Record of meeting 11 November 2009
Present – Terry, Jo, David C, Mandy, Wendy, Cathy, Melissa, Robyn, Vala, Helene – the fun and laughter started before the meeting

Brags
Jo told us about a free 7 week course starting in December about community empowerment arranged by John Hatton – further details available from Jo
David C’s renovations are underway and should be finished before Christmas
Mandy met Margaret Britton (a former member) and told her the group is prospering
Melissa has finished and recorded to music Skeletons in the closet. Members of the group made suggestions that Bony M or the Living dead should record the single
Cath’s grandson was interviewed and had one of his group Czar Bomber’s song played on Power FM

Words of the day - an interesting mix of words

Terry – quasi – not real - from QANGO acronym for Quasi Autonomous Non Government Organisation
Dale – invidious – incurring or tending to cause resentment or unpopularity, unfairly or offensively discriminating
Jo – ravel and unravel mean the same thing - grey and gray Jo visualises different grey and gray hair Melissa confirmed the differences from her perspective
David C – gymnasium to exercise naked (we have no local gymnasium) and postulate and expostulate have the same meaning – to reason earnestly with a person against something they intend to do
Helene – exquisite – peculiar beauty or charm
Mandy – left her word on the table – we know what that means
Wendy – callipygian – having beautifully proportioned buttocks
Melissa – provided an article about popular Australian poets
Kath – loquacious – talking or disposed to talk much or freely
Robyn – greedy – acquisitive, rapacious (the strongest form of the word)

Homework
Many great stories and poems of buttons including a belly button, face buttons, flower buttons, tiny buttons, silver buttons, dog buttons, a nipple button, button fetishes and buttons with magical qualities.


News

Stories for 2010 anthology – Please email or give to Mandy on a memory stick your best contributions by February 2010 if you want to be published.

Melissa told us about a great band Beatels a covers band performing Beatles songs at Greenwell Point Bowling club on Saturday night 14 November.

Exercise

The two exercises provided by Robyn put some people out of their comfort zone. The first exercise was the possession game, to complete well know phrases, put us on a calm plateau. The second part comprising Alfakodo and Sudoku quizzes was not so popular with strong discussion about right and left brain thinking

Quick write

A number of favourite fairy tales were rewritten with humour– the fractured fairy tales included The Jolly swag man, Snow white, Little Red Riding Hood and a feminist fairy story

Homework

Write a 50 word story on O’Reilley’s clock.

Next meeting

Facilitator – Terry
Exercise – Jo
Homework – Vala

Meeting Minutes: November 4, 2009
In attendance: Terry; Robyn; Jo; Dale; Helene; Cath; David R.; Wendy; Mandy; and Melissa
Brags:
Terry – Will be an ‘Old Age Pensioner’ effective tomorrow (Nov. 5)! Happy Birthday Terry! Dale – Awarded the pleasure of reviewing “Birds in Mind” a book of poetry by Andrew Landsdown Helene – Won money in the Melbourne Cup (she didn’t disclose the amount, probably doesn’t want us knocking on her door asking for some – LOL (reminder: LOL means Laughing Out Loud!) David R. – Transcribing his Great Great Grandfather’s diaries, finished another book: 1849-1850, detailing his voyage via ship from Sydney to San Francisco with two of his sons. Fascinating information! Wendy – Recently purchased a 1902 dictionary off of EBay for $8 – quite a bargain! Mandy – She’s here! Jo – May have found a lead in her quest to locate her aunt. Good luck! Melissa – Entered a song into a competition, it has been shortlisted.
WOD:
Jo – signet ring: a ring with a seal Dale – empyrean: highest part of the heavens; abode of God; containing the element of fire Helene – froideur: a chill Cath – sanative: healing; health giving David R. – scintillate: to talk cleverly/wittily; brilliant; sparkle; twinkle Wendy – draconian: an eponym (word taken from a name) from Draco – an Athenian legislator who made harsh laws Mandy – diablo: round thing juggled on a string; (Mandy heard the following description on a TV program: ‘a diablo of words’) Terry – harbinger: person/thing that goes ahead to announce the arrival of something to follow
Homework: Skeletons in the closet
We had a few poems and a few stories, all were entertaining, no bones about it! (Pun heavily intended)
Exercise:
Mandy gave us the topic: Write your own 10 Commandments
We were all brilliant as usual and agreed the world would be a better place if we were left in charge.
Quick Write:
Topic: Bachelor
Resulted in more poetry, descriptions, and stories of bachelors – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Extra:
Dale reminded us about registering to win a free book from the following website: www.1111freebooks.com, must register by Nov. 11th!
Wendy treated us to a reading of a Pam Ayer’s poem.
Homework for next Wednesday (November 11th, just to clarify for those of us who are confused about when ‘next’ Wednesday actually occurs!)
Dale passed out a tin of buttons with the instructions to choose one and imagine and describe the article of clothing the button came from, the character who is wearing this item of clothing, and to create a scene that shows them involved in some action or interacting with another character.
Roles for next week: Facilitator: Helene Exercise: Robyn Homework: Terry Until then, happy writing Melissa

Meeting 28th Oct 2009
Welcome back Mandy
In attendance were: Melissa, Dale, Mandy, Mary, Robyn, David C, Terry, Cath and Helene.
Once again a good meeting with much laughter and with just a smattering of literary genius.
Brag session:
Terry went to the FAW course in town on Crime Writing. He said he found it quite informative and imparted his knowledge throughout our meeting.
Cath said she had nothing to brag about but I’m sure given a few moments she could have come up with something.
Mandy said she read a book. So what, you say but Mandy said it was of a type she’d not read before. It was aimed at younger people with lots of expletives and in their idiom. Well done Mandy for persevering, although I think she said she couldn’t put it down once she got started.
Helene went to Canberra. Had a grandchild fix but also indulged in the arts by visiting the McCubbin display as well as Monet and cast her eyes on Blue Poles. I hope she genuflected. It cost us enough for such behaviour.
Melissa did a stint as a teacher at the local TAFE informing women who want to go back into the work force on how to set up resumes on the computer.
Dale was excited about having to do a book review on her favourite poet. Unfortunately she didn’t say who this poet is. Perhaps we’ll find out when the book is available to the public. I think there is a lot of hush hush here. Sounds like a plot for a novel, ‘Who Stole the Poems?’
Mandy wanted to know how do you get drunk without drinking as she had done a winery crawl. Really Mandy.!!!
Robyn. In my notes I’ve said Robyn knows a woman but I’m damned if I can remember what the significance of this is. I know some women too but don’t need to brag about it.
David C is off to Manly Leagues to be a roadie for the Dynamic Duo. He says with a little coercion he may get up on stage. I’d like to be a fly.
Mary went to Sydney to see Michael Parkinson. She and Rollin used their $2.50 tickets on trains and buses. Also took advantage of the free open Opera House tour.
Words of the day
Terry—muse—spirit that gives inspiration
Cath—miasma—polluting exhalations
Helene—antiquing—(not sure of spelling); making love to an old/older person, throwing flour into someone’s face while they’re asleep and watching the results. ‘strange’
Melissa—codswallop—nonsense
Dale--deracinate—tear out by the roots, expunge
Mandy ???
Mary—chauffeur—from the French to stoke the fire.
Davis—plagiarism—the act of literary theft.
Homework or readings
Melissa none
Dale read more of her novel
Mandy ‘Just one of those days’ well written as always
Mary Murphy’s Law
Robyn none
David awoken from a dream of Kylie, damn shame matey
Terry everything was going wrong, a poem
Cath a surprise
It was decided that our Christmas ‘do’ will be on the Friday 4th Dec at the St Georges Basin Country Club. A 6.30 pm start. Writers only…as partners feel out of the loop when we all get together. All writers welcome, old and new. Let Terry know if you can make it. Not sure if we have to book a table or not matey, so I’ll leave that up to you. O.K?
Terry furthered his crime course knowledge with our exercise. I didn’t copy down all the words we came up with but the deal was to find words that go from ‘calm to ‘horror with 10 points in between. Sometimes our vocab was wanting. Something to work on I feel.
Another point he made was to find plots from just putting a man in one car and a woman in the other. We came up with some quite, innovative ideas. Car accidents, towing, drag racing, liaisons and general murder and mayhem
Mandy brought along some scrumptious scones, recipe below:
300ml lemonade 300ml cream 3 to 4 cups S/R flour Handful of sultanas if desired. I would think chopped dates would be good to.
Mix well by hand. Shape and cook in, I think, hot oven for 10 t0 15 minutes. Ask Mandy for the fine details. All I can say is they were delicious.
Once again a good meeting was had by all.
Homework… Skeleton in the closet. Yours or someone else's. Maybe it's you.
Write about that person in a time of your choosing and include some or all of the following.
Name, physical description, why yhey are the family secret/joke, the way they speak, why you identify with them, remember them, and how the person affects/affected you.
Next week Facilitator is Melissa Exercise by Mandy Homework by Dale
Happy writing and I’ll see you in Dec. Mary

Minutes: 21.10.09

Present: Mary, Kathy, David C, Helene, Terry, Robyn,Jo,Wendy.

Brags: Kathy spoke with pride of her grandson's musical debut in Nowra - Tzar Bomber.
Helene: Saw whales up close on the weekend. Lovely.
Wendy: Wendy went away and saw koalas in their habitat in Strathmerton, Victoria. Koalas very friendly, or else they think we are koalas too??
Robyn's friend, who has been battling cancer for a few years, has been given a ray of hope. Joe has had a good report on his test again.
David went to see Toni Childs at the Country Club, reported it to be extra professional and not to be missed.
Jo won a $20 lottery voucher from local shop for being a loser.
Word of the Week
Kathy's: 'Antipathy': instinctive air of dislike, emotionally-based meanings for this word.
Helene's: 'Mosh': to move as a crowd at a musical function.
Wendy's: 'Uxorious': excessively fond or submissive to one's wife. (mm, a couple of comments from the male gallery).
Robyn's: 'Socialism': pertaining to differing theories, a most untidy word, with discrete connections, some of them dangerous.
Mary's: 'Volcano': odoriferous fumirole, pyroclastic flow.
David's: 'Caucasian'; one from the Caucuses - pertaining to European Aryans.
Terry's: 'Felicitous': one who has gift for speech. Promoting happiness.
Jo asked, who had an explanation of 'tarmac'. Different ideas.
Talk, show, etc: Mary read out a list of probabilities - e.g. drop a screw, it will roll to an inaccessible place. Jo showed two unfinished beadwork slippers and a cardboard picture depicting frame and subject all in one.

Homework was predominently about Lawson's 'The Post Splitter', read and write about the man suggested by the poem. Flesh him out a bit more.
Kathy painted a picture of Lawson's bush in prose. Helene wrote a poem but peopled with newer Australians. Wendy wrote a poem about gen X language. Robyn read out a draft of a story about country life, warts and all and the man's sorrow at the death of it anyway. David read a poem 'Lars', the Scandinavian woodcutter in Lawson's forest - a second migrant experience. Terry, also a poet, wrote about 'Clarrie', a dinky-di Aussie. Cedar cutting, later generations blame these men for forest devastation. Jo read 'My Old Age', a humorous look at getting old. Tongue-in-cheek.
Exercises: Terry outlined the advisability of pleasing all members if possible. This is not easy but commendable.
First exercise: Write a paragraph without using the letter 'e'. Oh, fun, fun, shoot me in the head please. Hard to do. But we tried and there were a couple of paragraphs that actually made sense. It's a good mind-bender and we should do it often. It sharpens.
Then, thirdly, a sentence was given by Terry and each word had to start a sentence. Trying to make a story? Not b.. likely, but of course a couple of clever little things did a good job.
It's all fun sometimes, and we love being silly anyway. Such an homogeneous group. Note 'homogeneous' all, note 'an'. Do you know there are moves about to get rid of 'ans' before 'h's'? I don't know who does these moves but I heard it on TV..SO IT'S GOT TO BE TRUE! 'Bye 'til next time. Jo.

WRITERS MEETING FOR 14TH October 09

Present at the writers’ meeting were: Terry, David, Jo, Cath, Helene, Melissa, Mary, and we welcomed Leonie who has recently moved into the area. We hope Leone will come back and join us.

Since nobody had any brags, Dale handed around some information about a crime writing workshop being held on October 24 from 10-4 at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre in Nowra. Cost is $25. Further contact details from Barbara Simmons info@fawnswhoalhaven.org.au

Word of the Day
Terry avatar - as we often see on the internet is actually an old word meaning an incarnation- the descent of a god -Vishnu to earth in human form.
David frenemy - a one time friend who has become an enemy
Retort - the crucible in which you heat elements or a sharp reply
Jo ructation - belching or burping
Cath feckless – indifferent, insipid, vain, uncaring
Helene détente – a relaxing, as of international tension
Leonie transference - to do with psychoanalysis, where feelings shift from one person to the other eg. A person may refer to their analyst as father.
Mary avuncular of or relating to an uncle especially in kindness or geniality
Dale nescient lacking knowledge, ignorant

Word Count
Jo produced an interesting piece about the way publishers work out word counts- not the same way that computer spell-check does. Terry is going to photocopy it for everyone.

Homework
David, Jo, Cath, Helene and Melissa produced an interesting array of stories and poems that dealt with a bet between two men, being trapped then rescued after an explosion, a mother and her two sons’ questions and answers, a gambler and a poem about Davy Jones’ Locker. It was as always interesting to see how each person tackled the homework topic so differently.

Broadband
David gave us some important information about Broadband and kilobytes and kilobits and what causes some computers to be slow downloading.

Abbreviations
David then produced a whole range of initials to see if the rest of the group could guess or remember what they stood for. Eg LSD is pounds, shillings and pence - the original Latin being Librae solidi denarai. GMT, LCD, GC, MVP were among the others. He gave the history behind abbreviations such as eg exempli gracia,
i.e. it est. and many others. Many of these originated from Latin.
He also explained how to do Suduko for those interested.

Terry posed a grammar question about the correct use of colons and semi colons.
A colon is used before giving a list. A semi colon which should be used d sparingly is a longer pause than a comma but not as long as a period. However often the long sentence involving a colon can be broken into two shorter sentences. We learned excessive us of the semi colons spells amateur to editors.

Jo also queried the use of that and which. That is usually an inanimate object which can be more do with a person. That does not have a comma before it. Whish needs the comma before it. Often that can be left out of a sentence without losing anything.

Clichés
Jo also produced a list of clichés and well worn phrases. Something for us all to be wary of using.

Childhood Games
We also had an interesting discussion about childhood games and rhymes and the difference some of us knew in them.

Quick Write
The quick write was based on I remember and produced some funny, some sad and some poignant pieces of writing.

Nobody read from any current projects.

David read the Henry Lawson poem provided by Robyn for next week’s homework. The aim is to write a story, or a poem if you like about the character in Lawson’s poem.

The Future

Terry asked about future ideas for Quick Write ideas and what to include in the group and ways to develop characters better. Predicably different people had different ideas about what they enjoyed and what they didn’t.

Melissa would be interested to know other people’s reactions to the movie Gone, Baby, Gone.

Next week
Facilitator – Jo
Exercise Vala
Homework Wendy

Record of meeting 7 October 2009

Present: David C, Cath, David R, Wendy, Vala, Jo, Dale, Robyn and Helene as
facilitator, a merry band of writers and poets.

Special thanks to David and Cathy C for providing a warm and welcoming
meeting place on a cold rainy day when the keys to the church had gone on
holidays

Brags: Vala bought a glass frog which has facilitated encounters with
princes by email and on the beach.

David R was fortunate to attend today but has missed the group as a result
of recent dental surgery; he should be back in a few weeks.

David C has hearing aids and can now hear any whispers made about him.

Cath had a bee sat on her arm but no sting: maybe she is the new Dr
Do-little.

Wendy bought a new TV and when she took it home found the screen was
smashed. Wendy also has a new hearing aid.

Words of the day

Robyn - allegory - figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of
another; a presentation of an abstract or spiritual meaning under concrete
or material forms

Dale - mezzarine - Mazarine blue - a deep rich blue named after Cardinal
Jules Mazarin 1602-1661, He was a French Cardinal & Statesman, Prime
Minister under Louis X1V, real name Guilo Mazzarine. From Cath's
encyclopedia dictionary which is about 45 years old.

Wendy - burgeon - to begin to grow as a bud; to put forth buds, shoots as a
plant

David R - egalitarian - equal rights from the French

Cathy - Enigma - puzzling

David C - contumacious - insolent of legal authority

Homework - spring theme

Dale - a poem called Spun silk reminded us of mulberry trees and silk worms

Jo - Sometimes on a spring day - a story of bower birds and death

Vala - Spring has sprung a leak

Wendy - One spring morning

Helene - A spring fling - a romantic comedy

David R - two funny poems Getting old and Open door

Cath - Another day - about new life

Robyn - A cloudless sky

Exercise - We selected from a list of unusual occupations provided by Wendy
and wrote our own descriptions of the jobs.

Quick write - The topic of Meat pie and tomato sauce provided by David R
brought poems and stories of eating at the footy, the dangers of eating
pies, game pie, becoming an Aussie and calories.

Homework from Terry in absentia

One character asks another a question, who then answers "God no" What was
the question? Describe the two characters. Are they sitting/standing? What
tones of voice? What body language? Continue writing the scene.

Next week

Facilitator - Dale
Exercise - David C
Homework - Robyn (already given to Dale)




Helene

Meeting on 23^rd Sept. 2009

Present: Terry, Mandy, Robyn, Vala, Ray, Melissa, David C, Helene, Kathy, Jo. New person Ray attended.

Brag: Kathy bragged re letterbox. Mandy finished synopsis. David has finalised his radio pieces to be broadcast 9am, 3.10.09, 92.7 Community Radio. David explained that anyone of us can go on radio, just ask him.

Jo explained the elitist rules of a competition which she didn’t win. Most of us agree that the rules are just too twee.

Discussion on uses of commas, colons, semicolons. Some of us figure that we are old enough and savvy enough to use punctuation as it should be used, as a means to indicate mood, or time, or a separation of things, if only for a second.

Word: Kathy: ‘idiosyncrasy’ – characteristic, mode of expression. Helene: ‘empirical’ –guided by experience or experiment. Wendy told us about rabbits – mercury poisoning in America, fur for hats containing this – ergo: ‘mad as a hatter’. Mandy: ‘kerfuffle’ – rumpus. Robyn: ‘vaunt’- glost, boast. Terry: ‘pachyderm’ – thick-skinned, not only for elephant, e.g. rhinoceros. David C:: litany’ – a collection of short prayers.

Reading of Homework Kathy – sequel to Gone With The Wind. (Vala GWTW). – V.G. Melissa – The Breakfast Club Reunion – well done. Helene – Margaret Attwood – getting rid of irritating characters with silly names. Wendy – Poor Mickey Rourke poem – excellent (trite and tender) Mandy – Mash, life before and after – worked out well and believable. Terry – Clark Kent’s old age. Unrequited love (never slept with Lois?) Oh dear. Poor old Superman. David C. – Darcy’s lost love – poem with a meal at the end. Sequel. He’s sick, eats kangaroo, then to the hospital. Roadkill doesn’t make good eating. Ray read poem 1: humorous. Wants a lady but God lets him down. 2. Must write happy things so the poem is about the life of a poet. 3. This poem asks, why does he need a wife anyway? Jo read about Red Riding Hood, not the first time someone has suggested that she is a slut but this time she is also a murderess, kills Grandma and lives in sin with the wolf.

Exercise: Description needed for list that David C. supplied to each of us. All enjoyed – all different – good fun.

We go to Robyn’s next Wed. Lunch first, l2 noon. Bring a plate, movie is going to be ‘Crash’.

Homework for week after that, ‘It all started on a Spring morning …’ or a ‘soft Spring morning’ whatever grabs you.

Jo