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September 14th 2003

Today, September 14, 2003, we held our September meeting at Beagle Books in Park Rapids, MN from 1:30 till 4 PM. Present: Tarah, Russ, Florence, LuAnne, Sharon, Sandi, Beth and Angele. We had a great meeting. The next meeting will be held October 12 at Beagle Books in Park Rapids, MN from 1:30 to 4 PM.

TALKING STICK 12:

Sharon and Tarah announced that they had mailed the TS12 manuscript on 8-28-03. We expect the proof to be back any day. If we stay on schedule, we may have the books back by the end of October or early November. We will hold a book party at Beagle Books; if it is possible, we might have it at the same time as an early Christmas Party.
The book ended up being 98 pages long including 11 photographs. We received submissions from 53 writers; 42 from whom we accepted 49 poems and 7 stories. We received all the contracts back right away. We are now working on the newspaper releases while we wait for the proof.
Angele has said that she would help with distribution of books to other towns and stores.

WRITING WORKSHOPS:

Both workshops to be held on September 20, 2003 at the Park Rapids Public Library are now full and we have waiting lists for both. The morning workshop by Linda Henry is from 9 AM to 12 noon. The second one by Florence Witkop is from 1 to 4 PM. We intend to take some of our Talking Stick books to sell there.
It was mentioned that possibly the workshops should be ongoing. Another possibility was to type up the outlines and the information and sell them to folks who could not get into the workshops. Or it could be on our web site. We will consider these possibilities.
We discussed today the differences between literary fiction and commercial fiction. This will be one of Florence’s topics on Saturday.

JACKPINE WRITERS’ BLOC WEB SITE:

Florence suggested asking Park Rapids and Menahga if they would put a link on their sites for our web site.

OTHER WRITING CLASSES:

Two of our writers who attended today’s meeting are presently taking writing classes. They are giving us tips that they have learned. Doing writing exercises as an assignment is a great way to stretch your imagination and see what you can really do.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Jerry Mevissen is doing well with his book Nimrod Chronicles. Tarah and Sharon went to the book signing in Nimrod during Jubilee Days. Jerry looked like he was having a great time. He was recently on a talkshow on the radio for an interview and a reading. He mentioned our group and our web site. Thanks, Jerry.
Sharon’s reception at New York Mills Cultural Center on September 6 went well. The artist downstairs (oil paintings and drawings) drew lots of people and many of them had wonderful comments about Sharon’s poems and Theresa Reed’s photography in the Upstairs Gallery. Russ and his wife attended as did Tarah and her mother. Sharon and Theresa would like to create a book with our work but it would be very expensive to print a color book like we would need. We have thought of having Tarah create a web site. Another idea is to take color copies of the prints and create your own cards or put them in a portfolio. Another idea would be to create a calendar; that can be done reasonably by a printer in Detroit Lakes.
We have been selling some Talking Sticks from the web site as well as the bank where Sharon works and the golf course club house that Tarah’s family owns.
The November craft show was mentioned. It costs $90. for a booth, but maybe if we knew someone who was already having a booth, we could sell some of our books there, particularly our new one if it is out by then. Is Jerry Mevissen having a booth there? We will check with him. We could contact Marcy Hayes in Park Rapids for more information on the craft show.
Most of us brought things to read. We are always impressed with the quality of the ideas and the quality of the writing. We often suggest changes or other options that could be looked at. A great meeting!! Always lots of laughs and learning.