Record of meeting 25 September 2013

 

Present

 

Cath, Lyn, David C, Jo, Terry, Trish, Wendy, Helene

 

News

 

David C’s daughter is having a baby. Jo has been writing three books.  Terry has been researching his book and read out some swear words from 100 years ago.  Trish is thinking about swearing the best word in world. Wendy went to Canberra on the weekend and went for a picnic on her birthday. Helene went to Queensland for a relaxing weekend and shopping. Cath is organising a garage sale and mentioned an ABC writing competition. We also discussed the long weekend with boats in JB. Lyn has been gardening.

 

Word of the day

Suggestive = of lewd ideas, a form of medical treatment

Contrite = sorry, deep regret

Acquisition = a person or thing of merit

Lollygag = loafing around

Cadenza = a virtuoso solo passage near the end of a piece of music

Lampoon = verb to satirise or mock or noun a characteristic

Zinger = a striking remark, outstanding person or thing,

Coerce = force or press someone to do something about your will

 

Writing from words of the day

 

We produced stories about The young man, the white gown behind the door, A John Howard dummy, On Facebook, A performance, Hindsight, Access to emails and the violinist and the pianist.

 

Homework reading

 

We read stories about Someone I know, Super Dave (a poem from Wendy to David R), Anna, The old man, Ready for a fight, Seeing and feeling, Who the - what the, Inimitable and I’m sorry son.

 

Reading

 

Terry discussed how he enjoyed the writing of Richard Flanagan in “The narrow road to the north”.

 

David C read a funny poem about a Red back spider by the Gwydir.

 

Exercise

 

We wrote stories personifying objects from the natural environment. We created stories about A Eucalyptus tree and the sky; The waves and rocks; The sand and the waves; A little brown nut and the squirrel; The ant and the rat; The wattle bird and the tree; The Soldier crab, the waves and the gull and the slimy green rock and the crab.

 

Homework

 

Write a story or poem from the bad guy’s point of view.

 

 

 

Record of meeting 18 September 2013

Present

Lynn, Terry, Geoff, David R, Helene, Wendy, Terry, Elizabeth, David C, Sue, Cath

News

Geoff – went to Sydney for the weekend. Sue is editing a booklet for her Sydney writing group. David C drove to Sydney and had a flat battery at the airport. Leonie has finished her garden. Elizabeth had a lovely time at the Russian ballet.  Lynn has done things. Terry has been researching for his crime writing. Cath has been painting and replacing globes. Wendy is going to Canberra for the weekend. Helene travelled to Canberra and Wollongong. David R has transformed his back garden.

 

Words of the day

Obtuse = dull or stupid, blunt or not sharp

Enfilade = a long line of rooms

Adumbrate = foreshadow in a faint way

Insouciant = unworried, slap happy

Solipsism = the theory that the self is the only reality

Gingerly = cautiously

Laggard = slow, falling behind

Nugatory = of no value

Captious = making much of trivial things, fault finding

Pas de deux = dance for two

We produced a great selection of stories from words of the day - The parking lot, the dancer at the end of the line, Put your dancing shoes on, Leading the man, Missing Kevin, At the end of the evening, ballet at the round about, The dancing partner, Admired by the critics and A fuzzy poet.

 

Homework

Choices was the topic and a lot of people made the choice not to do homework. Those who did homework wrote about - What’s for free – magical glasses, Learning to fly, Family and media influences – a thoughtful piece from Leonie, The right choice, Delicious choice and his best choice to join our writing group from Garry in Thailand.

 

Reading

David C – In Coventry – part of a longer story

David R – Private eye and Next time – poems

Leonie – Hanging rock – a free verse poem

Wendy talked about Robert B Parker's writing including his detective character Spencer

 

Quick write exercise – the gift

Following a few prompts on the topic of gifts we wrote about A pack of dogs, I’m a septic, One way ticket to WA, A good luck charm and the black car, The dating site, The large brown envelope, how to survive boot camp, a blonde bimbo, A crystal necklace, Speed dating venue and the sharp knife.

Homework

Write a couple of paragraphs depicting a character without describing physical characteristics, allow the reader to use their imagination to visualise the character.

 

 

 

 

 

Record of meeting 11 September 2013

Present:

Wendy, Trevor, Elizabeth, Jo, Cath, Terry,

 David C, Geoff, Jenny, Lynn and David R

News:

Cath painted a door at home, Leonie had lovely

 telephone contact with her children, David C has

an “urge to write”, Lynn visited her mother,

Terry picked up a beaut thesaurus at the markets,

Geoff had a quiet week, David R and friend had an

Enjoyable drive to Ulladulla and Cupitt’s Winery,

Wendy travelled to Victoria, Trevor had friends stay,

Elizabeth spent some lovely time in the Blue Mountains and visited Norman Lindsay’s gallery, Jo had no news to share.

 

Words of the day:

Polygamy – more than one husband/wife

Careen – Move rapidly

Shindig – A noisy party

Incongruous – Not in agreement

Custodian – Caretaker

Rebel – Deny authority

Dilemma – Requiring choice

Force Majeure – Inability to meet obligation

Frangible – Brittle

No one – Not anybody

Solicitude – Anxiety

We all wrote very witty short stories and poems using “Words of the day”

 

Reading of homework on “Show and Tell”

Trevor brought in a 100 year old Mini typewriter, Elizabeth read her beautiful poem “The Trees", Cath had a lovely Iris she wrote about, Leonie’s theme was confidence and she brought a beautiful charcoal drawing she’d done of her young son, David C - Part one of Old habits die hard, "A ring a vow and a dog tag” Geoff “Sorobon” about the Japanese abacus, David R a seashell and poem “Shells”, Wendy a great poem “It keeps me going”, Garry sent a story about the humble Tim Tam.

Discussion:

Terry reported no more news from SC Writers Centre about courses

Geoff reported 13^th October Poets and Writers workshop, enquiries to jenmois@bigpond.com

Trevor is looking at our DVD ‘Write a novel

 

Readings:

David C, a follow up to Die Hard

David R a bush ballad “The middle of  Nowhere”

 

For a short exercise we created a hilarious progressive write

 

Jenny said goodbye to the Group for awhile and thanked us for having her.

 

Homework:

“Choice”

Record of meeting 4 September 2013

Present

David R, Jo, Leonie, Robyn, Jenny, Helene, Cath, David C

 

News

Jo dressed for spring today and in a blue and green theme, Leonie had good news from the eye specialist and went to Kangaroo Valley, sadly her aunt died in Victoria, Robyn unpacked her last box and has given away lots of stuff, Cath has been enjoying the weather and gardening, David R is walking 10 km per day, Helene went to see “the way, way back” at the movies, Jenny’s daughter and son in law visited at the weekend and David C found an Elmore Leonard book of short stories at the tip.

 

Words of the day

Juxtapose – close together, contrasting

Nadir – the place or time of deepest depression, lowest point

Suave – charming, smooth

Ludicrous – absurd, ridiculous

Bemoan – lament

Succinct – briefly and clearly expressed

Spleen – body organ, spite, pique,

Megalith – a huge stone used in ancient monuments

 

Writing from words of the day

We wrote a great bunch of stories - False friends, A visit to the dietician, On the stage, Seemed to have everything, Lamenting the past, The bunk beds and Steinbeck and Charley.

 

Reading of homework

David C – The sons of the father, Leonie – the blood test for cancer, Robyn – a parable a religious magical play, Garry – Home and away,  Helene – a modern play of the three rings.

 

Other reading

David R read two of his poems Free fall and Deceptive intentions.

Helene read her story Trees – based on the mispronunciation of the word three.

David C read “The cat walk” by Mary Jones from the Victorian FAW publication.

 

Discussion

Robyn brought in the software "Write your own novel" the group has purchased. We will ask Trevor our IT Guru to advise how to install and use the program.

Jenny proposed the group subscribe to the Victorian FAW publication and that we subsidises entries to competitions.

We also discussed membership numbers and reiterated the decision to divide the group for a meeting if we have too many people attending on a particular day.

 

Exercise

Jo gave us a test of words and we used those words to write stories about attitudes, waffle, looking at the sky, communication from 40 years ago, working at the Mint, travelling the coast, Too many beans and Going off the rails.

 

Homework

Show and tell - write about a favourite item, bring that item to the meeting and read your story.

 

 

 

Writing competitions August to November 2013

30 August | Boroondara Literary Awards (VIC)

31 August | Scarlett Stiletto awards

6 September| Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award (ACT)

1 November | Margaret River Short Story Competition (WA)

15 November | EJ BRADY Mallacoota Prize - Short Story competition (VIC) 30 November | Blackened Billy Verse Competition

For details & links see News & Events column, Arts in Shoalhaven

(http://www.arts.shoalhaven.net.au/NewsEvents.html)

　

Record of meeting 28 August 2013

Present

Melissa, Robyn, Cath, Geoff, David C, David R, Helene, Wendy, Jenny, Trevor, Margaret, Terry, Jo, Elizabeth

 

News

Trevor spent 3 days in Sydney and enjoyed a baked dinner cooked by his daughter, Margaret went to the film festival, Terry had a quiet week and had some new thoughts about his novel, Jo hasn’t had her computer for a few weeks so has been thinking about her book and demonstrated her technique to fix the computer (it didn’t work), Melissa reflected on writing 100 words and its effect on her song writing, Robyn is settling in to her new house and has built new cupboards, Elizabeth enjoyed watching men cutting down a huge tree, Cath went to a 1 st birthday party,  Geoff had a quiet week, David C went to Kangaroo Valley Celtic festival, David R raved about his dentist, Helene saw Red Obsession, Wendy went for a picnic at Swan Lake, Jenny also went to Red Obsession and the Nicole Kidman film.

 

Words of the day

Quotidian – every day usual

Metaphoric – symbolic

Boor – rustic, rude

Convivial – sociable, happy

Nadir – the worst moment

Bliss – enjoyment, pleasure

Pithy – crisp, concise to the point

Nuance – a subtle chance

Vulgar – lacking refinement

Ilk – a type of

Eclectic – selecting from various styles

Retinue (n) – a body of aides & retainers attending an important person

Sanctimonious - hypocritical

 

Stories from words of the day

We created a great variety of stories many concerning our group including three men in a shoe, A meeting we had to have, The bliss of silence, Who let him join, Colourful language, Summer time, Not wanted in our group, The loving cup, more stories about our group including starve them out, the cult and a pain in the ass.

Homework

We read our homework including Brownie points, Double lives, Hello dad, The baby bonus, a sexy letter, The pop corn vendor and the cat, The map, The triple knot, the kitchen knife, a woman who pleases all men, A Ferris wheel of questions, Dates to remember, The adoptee and Kevin no longer works here.

 

Information

We again discussed numbers for the group and decided we would reconsider the issue if numbers go beyond 14.

Geoff recommended the Concert the stars of the eisteddfod in the Entertainment Centre in Nowra, this weekend.

Geoff also recommended the current Photo exhibition at Lady Denman which closes soon

Terry is waiting for more information and will report back on options on training next week.

Robyn has ordered “Write your own novel professional edition” for the group. We will know more when it arrives.

 

Reading

Geoff recommends reading

George Megalogenis - The Australian Moment – an overview of Australia since 1945 and Susan Holoubek - Trace of Absence

David R read out his poems Gloss and Blind Corners about decorating and life. We all love a good gloss.

 

Quick write

We each selected words and completed a 10 minute write and came up with stories about Boorish, Zero, The headless man, Welcome to heaven, Greed, the vase and flowers in the garden, Sunday, understanding small, bones, nothing on his mind, $50 off and treatment.

We also wrote a sentence including the word treatments and listed as many words as we could from the word. Some good scores I think Wendy or Jo topped the score with 15 words.

Homework

Write a short play in language suitable for girls and boys of primary school age based on the parable which will be emailed to you. If you don’t get the parable choose your own parable. The aim is for children to role play using their language to help them remember the parable. Cool.

 

Record of meeting 21 August 2013

Present

Trevor, Lynn, Elizabeth, Cath, Leonie, Robyn, David C, Geoff, Terry, Melissa, Margaret, Helene, Wendy, Jenny

News

David C is learning the guitar and will play at Angels on Saturday (not the guitar another instrument). Terry rose to the challenge and played his clarinet with the Nowra concert band. Melissa spent 3 hours weeding and philosophising, Margaret bought a smaller electric bike, Helene has exercises for her Bakers cyst, Wendy has a blockage in an artery which can be fixed. Jenny went to party with lots of food. Trevor had quiet weeks at home because of a strained back. Lynn has been gardening and thinking of her sociopathic tendencies. Cath has been trying to burn out a stump. Leonie had a fantastic trip to Melbourne and saw a concert, a Monet exhibition and had a lovely visit with her family. Robyn’s husband had a good report from the heart specialist.

Words of the day

Insouciant – nonchalant

Firkin – a cask (1/2 kilderkin) about 9 gallons used for beer

Dank – damp

Sociopath – allergic to people

Procrustean – conforming by harsh means

Trepidation – alarm, agitation, trembling

Paean – song of praise

Callow – a young person who displays little good judgement

Plenteous – plentiful

Apocalypse – a revelation

Motor cyclist

Toggery – clothes

Melodramatic – exaggerated or sentimental histrionics

Imbroglio – confusing and complicate situation

 

Stories from word of the day

We created a brilliant selection of stories including - We will find out soon – a great poem from Terry. The house next door. Our last supper.  Underground dweller. Ignore the man next door. The glories of youth. Modern music. Lost. Into the cellar. The crowd.  Purpose of attending the church. Another way.  Plenty of handshaking.  The future.

 

Reading of homework

We created great stories of 100 words covering the topics I disappeared for 10 hours, Worlds highest building, Caller, the shopping trip, a car trip – very good story from Lynn, She was late, Not important, Another day, The lemonade bottle, The photo, The wardrobe, Cancer, An Egyptian mermaid and David C read us 5 stories of 100 words each about rockets or something.

Discussion

Leonie raised the issue that if everyone attended we would have 21 people and would be difficult to manage the meeting.  After discussions it was decided to watch the numbers with the possibility we could break into two groups on the day if more than 14 people attended.

We also discussed professional development for the group. Terry will investigate.

David C reminded us that he has the group’s printer which is available for members who need it.

 

Exercise

Created three word sentences - Did progressive write - Some hilarious results - Repeated again -Two words.

 

Homework

Take Geoff’s story below and finish it with 100 to 500 words - try to reduce the words in your homework if possible.

 
"Diana was going through their wardrobes to make more space for newer purchases. The biggest job was her side, from which she removed anything unused for a year. Reluctantly - but it did make some space.

Kevin's side was a much smaller task. He'd persist with any garment till it wore out. Shuffling some hangers she saw his blue blazer. Moving it onto a newer hanger a small edge of paper caught her eye: an envelope, in the top pocket.

Curious, she took it out and soon opened it, sitting to read it.

It's contents stunned her."