Laugh it off; Meeting Recap

Wowee! Another three 'keeners' have joined the writing round table. That puts us up to seventeen interested people since we started meeting only a few short months ago. Welcome, welcome, welcome, and of course, welcome back everyone else. Not sure what we'll do if everyone decides to show up on the same night, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

This group just seems to get more and more dynamic. The spread continues to widen with the new perspective each member brings and of course the gender mix is providing great balance for everyone. Just think of what Mike learned about the female mind from Nola. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's like a night of entertainment, just sit back and enjoy the show!

Each evening we get together a tone seems to nestle in and after a few heavy sessions it was a great change of pace to feel the mood lighten. Mike started us off with a warm up exercise that I missed because I was late. Apparently the idea was to write a story opening twice. The first time was to begin with setting and narrow in on character and the second was to begin with character and narrow in on setting.

I did make it in time to hear everyone's outcome which was fun. Skiing and snow were a major theme. I felt a particular strength from the group in being able to describe a setting. Very nice everyone. Alas, we moved on to the feature work.

Humour wiggled its way into everyone's work last night. The assignment was conflict and resolution primarily in dialogue. Mike chose the task and although he changed it without telling anyone it was still a great exercise.

We laughed our way through Nola's internal dialogue (I'm sure 'self doubt' and 'fear' were laughing too). Joanne took the pirate dialogue to the next level. Heather swore while moving furniture. Susan took us into 'Lily's' magical world. Tara described her change of career which ended in applause. Don took us into the dangerous back country. Mike/Muchacho invited us never to look at HP sauce in the same way. I made myself laugh with my own story about Barb Kenneth; I'm sure I'd make a terrible stand up comedian.

A great night overall. Welcome again new members. Can't wait to hear more.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS
Barbara Kingsolver; The Lacuna

Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet

Jill Gustafson: The Outlander (Sorry, couldn't find a link - not sure if it's right)