Record of meeting 9 October 2013

Present

Elizabeth, Terry, Cath, Melissa, Wendy, Helene, Margaret, Trish, Leonie, Geoff, David C, Jo

 

News

Margaret had a wonderful weekend, Trish went to Sydney last week, Leonie’s sister has moved to Mexico, Geoff has a grand daughter – the parents work for Westpac and have terrific parental leave. David C had fun doing the blog last week and played at Lady Denman last weekend. Elizabeth went to Tullamore to meet her grand daughter. Terry’s son in law bought a catamaran for family activities. Cath went to Creswell and to Hyams Beach on the bus and leant how to get lower 3rd party insurance. Wendy and husband are having a breakfast for bike riders. Helene went to Appin to collect her grandson from camp and had lunch at Mt Ousley with wonderful views.

 

Words of the day

Reticent = restrained or reserved

Fillip = a finger movement or compensation, a boost stimulation or enjoyment

Ambiguous = doubtful statement

Haar = cold sea fog

Muse = spirit that inspires poetry or art

Quell = to overcome, suppress

Outlandish = bizarre or unfamiliar

Pediculus = infected with lice

Frolic = a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity

Poke = push or thrust with a finger or stick

Panache = élan

 

Writing from words of the day

We created a raft of great stories and poems including - I am musing, The muse came through the window, Crabs and seaweed, going to housie, No enjoyment, David C - I’m known for my wit or half of it – the stolen walking stick, A thick skull, An annoying man, The lousy hat, James mother and Phillips naked frolic.

 

Homework

The assembled group read a great batch of stories about Smoking cigars, Not what it seems, Cheer for the bad guys a great poem from Trish, Sandwiches and cakes, What will she do - an amusing story from Jo, Wrinkled and old, The day the king died – a great story from Melissa in a southern accent, Behind the potted palm, Unrequited love and The dream from Garry.

Reading

Melissa talked about the Steven Pressfield book she has read “The war of art” - about writers block which he calls procrastination and how to overcome resistance. Think not what have I written today but what have I resisted.

 Terry – read us a poem about Aussie poets.

We had a discussion about writing fiction and stories based on fact.  We also discussed the benefits of writing about what we know and the use of research & imagination.

 

Quick write

We made lists of five firsts and five lasts in our lives and then shared our impressive, funny and sad lists. We covered such topics as jelly, kisses, jobs, school, cars, food, family, pets, reading, mowing and movies and too many more to mention.

Homework

Dumpster dive - Take an hour and collect trash from the road, beach or your house. Select a piece of trash and write about it. Bring the trash with you next week  if its healthy to do so.

 

 

Meeting 2nd October 2013

Members present Geoff, Leonie, David C, David R, Terry and Wendy.
If you were not present you missed out on an exciting enlightening quality meeting full of beautifully read transcripts.
NOTD Geoff is selling his property in Sydney
            Wendy went to a Greek Club in Figtree Excellent Meals
            David R Froze in Oberon but had a friend to help keep him warm
            Terry took his Grandson to Sydney Powerhouse Museum Awesome quality time
            Leonie went to Floriade in Canberra an exhilarating photo opportunity
            David C Mentioned staff attitude at Rivers after sustaining an injury {non life threatning}
WOTD David R  Blurb   Brief synopsos of a book or writing
             Wendy   Bombulation   Brief explosion  {in your underwear }
             Geoff      Adhere      Sticking to it {your guns your word}
             Terry      Venal         Corruptable  {the word not Terry}
             Leonie    Obnoxious  Disagreeable and offensive {people ,behaviour language}
             David C   Summary   Brief dispensation or execusion ie Courts or Police
WOTD Short Clips
             Leonie     All about Bill
             Geoff       Political Satire
             Wendy     Poetry about Bombulation
             David R    As above
             Terry         Ditto  {seems like a trend is blowing in }
             David C     An outhouse manuscript
Homework    Quality Verse and Readings
             David C    Double Cross
             Terry         Superman V Luthor
             David R     Dandylion/ Intrcacity of time
             Wendy       I am innocent
             Leonie        Old
             Garry         Never to be released
Afternoon tea and cookies Yumoh
More discussions and readings including Shadows
Exercise Quickwrite You have only one more Holiday in your lifetime Where would you go.
            David R    Back to the Bush
            Geoff        A Musicl tour of Vienna
            Wendy     Return to her youthfull memories
            Terry        To Visit Relo's in Scotland England and G Britain
            Leonie      To cruise on a super cruiser along the Danube
            David C    A place of smiles Touramina in Sicily near MT Etna
And now the dreaded Homework
You see a co-worker leaving work and he/she is crying why?? Ps no bombulations in their car after a curry night        Dum De Dum  Thats all folks

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)