Meeting, February 23, 2020

Sonja reported that she sent a proposal to the library regarding a NaNoWriMo event and a writers feedback event. The library is reviewing the proposal and will get back to us.

Judy suggested running a Shakespeare Sonnet Workshop (1 hour). Virginia suggested having Brian Henry in to give a writing workshop. We agreed to wait until we hear back from the library before putting forth more proposals.

After our prompts (below), June mentioned something about an Ode to a Salad. Since there was still some time left in our meeting we all decided to write an Ode to a Salad.

Writing Prompts

The writing prompt was taken from Writer's Digest - a game of Mad Libs.

Fill in the following:

1. A name
2. Noun
3. Noun
4. A place
5. Verb
6. Adjective
7. Adjective
8. Body part
9. Adjective
10. Time of year
11. A verb ending in -ing
12. A consumer product
13. A formal occasion
14. Plural noun
15. A verb ending in -ing
16. Noun
17. Plural form of something you wear
18. A place
19. Noun
20. Noun
21. Verb
22. Noun
23. Noun

Now, insert the words in the story below where numerically indicated.

Call me _____1______. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little to no _____2_____ in my _____3______, and nothing particular to interest me in ______4______, I thought I would ________5______ around a little and see the _____6______ part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing ______7_______ about the ______8_______; whenever it is a ______9______, _____10______ in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily ______11________ before ________12________ warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every _______13_______ I meet; and especially whenever my ______14______ get such an upper hand of me, that it requires strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately _____15_____ into the _____16______, and methodically knocking people's _____17________ off - then, I account it high time to get to _____18________ as soon as I can. This is my substitute for ______19______ and ____20______. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword, I quietly ______21________ to the _____22_______. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or the other, cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ________23________ with me.

Next Meeting

Sunday, March 8th, 1:30pm

Leader: Judy

Good News

Hi all.  Recently found out that I won second prize for adult poetry in the Click Create Celebrate literary competition, sponsored by the Caledon Library.  Here is the poem:

Untitled

the sky is charged tonight

timorous stars, ears turned earthward

listen for their true voices, that

like blind gospel psalms—echoing

upwards from upturned palms

—rise out of the vocal sacs

of a sea of peeper frogs

who fill the wetland bogs

with intense ululations

a sexuality of supernovic proportions

light years separate star and frog

yet are they not one being

as the hand is, at heart, no different

from the head in its seeing?

they sing, these tiny astral amphibians

to give cruciform voice to a longing

felt in the farthest reaches of inner space

to teach me something

I cannot fully comprehend

like a dream I cannot quite place

the sky is charged tonight

it needs us to attend

it needs to birth universes

stir up cosmic dust dances

toss its connecting light

like a seine net over us all

drag creature-Earth to shore

so that we finally find each other

the way a hand searches for and caresses

the furrowed field of a brow

to share in its many sadnesses

my yes, my heart cups

the hive of the world

whose shiver chatters bones

its heft-sensuous curves

braille-like textures intone

the warp and weft of

Being in its becoming

and when I look at you

with my stars singing in your eyes

your frogs peeping in my ponds

I am made to ask

where do I end and you begin?

Meanwhile, we carry on writing towards the collection of flash fiction now tentatively titled AND MAYBE YOU FLOAT AWAY, with the goal of completing it and shopping it around for Spring of 2014. Working with a professional editor has really helped my understanding of 'conscious' writing, which is to say that I am more aware now, as I write, of the intertwining of narrative/character/thematic elements inherent to good storytelling. It is very much an art and a craft, this business of scribbling.

Next up, Anthony Carnovale and I will be offering a presentation and workshop series for seniors in Snelgrove, Ontario, on Nov. 7th, on the topic of MEMORY, IMAGINATION and the POWER OF STORYTELLING. We're also working on a series of workshops for autism spectrum teens. Busy period! Keep you posted.  Cheers.