MAY 4, 2017

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bob Philpot, Sharon Buckman, Marilyn Kessler, Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Palmeri, Katherine Flotz, George Miga, Caren Von See, Hardarshan Valia, Rachael Thomas

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the April 20, 2017 minutes was first given by BOB PHILPOT and seconded by CAREN VON SEE.

NEW BUSINESS: 

SHARON PALMERI mentioned lecture/discussions coming at future meetings. These may include screenwriting, storytelling, [as well as the previously discussed topics of memoirs, world building, historical writing, research, and computer instruction for writers.]  

LITERARY NEWS:

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she had taken several prizes in an Oklahoma Poetry Contest.  She won first prize for her poem, “Per Chance,” two third place prizes for “Lonely Suitors,” and “Biloxi Belle,” and first Honorable Mention for “Winter’s Surprises.”

BOB PHILPOT mentioned to the members that he had found a computer program, Scrivener, which he felt was a great help in writing his book.  The cost of $40 included a 90 page tutorial and 360 page manual as well as a DVD.

HARDARSHAN VALIA attended an Indigan Storytellor Workshop on April 29^th and told members how much he had enjoyed it and felt it was very informative.  The meeting was  from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.  He also attended a Gary Poetry Project meeting in South Bend at I.U.  Anyone interested in attending future meetings can go online at www.calumetresidency.com  for further information.  The Toastmasters Club, whose mission is to create an enduring, supportive community for the purpose of story telling was also mentioned by Hardarshan.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM:

SHARON PALMERI opened the program with a tip. She suggested that it would may be helpful to the members if they kept a small tablet with them at meetings to take notes as people critiqued their work. The notes taken may be helpful as they do their re-writing, as well as with their own future editing. 

Topics:

1. Dialogue:

Sharon also passed out three brochures entitled, “Punctuating Dialogue, How to Punctuate Dialogue Correctly,” “Quotation Marks,” and Commas: Quick Rules.” 

2. Overdoing Dialects in Writing: 

A handout titled “Translating Southern United States to English,” was dispersed to members.  Each member was asked to read the various words and following sentences describing them – this produced a lot of laughter from the members.  The point is that too much dialect may be comical or even tiresome to the reader. 

3. Point of View Exercise:

Each member received a picture of an old farmhouse with barn, fence, and road. Sharon asked members to look at the picture and pick a point of view in which to write a short story. This could be the point of view of someone in the home, outside of the home, a neighbor, or even from the point of view of the fence or road leading to the home.  She asked for the stories to be brought to the next meeting and read during the “Educational Program” segment at the next meeting. (The photo dispersed  is at the end of these meeting minutes.)

 READINGS:

CAREN VON SEE read two poems.  The first poem, “Finding You First,” written by Michael Jackson Brumley, Jr., was a beautiful one stanza poem describing what life could have been like if “I  found you first.”  The second poem, “The Tale of a Honest Fisherman,”  a six-stanza poem written from a prompt, tells of a fisherman who suddenly realizes he was never meant to be a fisherman.

RACHEL THOMAS first read a short story with the title, “Written by Rachel A. Thomas (and the morphemes).”  The story describes a downward decent of twenty six unique morphemes down a glissade, the smooth ride produced a peaceful effect.  The story ended with Rachel as she woke up and placed her hands on the keyboard to type her story, the one she had just dreamed.  Rachel also read two pages of the first chapter of her new novel, Sapphira’s Marriage.  The novel begins with a young girl trying to find a hiding place as she runs down streets and alleys, terrified they will find her.

KATHERINE FLOTZ read her one page true short story entitled, “Sacred Treasure.”  The story told of the church bell that was dedicated in 1925 in the church of St. Martin in Gakowa, Yugoslavia.  At the end of the war in 1944 the church was blown up but the bell survived where it was purchased by a farmer who later found the perfect home for it, Orom, Hungary.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her one page short story entitled, “Lake Holiday.”  The story tells of all the beauty and happiness surrounding the lake at Lakes of the Four Seasons, beginning with a fisherman as he releases his catch to a youngster as he builds his sand castle.  The story ends with the sun, “finally surrendering the sky, the sun left to plan another strategic pass over its secret looking glass, tomorrow.”

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN

                                             Photo for Point-of-View Exercise