Meeting changes

by Marsha Ward

For a while now we've met on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. In email discussions before our meeting yesterday, I told the members that if we could shift the meetings in June back a week, I could attend them. They agreed that would be good. At the meeting, we determined that there was no reason why we could not make the shift permanent, since we all could make it work.

Therefore, beginning in June, our meetings will be on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. We have not held a second meeting in November and December since the time when we began meeting twice a month, because of the holidays. We'll determine later if this week shift makes any difference in that schedule in those months.

We are also looking into different meeting location options. We're meeting in an environment with hard floor and wall surfaces that seem to increase the ambient noise levels. This is problematical, as most of us have soft speaking voices. We brainstormed, and came up with several possible meeting places, which I assigned various members to check into. Chaya offered her home, as well (Thank you!). We each have until June 1 to investigate and report back to me. If we don't find a good place in Payson before our next meeting on June 7, we will go to Chaya's home in Star Valley (which I like as a meeting place, BTW).

Stay tuned for our next update on location.

8th of March

Despite Marsha's discombobulation, several people showed up to the meeting today and participated in the discussion and writing exercise. Unfortunately, due to Marsha's discombobulation, we didn't have time for reading our work. She apologizes.

The 15-minute writing exercise on the prompt to write in any form or genre about "the last time you slept outdoors" had our participants scribbling madly away for the allotted time and beyond, and quite a bit of good work came from it. Some pieces fell into the category of non-fiction, one was a poem, and others were fiction.

We had our individual arms twisted to give 15-minute lessons over the next few months. Our teacher at the next meeting (March 22) will be the ever-gracious Chaya, who will address "Critiquing."

See you in two weeks!

Welcome to Rim Country Writers

by Marsha Ward

Since I became the leader/mentor/general factotum of Rim Country Writers a few months ago, I've been working to increase attendance and find a meeting time that would fit most schedules. Although it's not perfect for everyone, those who attended our last two meetings agreed that Thursday afternoons at 12:30 were workable. Then they asked if we could meet twice a month, as we used to do. Okay. The site could accommodate us for that.

The upshot of this is that our meetings are held on the second and fourth Thursdays from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at East West Exchange, a bookstore, coffee shop, and gift shop at 100 N. Tonto (just off Longhorn), which also sponsors a variety of classes and events.

Next Thursday, we are to bring an assignment to read. Write about the time when you knew you were a writer. If I'm not mistaken, this can be up to 1000 words long, but if you write poetry, don't feel obliged to do an epic work. ;-)

But what IS Rim Country Writers, you ask. Will I fit in? Are there dues? Do I need an MFA to attend? Am I welcome to drop in and check you out?

The answer are: Probably, No, No, and Most Assuredly. If you like to write (in any form or genre), need encouragement and helpful critiques, and want to hang out with some really great folks, Rim Country Writers is probably the right place for you. We don't have dues. We don't have a charter or heavily structured organization, and we aren't snooty. Well, maybe I am, but I disguise it well. Just kidding! We like people and we like to write in all sorts of forms and genres, including poetry, essays, journalism, travel writing, novels, and how-to books.

We hope to see you on the 14th.