THE RAM’S HEAD REVIEW

OCT. 28, 2006 
 

Hello, Fellow Rams.  I almost didn’t get to send you this Review.  I made the mistake of downloading, for free, (at Shaw’s suggestion) Internet Explorer 7.  After that was installed, nothing worked.  I spent an hour on the phone yesterday with Shaw, who told me it wasn’t their problem, phone Microsoft.  I did, Canadian toll free number.  Nobody there.  Forwarded to U.S. Office.  By then it was 4:30 p.m., and tech support had all gone home, call back on Sunday.  I arose at 6:00 a.m. and then spent 2 hours talking to a nice fellow at Microsoft, EST.  He eventually told me IE7 wouldn’t work because I had not updated my Norton Anti-virus software, which is necessary to run IE7.  I didn’t update because I’m cheap, and didn’t want to pay for it.  He said he would give me Norton’s number and maybe they could help me.  In the meantime I would have no Internet access.  So I said I would rather just uninstall IE7, and go back to using the previous version of Internet Explorer, which had worked just fine.  So that’s what we did and 5 minutes later I was back online.  And I didn’t curse or swear once, and he even thanked me for being so patient.  So for all the lonely women who want to talk to a nice man for 2 hours, no charge, you now know what to do. 

Thursday night was awesome with 8 of us here. 

Susan had brought a few hand-outs and tips from the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.  She had copies of Geist Magazine, tips on characterization and theme and secondary characters and elements of successful fiction, which she handed out to us.  She also had a copy of a successful query letter that had helped an author be accepted by an agent.  However, after Susan reading it to us, Nathaniel pointed out that the reason she was successful was probably because she already had 2 novels published, and not because she wrote an exceptional letter.  Something to ponder. 

Susan also had a 10 minute interview with an author, Bob Mayer, who kept peppering her with questions about her characters’ motivations.  Why did he do this?  Why did he do that?  It made her more aware of the need to further develop a character.  She also enjoyed a workshop with Steven Galloway, who taught about switching point of view seamlessly in a narrative. 

Ann brought a description of a setting that she read to us that she wants to send to her grandson in Australia, so he can “see” what she sees driving to the Kwantlen Surrey campus from her home.  She had many details that we all could relate to and Susan said she could feel herself tense going through the traffic.  Ann is thinking of writing something for Remembrance Day, as well. 

Gemma read a poem, “My Father’s Grave” which she had written for Remembrance Day for our Website.  It is a very sad admission by a child who could not find her father’s grave on the steppes of Russia.  It made me catch my breath to keep from crying. 

I read my poem, “Demand For Peace” which I re-wrote from its original version penned in 1982.  I wanted to make it more relevant as a response to any war, but I also wanted to add some powerful images and also to cut out repetition that my more experienced editor’s eye could see in the original.  Most agreed it was powerful, and that a desire for peace does not deny our support of our own soldiers even though we disagree about their mission.  Nathaniel had found one line packed more punch than he thought the rest of the poem did, but on re-reading agreed it could stand. 

Ellie read some more about Syvald having a strong sense of unease at the seemingly deserted streets of the village Avva.  He and his two companions stay in the forest and follow a track until they reach a hollow tree where they can rest.  He can feel the cold phase of their year approaching and dreads it. 

Margaret brought pictures and momentoes from both WWI and WWII of her father, her fiance who was killed, and of her husband.  She was thinking she might write something on the topic. 

Nathaniel has done some thinking about his novel and may change certain aspects of it.  He may have Rose married to Declan when she arrives in the new land.  Nathaniel read to us of Lochland being buried in a shallow grave by the river, and left there as the brigade moves on.  Alexander feels the settlers blame him for the disasters that have befallen them.  He’s concerned for Rose, thinking she’s fragile at the loss of her father.  The Indians desert them, and as they travel on, Rose feels lonely and then remembers her youth and her sexual awakening, of how she met and married Declan.  The women really enjoyed this segment about Rose, as the rest of the novel is male oriented and this was a nice change of perspective. 

Bob was present, but did not read.  We think baseball season isn’t over yet.  He did ask if there was some way of writing or sending a card to a soldier in Afghanistan.  I asked Susan if she still had instructions for this from Sonny when she had made the same enquiry, because I believe you have to have a specific soldier’s name for the addressing of things. 

Next meeting will be here at my place, Thursday, November 2^nd at 7:00 p.m.  Hope to see you then.  Bring your muse with you. 

Lisa