Marilyn had two copies of A Walk in Fields of Gold for all of us to do edits on. They were passed around while people read what they'd brought and Diane passed around candy. Some of the comments about the books were that it was a great layout, we can't wait to see the real cover (the proofs had a temporary one) and there was a discussion about whether the name of the group should be Headwaters Writers Guild or Headwaters Writers' Guild. We stuck with what is on the cover of the book: Headwaters Writers' Guild.
Diane started off reading with a kids' halloween story.
Glenn started off the barbs at Richard with "Show up or shut up" since he hasn't been at meetings lately.
Sonja showed up dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. She had a basket but no goodies. Good thing we were all sugared up by then! Ron leaned back to talk to her and the legs on his chair collapsed. No lawsuits are pending.
Clare read us another character study about someone he saw in a Tim Horton's in Orillia. Diane suggested he create a Tim Horton's anthology since so many of his stories take place there. He said he does sketches of people he sees in Timmies and calls them his "Coffee Mugs."
Judy read a poem about "Fritter". She didn't want to offend anyone with her poem "Fat" but we all encouraged her to read it an were NOT disappointed! It was excellent and we all laughed until we cried. Richard even gave her a huge hug. Wonderful job, Judy!
Marilyn read us her story about a demonic puppy. Really good story, creepy ending!
Ashley has rewritten her Chapter One and it is now more like a journal. She had us all hooked. Nice job.
There were lots of barbs being aimed at Richard today. Diane told him that he had dressed up today after all - as a dart board.
Jayne read a poem by Joyce Rupp called "Autumn Anguish" that she'd heard at a jazz vesper session (an evening prayer service) this week.
Pat read a Halloween poem that she'd written in 2004 and read since no one else had ever heard it but Nancy.
Harry read "King of Mediocrity" which prompted Richard to observe that he "must have some weird dreams." We were impressed, as always, by Harry's timing and pacing of his written word poetry. He told us that he'd only edited that particular piece twice.
Nancy read a revised opening paragraph of one of her stories. She also read about The Goal of Openings from Les Edgerton's book "Hooked". I've borrowed it to read and will give everyone some Coles notes - Diane's notes - later.
Most of us got right into the prompts this time around. Harry's prompt was about a wood chipper and the words chig-a-chunk kept echoing through our heads long after he was done. The best line of his piece was "Question. Am I insane?" I think that would make a great prompt all on its own. It was suggested by Pat that Harry go last from now on since he's a hard act to follow. Judy told Harry he should write "The Woodchipper's Waltz"
There were a couple of prompts that seemed to be favourites. Numbers 1 and 6. Clare used #8.
Ashley wrote about a serial killer who left roses in his victim's hands. Glenn announced that we should chip in for a t-shirt for Ashley that says "Beware" as a courtesy to men everywhere. For his prompt, Glenn wrote about a "customer" in a soup kitchen. Hope he finishes that one since it has a lot of promise.
Marilyn gets the Best Line of the Meeting award for: "Anastasia Johnson was to fashion what Hitler was to gentle tolerance." Brava!!
Diane decided not to be restricted to one prompt and ended up using: 2, 3, 4, 7 and 11. She also posted her prompt story on her blog just for kicks. Feel free to check it out! http://dbator.blogspot.com/
Once the prompt readings were done, Richard brought up something for us all to think about. We've worked very hard on this anthology and he thinks it would be good for the group to have a project to focus on each year. Something like a book on CD and publishing our own e-books. He has been doing some research and needs to do more, but pointed out that by self-publishing, we can retain all rights and republish our novels if they are picked up by traditional publishers.
A lot of books now are being released as e-books on iPhones, kindles etc and this is the way of the future. We need to be flexible and learn as much as we can about the technology rather than just holding out to be published on paper. Richard said he read an article in Writer's Digest about an author who has been published traditionally but chose to e-publish/self-publish to retain rights and earn more money from his creations.
We discussed how PayPal and ClickBank are important in on-line purchases of our books.
More publishers are moving toward Internet. Music, movies, etc are all being uploaded to the Internet and bought/sold. The days of hard copy publising are disappearing and it is harder and harder to get published in the traditional route.
Almost forgot the prompts! Have fun with them!
1) His head lay in the ditch, his eyes watching...
2) A scream shattered the stillness of the night...
3) The severed hand still clutched the red rose...
4) The colour combination of her outfit was hideous.
5) The trail of blood led them into the cave...
6) She screamed, he screamed, they all screamed for ice cream but what they got...
7) "How many times do I have to tell you, 'Never run with a sharp cleaver!'"
8) The ceiling began creaking as if someone was walking around upstairs.
9) She watched in horror as the severed head rolled slowly down the hill toward her...
10) He pushed the red button and the wood chipper roared into life...
11) "Here's Johnny!"
Happy Writing!
