Meeting Minutes March 7, 2010

I'm posting this a little later than usual. I was abducted by a friend this morning and taken on a road trip. Aside from that, I've been busy writing and submitting. No good news yet, but there are 5 more agents who've heard my name. LOL.


We had a large crowd on Sunday and most of them brought things to read, which was fabulous! This means we're all writing! We spent a lot of the meeting reading, except Richard who said that he slammed his head in a door and thought he had an epiphany, but discovered it was really a concussion. Let's hope it jarred something and you put the pen to paper again. We're anxiously awaiting Book 3.


Nancy reminded everyone to register for the Brian Henry workshop on March 13 if we haven't already done so. You can contact Brian via his link on the side of our webpage.


We also decided to make a donation of $100 to the church twice a year. Possibly at the end of April and the end of Oct/Nov.


Nancy got Diane (a.k.a. me) to read a couple paragraphs from Natalie Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away. There had been some questions in the group as to what was best to write with so we think we have that question answered: (I hope!)

Begin to work those muscles. Just like you'd go to the gym every day, or at least three or four times a week, pick up the pen and to these ten-minute exercises. Choose a cheap notebook, in which you are not afraid to make mistakes. Use a fast pen. Try out different ones. Find what suits you. The mind is faster than the hand. Don't slow the hand down more wiht a ballpoint or a pencil. Cover both sides of the page.

But I like a pencil, you say.

Then use it.

What about a computer?

Use that if you like. Only know that handwriting and pressing the keys with your fingers are two different physical activities and a slightly different slant of mind comes out from each one. Not better or worse, just different.

But remember: there are no excuses not to write. You can't say, but I'm in the woods and don't have my computer with me. Learn to be comfortable with the most simple tools. What if you can't afford to pay your electric bill? You should still be able to write.

Often people who use a computer at work prefer handwriting for memoir to create a boundary between their professional and personal writing. Many writers I know do handwritten first drafts. Then they take it to the keyboard.

We all initially learn to handwrite. Arm connected to shoulder, chest, heart. Come back to the beginning. But maybe that's not true anymore. You might be part of the generation that used a computer as your first way to begin to write. If that's so, then use what you know naturally.

We introduced ourselves to Caitlin, a friend of Jayne's who joined us today. She submitted her novel to Humber School for writers, but the teacher doesn't read her genre which is gothic/horror.

Clare announced that his cross to bear is Nancy. The sunny day, and spring fever, made us all a bit crazy.

Judy read "The Bank of Paper Bag" which she had published and showed us at the last meeting.

Harry reminded us that April is National Poetry Month. His group in Owen Sound will be doing poetry readings at the Grey Roots Museum on April 24. Their theme is: Climate Change and Ecology.

Pat read a story called "Retribution" about a lucid dream she had.

June read from an old story she dusted off. Something she wrote years ago.

Richard wondered if there are contests to submit novel manuscripts. If anyone hears of any please pass the information on or post it on the blog.

Alex read a piece about how we are all becoming bland like "Kraft Dinner." We need to be free and "all used up at the end of our lives. To live and be alive.

Clare talked about his Meanderings column and how it was cut from 900 words to 500 or so. It was about the Creole pig in Haiti. That led to a discussion about censorship in writing and art. We talked about Gary Larsen's unpublished cartoons.

Sonja read part of her novel that we are all looking forward to reading someday.

Anita read a wonderful poem by a young friend of hers named Josh. I am adding it to our blog with his permission:

The Colour Red

Red sounds like a Canadian flag waving in the wind.

When red is bright, it's as smooth as silk, but when it's dark, it bursts with anger.

Red tastes like a sweet strawberry that you should savour in your mouth.

Red smells like a young rose on a bright sunny day.

At any time, red can be contained in a heart to symbolize love.

by Josh W. (Age 10)

What a wonderful poem, thank you for sharing that with us Josh and Anita.

THANK YOU to Dorothy as well for the decadent, scruptious, dripping with sugar squares that we all made disappear in record time! WE LOVE YOU AND YOUR TREATS!

We also discussed a group anthology. We began to write one a couple years ago before Len's death and decided this might be a great time to work on it again since we have a whole new group to include. Gloria Nye has offered to edit and put it together for us. We won't have a real theme and every author will maintain full rights to their work (plus get a publishing credit!)

Glenn has moved to Alberta for a few months and won't be with us for a while. If anyone wants to keep in touch, contact Nancy or Diane for mailing information. Nancy will send him our meeting minutes and updates on a regular basis (as regularly as I get them on the blog anyway!) so you can sent notes or whatever via Nancy's mailout.

In closing, Nancy asked if I can post her prompts from this meeting as well. Most of these are very basic prompts from Natalie Goldberg and always good for getting your pen moving when you slam your head in a door and your concussion needs inspiration (right Richard?)

1) What I don't remember is...

2) There are eight good reasons for men to lie.

3) When I die, I'll miss...

4) How poor were you?

Poetry or whatever flows:

Metaphors for a poem: a pitcher of bitterness, a taste of sacrifice, a house of delight, a course of sorrow, a spoonful of delight, a knot of hate. Courtesy of: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/#

Thanks for the giggles.

See you all at the next meeting March 21, 2010 Clare will be leading.