MEMBERS
PRESENT:
Donna Douglass, Sharon Buckman, George Miga, Beverly
Stanislawski, Neil Bedeker, Sharon Palmeri, Jane Burns, Laurie Chase, Kelly
Chase, Michelle Vargas, Sharon Dorelli, Jackie Huppenthal
GUESTS
PRESENT:
Suzy Stueben
OLD
BUSINESS:
A vote of approval was asked for concerning the April 3rd
minutes.
BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI gave the first approval which was seconded by GEORGE MIGA.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Our new guest, SUZY
STUEBEN, introduced herself and stated she was from Demotte, Indiana. She is retired from Purdue University where
she was employed as an industrial designer.
She also stated she is beginning to enjoy writing children’s stories.
GAIL
GALVAN sent a reminder to the members that the month of April is National Poetry Month. Poetry month was first introduced in 1996 by
the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation
of poetry in the United States.
LITERARY
NEWS:
NEIL
BEDEKER stated that he did a book signing at the Public Library in
Beecher, Ill, where he sold twenty five of his books.
DONNA
DOUGLASS stated that she, MICHELLE
VARGAS and JULIE PERKINS all
attended the Midwest Writer’s Mini Conference at Brownsburg, IN. She also stated it was worth the trip, she
learned quite a lot.
JACKIE
HUPPENTHAL brought in a copy of the April edition of the Family Flyer which published her poem "Treasure in Our Tree" along with the photograph she had taken in her front yard. The picture was of a nest of baby robins, hungrily waiting to be fed. The Family Flyer is also online and you may see her photo on page 26.
SHARON
BUCKMAN stated she would like to recommend the book, Unbroken. She read the Kindle version and said the book is a true story about Louis
Zamperini, an Olympic runner, and his wartime experiences as a POW in Japan
during World War II.
MICHELLE
VARGAS recommended the book
A Land More Kind than Home by writer, Wiley Cash.
SHARON PALMERI discussed
an article she read about how various traditional
publishers are trying to compete with POD publishers by thinking of ways to
compete with them. Sharon also stated that
she believes that the one thing that traditional publishers offer to the advantage
of writers is marketing. She added that self-publishers, POD, and e-book
publishing companies really leave most
of the marketing to the authors, and that authors should devise aggressive marketing
strategies.
READINGS:
DONNA
DOUGLASS read her six stanza poem entitled, “My Life: In 204 Syllables.”
The poem relates to Donna’s inspired program for writing her book of
memoirs by sectioning each phase of her life into different colors. The poem begins with 0-15 years as red, 16-30
years as orange, etc.
SHARON
BUCKMAN read her five stanza poem entitled, “Fifty Years.” The poem had
originally been written several years prior for a close friend’s anniversary
telling of the ups and downs of marriage and ending with “repeating would be
fine.”
GEORGE
MIGA
continued with his novel, “Medal of
Dishonor.” As the story continues
the present Medal of Honor recipient tells his story of how he received the
medal. He admits to his deception and lies. He admits that he didn’t deserve it and explained
why it should go to the real hero who stayed there and fought back, Cordell.
SHARON
DORELLI continued with her story, “The Faces of Sociopathy.” This part of her story, called “The Preacher,”
began with six-year old, Ajay Rao, and telling of his life during 1952 in Guyana, South America as a restless
child with an alcoholic father and a mother who could not tame him.
BEVERLY
STANISLAWSKI read her four stanza iambic poem entitled, “Framed.” The poem began with a man found standing over
another man’s body with a smokin’ gun, unable to explain that he came into the
bar to find his darlin’ comin’ downstairs with another man, then to find out
her other lover shot the man on the stairs, blaming it on him.
NEIL
BEDEKER read two pages of his novel: Dark Hearts, White City a
novel which began at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Chapter 19 “A Vigorous Workout,” began with Frederick Pentalton talking to his
friend, Jacques. Jacques inquired as to
the impressive looking man, Sandow, who was busy signing autographs. Freddy explained that he brought a great deal
of money to the gymnasium and to leave him alone.
JACKIE
HUPPENTHALread her four stanza quatrain poem entitled, “Wonderful Worms.” Jackie also passed around pictures her son's kindergarten class drew after listening to the poem. The poem described how the worms help the earth and are food for birds. The poem is meant to be added with a recipe in the Magic Hour Writer’s Cookbook.
MICHELLE
VARGAS continued with her post civil war novel, Striving After Wind. In this part of her novel, Adam, wanting to
take his son away from his wife and back to living with him, found that his
wife was going to blackmail him by threatening to never let him see his son
again.
LAURIE
CHASE continued with her novel, Badradin, a novel which
takes place in the year 2288. Dr.
Togalaz, remembering an incident in her childhood, begs her father not to
attend the funeral of her friend, Izrof, the man she had hoped to someday
marry. After the funeral she later
witnesses Izrof’s mother digging something up from his grave.
KELLY
CHASE read two pages of her continued story, “Stormy Night.” In this
part of the story Jamie tries to get back into her house but is stopped by the
same creature that had killed her friend, Lizzie. In trying to fend him off she reaches for a
pointed stick, plunging it through him just after his fangs pierce her neck.
SHARON
PALMERI read an article “WOH
and the National Poetry Month” about her White House call experience in February,
1996 to obtain an address to mail a request that the newly re-elected President
proclaim April as National Poetry Month which coincided with yearly poetry events
WOH sponsored. Due to the changes in WH personnel and office re-locations, the
call was shuffled to various staff members, ending up with the President
Clinton’s secretary, who asked her what she wished to discuss with the
President -- and a time frame so she could check his calendar for availability. Sharon explained (after initial shock) that
she did not want to meet with the
President, that she was the director of Write-on Hoosiers in IN, and she wished to
have the office number to mail a request to the Proclamation Department. Sharon
admitted that the mystery surrounding what happened to the request letter she
mailed to the Department of Letters in
February of 1996 was never solved, but made for an exciting adventure, and
though the "request letter" was lost during a computer crash, her attempt was documented in the WOH minutes
that April.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 P.M.
Respectfully submitted:
