Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘William Shakespeare’

Writer’s Mail

Posted in Newsletter, tagged , on December 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Writer’s Mail for December 14, 2013

“An action taken goes on reverberating forever. Cause never ceases its effects. You can’t let go…. You can only change sides.” –Words of Padma, a supporting character in the Hugo Award winning science fiction novel Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon R. Dickson (DAW Books, 1967)

Tuesday Night at the Monroe Street Arts Center…
Eight Tuesday with Story members — Jen, Katelin, Karen, Terry, Holly, Ruth, Kristen, and Ryan — gathered for the Second-and-Fourth Group meeting Dec. 10 to hear and discuss the work of three members. Thanks to Katelin Cummins for reporting!

December 10: Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (chapter, Coming Up for Air), Deb Kellerman (chapter, Crossing Guard), Ryan Wagner (short story), and Carol Hornung (scene, Ghost of Heffron College). Meeting at Monroe Street Art Center, 2526 Monroe Street.

Ryan Wagner read five poems. Katelin liked “No to Holiday Shopping” and “Highlights of Livestock.” She said both communicated their concepts strongly and clearly. Jen and Kristen thought the first two poems Ryan read seemed linked. The first one seemed like “going through the motions and about to hit rock bottom,” and the second was like an awakening. Holly liked “Bad Circle” – especially its title — but the poem felt disjointed to her. Maybe that was good? In the second poem, Ryan read, Terry and Holly were reminded of the cult Heaven’s Gate with the phrase “gate of heaven.” Holly suggested not repeating the same words in the different poems unless with intentional effect: Make sure every word is the best word. (more…)

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Writer’s Mail

Posted in Newsletter, tagged , , , , on December 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Tuesdays With Story
WRITER’S MAIL for December 21, 2012

Good Words from Way Back

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
So you, to study now it is too late,
Climb o’er the house to unlock the little gate.

–Biron to Ferdinand, King of Navarre, in Act 1, Scene 1 of Love’s Labours Lost (1598) by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), courtesy of The Literature Network (http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/lovelost/1/)

December 18 Meeting: Eight Gathered ’Round
“Eight of us gathered ’round tables at the Alicia Ashman Library for the last meeting of 2012,” reports Amber Boudreau of First-and-Third group.

Lisa McDougal read from Chapter 9 of Follow the Yellow and noted her own doubts about the last line she had read. Amber Boudreau suggested dropping that sentence altogether. Pat Edwards liked a fight scene she thought was “well-blocked,” but she wished at that point the main character could talk to a friend. Jerry Peterson enjoyed the fight scene but had a few concerns. He suggested Lisa could cut everything before her asterisks, because there’s a lot of telling instead of showing. Pat wasn’t squeamish about foul language in the chapter, but thought Lisa could cut out some of it and avoid offending her audience. Millie Mader questioned a character’s abilities and imagined the mother would be more concerned and not so accepting. Pat saw the mother as concerned, but practical.

Amber Boudreau offered “a reiteration” of Chapter 6 of her YA novel, tentatively titled Noble. Pat hated that the Librarian struck her as a vampire and wondered whether he might not smell like old books. Lisa expected one character to be more aggressive and confused, less accepting. Jerry wanted to see Moira work to put a nook back instead of just finding where it goes. Everyone seemed to agree this chapter was much more tightly written than before. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Writer’s Mail

Posted in Newsletter, tagged , on February 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Tuesdays with Story
2-5-2012

Quote of the Week

“I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.”

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

And the winner is . . .
Everyone who came to Fifth Tuesday at Booked for Murder.

Said Brandy Larson, maker of the mighty 8-pound chocolate/chocolate bread pudding, “It was fun and Chris DeSmit, our guest of honor, had a good handout on ‘voice’ for everyone. After the readings, she made insightful comments on each person’s piece that everyone could learn from. Amber Boudeau won the dinner and critique with Chris – her story was REALLY great.”

You can read Amber’s and all the Fifth Tuesday stories. They’re posted on our TWS website. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Writer’s Mail

Posted in Newsletter, tagged , , , , , , on December 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Tuesdays with Story
WRITER’S MAIL for December 18, 2010
by Clayton Gill

Good Words from Way Back
At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
So you, to study now it is too late,
Climb o’er the house to unlock the little gate.
–Berowne to the King of Navarre in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Act 1, Scene 1) by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

Brave New World of Rave New World
Imagine a world in which building your vocabulary in preparation for a college entrance exam involves reading novels specifically written for that purpose. Welcome to Rave New World from the college exam coaches of Sparknotes.com, where…

“It’s the year 2157, and every pleasure that doesn’t turn people into dutiful consumers has been classified as an addiction and outlawed. Jaden Emory’s job is to find out people’s hidden addictions — and root them out. But when rebellious raver Ally Fayre enters the picture, it’s Jaden who becomes addicted… to her.”

Read more of Rave New World: An SAT/ACT Vocabulary Novel at http://www.sparknotes.com/satfiction/ravenewworld/. Sparknotes products are available from Barnes & Nobel in PDF and eBook format.

Reading Recap: December 14 Meeting
There’s nothing like hot apple cider on a cold December night, and several folks indulged as we gathered on the second floor of the Sundance Theater & Café in the Hilldale Mall. Thanks to Aaron Boehm for sweet-talking his manager into letting us hang out there for a couple of hours!

Kim Simmons launched our lively evening with two chapters from City in Winter. The discussion focused on the Jamie character and his city. Dan Hamre wondered what happened to the assistants who had questions — they were dismissed rather subtly. The line, “I broke up the guild because I felt like it” brought mixed reactions from the group. Anne Allen thought the statement wasn’t needed, that it sounded too trite. But Carol Hornung liked it because it revealed the kind of administrator Jamie was. Andrea Kirchman felt Jamie was “a sucky administrator” because he was the only one who could answer questions. Carol wondered about the origin of technology in the city. Members of the group had lots of questions the reader would wonder about — some answers here and there would be helpful. (more…)

Read Full Post »