MINUTES FOR APRIL 7, 20l0

MEMBERS PRESENT:
Tom Spencer, Chuck Brown, Pam Gonzalez, George Miga, Jackie Huppenthal, Sharon Buckman

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Tom Spencer announced that they would be having an "Open Mike" at the Comfort Inn in Hebron, May l4th from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. The purpose, after signing in, is to have an audience for your work as well as being critiqued, if you so desire.

NEWS:
l. George Miga stated he has not been able to get to his writing, his favorite pastime. Instead he has been busy getting caught up on work and exercising. He has not yet heard any responses from his previous submissions of short stories and is still looking for an agent for his book "Medal of Dishonor."

2. Pamela Gonzalez has been having knee problems and is contemplating surgery. Her writing has had to take second place through all of this, however, she was able to write a memoir for Sharon Palmeri's class. She also stated her husband will be coming home from Iraq next month. Possibly, after everything gets back to normal she will be able to get back to the writing she loves the most, fictional stories for young adults.

3. Chuck Brown's father just recently passed away. With all the details this entailed he was forced to put aside the research he had been doing for a book concerning real history found in poetry.

4. Tom Spencer stated he has been busy writing every day. He also reactivated his membership in Writers' Village University (on the internet). He stated he was one of the original founders, sometime in the l980's, which now has a probable membership of approximately 200. This was of great interest to several of our members since you are able to go online for the various classes and work at you own leisure.

5. Jackie Huppenthal submitted several entries to the Prairie Writers' Guild (out of Rensselaer, In). She later read one of her submissions entitled "Indiana Corn." We had all forgotten so much could be done with corn.

She also stated she had taken first place for the poem she sent to the David L. Harrison Word of the Month contest and is presently thinking of trying to self publish her book "Fractured Fairy Tale."

6. Sharon Buckman has been busy trying to revise some of her short stories.

READINGS:
Tom Spencer entered his revised poem "Co-habitation", originally written several years prior. It was a beautiful poem centering around the fall months and the "wake of sleeping souls." It was enjoyed by everyone.

Chuck Brown read his one page entry entitled "Courage." It concerned the amount of courage required for a young boy to dive off a high diving board into a pond and surrounded by all of his friends. He was encouraged to continue with it since we all thought it would make a good short story.

Jackie Huppenthal read her poem, "Indiana Corn." The seven stanza poem, we all felt, was a perfect submission for the Prairie Writers' Guild.

Sharon Buckman read her revised poem entitled, "Procrastination." The poem, as the title states, told of how we all fall into this category and later told of the consequences.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:l5 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

Sharon Buckman