Sunday, April 3, 2011

Meeting Minutes April 3, 2011

Clare led today's meeting, armed with chocolate treats from Dorothy to rev our blood sugar! Thank you Dorothy!!!

Jayne announced that on April 17 the church will be hosting a Pancake Breakfast/Lunch including pancakes and much more. Everyone is invited to attend, donations will be accepted. Breakfast will be served at 11:30am after Palm Sunday Mass. Come out and support our generous hosts if you can.

We have sent a tentative retreat day for Saturday, June 11 at Eramosa Eden. Nancy will confirm this with the ladies at Eramosa and an email will go out to all members.

Marilyn brought a box of books to share with everyone and ended up taking home about half of what she came with. Nancy asked her what kind of books she brought. Marilyn replied "I have very Catholic tastes and there are all kinds." The leftover novels will go with her to the Elora Festival.

Joe announced that he has rented a table at the Erin Home Show at Centre 2000 on April 30th to sell his books. He will be provided with 2 chairs, a table and electricity. His website, for all interested in checking out his books is http://www.grafspee.com/. He will be adding new articles to his webpage this year and answering questions his readers may have.

Marilyn's movie will be screened on Friday April 22 at the Regency Theatre in Kitchener. There will be screenings for 6 films in all and the evening starts at 7pm.

Readings:
Nancy hated to admit it, but she has become a bit obsessive. She has been researching her family tree and finds the mystery addictive. She read a great piece about her latest obsession.

Marilyn wrote about the boxes we put ourselves in. How we set boundaries and limit beliefs for ourselves. Virtual boundaries.

Kelli read two query letters for Amber and the Bully. One was her original query letter, the other was a revised version. The group advised her to make it shorter, add the genre and age range for the book, and google query letters for children's books. Jayne advised her that the query letter has to have the same tone as the book and that writing query letters are even harder than writing the actual book. Marilyn said that the hook is everything.

Diane read from a short story written for Wynterblue's 24 contest on March 26, 2011.

Jayne's husband popped in to announced that Caitlyn's mom is out of surgery and doing well. Caitlyn says hi to all!

Prompts:
Clare did an exercise on similes and metaphors.
Similes are comparisons using like or as. Example: "Muscles like a Clydesdale on steroids."
Metaphors are comparisons that don't. Example: "He had the build of a pregnant fire hydrant."

He did a reading from An Irish History of Civilization by Don Akenson. The line he chose to describe himself was "He died as he had lived, a dung heap covered in flies." We received three pieces of papers for the prompt.

1) Images
 This sheet contained several examples of similes and metaphors. A few examples are:
         1) Fat fingers like a cluster of grapes
         2) Paper thin personality
         3) Brisk as a walk in the snow
         4) Soaring on the wings of time

2) Something to Write Home About
This sheet gave a list of 10 words that we needed to write similes or metaphors for.
a) cold
b) limp
c) happy
d) ugly
e) sad
f) busy
g) harmless
h) intoxicated
i) lonely
j) skinny

3) Prompts
And, finally, the prompts!!!
Write based on one of the images of the following:
a) My earliest childhood memories stirring marvellous shadows on the wall
b) There is no enemy to fight but silence as he sits motionless in blue veils and sculptured folds
c) After plunging back into the deep waters of sleep, he awakened feeling like a lump of wet clay.
d) Waves of laughter rippled through the crowd
e) Today the wind is blowing hard enough to knock the hair off a dog.
f) He possessed the sincerity of a salesman's smile
g) He raised his hands for silence and, in a moment, you could hear a fairy whisper.
h) "Now there was a brawl!" Conor said ....Tore the fucking place apart. It was a donnybrook of      monumental scope. Bodies flying, furniture smashing, the girls screaming. One of the most beautiful evenings I ever spent in my life. Anyhow...I was fortunate to make a successful exit just as the police arrived.
i) Aw, look at the size of him, would ye. With them feet of his, he'd keep right on standing a long time after they shot him.

A few samples from our writers:
Marilyn - "Her face resembled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."
Marilyn (who was on a roll!) - "As trustworthy as a dieting crocodile."
Jayne - "Uglier than a bald rooster."
Diane - "The cold lashed through him like a horseman's whip."

Everyone picked through Marilyn's books and Nancy showed us a book written by one of her ancestors that contains letters written by her great-grandfather!

For those of you who are not aware: April is Poetry Month.

Our next meeting is April 17, 2011. Reminder that there is a pancake breakfast taking place right before the meeting. Everyone is welcome!

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