Saturday, January 23, 2010

Third Thursday Recap

Another round of spirited critiques, if somewhat less heated than that of two weeks ago. Kay did a nice job clearing up creative nonfiction, and I did a nice job not blacking out both before and after the meeting. We actually finished 15 minutes early, and gave no one short shrift. We welcomed two new members to the group -- Jerri and the aforementioned Alison (previous post). The latter has put us on notice for grammar abuse/misuse. Another editor with a sharp red pen is a blessing!

Over the years, we've had members with interesting lives. I mean, really, how many writers groups can boast of a twice-convicted bank robber? There have been two times when this group was really clicking, running on all cylinders, and it was when we had interesting people on board. We've once again entered such a period. We got to hear about Katie's foray into punk music, Zack's time playing at CBGB's, Cynthia's cross-Canada tour with crazy relatives, and Sandy's tradition of turkey for Thanksgiving breakfast with her crazy relatives. And that's only scratching the surface within their lives, not to mention what other members have done or accomplished. Is it any wonder the writing has gone up several notches? So have the members.

As for total submissions, yes, it's a bit lighter than it was when we met monthly, but still not bad. Next meeting we'll review mss from Katie (short story), Michelle (poem), Sandy and Cynthia (memoir), and Zack (novel). A diverse selection from a diverse group.

2 comments:

Kay Hafner said...

Hopefully we'll also be critiquing two leftover pieces, one from Jim and the other from Billy, at the Feb. 4th meeting.

Brian said...

We should really urge submitters to let people know if they can't make the next meeting. That way, those of us with limited time (ie: most of us) can prioritize critiquing appropriately.