MAY 19, 2016

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, Caren Von See, David Wilgus, Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Palmeri, Mary Lu Cowley, Hardarshan Valia, Mary Ellen Beecher, Ruthann Graczyk, Adam Sedia, Luniel Morrow, Helena Qi

GUESTS PRESENT:

Andrew Kuck, David Moore, Isleen Moore

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the May 5, 2016 minutes was first given by MAY LU COWLEY and was seconded by HARDARSHAN VALIA.

LITERARY NEWS:

ADAM SEDIA announced he was having a book release party at the Hammond Innovation Center on Friday, May 20^th.  Everyone was invited for the hors d’oeuvres, beverages, live music and poetry readings.

READINGS:

MARY ELLEN BEECHER read part of her children’s book entitled, Dancing Bear.  The illustrated book, told of C.B. (Cubby Bear)  was being taught by his parents how to catch fish. When that did not work, they decided to try teaching him sports.  None of these things appealed to C.B. until they finally tried music.  C.B. was so good at singing and dancing that they finally changed his name to D.B. (Dancing Bear) Brown.

ANNE HUNTER also read her children’s book entitled, The Busy Barnyard.  When the little white hen found that she had nothing to do all day, and was tired of hearing how she was always in the way, she took matters in her own hands and re-planted the seeds the sea gulls were digging up.  At the end of the story, Farmer Gray realized that she had saved his crop and praised her in front of all her friends.

CAREN VON SEE read her short story entitled, The Choice.  The story tells of an old heavy cat, named Jako, trying to climb a very large sycamore tree and coming upon a creature he does not recognize.  When he asks the creature where he is from, it answers from the garden of good and evil.  When a conversation ensues, Jako discovers the creature is trying to deliver a message to him.

MARY LU COWLEY read from her short story, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”  The story continues with Hollie finally finding a man, Nick, that she immediately felt was meant for her.  Her family and friends felt that she was so gullible they had always tried to keep her in a “Ziploc bag.”  Her mission in this part of the story was to try to free herself from it.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her nine-stanza poem entitled, “The Wolf’s Bane.”  This very humorous poem relates to the children’s story “Little Red Riding Hood,” only this time it is the wolf’s version.  In the last line of the poem, the wolf decides he just might call PETA on them.

SHARON BUCKMAN read four pages of her book sequel, Beyond the Canopy.  In this part of the novel, Harold must decide if he should tell the police that he suspects his father is guilty of hiding the kidnapper and rapist they have been looking for.  Before doing this, he tries to discover what his father had done with the body.

DAVE WILGUS continued with four pages of his novel, A Cross to Bear. In this part of the story Chad Henderson goes to the hospital to see the co-worker who had been mortally stabbed in the lung.  After returning home his wife realizes that he feels guilty over the incident and arranges a week-end getaway for them.

HELENA QI read two pages of her memoir entitled, “The First Room of My Own.”  In this memoir, Helena begins with her arrival at Purdue University Pharmacy School as a visiting scholar after leaving China.  She continues with describing the living space in the crowded basement residence. As bad as this sounds, however, in the remaining part of the memoir she then describes her living conditions in China, which were much worse.  The end of the memoir states she has now realized her American Dream.

ANDREW KUCK read his delightful seven-stanza poem entitled, “What Should I Do?”  After deciding to pose this question to the creatures he sees, a walrus, chimpanzee, lion, hippo, zebra, cobra, gecko and aphid, he finally hears, “Be a gecko, he’s a hunter, most definitely; Not delicate prey like you and me.”

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN

May 5, 2016

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Dorelli, Sharon Buckman, Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Palmeri, Marilyn Kessler, Gail Galvan, Caren Von See, Donna Eckelbarger, Hardarshan Valia, Amy Brailey, Mary Lu Cowley, Bob Philpot, Neil Bedeker

GUESTS PRESENT:

Stephanas Lynch

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the April 21, 2016 meeting minutes was first given by AMY BRAILEY and seconded by HARDARSHAN VALIA.

LITERARY NEWS:

ADAM SEDIA sent word that he will be hosting a release party for his two new books on Friday, May 20 at 6:00 P.M. at the IWC offices in Hammond (5209 Hohman Ave.) There will be food, beverages and live music as well as readings.  Adam will also be selling and autographing his books.

CAREN VON SEE passed around a book she thought the members would enjoy entitled, Woe Is I, written by Patricia O’Conner.  The grammar book is a national bestseller.

GAIL GALVAN stated she is seeking a publisher on her newest book entitled, “Texting.”  Gail also stated she has already started selling her book at $7.00 each. She also passed around cover sample for our new book. She said she would have more examples in the next few weeks.

NEIL BEDEKER stated he had a book signing at the Community Library in Beecher on April 13^th for his book, Dark Hearts, White City.

READINGS:

AMY BRAILEY read two pages from her middle school book, Jon Everett and the Hall of History.  As punishment for falling asleep during his history class, Jon was assigned a trip to the History Museum to learn about George Washington.  Before going to the museum, his grandmother suggested he first go through his grandfather’s trunk in the attic.  Jon suddenly begins to become very interested in his assignment after finding several items in the trunk, especially pertaining to some keys and a half torn letter.

MARY LU COWLEY began with reading four pages of her short story entitled, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”  After receiving a phone call from her boss asking her to come to the parking lot to witness a drug sale, she immediately left  her desk.  As it turned out the only thing her boss was interested in was her.

MARILYN KESSLER read her very beautiful five stanza poem entitled, “A Mother is Forever.”  The poem, written a number of years prior, told how she hoped that someday she could be as good a mother as her mother was to her.  Her mother later had the poem framed.

CAREN VON SEE read her nine stanza poem entitled, “Bittersweet.” The poem, beginning with the line, “I’m on the road to nowhere,” tells of trying to decide if life is worth living.  The last line ends with, “How the hell I’m gonna get there, beats me.”

GAIL GALVAN read two pages, an excerpt from her book, Texting, telling one of the rather humorous chapters of the book entitled, “Withdrawal is the Worst.” This chapter, instead of dealing with some of the obvious withdrawals, deals with withdrawal from texting after having their phones taken away.

DONNA ECKELBARGER read from her children’s picture book, “The Lonely Inch Worm.”  Wilma inchworm was overwhelmed with all the attention she was getting from her new friends who loved her cooking.  Her old friends were completely stunned as to her new popularity since they felt she was certainly not anything special.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her four-page short story entitled, “The Richest Man.”  The story tells of Stephen, a pious man, unsuccessfully trying to convert his master to Christianity.  When he has a dream that the richest man in the kingdom would die when the cock crowed three times the master began to believe him.  It turned out the richest man was Stephen. 

BOB PHILPOT re-read four pages of his converted novel,  Strange Friends.  In this part of his novel, now written from the view point of his girlfriend, Zeb enters the diner,  while on his way to meet with his boss where Dora works, and is completely captivated by her.  She realizes this when he picks up his menu and looks at it, upside down.

SHARON DORELLI tells of her experience with hearing “crickets” all night long in this cute one page short story entitled, “Endless Summer Nights.”  After being unable to find them she finally decides to see her doctor about her hearing, who tells her it wasn’t crickets at all – it was tinnitus.

HARDARSHAN VALIA read the first two pages of his short story entitled, “The Eye of a Million Faces.”  It is the story of Jassi Singh searching for the maid servant Putree who witnessed the killing of Jassi’s uncle and three cousins.  The incident happened when Indira Gandhi was killed by two Sikh guards. Jassi’s relatives were amongst thousands of Sikhs who were killed by frenzied mobs in retaliation. In the first two pages Jassi meets a woman who hands over an envelope that contains the narration of the incident as witnessed by Putree.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN