JUNE 18, 2025

 

Welcome back. 

Here we are at the final meeting of the first half of 2025. Already? It seems as if the year just started a few weeks ago. How are you doing with meeting your goals for this year? I will say I’ve fallen behind. I don’t know if it’s laziness, distraction, or something I don’t recognize. Maybe it’s a little of all that. Anyway, once I get moved into my new home and get settled, I plan to make a concentrated effort to catch up. That brings up another question. Can one really catch up? The time wasted is time we have not used effectively. We cannot recover time. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t make the clock run backward any place but in my head. Good luck repurposing lost time.

 

This week, only nine writers could attend the meeting. Several of our regulars were out of town, and a few have returned to homes in northern climes, but two new adventurers came to see what we do here. Welcome to Lex Concord and Dino Bianchi. We look forward to you joining us many more times in the future.

 

First up in the reading portion of the meeting, Ernie Ovitz brought us scenes ten and eleven of his short story, The Penitent Man. 

Scene 10: A Chinese businessman named Yan Qing approached Santino with an offer to pay the price demanded by the brother of the President of the United States. Santino delivered the message. The deal was done, but a suspicious plane crash claimed the life of the President’s brother. Now, agents of several government agencies were probing into Santino’s business affairs. They intended to prove he was in league with the Chinese Government to cause harm to the United States.  

Scene 11: While in Panama, attempting to clear his name, Santino has a dispute with a Customs Agent at the airport. Santino’s bodyguard stops him from drawing unwanted attention to himself by making an example of a single man demanding an exorbitant bribe.

 

As always, Don Westerfield brought us two poems. Both were written some years prior, but carry a modern message. While listening to the poem “Eternity,” the listener can hear the indecision in the writer’s voice as they contemplate the existence of an omnipotent being. But the rest of the story becomes clear in the final stanzas. Always interested in aircraft, Don pursued a career in Military Aviation. So, it is not a reach when he brings us a poem formed as a ballad about men and their flying machines. The poem Dan and His Staggered Wing Beech tells a tale of a cocky young pilot who heeds a call for help from another pilot who is lost and engulfed in a dangerous storm. As Dan and his revered Staggered Wing Beech launch into the storm in his effort to guide the beleaguered to a safe landing, the fellow flyers watch and wait. Soon, the lost pilot lands safely, but what of Dan?

 

The Last Soviet is the working title of Ursula Wong’s latest work. This is the second work in a series about a brilliant programmer and coder who developed an application designed to translate all languages. Grace called her app “e-parlay. “ As Grace discovered her app could be used for evil, she destroyed it. Or did she? Now, International Intelligence agencies of many countries, including the USA, are looking to get their hands on “e-parlay.”

 

Do you know that most women have not had the opportunity to work with a mentor? Anne Moore has started a project to help women discover the benefits of mentorship. Anne is conducting interviews with seventy women aged seventy years old. She is asking questions pertinent to life’s lessons these older women have learned the hard way. All so that she can share their vast knowledge with younger women seeking guidance. Good luck, Anne.

 

Okay, then. Our next meeting is on July 2^nd, and we would like to see you there. Until then, READ, Read, and read some more. Then, KEEP ON WRITING.

June 4, 2025

We needed the rain we got over the past four days. Tonight was clear and dry as we enjoyed the company of eight writers at the meeting. A few have taken leave for a while as they travel north to escape the heat of our Florida days. Those of us who are full-time residents have developed a tolerance to the temperature and humidity accompanying the sunshine. As you might have heard, Hurricane season is officially upon us. We’ve ridden out more than one major storm and probably will do so again. But we pray for mercy after last season.

Are you envious of others? Do you wish to be in those areas that do not suffer from hurricanes? Speaking of envy, do you envy other writers? Their use of language? Their timing? Their sentence structure? If you don’t, you are not reading enough. Reading the works of established writers, even those in our own group, is one way we learn to become better at our chosen art. Okay, Envy is a Sin! Or so we are told. So, let’s change the word to admire. We learn as we admire skilled writers. The group discussed this admiration for nearly 30 minutes. Good writing doesn’t have to be clinical, with every detail correct and all rules followed to the letter. Even the most sophisticated author makes mistakes. Foreign authors are often mistranslated, and ethnic writers use terms not listed in oft-used reference manuals. DON’T  BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR WRITING. If you are afraid something is not correct, bring it to a writer’s group and let them give you their opinions. But remember, what they say is their opinion, not a rule of law, and neither are all those tomes extolling the virtues of pristine authorship. You are the author; write what you feel is what you want to say!

 

Moving on to the sharing part of the meeting, Ernie Ovitz led us on a journey to Panama. His protagonist, Lee Santino, is scrambling to protect his company and himself from the efforts of the Chinese underworld to blame him for unscrupulous business practices and a possible link to the murder of the President’s brother. Lee’s uncle, an aging but still active Don of the Midwest Mafia, sends a trusted lieutenant as the men embark on a trip to Panama to visit an old ‘family’ friend whose knowledge of laundering money could be instrumental in exposing the hidden resources that might prove Lee’s innocence in the suspicions the Treasury Department seeks to use as evidence against him. The tension is building and creating friction in his marriage.

 

Scott Anderson’s brain churns out poetry. Haiku ranks high in his accomplishments. Tonight, he allowed us to hear eight of his poems, which are part of an attempt to write forty good Haiku poems in one month. Tonight’s entries are individual and not related in any sense except they are traditional Haiku. Since Scott will be traveling for the next few weeks, he will not be able to share his work with us until he returns. Have a great trip, but take time to write. We look forward to you joining us again upon your return.

 

When Don Westerfield takes the floor, we know it will be something good, whether it be poetry or prose; his efforts are always entertaining. Tonight, he brought us a story with a bit of suspense, heroic deeds, and a tongue planted firmly in his cheek. The Chamber shows us a look at a non-stop Alpine adventure of a master spy and a lady killer. (literally) as his first conquest is of the notorious White Orchid Assassin, Cherri Karlovicoff. After an escape fraught with danger and daring, he ends up in Miami after a dead-stick aquatic landing. Fortunately, the beautiful and notorious ‘Black Widow,’ Hussy La’More rescues him. After several romance (sex) filled days aboard her yacht, she allows him to go ashore in South Beach. There, a bomb threat interrupts his R&R. Neutralizing the bomb… Oh well, we recommend you look for the story in one of Don’s published collections. If it’s not there, enjoy the other poems and stories. They’re great.

 

Blip Finds Waldo is a story from the brain of Danny Spurlock. Blip is a character who is searching for his true identity. He’s contacted his birth father after many years of not knowing who or where he was. He takes a motorcycle trip across miles of Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico, meeting interesting and intriguing people along the way. Oh, by the way, he really does find Waldo.

 

What started out as a short story has now blasted past the novella stage and is fast approaching a full-blown novel. Bruce Haedrich writes of the future, which includes humanoid beings with developing sentience. Fourteen months after meeting Nadia, Chris and Nancy host Stanley, who is part of a company furthering the production of what was once called robots. The technology is so advanced that humanoids are indistinguishable from humans. They are capable of feelings and independent thought. Sci-fi fans, look for this on the bookshelves in the not-too-distant future.

 

How much do you know about the old Soviet Bloc? Today, the war in Ukraine ranks high on the Network News broadcasts. Belarus, Georgia, and Crimea are hotbeds of tension between the West and the Russian Allies. Ursula Wong writes about the area as her ancestral home is in Lithuania. In her newest tome, The Last Soviet, she expands on the previous offering, Strategic Deception, revealing the clandestine use of the AI application of e-Parlay. Once sought after to the extent of murder and near WW-3, the program is now in use by factions across the world, from Hackers to Terrorists. The tension is building.

 

Well, I think that's all for this session. Take the time to read, even if you don't think you enjoy reading. Try it long enough to finish a book in the subject of your choosing. You might find out you like to read. I mean, where else can you be transported across a galaxy, see the world, experience heroic deeds as you perform them, fall in love, save the world from extinction, or just relive a summer day as a child again. For all you regulars, READ, Read, and read some more. Then, KEEP ON WRITING.