Welcome back, readers and writers. The year is rushing past like a mountain stream. There are rough spots and smooth stretches where everything changes. Sometimes our efforts crash upon the rocks of life, and we get very little done, no matter how hard we try, while in the smooth stretches, our first thoughts fit perfectly and require little or no editing. Sometimes I think the rough times are the most productive because we have time to rethink and revise what we’ve written. Those smooth moments can lull us into false thinking. Are we really that good? Do words really come that easily? That’s why we attend writers’ groups. If you want an honest critique designed to make you a better writer, trust your friends in the group. These writers are not your competition; they have their own issues and rely on you to help them as much as you need help. Listen and learn. Sure, some of the advice is off target, but most of it is truly meant to guide you on a path toward better writing. You are the author, you must decide what changes to make and what to leave alone. The same goes with editors. Editors are here to point out errors, not rewrite your work. That misplaced or overlooked comma, the dangling participle, a forgotten word, or the too often repeated word, can change the quality of your work. We all have our individual style, and that is where we can shine, or go down in flames. Don’t fall in love with your words; be open to change. Listen to what readers have to say about what you’ve written. Beta readers, those who read what you’ve written and give you honest feedback, no matter how brutal, can help you more than the “good job” advice you get from family and close friends who don’t want to insult you. When an editor, or another writer, says, “That doesn’t look right,” maybe there is a problem. Check it out!
We look forward to seeing y’all back soon.
We only had six people at the meeting, but it was a success. Four of us read our work and listened to feedback.
Starting off with Ernie Ovitz. Ernie brought us the continuation of his newest story. El Patrono’s funeral was attended by the leadership of Chicago’s Mob and their wives. Lee Santino, El Patrono’s nephew, who was more like a son than a nephew, revealed a plan to allow the organization's made men to retire with a clean-money pension. While Lee dealt with the mobsters, including the new boss, Tony C. -- Maryam Santino, Lee’s wife, observed the actions and foibles of their wives. The underlying tension, too much booze and rich food of the final dinner, weighed on everyone. Too much for Maryam, who was newly pregnant.
Scott Anderson is a poet studying the art of Haiku. Tonight, he shared with us five new verses submitted to a prestigious publication of the genre. Each poem has meaning to the reader. Different readers may have different meanings. To me, the meanings represent:
Shadow Existence, that part of us and others unseen, the shadow self beneath the living us:
Broken Eggs, those things we’ve done that cannot be undone:
Ship in Fog, the difficulty in finding one’s way in the confusion of life:
Large Hail, the big thing that cause change in life:
Space Inside, what happens to the space inside a box if the box in destroyed? Does it still exist? Does it simply join the space outside the box?
Fun, isn’t it?
The inquisitive mind of Bruce Haedrich is hard at
work creating a dilemma for readers to ponder. His latest work, Nadia,
is such a piece. Originally a robot, a humanoid, Nadia is a beautiful human
replica. Recalled by the factory to repair flawed hardware and software
issues, Nadia was transformed into a different being. Aesthetically the same, a beautiful
female human replica, she returns as a new form, a new species of human, as
assessed by science. A young man, Chris, accompanies her to a special school
designed to train these new forms, now called terrestrials, on how to perform
as real humans. But are they? Chris brings Nadia to Florida, where they join
Nancy, Chris’s human girlfriend. The problem is that Chris has fallen in love
with Nadia. Nancy knows this and suggests that Nadia is still just a humanoid,
not a human. Is she? Is she not human?
Roberta Molaro is a poet venturing into the world of fiction in prose. Tonight she brought us Chapter 2 of her story, The
Reluctant Heiress. Traveling alone for the first time in her life,
Jennifer heads from the suburban life in New York to the small rural towns of
Pennsylvania in search of her birth mother. She has only a name, no pictures,
no physical description, only the name, Mary Hoover, and the name of a town,
Owensburg, PA. Jennifer’s first stop in town is at the Post Office. There, she bumps
into a woman in the lobby who is reading a letter from her son in the Navy. The
woman looks shocked to see Jennifer, then leaves after apologizing for the collision, and turns back at the door to take another long look at Jennifer.
It was as if she recognized her. The Postal Clerk says he hasn’t heard of any
Hoovers in town, but he’d only been here for a year. The Postmaster isn’t much
help either; he doesn’t recall the Hoover name.
We are left hanging at almost every meeting. We give suggestions to the reader/writers
and wait until the next meeting to see whether they’ve taken them or made changes
to the story. Sometimes the whole story changes direction based on an idea
given or changed by a suggestion.
Well, that's about it for this meeting. Our next meeting is May 6, 2026, at the Nokomis Fire
House. We call the meeting to order at 6:30 PM. A group of us usually shows up
around 6:00 and visits before the call to order. You’re welcome to join us.
There’s no charge, all we expect are you and your opinions. We hope you enjoy and learn. If
you like to read but do not write, you are still welcome. Who knows, you may
discover a desire to write, and our motto is Writers Helping Writers. So, until
we meet again, READ, Read, read some more, and then WRITE, Write, and KEEP ON
WRITING.
No comments:
Post a Comment