Meeting Minutes January 23, 2011

I'm typing up the meeting minutes while nestled beneath a blanket with a cup of tea trying to get warm. Currently it's about -17 Celcius and sunny. For those of our friends in the USA, -4 F. That's COLD! Our water bottles all froze! Sorry, inside joke.

We had a couple new members today, Thomas and Andrew. Hope you enjoyed the meeting, guys!
And two returning new members, CJ and Megan. Glad you came back.

Ron told us he sold a copy of the anthology to the Mayor of Shelburne, who is also his insurance agent. Kudos to Mayor Bill Hill for donating an extra $10 to the literacy fund for children.

Pat posted her "Why I Write?" from last meeting to Triond and will post it to the blog.

Marilyn told us that Gloria is doing final edits on the anthology A Walk in Fields of Gold before we get a second print done.

Judy is considering using a pseudonym for her book, but isn't sure she likes the name yet.

Clare read a piece called "Sound of Silence" about muzak and background sounds. He plans to edit it and use it as a Meanderings piece in the Banner.

Diane read a short story about Dinner at Angel's.

Pat told us that Gloria recommended a book for all of us to read called "Don't Murder Your Mystery" by Chris Roerden. Chris has been an editor for 40 years and offers 25 techniques to save your manuscript.
She also read an email from a gentleman in Pennsylvania, Doug, who has been in touch with her via our website. (The inside joke at the beginning was for him.)

We had a brief discussion about updating our website. Shirley has been looking after it and will be getting help soon to upgrade it and include new members as well as deleting people who are no longer members.

Marilyn read a short story that she will post to her personal blog about a deer leaping over a minivan. She also read a short piece called "Morning" that will appear as part of a "thing" not sure if it will be an article or short story.

Ashley has been rewriting the first chapter of her novel as per advice from members. It drew us all in and we can't wait to hear more.

Ron was "kicked out of school because his teacher didn't have anything else for me to do." He is currently going through his book and editing. He sent a copy of the anthology to his professor friend in England and is eagerly awaiting a response. He showed us two items he's had published. One about Sale and Peltier not getting the gold medal in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. The other published this past Wednesday about Baby Doc Duvallier returning to Haiti. He also read us a poem about war veterans which was very moving.

Caitlyn, CJ and Megan told us they all saw the tranformer and line blow out near the LCBO last night on Broadway that put part of Orangeville in darkness. We encouraged them all to write about it.

CJ mentioned that the Town of Orangeville Small Business Department is offering two courses. One on Business Writing and another on Business Blogging.

Judy read us the sequel to The Bank of Paper Bag and we learned more adventures of the bag and the Gold Dust Twins it accompanied to Florida.

The prompts this week were a lot of fun. Judy picked sentences out of several books and we ended up with 9 very interesting lines to work from. I, apparently, channelled Edgar Allen Poe for mine and will post it on my personal blog after I make a few tweaks.

Enjoy the prompts!

1) The black skid marks on the road told the story.

2) The forensic artist had sculpted layers of plasticine over the skull, fleshing it out, but it wasn't until she placed the eyes into the sockets, smoothing eyelids over top, that the man let out a cry of disbelief.

3) Helen lit a cigarette and put it into his mouth, her fingers lingering for a moment on his lips.

4) Before I begin, before I tell you how I came to be here, we have to go back to the beginning when I was alive.

5) A bunch of people I had never seen before filed into my room and began to sing.

6) The numbing reality set in: she was trapped on the family farm, married to a man who was afraid of his ill-tempered mother.

7) "I have never told you this," he said at length, "but I think if we are going to continue with this venture, you deserve an explanation."

8) She opened the shed door and something, or someone, dropped from the rafters knocking the flashlight out of her hand.

9) The old man removed a dusty volume from the third shelf and a section of the library wall slid open.


Our next meeting is February 6th and Richard is leading, if we can find him.
See you all then.
Happy writing!

HWG Anthology Now Available

A Walk In Fields of Gold - An Anthology of Prose & Poetry is now available at BookLore in Orangeville and at Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Fields-Gold-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0968198198/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292898926&sr=1-1. Get yours now for $14.95. Proceeds are going to purchase books for the Headwaters Healthcare Centre children's wing.

The book contains the writing works of:

Diane Bator
The Late Janet Bellinger
Mary Patricia Bird
Shirley Bray
David Chesterton
j.m. Crole
Ruth Cunningham
J.C. Dumas
Richard Goodship
Ashley Haworth
Marilyn Kleiber
Laura LaRocca
Ron Lehman
Clare McCarthy
Alberta Nye
Gloria Nye
Harry Posner
The Late Len Rich
Nancy Rorke
Jayne E. Self
Caitlin Smith
The Late Ed Wildman
Judy Zarowny

Get your copy today!

Meeting Minutes November 14, 2010

Despite a bout with a sinus infection, I showed up in body to this week's meeting. Harry was leading and his prompts are never dull! In fact, he started off the meeting with a bang when his chair fell over. Luckily, he wasn't on it at the time. Heavy coats and gravity do not mix.

We discussed the Christmas luncheon. Since Fong's Buffet - formerly King's Buffet - is no longer in business, we need a new venue and soon! We had a few suggestions: Kelli brought up Fionn McCool's which is new in Orangeville, Gloria said there is a King's Buffet in Guelph if we'd all like to go there and Marilyn reminded us that there is a cafeteria in the hospital. (if we get food poisoning, the location is convenient, but the price of parking is a killer!)
We are still looking for suggestions!

Gloria and Richard have been hard at work on the anthology. There has been a problem with matching the cover we had chosen into the template the publisher offers and they've spent two months trying to get it to work. She did have a mock-up which looked great.Once the cover is selected, we'll have our book within two weeks.

Several people brought things to read this week.
Clare went back to Richard's Halloween prompts and came up with a story called "Bushwacked" about a man trying to pull of murder. He borrowed Harry's famous line "ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk..."
He's also come up with a label for his brand of murder mysteries - "Soft Gore"

Marilyn worked on her piece from Halloween called "Fashion Disaster". Harry asked her if she's going to expand on the story. We're 'dying' to hear more...

Kelli announced that she's finished "Amber and the Bully" and has submitted it to publishers! Way to go, Kelli! Can't wait to see Book 2 on the shelves soon.

Ron posed an interesting question to us all: Who is the most famous writer in the world?
The answer is Anonymous.

Ruth read her new introduction to her updated copy of "Mystical Verses: The Poetry of Self-to-Self Philosophy." Beautiful cover and two new introductions to help put the book into context. Ron wondered what the point of the intro was. Harry told her it was very well written.

Ron read us a short story called "Meeting of the Blind" about a rabbit and a snake that meet at an intersection. Anyone who wants to find out what happened can ask him later.

Ashley read to us from an article published on Writing.com that pondered death and how to cause it.  She also told us that she's "finally 18, but not old enough to drink."
Pat told her that "at least you can write about it."

Jayne had a new short story that is a Fantasy! Judy said it reminded her of Angels and Demons. We were all hooked. Shirley suggested that she find a moment in the first page to pinpoint the era/world/etc that the story takes place in. Can't wait to see more of it.

David was back. This time he brought 20 ridiculous phrases. Some of which I managed to jot down.
     Is it possible to be totally partial?
     If a mime swears, do they wash his hands with soap?
     Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?
     Do watchmakers take time off to unwind?
     Does a broken window feel 'pane'?
Marilyn added one more: Why is there braille on drive-thru ABM machines?

Ruth reminded us that she'd sent a link regarding dedications and introductions in books. And at book signings. Another link for me to post!

Harry read from his circus book. He's planning to create 50 character sketches of people in the circus. This meeting he read "Lenny". Judy thinks he creates "alive, textured and beautiful characters."

Judy has finally put her book "Fat and Other F Words" in a binder. This means it's becoming a real book! She read a poem called "Finish" and said her book will be one you can keep in the bathroom. Diane asked if she has a poem called "Flushed."

Ron announced that Ruth Garrett may come to spend a Sunday with us in the new year. He will let us know when.

Very interesting prompts this week courtesy of: The Conscious Scribe: 100 Exercises for the Developing Writer By (drumroll please) Harry Posner. (That's right folks, he's been holding out on us!)

The prompts:
1) describe a game of baseball (or any other sport) from an erotic point of view.
2) Write a short story that evokes the same emotional landscape as a Japanese rock garden.
3) Describe a seance that takes place in the world of the dead.
4) Describe the preparation and eating of a dinner, referring only to the movement of hands.
5) Write a poem that breaks all the $$/%^@^#@ rules.
6) Create a dialogue between two people, one of whom is a compulsive liar, the other a compulsive truthsayer.
7) Describe a day in the life of a gargoyle.
8) On a battlefield, hundreds of dead soldiers are spread out in front of you. Describe the scene, but only talk about the vegetation.

A lot of the group used the gargoyle prompt. And a lot of pigeon poop. Marilyn had a great line about "birds are the only creatures who evacuate in black and white." Jayne resurrected Harry's woodchipper for her story. ca-chink, ca-chink... One of the other best lines was when Clare, in his school-teacher voice called out "In the name of Harry Posner, arise!"
Ashley wasn't "feeling the gore" today. Pat prepared a dinner, which left us all a little hungry and prompted us to end the meeting.

And now I'll be off to my own dinner... ca-chink, ca-chink, ca-chink....

Meeting Minutes July 25, 2010

I was late arriving to the meeting. Thanks to Pat for taking notes for the first hour that I missed and for sending them to me right after the meeting.

Richard passed around headshots for individual approval. Some retakes were done after the meeting.

Gloria shared page set up samples for bios and content for the anthology. She advised that she has decided on a 6x9 inch book, a little larger than her previous anthology Stories of Prayers and Faith. The group agreed that the smaller sized bio and picture were more appropriate as to not overpower the page (Richard's words). Headers and footers were agreed upon by the group members present.

Kelli pointed out that the website still has the photo of the library on it. Richard is going to take a picture of the church and forward it to Shirley so she can change it on the website.

It was agreed that A Walk in Fields of Gold is the final title for the anthology. Richard has been trying to match the font from the HWG logo, but has been unsuccessful. Pat will email Rich Landriault who produced the logo and see if he can help.

Pat advised that the official HWG membership list includes names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and birthdates; and that this list is only distributed to Nancy, Shirley, Laura and Diane. She suggested sending to the group via email a list of names and addresses only. Everyone agreed.

Another reminder was issued to have submissions and bios emailed to Gloria by the end of July.

And this is where I took over.....

Richard brought up a discussion about using prologues and epilogues. A lot of editors don't like them. They feel the information should be woven into the body of the story. Richard argued that there are times when they are appropriate to use. For example, when part of your backstory takes place hundreds of years before the novel, a writer can use a prologue for the distant past information. When a novel concludes in a way that the reader needs a little more information to be sure things ended up "happily ever after", you can use an epilogue to let us know how things turned out. They are mostly used in mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy novels. David wondered if it was the editor who was unnecessary, not the prologue or epilogue.
Richard reminded us that 2001: A Space Odessey was a prologue.

Laura read a piece to us that we asked her to post to the blog. It was called "Revenge on the Editor" and included several members of our group in the cast! Very funny story.

The prompt was based on Richard's last blog post about "What's in a Name?"
We were handed names written on slips of paper and told to write a character description and plot using the name. Most of us got something on paper, but some of us were caught up in the discussions about names and the stereotypes of names. As writers, we work hard on our story lines and settings, but sometimes forget how important names are. What it does come down to, however, is a matter of perspective and what the author chooses.

Some of the names Richard handed out were: Daniel, Theodore, Eugene, Laura, Betty, Wilma, Bella (Isabella or Belladonna), Wilbur, Warren, Elizabeth, Robert, Raven, Barry. Everyone found that we had to work a little harder for "stereotype" names and "non-exciting" names.

Ways that some of our members choose names for their characters are: from people they know or have met, baby name books, on-line name lists.

Last night I looked up some tips for naming fictional characters. I came across three interesting sites to check out:
www.babynames.com/character-names.php
http://www.charlottedillon.com/characters.html
www.fictionfactor.com/characters.html
Hope these can help to answer some questions. Out of all my writing books at home, I only found a short section in one magazine that even referenced this topic.

This is an excerpt from an article by Sam McCarver in The Writer from March 2009 (Page 23):
"Give characters fitting names that suit their roles and personalities. Would the name Felix Frump bring to mind a fearless, intriguing detective? No, but it might well apply to a comic character in a humorous novel. A tough detective would more likely have a name like Dirty Harry. A character, therefore, should be given a name that fits his or her individuality. The names Ebenezer Scrooge, Zorro, Frankenstein, Tarzan, James Bond and Dirk Pitt are all fitting, unique fictional names that in themselves can help evoke visual images and impressions of the characters.
Give your cast of characters names with clear differences-some shorter names, other longer, using various letters of the alphabet, each name having a different basic sound. The deadly villain of Star Wars is aptly named DarthVader, using hard consonants, while the heroic character exploring the far reaches of the universe is suitably named Luke Skywalker, emphasizing vowels. Janet Evanovich gave her female sleuth an intriguing name, Stephanie Plum, that is very rhythmical-a long, soft first name of three syllables, balanced by a single-syllable but soft surname.
Movie studios realized that the real names of potential stars could be burdens and so made them more memorable. Thus, we saw no movies with Archibald Leach, but enjoyed many with Cary Grant-his studio name. Greta Gustafson became Greta Garbo, and Marion Morrison took the name John Wayne.Elmore Leonard has said, "Sometimes a character doesn't work until I change his name." If your character names don't fit, change them."

Our next meeting is August 8, 2010. Harry will be leading.
Hope to see you all then.