MINUTES FOR APRIL 20, 2011

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, Sharon Jesik, George Miga, Jane Burns, Beverly Stanislawski, Pam Gonzalez,
Lisa Groszek, Mike Musak, Sandra Nantais, Bill Burns, Laurie Chase, Kelly Chase
GUESTS PRESENT:

Robert Durling

NEWS:

1. GEORGE MIGA stated he has been working both of his novels, "Spin Doctor" and "Medal of
Dishonor."

2. PAMELA GONZALEZ has entered a 500 word, or less, children's story contest. The sponsor is Cheerios and the winner will have the honor of having the small book published and placed in
each box of cereal.

3. JANE BURNS stated she has been working on her book "Atalanta".

4. BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she received a rejection letter concerning a recent poem she had sent in.

5. LISA GROSZEK has been working on her novel "Above and Below" and stated she is about one chapter away from finishing.

6. MIKE MUSAK has been busy working on his screen play, "The Plant."

7. SANDY NANTAIS stated she has been busy writing poetry and doing photographic work.

8. BILL BURNS, who became a member today, stated he has been busy playing "free cell" on his computer. He and his wife are also planning a three week trip, first to China and then Alaska.

9. SHARON JESIK has been busy writing some poetry and working on her novel, "Corn Dancer."

10. LAURIE CHASE has been working with her niece revising her novel, “Dual Heritage."

11. KELLY CHASE has been busy with her school work and writing some poetry.

12. Guest ROBERT DURLING graduated from a junior college on the south side of Chicago. He worked in the college newspaper, which started him writing. He them attended Northwestern Univ. and majored in journalism. Wrote various plays as well as for radio and was in WW II, where he purchased all the black cloth for Patton's funeral. He is a comedy writer and is working on a book called, "Life is Like Eggs, Scrambled or Sunnyside Up."


FYI:

Sharon Palmeri, Katherine Flotz, Jackie Huppenthal and Judy Whitcomb were not in attendance at the meeting this evening because they are attending the PoPP (poetry awards for children) event at Lake Street school.

Immediately after the PoPP event Sharon Palmeri will go to Indianapolis to be a panel judge on literature/writing for the Indiana Arts Commission, where several writers will be chosen to receive state grant money later this year.

READINGS:

GEORGE MIGA continued with his novel, "Medal of Dishonor." In this part of the story, Cordell Jackson, a Negro war hero who shined shoes for a living and had been overlooked for the Medal of Honor, managed to stop a robbery. The potential robbery then turned to murder as a policeman was murdered and the gun then turned on Cordell as it ended.

JANE BURNS continued with Chapter 2 of her novel, "Atalanta." The story took a diversion from the young girl that was being mothered by a bear to two twin wolves who could talk to each other.
As the story continued, Tay and Kah, the twin bears, managed to kill Baba, the King of Beasts. The killing proved to be a disaster since from that point on none of the animals were able to talk again.

SHARON BUCKMAN continued with her true story, "A Family Murder." In this part of the story, her brother arrived from Florida to find the investigation of his murdered son already underway. Following the funeral, one of the largest she had ever seen, the family discovered that the murdered victims stepson had already been arrested and the police were suspecting other family members.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read a short story that she had written several years prior and had taken first place in a Christian Writers contest in Tennessee. The poem, entitled "The Passover Lamb," began with a young boy trying to take his lamb to the Passover as a sacrifice for his family. When the lamb ran away the young boy sought the help of a stranger to find him. The story ended with them witnessing Jesus being taken to the cross.

LISA GROSZEK continued with her novel, "Above and Below." After being told that her family was in danger, Elizabeth awaits the arrival of her niece, Clarissa, hoping she can shed some light on why they are in danger. They come to the mutual opinion that it involves the previously murdered Dominic, who they had to murder fifteen years prior.

MIKE MUSAK brought another of his humorous screen plays entitled, "The Plant." After assigning speaking parts to several of the members, we again enjoyed Mike's humor as it involved the conversations of various employees of the plant sitting at Tony's Tiny Tap.

SANDY NANTAIS read her four page memoir entitled, "Dyngus Day," a polish tradition celebrated on the Monday following Easter in Poland. Explaining that her polish family formerly practiced this when living in Poland she explained that it involved polish boys awakening girls with a bucket of water on their heads and striking them about the legs with switches from a willow - this was for girls they liked.

BILL BURNS related how he started this story several years prior when traveling under the Golden Gate Bridge. After several mishaps, involving the loss of his pages, he finally continued with the story he entitled "Bridge." The story involves a widower sitting on a park bench admiring the Golden Gate Bridge and being approached by a woman of "questionable intentions." It ended with the man finally going with her to "her place."

SHARON JESIK continued with her novel, "Corn Dancer." This part of her story involves the main character, Luck, entering the front door of his house with his male friend, Gar. They discovered a pungent smell and smoke and upon entering their bedroom found an image of a very large snake that had been "blasted" into their ceiling. They also found changes had been made, again,. to the picture of Corn Dancer.

LAURIE CHASE continued with her novel, "Fast Forward." In this part of her novel, Kelly O’Callaghan was told that somehow she had been moved 500 yrs. into the future and was aboard a spaceship. Since everyone on the spaceship was as confused as she was, she was told that she would just have to wait, and work, until they could contact another ship that could possibly give her some answers about somehow getting back to her family.

KELLY CHASE read the poem she had just written, entitled "Storm." The poem told of the
"frightening beauty" of lightning and thunder, engaging conversations between the members of all our recent storms.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

Sharon Buckman

MINUTES FOR APRIL 6, 2011

Think Spring!!


MEMBERS PRESENT:

Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Buckman, Kathy Flotz, Jane Burns, Sandra Nantais, Tom Spencer,
Sharon Jesik, Pamela Gonzalez, George Miga, Jackie Huppenthal, Lisa Groszek, Sharon Palmeri, Neil Bedeker, Audrey Warzyniak, Cathy Dziubla, Jessica Bard, Art Wilkerson, Mike Musak, Laurie Chase, Kelly Chase

GUESTS PRESENT:

William Burns

NEWS:

1. MIKE MUSAK stated he hasn't been able to do any writing lately due to illness.

2. JACKIE HUPPENTHAL has entered two of her poems to the Edge of the Prairie magazine. She also stated her and her family are in the midst of planning an Alaskan vacation (we're all envious).

3. GEORGE MIGA stated he recently went to Wheaton, Ill. to meet with a history buff who specializes in the history of General Grant and Lee. He also mentioned that this person does impersonations of Presidents Ford, Lincoln, Nixon as well as an excellent impersonation of Lyndon Johnson, complete with his special "vocabulary."

4. LISA GROSZEK has been busy working on her sequel, "Above and Below," and is presently on
Chapter 14. She also stated that she entered one of her short stories, "Avoidance," online with
Weebly.com. She would appreciate any constructive comments from her readers.

5. JESSICA BARD stated she recently found a dog, a young pit bull, and is trying to find a home for it, this has taken time away from her writing.

6. SHARON JESIK brought a small book of painting illustrations by John Fincher, who is the person who inspired her to write her present novel, "Corn Dancer."

7. TOM SPENCER stated that on April 16th the Lowell Public Library will be hosting a reading of poems by Emily Dickinson. Tom also stated that on Monday, April 11th, the Lowell Poetry Group will be featured, at ten minute intervals, on 89.l F.M. radio since this is National Poetry month.

8. SANDRA NANTAIS has been busy writing poetry as well as visiting Plymouth, IN., taking images for her various photography clubs.

9. ARTHUR WILKERSON stated he finally has a workable E-mail address, something he has had a problem with in the past. He also has been busy researching articles and submitting them to various magazines.

10. AUDREY WARZYNIAK stated she felt she was finally able to return to Write On Hoosiers following the death of her mother a few months prior. She has been busy writing some poetry and wanted to ask some of the members what they felt was an advantage to having a blog.

11.PAMELA GONZALEZ has been busy planning a wedding shower for her daughter who is to be married on April 30th. This has left her with little time for writing.

13. NEIL BEDEKER has been busy working on a web site to promote his book. Lisa Groszek suggested he try weebly.com and Sharon Palmeri suggested godaddy.com to look for domains and web site help.

14, JANE BURNS stated she has been working hard on her book "Atalanta."

15. BILL BURNS has been busy writing short stories which he hopes to publish as a collection.

16. KATHY FLOTZ stated her and her husband, George, have a speaking engagement (for the 13th time) on Tues., April 12th for the history class at Purdue University. They also have another speaking engagement in Beecher, Ill. on May 12th, in between these engagements she is having cataract surgery - not sure what she's doing in her spare time, ha.

17. BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she has been staying at home trying to stay well. She has also been sending in a few poems to various national magazines.

18. CATHY DZIUBLA has just recently returned from visiting her children in Maryland to find that her son is coming to visit her from Kentucky. She has not had much time for writing.

19. LAURIE CHASE stated she has been trying to re-adjust her life following her dad's death a few weeks ago. She has begun writing again.

20. KELLY CHASE has been busy studying and working on her novel, "The Ring."

21. SHARON BUCKMAN stated she has been busy helping her husband with fix-up chores at their cabin, which has left little time for writing.

22. SHARON PALMERI has been busy working with the Indiana Writers Consortium on the magazine for the PoPP awards night at Lake Street School in Crown Pont on April 20. She is also working with the Indiana Arts Council, looking over grant applications Sharon was asked by the council to help critique entries for the April 21st literature panel for the individual artist judging .

READINGS:

PAM GONZALEZ read a short story entitled "I Love History," a humorous memoir of her early days in a catholic school. The refreshing memoir told of the various outfits they were required to wear, etc., and ended in a child's view of the death of a President.

NEIL BEDEKER began with reading two pages of the beginning of his book, "Early Retirement." His novel is about a high school teacher, Mitch Baden, who gets into trouble after accidentally walking into the girl's dressing room and finding one of his students partially undressed.

JANE BURNS continued with her book, "Atalanta/Ursa Specularis." The story concerns a young girl who was abandoned by her father, a King who wanted only sons, and was found by a female bear named Ursula. The baby girl was nursed by the bear, along with her cubs, through hibernation. As the story continued the young three year old girl got separated from her bear mother when attacked by bees.

BILL BURNS read his 360 word short story entitled, "In Your She Disappears Again Dream," a story inspired by the dream poetry of Richard Hugo. The story tells of meeting a fellow classmate who was working as a bell cap at a luxery hotel; a classmate who he thought was an interior architect.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her four stanza poem entitled, "Nights Full Pregnant with Evil." The poem, inspired by Psalm 7-16, tells of various modern "evil things," starting with mankind’s birthing.

CATHY DZIUBLA read her "ghazel style" poem entitled, "Aliens." The poem tells of various green lights, coming at night and mysteriously disappearing, asking if it could be possible they are coming to ponder man's evolution.

LAURIE CHASE continued with her novel, "Fast Forward." In this continuation of her novel, Kelly O'callaghan is told that she is on a space ship, 500 years ahead of the time she was suddenly abducted from earth, and is as baffled as the people on the space ship.

KELLY CHASE read from her novel, "The Ring." In this part of her novel the young teen-age girl, Kristine, is taking her friend into various dress shops where she is reluctant to go. Her friend tells her that she feels Kristine has changed, acting weird. This makes Kristine wonder if she can change her friend's mind by using the magical ring.

SANDRA NANTAIS presented three beautiful pictures, accompanied with poems. The first picture starts with the line, "Winter's Sleeping Tree," and shows a shallow stream surrounding an old mis-shaped tree. The second picture reveals an old weathered tree standing in a field with the first line reading "Skeletal Bone Bare," and was cut down shortly after the picture was taken. The third picture, a curious white goat, has a first line," The Other Day While On A Walk."

SHARON JESIK continued with her novel, "Corn Dancer." In this part of the novel they talk about the Avanyu pot being made by the Corn Maiden and who died a tragic death shortly after it was made. The friends of Dotty were beginning to wonder if having the pot was what led to her death and they all felt the presence of both the Corn Maiden and Dotty on their way back home.

TOM SPENCER brought his short story, "Residual Guilt." The story, an exercise in using all five senses, started with a man going into a bar after finishing his job for the day and witnessing a murder. The murderer, a jealous wife who walked in an discovered her husband with another woman, ended up shooting the female bartender.

JESSICA BARD read the end of her short story, "The First Snow." The story ended with Whit going back to his home, trying to figure out what happened to the murdered friend he found. Falling asleep he dreamt he saw her, standing on a frozen lake and covered in a white dust. After she approached him she kissed his cheek; when he awoke he found the cherry print of lips on his cheek, formed by her blood.

LISA GROSZEK read three pages of her sequel, "Above and Below." In this part, Chapter One, Elizabeth hears the voice of her deceased husband, Dominic. He tries to warn her that she and her entire family are in danger, including his son.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

Sharon Buckman