WOH Minutes for July 21, 2010

Write on Hoosiers met on July 21, at Borders, with 16 people in attendance.

Members Present:
Mary Wooley,Sandra Nantais, Tom Spencer, Jackie Huppenthal, Sharon Jesik, Cathyh Dziubla, Kathy Flotz, Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Palmeri, George Miga, John Boufis, and past member Janice Beier

Guests Present:
Kelly Chase, Laura Chase, Lisa Groszek, Kristin Kottka,

Sharon Palmeri opened the meeting and greeted the new attendees. She then asked what we should include in WOH minutes since it is an open blog on the web. The consensus seemed to be to limit information to our writing experiences. She also mentioned that Magma Cum Murder Conference is coming up in the fall for any mystery writers. FOR INFORMATION SEE LINK AT TOP RIGHT OF OUR BLOG

Jackie brought several cover ideas for the Hoosier Horizons magazine. They were passed around and votes were taken. Sharon also reminded the group to get their submissions ready for the magazine. Tom will help with the details later.

Kathy Flotz mentioned that she will be speaking at the Tri Creek Historical Society in Lowell, Sept. 8.

Readings included the following items:

Mary Wooley, presented part of her novel, Play Like I'm Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, which was about a southern girl's view of life with her wandering, teacher father.

Kristin read part of her supernatural short story, "My Witchy Life"

Sharon Jesik's Corn Dancer told us a little about mystery-ghost novel that she is writing.

Cathy took us to her backyard and helped us envision her "Morning Visitor" which included birds kissing the head of a frog.

Kathy retold one of her favorite remembrances of relatives reuniting in "I Remember When."
Beverly read her poem, "A Bit of Verse" which reminded us how special poets and their creations are.

George did not read, but told about writing three samples of queries to send to book publishers in the future.

Sandra's poem about "Keds" was an creative answer to a prompt to write about your favorite piece of clothing.

Lisa presented two pages from her paranormal novel, The Lonesome Isle. Sharon bought the copy.

Jackie's "error" in printing the title of her poem "The Little Bat" was rally a stroke of genius. The title printed upside down and looked like the bat she was describing.

Sharon Palmeri offered her reply to a prompt asking one to write the last line of a proposed book. The sentence was to be interesting and compelling. Hers was both.

Tom's "Accidental Adventure" story taught us about some new writing techniques, including free modifiers and extra long sentences, as we heard the tale of a youth's imaginary actions.

The meeting closed with Sharon reminding people of our Christmas party, Dec. 1, at Four Seasons Club House. Price for the buffet is $17.95, each. WOH will be combining with two other writing groups, and all members may bring guests.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:40 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

Beverly Stanislawski

WOH MINUTES FOR JULY 7, 2010

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, John Boufis, Jackie Huppenthal, Sandra Nantais, Tom Spencer, Sharon Palmeri, George Miga

GUESTS PRESENT
Kirstin Kottka

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sharon Palmeri stated that there would be a picnic for the Indiana Writers Consortium (IWC) on July l7th. The picnic will be held at the Community Park Lions Shelter in Munster from l2 - 4 P.M.

NEWS:

l. Tom Spencer stated he has been writing some short stories along with his poetry. He also stated he will be volunteering at a booth for the Lowell Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the booth is to advertise various writing groups in Northwest Indiana and will be at the Lowell Labor Day Festival in August.

2. Sandra Nantais has been exploring various photo clubs, her new interest. She also stated she has been forced into another interest out of necessity, shooting chipmunks.

3. John Boufis has temporarily put aside writing for his new interest, leather work. He has been making, sewing by hand, various leather products, such as, gun and knife holsters. He brought several samples of his work which were quite impressive.

4. Jackie Huppenthal has been continuing with writing poems and children's stories. She has also entered four photos in the Lake County Fair. She told of her family's camping experience over the fourth of July weekend, which involved curious lights coming from a tree her son had cut into.

5. George Miga told of an agent he had in the past that had recently passed away at a young age. The agent had been of great help to him with his book, "Final Mission." He is presently working on a query letter for his book, "Spin Doctor." He has sent out several queries to seven or eight agents.

6. Kirstin Kottka, our newest guest, stated she presently lives in North Judson with her husband and three sons. She enjoys writing stories of the supernatural, especially when they involve vampires, etc. She presently is working on three separate books.

7. Sharon Buckman stated her fourth of July weekend involved a small amount of writing. The major part involved float trips on the Tippecanoe River and entertaining her family at their fishing cabin.

8. Sharon Palmeri discussed many events going on with family and friends the past couple of weeks (wedding, birthdays, graduations, etc.) She also told of hearing of a tragic illness of her best friend's husband. This gave Sharon pause to evaluate her own life and she admitted that all the "busy" things she did seemed insignificant to maintaining her health. Sharon also talked of the WOH magazine revamping project that was previously discussed. She asked if we should stay with the magazine name "Hoosiers Horizon" or pick out a new name. The consensus seemed to be to keep the old name. Cover and possible illustrations, and cost for the magazines were also discussed.

READINGS:

SHARON BUCKMAN read her story, "A Dark and Stormy Night," which was the result of a prompt given by WOH in June. The story told of a young mother staying alone in her house on her birthday. A rather scary turn of events led to a wonderful birthday present.

GEORGE MIGA read his query letter, "The Spin Doctor." WOH members were first given a copy of the letter to read, putting ourselves in the editor's position. It was agreed, we all liked the letter but given George's wonderful credentials we felt he should start with that first followed by the outline of the story.

SANDY NANTAIS read her "shower poem," entitled "Garden Hose." The poem was very cute and shaped in the design of a shower at the bottom. She also read a poem entitled, "Cardboard Box," a list poem which told of sledding down a hill on a card box. We all related to this.

TOM SPENCER wrote the poem, "Eulogy of the Public Servant." The five stanza poem gave a "not too nice" description of our political public servants.

JACKIE HUPPENTHAL read her memoir, relating back to her teen days, entitled, "I Can Remember When." This was a prompt given by Kathy Flotz in June. The memoir, taken from Jackie's diaries, told of her earlier life, beginning in Indiana and ending in Alaska. Everyone enjoyed her teenage version of events and look forward to hearing the completion of it at our next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:
Sharon Buckman