

 

Bill Elam is writing a book in which his characters have no names. They are identified. One character is The Old Man, and his wife is She. Others are called The Artist, The Musician, and The Mechanic. Such descriptions serve to identify the characters without giving them names. Bill is a skilled writer and can do this well. His stories are explicit and leave no doubt in the reader’s mind about who or what is going on.

 

Ernie Ovitz read from our friend and esteemed writer, Peter Frickel’s book, My Frog Sings, to close out the readings. Peter’s mastery of English and the timing of his prose makes his work shout even as it sings. Ernie did a beautiful job of reading, and it allowed me to hear once again the sonorous tone and flow of Peter’s voice, even though it was only in my memory.

 

We look forward to our next meeting at the Nokomis Firehouse on March 20^th and hope you can join us there. Until then, KEEP ON WRITING.