Stretching Ourselves

Because our Intrepid Reporter, Betty, was unable to attend today's meeting, I knew I had to take good notes in order to come anywhere near her witty write-ups. Those who were able to come were Jaimie, Ce Ce, John, Ted, Chaya, and me, Marsha Ward.

Good news included Chaya's report that she uploaded several of her works to Barnes and Noble through the PubIt program. Hurray! She also has a website in the works, and will be interviewing writers and authors shortly.

Jaimie told us about two Arizona Press Women (APW) workshops coming up: one in Payson, and the second in Phoenix. The first deals with writing life stories and making altered books. The second is a talk about online marketing strategies that work.

I brought in a ton of materials, including a handout with tips for preparing for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is a writing challenge that takes place each November. Participants endeavor to finish a new 50,000-word novel in 30 days.

Stuart Watkins of Tucson has issued a call for 100 Arizona poets to submit a few of their poems about Arizona to participate in a book he is publishing to celebrate the Centennial of Arizona's Statehood next year. He will choose the best of those submitted. Each poet whose work is included in the book will receive a copy.

We had a lesson about poetry in general and specifically about poetry rhyme schemes, after which we each chose a rhyme scheme from the handout to emulate in a poem. Doing so was out of many of our comfort zones, but stretching ourselves is good for our writing muscles. Once we were finished with the exercise, we read our poems. Jaimie wrote three!

Here's my practice poem, using a short, four-stanza version of Terza Rima:

Snow

The season soon will come of snow.
I hope I won't be cloistered in
and snow-bound where I cannot go

to town, or on a trip within
my car. While I'm a hermit, true,
I need to move. It'd be a sin

if I could not get out, see Su
to give her birthday greetings on
her special day. I'd really rue

lost chance to give the book upon
the nurse's life I bought for her.
Snow can be a real yawn.

Copyright 2011 Marsha Ward

Three people brought work to share or for critiques. John read two of his poems, Ted read part of his memoirs, and Chaya read the end to her short story about two older women on vacation. Betty, you missed it!

I hope I didn't leave anything of great moment out of my report. Thankfully, Betty will be back in fine form next month.

Our next meeting will be on November 10, but during November and December, we will only have meetings on the second Thursdays, that is, once a month. We'll resume our twice-a-month schedule in January, 2012.

If you wrote a poem at our meeting and you'd like to share it, please use the Comments to do so. Thanks!