(Apologies for the late posting of this newsletter. Times being what they are, I think you for your patience.)
Tuesdays with Story
April 24, 2020
The first word . . .
In the age of pandemic:
“If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door- or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.”
― Rabindranath Tagore
They met on Zoom . . .
Eight of our colleagues—Larry, Jerry, John, Mike, Amit, Kashmira, Jack, and Paul—gathered Tuesday evening in front of their computers, bottles of beer and glasses of wine in hand . . . hey, now that’s the way to meet . . . to critique the stories and chapters of four of our writers. Here is some of what was said:
— John Schneller (chapter 18, Broken rewrite) . . . The significant elements in this chapter made it a good read for most. The healing in a two-step human/supernatural process held interest. The wolves proved brutal enough to be a formidable antagonist. Larry discussed a stronger revision on Silent Eyes’ philosophical dialogue and Jerry provided significant comings and goings of commas and paragraph breaks. Thanks for all the comments!
— Kashmira Sheth (chapter 1-2 rewrite, Journey to Swaraj) . . .I resubmitted chapters from my novel with some major changes. Jack suggested I explain a little more about cultural/religious significance in the beginning for young readers to understand the content more clearly. Jerry felt there were too many speech tags and I needed to replace them with actions. Larry and John liked the story and had some comments to make it flow better. Thank you for all your comments.
— Larry Sommers (short story, Treasure Hunters) . . . I presented a short story, “Treasure Hunters,” the first draft of a one-sitting effort prompted by an informal photo-based challenge from a friend. Everybody seemed to agree that the characters are somewhat interesting, that the twist at the end is intriguing, and that there are lots of unanswered questions about the characters’ goals, motives, and relationships that need work. Jerry suggested I rename the character Cisco to avoid confusion with the Cisco Kid. Spoken like a true old-timer. As a supporting character, maybe Cisco should be renamed to Pancho, or even Sancho. Thanks for all comments, I will pour them into the mixer and see what emerges.
— Jerry Peterson (chapters 1-2, Execution) . . . Jack suggested a lot of changes to the opening scene—a war scene—to get the weaponry, the use of night vision goggles, and the radio dialogue between the squad in the field and the command post correct. He also suggested that the jailer, in chapter 2, introduce Quinn as a lawyer to the first inmate rather than have this reveal come later. John wanted it made clear in chapter 1 that the enemy found in the hut is dead. Donnelson tells Quinn to kick the body to see whether it is dead, but we don’t see her follow through on that order. Only when we make sure the body is dead, John said, does it make sense that it is booby-trapped, that the explosion, when Quinn attempts to roll the body over, is the booby-trap going off and not someone triggering a suicide belt. Amit felt the Afghanis would be speaking Pashto rather than Farsi.
Who’s up next . . .
May 5
Kashmira Sheth (chapter, Journey to Swaraj)
Bob Kralapp (chapter, Capacity)
Mike Austin (???)
Larry Sommers (???)
A writing contest for you . . .
It’s this weekend, the University of Iowa Alumni and Friends Flash Fiction Writing Contest. We’re all friends, so we can participate.
Friday at 4 p.m., the contest organizers will post a prompt. We then have until Sunday at 4 p.m. to write a story of no more than 1,000 words and either post it online with the organizers or email it to them. The winner gets her/his story published online and also will be given a bundle of Hawkeye-themed stuff.
Yes, we all can use some stuff.
The fun is writing the story. The prompt will include a genre, a character, and a specific object that we must incorporate into our stories.
For more details, click on this link: https://www.foriowa.org/write-now/
Our editor . . .
It’s Kashmira Sheth. Do you have something you’d like her to include in our next issue? Shoot it to Kashmira.
Amber Boudreau:
Amber just got word from her publisher that her book release has been pushed back to this fall, probably sometime in September. When she has a date, she will let us all know.
Kashmira Sheth:
Kashmira has a new chapter book series called Nina Soni. The first two books are out. S was inspired to write this series based on her two daughters. They were born and raised in Madison and the series is set right here. Nina is curious, smart, and brimming with ideas. She loves projects, science, and words. She tries to keep things all straight and not zig-zaggy with multiple lists. The third book will come out in the spring of 2021.
The first title, Nina Soni, Former Best Friend, has been named to the 2020 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books for the Year list.
It has also been nominated for the 20-21 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award.
Kashmira has a picture book called Feast of Peas, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler (tiger in My Soup) that was published this month.
This one is a folk tale set in India.
Hard-working Jiva might not be the only one anticipating a delicious feast of peas from his garden.
Every morning, Jiva works in his garden until the sun turns as red as a bride’s sari. When his friend Ruvji admires his plants Jiva sings,
Plump peas, sweet peas,
Lined- up-in-the-shell peas.
Peas to munch, peas to crunch
A feast of peas for lunch.
But each time Jiva is ready to pick the peas for his feast, they’re already gone. What has happened
The last word . . .
“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”
— R.L. Stine
Tuesdays with Story 
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