The
October meeting of the Hill Country Women of Words was a spooky group
this month! October was definitely in the air with ghosts, lost loves,
danger, threats and even death. We creeped each other out, but hey,
that’s good writing!
I
had feedback from my email about changing the time/date/location of our
meeting and decisions were made that I hope will be better for everyone
involved and make it easier for our members who live outside of the
city limits to travel in the daytime instead of at night.
Judith Rost
brought us a story called “My Ghosts.” Judith’ writing did a great job
of convincing us of a ghost in a Fredericksburg B&B. That started a
discussion about the possibility of a ghost anthology about haunted
houses in Fredericksburg. Do you think there would be enough stories to fill an anthology? Wouldn’t that be fun?
Linda Christensen brought the prologue of her fourth book in her fiction series, Abiding Love.
Linda did a great job of introducing her main characters, setting up
the story, and creating tension. I definitely want to read chapter one
now! Linda’s blog is
Sally Clark
brought a poem, “Lost,” which was inspired by the workshop she took at
the Llano Library Author Extravaganza and Book Fair with Leila Meacham. I
believe it is a good poem, but it is stronger now because of the advice
the WOW ladies gave me. They always improve my work. I also brought a
new board book I call “Gigglebox.” I’ll be sending this one off to
publishers soon. I hope winning a silver medal in the Moonbeam
Children’s Book Awards will influence editors to buy another of my
books.
Anna Mendeke
brought us a memoir titled, “Roll-Away Bed.” This short, poignant story
left us all feeling uneasy, which seemed to be a theme for the evening.
Anna never heard from her protagonist again. Did her husband kill her
for the money? We may never know.
Mary Eckert
brought us a poem she calls, “Autumn Passing.” Mary told us Autumn is
her favorite season of the year (mine, too!) and she hopes to die in
Autumn. That’s what her poem is about...”her life is fading...leaves are
rustling...swirling gold lifts her...” They were beautiful images,
Mary, and I hope you get your wish, just not anytime soon! And, hey, I
see Mary is blogging again - https://blessingsfortheday.wordpress.com
Barbara Loyd
is still attending Christine Granado’s semester-long creative writing
class on Monday nights, so she was not at WOW. I’ve read some of
Barbara’s assignments and I can assure you she is learning so much from
Christine! I can’t wait for her to share it all with us! Visit Barbara’s
blog at http://colorfilled.blogspot.com
In response to the email I sent out to everyone about changing the time of the WOW meetings, I received feedback from Alice Kolb, Anna Mendeke, Mary Eckert, and Paula Bramlett. I had already talked to Sheila Kale, Valerie Gaumont, Linda Christensen, and Barbara Loyd.
Chase Bank is on the corner of Main St.
and North Llano. There is plenty of parking in the back of the bank or
in the adjacent parking lot behind Clear River Pecan. There’s an easy
walk-through from that lot to the back door of the bank.
If
you come in through the back doors of the bank, you’ll walk through two
sets of double doors and make a left and make another left to the
meeting room. This is the room where Toastmasters meets on Fridays.
There is a large table that seats 12-14 people with comfortable chairs.
We decided since we are meeting at 1:00,
we would not bring any food. Eat lunch before you come. However, you
are welcome to bring anything you would like for yourself to munch on,
just be aware that we will not be spending any time on eating as a
group, like we used to do.
The bank lobby is open until 5:00 in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time, but we would like to try to keep the meetings to two to two and a half
hours. We will continue to have a writing prompt and to read our
responses. Participation is completely voluntary. We will also continue
to meet at the bank every other Tuesday of the month for the Tuesday
Writers inspiration Group (TWiG) so people can continue bringing their
longer pieces for critique. We will change the TWiG time to 1:00, to save confusion, and that will start next week, 10-28-15.
Don’t worry – I’ll be sending this information out again before the meeting.
Upcoming birthdays include: Sally Clark on November 5
Karen Greathouse on November 5
Anna Mendeke on November 7
Sheri Pattillo on November 8
The leaves are falling, the air is cooling, and please Lord, let it rain!
Until then, keep writing!