Meeting 19th May 2010

In attendance: Jo, Cath, Helene, Mary, Wendy, Mandy, Terry

This week: Facilitator –Terry, Exercise – Mandy, Homework – Terry

Brags:
Jo…War Memorial in Canberra not particularly helpful
Cath…Grandson’s band into semi-finals of band competition
Helene…happy to be relatively injury free after falling (or having a fall?)
Wendy…good to be back in the land of Oz after a visit to the old dart
Mandy…being crafty but not helping her back issues
Terry…grandson Bailey following in Pa’s footsteps with writing and poetry

Words of the Day
Jo…continues to be frustrated with US dictionary spelling (realize vs realise)
Cath…obstreperous…loud, noisy, unruly
Helene…bizarre…odd, queer, weird
Mary…nefarious…flagrantly wicked
Wendy…quotidian…daily, commonplace
Mandy…propinquity…nearness, kinship
Terry…iniquitous…bad, evil, unjust, wicked

Homework readings
Helene…a poem…The lottery
Wendy…a poem…England’s weather
Mandy…Family luck
Terry…Come-uppance
Jo…Making way
Cath…And the winner is…

Exercise 1…Mandy…A quickwrite starting with “I was sitting in bed sipping hot coffee when the nurse came into the room”…and ending with “and then we both heard the music”
As usual a wide range of different approaches including quirky.

Exercise 2…Terry…as per last week where we all contributed to a series of stories… a lot of fun and some actual functional stories.

Mandy continued with the Romance writing discussion.

Homework …a story including the words “I can’t believe I was afraid of…”

Next week’s meeting:
Facilitator is Helene…Exercise by Wendy…Homework by Terry

May 12, 2010.
Minutes of the Weekly meeting of the Bay & Basin Writing Group

Present: Vala, Helene, Kath, Jo, David R, Mandy Terry and Robyn

Another good meeting with several brag items

Vala and Helene enjoyed an open afternoon at a local Hairdressers new premises.
Kath braved the waters of the bay and took a swim at Plantation Point Beach.
Jo bought us up to date with her war against the smoke giants, and her ten fingered gloves.
David very close to completing his country cabin, and off to Cairns for a break. Hurry back.
Mandy is over her writers block,

Words of the day included
Frisson – a shiver of fear or excitement
Langorous- Indolent dreaminess, listless “An era of crises in which many retired to the langorous meditation of disengagements.”
Loquacious… talkative, using too many words, long-winded (also garrulous)
Fallacious…deceptive, misleading, logically unsound
Fiasco Used originally in Italian theatre for an utterly failed performance, also a flask or wine bottle, a breakdown
Enquire or inquire – both seeking for information or truth.

Last week the homework was set by Jo, several members successfully rose to the occasion.
Helene The Man in the Green Shirt
Jo The watcher
David Aloysius
Mandy The Chocolate Memory
Terry Micky
Kath Leaving

“A conglomeration of minds.” A joint exercise where a sentence was written, then passed to the left where the next sentence was written, passed left again, etc. Some interesting joint stories resulted that showed that not all great minds think alike.

Homework: You have won the Lottery and don’t want to tell your family. How would you enjoy your winnings without them knowing.

For next week the Facicilitor is Terry
Exercise Mandy
Homework Robyn.