MARCH 15, 2018

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Palmeri, Amy Clites, Katherine Flotz, Caren Von See, Hardershan Valia, Sharon Buckman, Al Koch, Amy Brailey, Bob Philpot

GUESTS PRESENT:

Cynthia Wilson

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the March l, 2018 minutes was first given by KATHERINE FLOTZ and seconded by SHARON BUCKMAN.

LITERARY NEWS:

CYNTHIA WILSON (our newest guest) stated she is presently writing a novel, based on a true story, entitled Life in a Comatose Day.

SHARON BUCKMAN brought two copies of her newly published book entitled, Beyond the Canopy, a sequel to her first book, Canopy of Leaves.

KATHERINE FLOTZ stated she will be speaking at the Pines Village on April 20^th concerning her novel Pebble in my Shoe.

EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATION:

AMY CLITES gave a wonderful presentation concerning the best way to write a screenplay using the “Blake Snyder Beat Sheet.”  She stated that Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, had written a total of 75 screenplays and was probably the best in his field by using his “Beat Sheet.”  This is a three-act screenplay structure broken into 15 specific beats, with each beat corresponding to specific page numbers.  Amy used photo pages from the “Wizard of Oz” to explain and demonstrate examples of the 15 beats.  She also stated that this format could be used for writing novels as well.  The presentation was followed by various questions from the members.

READINGS:

AMY CLITES read the second part of her screenplay proposal entitled, “Salam, a Dance.”  This part of her very suspenseful story began with a man, woman and child standing motionless in the dark corner of their bedroom as several uniformed men surround the bed they had been sleeping on.  They are discovered when the baby cries.  The story ends with two of the uniformed men surrounding the woman, a gunshot is heard and then a scream.

CAREN VON SEE read four pages of the first chapter of her novel, My Treasure Chest.  The story begins with Sara meeting her soon-to-be husband, as she is waitressing in a family-owned restaurant.  After meeting this nice looking Italian man he asks her to “share some wine” with him after she got off work.  She accepted and the romance began as they went to a bar around the corner and talked until two a.m.

HARDERSHAN VALIA read his beautiful  eight stanza poem entitled, “Ode to Lake Michigan.” The poem tells of Lake Michigan’s beginning and its natural progression and of “nature’s destructive force.”  The poem ends with four lines from the last stanza, “Then the faces of fossil treasures, Dancing under the moonlit sky, Speak to you in wonder of Nature’s rule, The Vulnerability of life.”

AL KOCH brought his two page comical memoir  entitled, “X-rays for Fun and Profit.”  The memoir tells of all the various times that “X-rays” played a part of his life while growing up in Whiting, In.  Beginning with all the Superman, x-ray vision, movies, to the “powers of evil” that were conquered with x-rays and finally ending with how many times he put his feet into the x-ray machines to check for proper fits.

AMY BRAILEY continued with one of her story prompts (meant for her students to finish.)  The title of this story, “Disappearances,” begins with Roxanne slipping quietly out of her house to go exploring into the forest, despite all the resent disappearances.  She accidently meets up with her friend Mason who tries to get her to return to her grandparents’ house.  When she refuses they travel deeper into the woods and Mason confesses he saw their friend, Leliana, being captured.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN