APRIL 18, 2012

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, Sharon Dorelli, Beverly Stanislawski, Tom Molnar, George Miga, Donna Douglass, Ron Trigg, Lisa Groszek, Neil Bedeker, Gail Galvan, Laurie Chase, Kelly Chase, Jane Burns, Sharon Palmeri, Mike Musak, Michelle Vargas.

GUESTS PRESENT:

David Frazier, a retired steelworker from Northwest Indiana, has been writing since 2003 and has fictional stories that have been published electronically. He also enjoys writing poetry.

Anthea Morgan, a former librarian from Highland, stated she had a short story published 20 yrs. prior.

OLD/NEW BUSINESS:

The meeting was called to order by Sharon Palmeri at 6:30 P.M. The minutes were approved for the last meeting by Lisa Groszek and seconded by Neil Bedeker.

LITERARY NEWS:

SHARON PALMERI brought along literature concerning Free E-Books by Project Gutenberg . Sharon also brought along literature on John Milton and told of some of his poems and accomplishments. She mentioned that Milton’s most famous work “Paradise Lost” was written after he completely lost his eyesight in 1651. The epic was dictated by Milton to his assistants. This ten book masterpiece (which later increased to twelve) consisted on well over 10,000 lines of poetry.

RON TRIGG also brought along some literature concerning the Duneland Historical Society. He stated they were featuring Harry Mark Petrakis and his book: The Storyteller’s Golden Wheel, on Thursday, April 19^th at the Westchester Township Library Service Center on Indiana Ave. in Chesterton.

GAIL GALVAN stated her web site is coming along well and should be up in about two weeks. She mentioned that she is working on her HS Hoosier Storybook and Poetry Palace online publications and will be needing submissions soon.

DONNA DOUGLASS stated she just recently sold her condo in Atlanta and will be moving to North Carolina.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI announced that she has just recently won second place for a poem she had entered in a contest for the State Poetry Society in Missouri.

READINGS:

SHARON PALMERI read a poem she had written in memory of John Milton entitled “Ebony.” The three stanza poem told of the darkness that had overtaken John Milton’s sight and “leaving him in ebony of everlasting night.”

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her four stanza poem entitled, “Face-Off.” The poem told of finding the courage to stand up to our unknown fears and what’s to come.

TOM MOLNAR read two pages of the beginning of his novel, Bridestar. The novel, which takes place about two hundred years into the future, tells of two men who have been traveling in space for two months and encounter a beautiful planet. The planet reminds them of earth before civilization took over.

SHARON DORELLI read the prologue of her short story entitled, “The Decision.” The story begins with an actual murder that took place several years prior and will later involve the jury that Sharon was on to decide the two men’s fate.

MIKE MUSAK brought four pages of his screenplay entitled, “Joe’s New Job.” Six of our members were cast into the play which told of the Joe’s “opposable thumbs” as he tried to learn his new job; as usual the play was enjoyed by all the members.

DONNA DOUGLASS read her true short story entitled, “First Lady of Television.” The story took place in 1982 when Donna went to a Cincinnati TV pre-show interview with talk show host Ruth Lyons. She was invited to be on The Fifty-Fifty Club due to a book she had written, however, a Falkland Island crisis preempted her TV appearance.

RON TRIGG continued with his stories from his memoir, Moments on an African Landscape. The titled of this story, “The Silverback,” told of Ron and some other guests from the hotel in Zaire, being taken through the forest to see some gorillas in their natural habitat. After being told they were very “gentle creatures,” they soon learned otherwise.

GEORGE MIGA continued with four pages of his novel, Medal of Dishonor. McCall, after being taken to the Washington National Records Center, learned that Cordell Jackson’s name was not even mentioned in the Belgium road incident where he had saved many lives and for which someone else had gotten the Medal of Honor.

JANE BURNS read four more pages of her novel, Atalanta “Within a Budding Grove”, Chapter 6 of her novel, continued with Atalanta going with the group of women she had encountered before, leading her to a Great Hall where she was given dry towels and blankets after weathering a terrible storm.

KELLY CHASE continued with her novel, The Ring. Still not being told of what the “sacrifice” would be, Kristine was taken before an altar in the center of a soon-to-be witches circle and then introduced to the “Mistress.”

LISA GROSZEK read three pages of her novel, Maude Defined. Maude learns from Jimmy, her former lover, that he is nearly two centuries older than her thirty two years and that he was commissioned to watch out for her, He explains that the closer they are to water the easier for her enemies to gain a foothold.

LAURIE CHASE continued with her novel, Badradin, by telling of the acceptance of the other crew mates to Togalaz. Colonel Kryton, known for his” imposing, direct and arrogant manner,” even began to accept her, telling her that he looked forward to working with her.

GAIL GALVAN shared a poem written by a friend and entitled, “Into This Fine Thicket.” The one page poem tells of the race for life of a hare and a Chocolate Lab, first from the hare’s viewpoint and then the Lab’s.

DAVID FRAZIER read a six stanza poem entitled, “Rebel Mom.” The poem tells of the sad ending of Mary E. Surratt when she was hung for supposedly helping her rebel son who helped Booth run.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN

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JUST A REMINDER: TYPESET FORMAT FOR WOH READING HANDOUTS

The new format for the readings at our meetings is as follows:

1. Margins - one inch
2. Font - Times New Roman 12
3. Spacing: a. Single spacing only two pages
b. Double spacing (not 1 1/2) four pages

 Other stuff:
Please bring at least 10 copies of your piece if possible
Tell us before you begin if you are sharing the piece. Otherwise it will be critiqued.