Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays with Story
October 16, 2013

“Easy reading is damned hard writing.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Notes from 10/15/2013
Lisa reads from the rewrite of her Chapter 4. Jerry didn’t get that one character was suffering from depression. Betsy thought the dialogue was very natural. Andy wonders why there is a bar at the library, but turns out it’s not just a library. Betsy questions the use of a certain word. Andy wonders how drunk one character really is. Pat wonders if the chapter might be stronger if she switches out the first two paragraphs. She suggest Lisa gets a real version of Word.

Bob shares Part two of Sunday Night. Judith was disappointed that the story ended. Andy was disappointed in the ending and wanted to know why one character was such a jerk and looking for others to theorize about it in the story. Pat was physically affected by the pathos of the characters. Bob wonders if there’s something missing. Jerry wonders why he chose to end the story with the focus in Chester. Amber reads an element of the supernatural and it reminds Pat of an old episode of The Outer Limits.

Andy shares Chapter four through six of The Void. Millie liked it and wonders about what the government is hiding from everyone. Jerry didn’t think it was a void because there are things there. Judith could see it animated. Pat thought it would be a good graphic novel. Pat also suggests writing down the rules for this universe somewhere. Pat also wants some mention of them wondering how they are going to get back in as they’ve just gotten out and they’re already planning about what they’re going to do when they get back in.

Millie shares here rewrite of Chapter forty-seven of Life on Hold. Lisa liked the scene Millie read. Jerry didn’t know you could get mugged by a hammer. Lisa wonders why they couldn’t just go to the Hobbit instead of talking about it. Betsy wonders if a certain statement, “It is what it is,” is too current for the time of the novel.

Judith reads from Chapter Six of My Mother Savior of Men. Andy was a little confused at the beginning, but he really liked it. Betsy likes the vivid descriptions and tempo of the chapter. Pat wondered about the dream, but there was no meaning to it. Everyone thought it was a very good chapter.

Betsy shares a continuation of Chapter one of Twins: A Love Story. Andy started to get a little bored because of what he considered an info dump. Pat enjoyed it, didn’t think it was an info dump. If it’s going to be a family saga then she could have expanded a bit more in some areas. Their own experiences will be what make then unique and not just another Irish immigrant story. Jerry notes that a story told in the moment is more powerful than one told to someone.

Jerry reads from Chapter Twelve of Capital Crimes. Betsy thought it was fun to read. Pat caught the rare typo, but she wondered why she doesn’t care about the protagonist. She wonders if it’s because we haven’t seen any of his weaknesses. Amber and Pat were a little disappointed that the murderer was unmasked, but not really.

Other Odds and Ends
Wisconsin Book Festival this week . . .
The big Wisconsin Book Festival runs this week, Thursday through Sunday this week, the festival a greatly scaled-down event from previous years.

The Wisconsin Humanities Council, the organization that ran the festival since its inception some years back, this spring turned it over to the Madison Public Library Foundation. The foundation staff hired an outside director and together they shrank the festival to a more manageable size and decided to hold most events in the downtown library rather than in and around the university area.

There is not one well-known author among those who will be making presentations. No bestsellers. No big names. Featured are a fair number of authors who have only one book published, but those books have been well received by reviewers and critics.

Poetry has a prominence with six events. So does young adult and children’s literature with seven events.

Missing totally are mystery/crime/thriller and romance, the genres that account for 47 percent of all book sales. Not one event. Not one featured author.

Also missing are the writers workshops of previous years.

If you want to stock up your personal library at bargain prices, this year’s festival has three used book sales, up from one in previous years. You will find the sales at UW’s Memorial Library, Madison Public Library’s downtown library, and at UW’s Helen C. White Hall. This last one stocks children’s and YA books exclusively.

Here’s the link so you can check out festival events you’d like to attend: http://wisconsinbookfestival.org/event_overview

Great word . . .From Wordsmith Anu Garg:
Caboodle
PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-BOOD-uhl)
MEANING: noun: The lot, collection, or crowd.
NOTES: The word is mostly seen in the expression “kit and caboodle” meaning “the whole lot”.

ETYMOLOGY: Perhaps from boodle (money, goods, people), from Dutch boedel (property). Earliest documented use: 1848.

USAGE: “New York City teems with questionable urban legends. But the fable about the postal clerk and his wife, a Brooklyn librarian, scrimping to amass an astounding collection of modern art, cramming all 5,000 pieces in a rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment, then donating the whole kit and caboodle to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and galleries in all 50 states, is true.”
– Douglas Martin; Herbert Vogel, Fabled Art Collector, Dies at 89; The New York Times; Jul 24, 2012.

“Theresa cruised through the office once a month with a caboodle full of scissors, smocks, and hair color.”– Lisa Baron; Life of the Party; Citadel Press; 2011.

Coming Soon…
October 22: Katelin Cummins (chapter, Battle of Sista), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (chapter, Coming Up For Air), Ruth Imhoff (chapter, Motto of the Hound), Karen Zethmayr (pop-up book), Carol Hornung (scene, Ghost of Heffron College, and Jack Freiburger (???).
October 29: Lisa McDougal (chapter, Tebow Family Secret), Aaron Boehm (???), Pat Edwards (poems), Ruth Imhoff (chapter, Motto of the Hound), Cindi Dykes (chapter 2, North Road), and Amber Boudreau (chapter 21, Noble).
November 5: Fifth Tuesday – really – at Mystery To Me Bookstore.
November 12:….
November 19: Lisa McDougal (chapter, Tebow Family Secret), Bob Kralapp (???), Millie Mader (chapter 48, Life on Hold), Andy Pfeiffer (chapter, The Void), Judith McNeil (chapter 7, My Mother, Savior of Men), Betsy Draine (chapter 2, Twins: A Love Story), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 12-13 Capitol Crimes).

A Fifth Tuesday note . . .
Got your Fifth Tuesday challenge story written? Please send it both to Carol Hornung and Jerry Peterson. Jerry will forward his set of stories to our judge, Joanne Berg.
It’s also time to make your reservations. Send Carol a note telling her you are coming and whether you are bringing a guest. We want to be sure we have enough chairs for everyone. Also tell Carol what you are planning to bring for the feasting table. Finger food is the order for this potluck. If everyone brings frozen bananas on a stick and chocolate-dipped grape tomatoes, that could be interesting.
Date: November 5.
Place: Mystery To Me Bookstore on Monroe Street, across the street from Trader Joe’s.
Time: 7 p.m.