May 15, 2013

MEMBERS PRESENT: George Miga, Laurie Chase, Kelly Chase, Donna Douglass, Sharon Dorelli, Julie Perkins,  Katherine Flotz, Neil Bedeker, Sharon Palmeri, and Beverly Stanislawski

WELCOME NEW MEMBER: SUZY STUEBEN.

GUESTS: JOHN DeYOUNG (Laurie’s cousin) introduced and plans on joining our group.

OLD BUSINESS

A vote of approval for the May 1, 2013 minutes was first given byKATHERINE FLOTZ and seconded by DONNA DOUGLASS.

NEW BUSINESS

           

SHARON PALMERI opened the meeting by passing out a form about self publishing. Our answers will be helpful for our guest speaker at WOH’s 25^th Anniversary in December.       

KATHERINE FLOTZ updated us on her recent speaking engagement with her husband George. It took place at Beecher Middle School, where Katherine also sold 30 books.

JULIE PERKINS showed a Poetry Foundation App. which can be used to find poems.

READINGS:

GEORGE MIGA continued his novel, Medal of Dishonor, in which his protagonist Spenser McCall attends the funeral of Bobby Geary and has another go-around with President Johnson’s decisions, including the CO2 project designed to help cut our foreign oil dependency.

KELLY CHASE read the end of her short story, “Stormy Night.” Character Jamie awakens from what was a dream in which she was attacked by the monster, but she wonders about the reality of her red eyes and her budding fangs. Kelly proposed two possible endings to this mysterious, monster tale.

LAURIE CHASE continued with her novel, Badradin. This part of her novel was about Togalaz who would take part in a three-stage rite of passage, “Telza Central.” To Togalaz, successful completion of this ceremony meant freedom.

JULIE PERKINS offered her poem, “Dear Thay Nhat Hanh,” (written to a Buddhist Monk), who taught her to “do what needs to be done.” She applied that advice when she and her husband visited Rome, had a slight lovers’ “spat,” and reconnected on the Spanish Steps.

DONNA DOUGLASS poem, “Northern Spring,” gave a glimpse of the arrival of spring in all its colorful splendor, obliterating the black/white scenes of winter.

KATHERINE FLOTZ gave us good advice about how she wrote her book, A Pebble in My Shoe;” how she self published it, and how she marketed it. Her thorough explanations of personal experiences were informative and helpful.

SUZY STUEBEN presented her children’s story Zilla, the Adventures of a Garden Gnome.  This story "Zilla Takes a Vacation" Is the first in a series of Zilla stories. Zilla, a garden gnome, attempts to take a vacation with little help from a local cat, Purr.

NEIL BEDEKER’S short story, “Out of Retirement,” had us wondering if his protagonist really needed a psychiatrist himself or if he was cleverly planning a permanent “retirement” for the doctor who did not prevent his nephew’s suicide.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her poem, “Waltzing with Leaves,” a Vimaglo sonnet. It dealt with a person wanting to learn the dance of the autumn leaves and to join them. This poem won an honorable mention in an Indiana contest.

The meeting ended at 8:50 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI

 

MAY 1, 2013

MEMBERS PRESENT:

George Miga, Sharon Buckman, Kathy Flotz, Donna Douglass, Sharon Dorelli, Beverly Stanislawski, Tom Spencer, Jane Burns, Gail Galvan, Ron Trigg, Michelle Vargas, Neil Bedeker, Julie Perkins, Sharon Palmeri

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the April 17^, 2013 minutes was first given by BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI and seconded by SHARON DORELLI.

NEW BUSINESS:

SHARON PALMERI  reminded the members that the month of May was Get Caught Reading month.

LITERARY NEWS:

KATHY FLOTZ stated that she would like to recommend a book entitled, Invisible Bridge, written by Julie Orringer.  The book is a true story that basically takes place in Hungary and Paris during the World War II.

RON TRIGG announced that he had sent in two query letters concerning his memoir, The Alluring Temptress,  and received a letter of interest from the Maria Carvainis Publishing Agency.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she had recently sent in nine poems to a Mississippi Poetry Contest. One  of her poems won second place and and three received honorable mentions.

MICHELLE VARGAS mentioned that “writersdigest.com” spotlights new literary agents who are currently open to submissions.

JULIE PERKINS announced that she had three poems published on Blaze Vox, an online literary journal.

GAIL GALVAN made the statement, “I love Create Space!” (Amazon’s self-publishing site) Create Space is currently checking proof of the revised edition of  Sneezing Seasons 2013 – The Inside Story About Allergies and Immunology.  She mentioned that the  book has also been entered in a book cover design contest for Five Star Publications.  She also mentioned that Dr. Glasser, who wrote  The Body is the Hero has agreed to write a foreward for her book --  however, he cannot get to it until June.  She will then write an update file when she has received the forward.  Gail also mentioned to the members that May is Asthma Awareness Month.

READINGS:

GEORGE MIGA continued with his novel, Medal of Dishonor.  Having reached a conclusion in the investigation for the proper Medal of Honor recipient, President Johnson stated that Cordell Jackson also should be considered for the Medal of Honor as well as a Distinguished Service Cross for Geary, another veteran who thus far had not received any attention for his heroism.

SHARON BUCKMAN continued with the sequel to her first book, Canopy of Leaves. In this part of  Beyond the Canopy,  Anne accidentally discovers the general store where her captor had sold his furs, also discovering why he had returned to the cabin so quickly to discover she had escaped.

KATHY FLOTZ read her four stanza poem entitled,  “Autumn Snapshots.”  Her beautiful poem relates to “nature’s garden” and how the sunshine illuminates the beautiful colors of autumn days.

DONNA DOUGLASS read her eleven stanza poem entitled, “In School, A-Mer-E-Ca.”  The poem tells the story of one of Donna’s students from Nepal  who decided she did not want to stay in an American school and yearned to return to her own country.

SHARON DORELLI read her eight stanza poem entitled, “Star-Crossed Lovers.”  The poem, accompanied with a beautiful picture of a full moon going down behind a sun rise, only briefly meeting and ending with the line, “Like ships upon a starry sea, destined to follow separate paths.”

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read her second place poem that had been entered in a Mississippi poetry contest, “The Royal Visit.”  The seven stanza poem related to Elvis Presley’s visit to a Mississippi town and the elation of the teenagers as “his rhinestone jumpsuits shone so bright.”

TOM SPENCER brought his six stanza poem entitled, “Autumnal Metamorphose.” The poem related to the beginning of autumn which included a beautiful phrase, “A gentle amber breeze, the sound of falling leaves, Cicada serenade.”

JANE BURNS continued with Chapter 10 of her novel, Atalanta.  This part of her novel, entitled “The Messenger,” told of Atalanta being asked to lead the Elders to Tegea, later finding out that the injured messenger had said something about encountering a monster.

GAIL GALVAN read several pages relating to her new novel, Sneezing Seasons 2013, The Inside Story about Allergies and Asthma. The chapter segment entitled “Emergency Lane, 9-1-1: A Call for Help and the Emergency is . . .”  The caller, to the EMS, stated  he was a “hypersensitive, self-attacking and malfunctioning immune system,” trying to issue a medical alert for people suffering from asthma.   

RON TRIGG read his four page memoir entitled, “Off to War.”  The memoir, taking place in 1969, began with Ron saying goodbye to his parents as he began his journey to Vietnam.  After encountering a not-so-pleasant beginning in Saigon and being greeted by “war-hardened veterans,” Ron was pleasantly surprised when he found he had been assigned to a large airy barracks that was close to the South China Sea, a beautiful area that was like, “a picture out of a travel brochure.”

MICHELLE VARGAS continued with her novel ,  Striving After Wind.  In this part of her novel, Tabitha encountered Patrick, the father of William, the boy she had raised.  After telling Patrick that he could not take William away she soon followed William into the ice-house and locked the door.  Later, exiting the ice-house, a game warden approached her, hitting her over the head.  This part of the story ended with six year old William shooting and killing the game warden.

JULIE PERKINS read her six stanza poem entitled, “Refugees.”  The poem related to how she would feel if she were forced to leave her home, “running for survival and fear,” and ending with the thought – could this happen in America.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN