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October 16th 2005

Great meeting today!! Lovely weather and we still got a good turnout. Present: Sharon, Jerry, LouAnne, Mary Beth, John, Russ, Ted, Marion and Niomi. No Tarah this time; she is in Oklahoma for a month visiting her boyfriend.

SPECIAL NOTE: Minnesota Literature — did someone happen to keep Jerry’s new copy of MN Literature? Please be sure to get it back to Jerry. His mailing address is: Jerry Mevissen, 27518 243rd Ave, Sebeka MN 56477.

NEXT MEETING:

The next meeting will be held at 2 PM on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, right ahead of the book release party which starts at 4 PM. Both will be held at Beagle Books in Park Rapids. Any questions about the book release party, email sharrick1@wcta.net.

TALKING STICK 14:

Books look great. We have already sold or handed out two boxes. We have received lots of compliments on the cover and the contents. Tarah did a great job. We will be sending the book to the Minnesota Book Awards.

TWIGS:

The Twigs are considering publishing a chapbook. They might use lulu.com, a print on demand printer on the Internet. JWB would be the publisher.

BRAINERD WRITERS’ ALLIANCE WILL WEAVER SEMINAR:

Jerry attended part of the seminar. It looked like a great seminar. Candy emailed the notes from the seminar which we have already emailed to everyone. Great seminar by Will and he helped to plug our new book, TS14.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Brainerd Writers’ Alliance has mentioned that our two groups should do something together. Perhaps a Poetry Slam? Jerry could get us more information on this.

Russ mentioned a book he had read by Twyla Tharp on maintaining creativity. It was about tuning in to your type of creativity. Is there a theme to the story? She called it the “spine.” Try to see the structure behind the scenes, between the reader and the writer. Often the writer gives too much or not enough. The reader should be able to reach his own conclusions.

WRITE A NOVEL A MONTH:

Be sure to contact Cindie Ekren if you are interested in doing this. cindiee@hotmail.com. We have quite a few signed up. Should be great fun!

METAPHOR WORKSHOP:

Jerry also attended a Metaphor Writing workshop. He gave us several good tips from the class. Think of an emotion; give it a color, give it a temperature. Write 10 descriptors. Fear could be described as cold and blue. The other writers would try to guess what you were describing. Put some items in bags and touch the items without looking at them. Using adjectives, let others guess what you are describing.

WRITING EXERCISES:

Russ recently wrote a poetic form called a pantoum and Jerry wrote a sestina. Both forms are fun and a good exercise. Try writing a poem in one form and then the other and then free verse.

Hope to see you all at the Book Release Party!! Remember that books make great Xmas gifts — buy extra TS14s!!