Meeting Minutes May 2, 2010

A funny thing happened on my way to work today. Two of my kids got sick. Okay, not so funny, but it is giving me time to catch up on the laundry and post the meeting minutes to the blog.



We had a large group yesterday. Nancy started off by saying she was happy more of us are posting to the blog. (and not just meeting minutes! LOL) We talked about how to start a writing group for people who want to start one elsewhere. The most vital thing Nancy suggested was GIVE IT A NAME! There will be less confusion later. Our group started off as just The Writing Group then later the website was posted as The Orangeville Writing Group. That evolved into Headwaters Writers' Guild since we have writers from all over the Headwaters region.



Pat has been in contact with a writer/blogger by the name of C. Patrick Schulze. He has invited members of our group to be guest bloggers on his site. We had five members "volunteer" to be his guests: Jayne, Richard, Gloria, Laura and Diane. If you would like to check out his blog, you can find it at http://cpatrickschulze.com/authorsblog/ If you have any suggestions as to what the five of us should write about, we'll take them! Jayne is emailing him for more information and will get back to us soon.



Reminder: The anthology deadline is June 19!!!

The limit on prose pieces is 2,000 words. You may submit prose or poetry. We have not set a limit on number of pieces, but everything in moderation. Two or three pieces TOPS!

We would like the book to be about 150 pages and it will have a soft, glossy cover similar to Stories of Prayers and Faith. We will call it HWG Anthology 2010 to leave the possibility for future volumes.

You may send your works via email to Gloria at glorianye@gmail.com.



We threw around some ideas for titles. I know that's not the most pressing detail we need to discuss but I'm posting some of the ones we came up with in the meeting as well as ones people sent out afterward.

Possible titles: A Gathering of Stones, Carved in Stone, Stories to Munch On, Airing Of Laundry, Carved in Sand, The Guilded Page (Anita), A Novel Idea (Chris - my husband who sleeps with one eye open), and a list of ideas from Harry: Pearl Necklace, Flock, Be Write Down, Stone Circles, Hands Full, Read This Book, Hive, Windings, Catkins, Tributaries.
Apparently Harry had a lot of time on his hands last night! Great ideas.
We do need to choose not only a title - which may just be HWG Anthology 2010 if we keep getting so many good ones to choose from!- and a cover photo. Clare and Richard both had some amazing photos yesterday. This is not going to be easy!

Onto the readings.....
Clare polished and read the story he wrote from a prompt last week about Jayne and Harvey Self. He also read Silver Angel Sings and told us it would only take 1 1/2 minutes to read. Pat timed him and he was bang on.

Pat emailed Gary Gravelle and he may be at our May 30th meeting.

Nancy suggested we go around the room and introduce ourselves since we have 3 new members now: Jenn, Kelli, and Alberta. Notable intros were Richard who said he was a bit of a drama queen (he knew we were all thinking it) and Laura aka Trouble, who writes when she's not editing for some people who write too much (Diane).

Sandy read her children's story, Zack and Kitty.
Kelli read part of the sequel to Amber and The Fallen Bridge, which is called Amber and The Bully.
Jenn read a couple of very nice poems.

Harry is turning his poem about the circus into a book of prose featuring vignettes about each of the circus folk and pictures. He read about Otto the Calliope Player. Richard gave him a picture prompt to as not to encourage his wild mind any further that day. Pottery is more benign than a nude woman on a chair.

Caitlyn read a story called God is in my Bathroom. She described herself as Mcgyver but without all the scientific training. It was a great story that made us all laugh and think. People suggested she send it to Reader's Digest, put it in the Anthology, or send it to Plumber's Monthly.

Ruth was busy thinking and couldn't write. She read from her blog on Self-to-self.com. Her piece was called Have You Ever Thought About Your Thinking? In it, she delved into how our brains work and what it means to think.

Judy was reminded by Nancy to post her "Best Excuse for Not Writing" on the blog.

Nancy read a story about Theodore and Harriet. It was very moving and a window on how life was in the pioneer days.

Nancy also told us that Nancy from BookLore would like to host an Open Mic night at the store possibly in September. She is looking for someone in our group to organize it. Any takers? It would involve a bit of time and a lot of fun.

I read a very short story called Petunia's Peril about a black widow. Everyone asked if my husband slept with one eye open. He's read the story and he's still here. I have nice spot under the rose bushes though.... Kidding.

Richard handed us each one of his photographs to write from. It was interesting hearing not only what people wrote but what the real stories behind the photos were.

Clare read his prompt AND USED THE "F" WORD! And Nancy missed it!
Richard wrote his about the Naked Lady on the Chair picture that he took away from Harry. He was glad to find out from Judy the title of a picture book that he was looking for called The Mystery of Harris Burdick. Feel free to check it out online. Very interesting concept.

Well, that's all I've got for today. Hope you've had fun.
Our next meeting is May 16 and Harry will be leading.
Don't forget to submit your anthology stories and poems!!!

Keep in mind our Retreat is June 19 at Eramosa Eden. The cost is $10 for the day which is payable to Nancy. We usually car pool when convenient. Hope you all join us for a fun day next to the river. Bring your cameras! You never know what you might see!

Keep Writing!