January 3, 2019

 MEMBERS PRESENT:  Sharon Buckman, Katherine Flotz, Amy Brailey, Marilyn Kessler, Tim Phillipart, Corri Stephenson, and Paula Stephenson, Lisa Groszek

GUESTS:  Jessica Rewald

OLD BUSINESS:  Welcome back Lisa Groszek !

NEW BUSINESS:  Amy Clites emailed a Writer’s Retreat possibility held on the Second Saturdays of January, February, and March.  (Posted on Facebook)

READINGS:

TIM PHILLIPART shared three poems: “Do You Experience Dizziness” is a delightful free verse poem in which the narrator, barely awake, daydreams between Shakespeare’s England and the New York Theatre District, enjoying the contrast between that and everyday life.  “Encounter” is a free verse poem in which a two year old encounters her bald grandparent, delighting in the contrast between the hair-filled heads she knows and this new phenomenon.  “Influence” is a tribute to our members who enjoy structured poetry,  It is a Welsh style called A Hir aThoddaid which consists of 6 rhyming lines, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 9 syllables respectively.  The third from the last word in the second to last line should sound similar to the third from the first word in the last line.  This poem discusses how the delights of nature lift the dreariness of cabin fever, even when seen through a window.  

KATHERINE FLOTZ  read a memoir entitled “My First Book Signing” which describes both a positive encounter with a young boy who has an interest in the Holocaust and a disappointing encounter with a man who doesn’t think he needs to hear about the Holocaust.

LISA GROSZEK read a portion of her novel currently titled Becoming Memorable which juxtaposes two stories—one modern and one set in the 1930’s—tied together by a camera which is suspected to cause the disappearances of its subjects.  In this scene, Gerard, the photographer, recounts the story of the camera, which he has lost after having a conversation with the last person to disappear who instructed him to hide it in a safe place.

CORRI STEPHENSON shared the beginning of her NaNoWriMo novel entitled The Watcher.  In this section, an eight-year old boy heads to the lower levels of the temple to receive his name.  His older friend Anderes has been putting him down since he received his own name.  The boy meets the Guardian who will give him his name and task.

PAULA STEPHENSON shared “The Shoe People” a cute short story about a conversation between a kitten and a mouse who hides out around the family shoes.  She also brought illustrations she has created for another children’s book she has been working on. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

AMY BRAILEY