JUNE 20, 2012

             
 

                     Your imagination is your preview

                     of life's coming attractions.
                     ~~ Albert Einstein~~

                                                

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, George Miga, Sharon Jesik, Beverly Stanislawski, Lisa Groszek, Kelly Chase, Laurie Chase, Donna Douglass, Kathy Flotz, Sharon Dorelli, Meggie Tolkland, Neil Bedeker, Ron Trigg, Liz Wilson, Michelle Vargas, Sharon Palmeri

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval was asked for concerning the June 6^th minutes.  The first approval was given by BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI and seconded by LISA GROSZEK.

LITERARY NEWS:

KATHERINE FLOTZ stated she had written to five different churches in Minocqua pertaining to speaking engagements regarding her memoir Pebble In My Shoe. Three of the churches responded, the engagements will be between August and September. Great work Katherine!

SHARON BUCKMAN read a portion of an editorial letter she received from a Create Space editor.  The letter was very favorable concerning her novel, Canopy of Leaves.  Sharon felt that most of the praise was due to the wonderful critiquing done by Write -On Hoosier members.

LISA GROSZEK stated that she had a wonderful time at the Printer’s Row exhibit in Chicago and felt it was well worth the experience.

SHARON  JESIK mentioned two different books she enjoyed written by Megan Abbot, End of Everything, and Dare Me.

SHARON PALMERI  mentioned that while several members have had books published we never discuss marketing strategies. She suggested the possibility of working together as a team to create and share new and innovative marketing strategies [off the record if desired] during the “Literary News” segment of our meeting. Because our group is so diverse in genre she thought we could do this without feeling competitive.

GEORGE MIGA stated that he had given two of his novels, Spin Doctor and  Medal of Dishonor, to his friend, Dick James, an attorney who practices in Dyer and was a former U.S. Attorney.  His friend has been very helpful in his ideas concerning George’s novels.

READINGS:

LAURIE CHASE read four pages from her novel, Badradin, a novel which takes place in the year 2300 and involves a female physician who has been living aboard a ship for one year before being challenged by three Allizorn soldiers.  She managed to end the encounter without bloodshed.

KELLY CHASE started a new novel entitled, The Marine and the Werewolf. The plot begins with the female Marine, Kira, encountering a werewolf on a lonely road after her car breaks down.  After a near brush with death the werewolf ran swiftly back into the forest.

DONNA DOUGLASS read two pages of her memoir entitled, “Laticia at the Door.”  The memoir told of an experience Donna had while working in a local steel mill office.  The 1965 incident told of the prejudice involved when her boss was told he HAD to hire a Negro girl to work in their office.

KATHERINE FLOTZ continued with her new novel, The Journey.  In this part of her novel she told of Michael, a German prisoner of war, who had recently been released from a prison camp, finally finding the whereabouts of his wife and family who had been living in the United States.

MEGGIE TOLKLAND read four pages of her newest novel, The Mayhem; Thorns Story.  The story takes place in Chicago and concerns a woman who runs a club which caters to Chicago’s supernatural community which includes vampires, werewolves and even weirder creatures.

SHARON DORELLI continued with part two of her adult fairy tale entitled, “The Crystal Heart.”  This part of the story told of the first meeting between Rowan and Tearsa.  The story is truly an adult fairy tale in its beautiful wording and description of a man and woman finding their soul mates.

NEIL BEDEKER continued with his novel, White City – Dark Hearts.  In this part of his novel Neil begins to introduce a serial killer that lived in Chicago during the time of the Chicago World’s Fair.  “Strange Business,” is the title of Chapter Four – and it certainly is.

LISA GROSZEK read two pages of her vampire novel entitled, Maude Defined.  In this part of the novel James tries to explain to Maude the different types of vampires and how they came into existence.

RON TRIGG read four pages of “Out of the Shadows,” a continuation of his memoir, Moments on an African Landscape.  This part of his novel takes place in 1978 Kenya and relates his experience with bedbugs shortly after arriving on the Kenyan mainland.  

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI  read her four stanza poem entitled, “How to Judge a Man.”  The poem tells of the true way to judge a man by stating, “His inner self to help me scan – the love down in his heart.”

SHARON JESIK read four pages of her story entitled, “Triptych,” a story relating to an art professor, who alienates his students and also appears to be having an affair with at least one of them.

GEORGE MIGA continued with his novel, Medal of Dishonor.  In this part of the novel, McCall tries to gather all the people needed to proceed with the deposition involving the Medal of Honor going to the deserving person and not the son of a renowned Major who has already accepted it.

SHARON BUCKMAN read a short article entitled, “The Best Things in Life Are Free?” The article told of some things that appeared to be free – but then revealed to be definitely not free.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN

 

 

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

(December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life.

Did you know that although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime?  In fact the work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time.

You can read more about Emily Dickinson by clicking on the following links: Wikipedia.Org – Emily Dickinson  or The Emily Dickinson Museum

To read Dickinson’s Poetry click HERE

     

HOPE is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,   

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

 And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.   

I ’ve heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;        

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

~~Emily Dickinson~~

                             

~~ artist unknown ~~

JUNE 6, 2012

 I don't need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.

                           ~~Ray Bradbury~~

                       

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Jane Burns, Tom Spencer, Sharon Buckman, Sharon Jesik, Michelle Vargas, Kathy Flotz, Donna Douglass, Lisa Groszek, Tom Molnar, Julie Perkins, Ron Trigg, Liz Wilson, Beverly Stanislawski, Gail Galvan, Laurie Chase, Sharon Palmeri, George Miga

GUESTS PRESENT:

Meggie Tolkland

   

NEW BUSINESS:

LISA GROSZEK mentioned that an error had occurred in the May 16^th minutes – the sequel to her newest novel, “Lonesome Isle,” had mistakenly been titled “Lonesome Dove,” (although it seems like we had heard of that title somewhere else. Movie?)  A vote of approval was then asked for and was given by TOM MOLNAR and seconded by LISA GROSZEK.  (Note: Lisa, the May 16 minutes have now been changed to the appropriate title)

SHARON PALMERI asked the members if they wanted to have their regular meeting canceled on July 4^th – it was decided there would be no meeting  at that time.

LITERARY NEWS:

LISA GROSZEK mentioned that she and  TOM MOLNAR would be at Printer’s Row this weekend and encouraged all our members to attend as well.

TOM SPENCER stated that the Poetry Extravaganza, to be held at the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville from Wednesday through Monday, has  80 registered  people from all over the country.  The price would be $30.00 for one day or $225.00 for the whole weekend (meals included.)

SHARON PALMERI  brought along two videos to discuss with the members.   

The first was a movie entitled, “Shadows In The Sun,” a story involves to two writers which Sharon thought most of the members would enjoy.

The second was a movie entitled, “Educating Rita,” a story about a woman living in London who wanted to learn literature and how to learn, speak and write like “ an educated woman”;  she therefore decided to attend an open university to  study literature during her off time.  

Sharon stated   there was a new section on the Write On Hoosier blog called “Featured Famous Writers” and their work. She mentioned that this will be updated with new writers periodically,  and she has collected a number of names from the members to feature their favorite writers and poets.  

She also mentioned another New section in the blog that is in the works; it will be called Newly Published Books By Members”.  In this section members’ new books will be featured for about a month or so before being placed in the Members’ Book Section.

Sharon also mentioned that since she is a paid member of Writers Market http://www.writersmarket.com/   she received an e-mail for an update that may interest some members. This includes a polishing of your query letter and 100 sample query letters and a downloadable book on submitting and formatting your manuscript, and more.  She said it was worth checking out at Writers Market Plus Upgrade

SHARON BUCKMAN mentioned that her novel, “Canopy of Leaves,” was in the process of being published and would hopefully be released by the end of July.  

READINGS:

DONNA DOUGLASS read her short story, “I Scare ‘Em In The Harem.”  After watching an ABC News broadcast in the fall of 2011, Donna recognized an old friend who she had dated in her college days.  She remembered attending a farewell party with him that was attended with various musicians and a belly dancer.  After enjoying several drinks Donna also remembered deciding to give belly dancing a try herself, she was a success.

SHARON JESIK read the first part of her three part short story entitled, “Triptych.”  The story was about a rather “shallow” art teacher who seemed to enjoy degrading his students, this, it seems, was about the only thing he enjoyed about his job.

TOM SPENCER brought his three stanza sonnet entitled “Sonnet of the Sun.”  This beautiful sonnet told of the beauty brought by the sun and ended with to “Warm our hearts and cleanse our weary souls.”

JULIE PERKINS, after teaching us about the strict pattern of a Sestina (follow link to learn more) Julie read her Sestina entitled, “An Afghan Girl.”  The story compared an afghan girl using a cell phone which caused a very tragic ending to an American girl, which had a much different ending.

LIZ WILSON read her short story entitled, “Israfel.”  The story, written by Liz several years prior, told of a ruler in Persia who’s insatiable hunger for the sacrifice of a young woman each full moon.  The story ended with a young girl who’s “world of sweet music, unbroken by their vain promises of paradise and honor.”

JANE BURNS read four pages from the end of her sixth chapter entitled “Atalanta.” During this part of the novel Atalanta was placed in a comfortable chair and as a rhythm of syncopated drum beats began, the purpose of which was to relax her, taking her back in memory.

MICHELLE VARGAS read four pages of her novel, Striving After Wind. The novel, partly based on a true story, told of the conflict between Helen Brandt and her caretaker, Tabitha, which prevented the Tolleston Gun Club from purchasing the property.  This part of the story mostly dealt with the hard life of Tabitha as she tried to take care of Helen Brandt.

GEORGE MIGA continued with his novel, Medal of Dishonor.  After finally finding Bobby Geary, McCall found that the one man that could prove who the Medal of Honor rightfully belong to, was in very bad shape and living in terrible conditions.

LISA GROSZEK continued with her novel, Maude Defined.  In this two page part of her novel, Lucius took Maude into a café after James had suddenly left, pretending to try and help her through her transition.  Upon James return he suddenly left.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her two page children’s story entitled, “Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear.”  This delightful story told of a little bear that saw two of everything because of being cross-eyed.  After trying to save his “two” sisters from drowning he hit his head on a large boulder.  After awakening from his ordeal he discovered he had only one mother and one sister and was told he was a hero.

GAIL GALVAN read a chapter  entitled, Southsider's Big Plans from her novel in progress.   This part of the novel tells of some gangster rabbits living on the south side of Chicago and trying to find a way to get to a place near Boise Idaho where rabbits grow tall, due to the artesian spring water and digital frequency changes.

TOM MOLNAR read his two page article on “How to prepare and get your book on Amazon.”  His informative article told of Createspace, since he felt it was the easiest and cheapest way to go, and how best to proceed for those who wished to self publish.

RON TRIGG continued with his memoir Moments on an African Landscape.  In this part of his memoir, entitled “Nile Voyeur,” he told of a trip in Sudan to view a hippo.  It ended with his viewing something that could have possibly placed his life in  jeopardy and quickly returning back in the direction he came from.

LAURIE CHASE Unfortunately we did not get to Laurie’s story due to a time constraint, but she will first, front and center at the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

Sharon Buckman

Ray Douglas Bradbury 

 (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)

Ray Bradbury was born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, to Esther (Moberg) Bradbury, a Swedish immigrant, and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, a power and telephone lineman. They gave him the middle name “Douglas,” after the actor Douglas Fairbanks.

Did you know Bradbury was related to the American Shakespeare scholar Douglas Spaulding?  Or that he was also descended from Mary Bradbury, who was tried at one of the Salem witch trials in 1692?

You can read more by clicking on the following links:   Wikipedia. Org -- Ray Bradbury,  or at Ray Bradbury Online

 

"Do you know why teachers use me? Because I speak in tongues. I write metaphors. Every one of my stories is a metaphor you can remember." ~~Ray Bradbury~~