Writer’s Mail
Tuesdays with Story
May 20, 2016
“Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald
Notes from May, Week , 2016
Guest Jane Bailey added to the international flavor of the first-and-third group meeting at B&N Westside. A Britisher visiting her sister here, Jane is a member of two writers groups back in England. She’s writing a novel. If you want to stay in touch, her email address is <janebailey811@btinternet.com>
Hannah Marshall: We looked at three poems. Many had helpful comments on “Neuroblastoma,” including continuing the imagery of hanging/hoisting in the last stanza, working on clarifying who is the speaker, and some smaller word changes. There was also a good discussion on “Looking in a Mirror” about the word choices “religion” and “unbelief.”
Kashmira: Journey to Swaraj. The consensus were that the chapters flowed well with right amount of action and inner thoughts. John pointed out a place where an observation didn’t work well.
Jerry Peterson (2 short stories) . . . For “The Tricksters,” Pat requested a fix for the line that suggests the father of the bride was an abuser, and John Schneller wanted a way for the bride to show the tricks she was playing on her father rather than telling of the tricks. For “How to Cook a Turkey,” several suggested the best way of shaming Mr. Wilson, after he ruins the turkey he had been cooking in a competition with his neighbor, is for the neighbor to invite the Wilsons to bring their Thanksgiving fixings to his house and have dinner with him since his turkey came out of the deep-fat fryer perfectly cooked.
Other Odds and Ends
Walking wounded . . .
First-and-third’s Cindi Dyke will be out for a while. Fell a week ago and injured her right shoulder, the same shoulder on which she had surgery a couple years ago. Until Cindi’s fully mobile, she’s relearning to do everything with one hand, her left hand, a challenge because she’s right handed.
Fifth Tuesday . . .
Everything is still set, say our hosts, the members of our second-and-fourth group . . .
Date: May 31.
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: The Goodman Community Center at 149 Waubesa Street here in Madison. The center is charging us a small fee (less than $50) for the use of the meeting room, so bring a couple dollars to throw in the kitty to cover the charge.
The food plan: This is a potluck dinner event, so please bring a dish to pass.
The writing challenge: In 250 to 500 words, write about a job interview that goes horribly wrong. You can write from the point of view of the interviewer, the interviewee, or a third party (the proverbial fly on the wall). The catch? You must use as many of the following words as you can (and we’ll tell you what the Japanese word means after you write your piece):
ineffable
vermicelli
slippery
defenestrate
matte
onomatopoeia
rhododendron
gastrointestinal
diphthong
agglutinate
vibrate
Do bring a copy of your masterpiece to Fifth Tuesday to read.
Follow your Poetry Frogs by Jill Badonsky
Mark Twain said, “Explaining humor is a lot like dissecting a frog; you learn a lot in the process, but in the end you kill it.”
No frogs were dissected in the writing of this blog-post.
I was thinking about that quote the other day because I want to write better poetry, (which is another way of saying that my ego was comparing my poetry to other people’s poetry and telling me mine wasn’t good enough. The ego likes to say stuff like that, bless its heart, and unless I’m paying attention, I buy into it and that really annoys me).
Anyway, I bought a How-to-Write-Better-Poetry-Because-Yours-Sucks book on Amazon, started reading it, and then slammed it shut.1 It was a good book, written by a talented poet, but I realized that reading it was dissecting my “poetry frog.” I like my poetry frog. It hops from one idea to the next without instruction and when I trust it, the trip is better than any trip I could take in a plane, train or automobile. Allowing my intuitive self take a creative trip comes with perks and postcards.
Read the entire post here http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1412624052
Thanks Pat!
Coming Soon…
May 24:
May 31: Fifth Tuesday!
June 7: Lisa McDougal (chapter 1 rewrite, Tebow Family Secret), Pat Edwards (???), Eva May (chapter 4, Duoda), Amber Boudreau (chapter 2, The Dragoneer), Kashmira Sheth (YA novel, chapters, Journey to Swaraj), John Schneller (???), Nora O’Reilly (chapter, novel), and Bob Kralapp (short story, part 2, “Wings”).
June 14:
June 21: Mike Austin (chapter 4, Before I Leave), Millie Mader (poem), Hannah Marshall (poems), Kashmira Sheth (YA novel, chapters, Journey to Swaraj), Judith McNeil (short story, part 2, “Just Visiting”), Randy Slagel (part 2, Watered-Down Witch), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 27-29, Killing Ham).
Look who’s editing Writers Mail . . .
This month, it’s Lisa McDougal-Pederson.
Tuesdays with Story 
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