February 3,
2007
Nine of us were here Thursday
night, all hoping the worst of this winter weather might be over.
Margaret told us she is trying
to weave together all her Peabody tales. She read to us a letter
sent by Hamish to his uncle, Rev. Peabody, in which he describes the
castle in detail. The Rev. Peabody has had his hernia operation.
We hear of Parson Peasly who was hit by a motorcyclist, the Rev. Peacock
with the parrot.
Bob read a piece I had asked
him to produce for our website about Valentine’s Day in the jewellery
business. He tells us heart pendants are the most poplular piece
bought by men for the women in their lives, but that flowers, chocolates
and dining out are way more popular gifts.
Tara read the first scene of
a story she is writing called “Reality Insurance”. It is full
of technicolor description of Simon’s girlfriend Julie and her apartment,
of an ugly old woman in an elevator, of Simon’s friend George and
his pink motorcycle and of an art gallery. We hope to hear how
this story develops. Tara also read a poem of hers called “Night
Life”.
Susan read Chapter 7 of “Select
Availability”, which she is re-writing in first person. It is
the chapter where Barley buys a t-shirt after returning to Langley from
being at Sun Peaks with Newton. And then he goes home to find
Phyllis waiting on his steps for him. She has discovered that
he is cheating in the geo-caching contest they are entered in.
--- It reads well in first person, but needs some long-winded descriptions
to be weeded out as they are out of character for the 17 year old narrator
now. But Susan is happy with the way the novel is going in first
person, and that’s what matters most.
I re-read my Chapter 33, which
I had worked on and added to. We now see Fiona and Cam read the
letters before he is arrested. Then Fiona collapses when she can’t
reach Tanner on his cell phone. After her crying jag, the phone
rings and when she realizes it is Dan, the one she suspects of arson,
she picks it up and tells him she wants to meet with him. --- Susan
was still bothered by the part where Cam is looking in the attic and
Fiona is telling him what should be up there labelled and that the box
he’s looking for would be unlabelled. I will have to see if
I can fix that.
Gemma read to us some more about Kuma (I was told I spelled this name wrong last week.). The dog is still on the farm, the snow has melted and there is a big yard to run in. Kuma meets his (or is that her?) father. One night Kuma is taken up to the house and then the lady who kept coming to visit takes Kuma out to the car and they drive away. Kuma understands he/she is leaving and won’t see his/her mother again. (Sorry about my not knowing the gender of this dog. I had assumed it was male, but kind of think Gemma referred to it as female on Thursday.)
Nathaniel was all enthusiastic
about how he is currently weaving together plot elements of his novel.
He hadn’t been sure how to bring scenes together, but inspiration
broke through and he now sees the light. Sounds like a lot more
drama and suspense will be happening, too. Look forward to hearing
some of it.
Ellie and Lynette did not read,
but we are glad they showed up anyhow. Lynette said even though
she was very tired, she just couldn’t miss hearing another Peabody
story. And Ellie said she had tried several times to write, but
her calendar of activities had been very crowded and no stories were
forthcoming. We suggested she try sitting somewhere else to write,
maybe looking out a window.
Next meeting will be here at
my place, Thursday, February 8th at 7:00 p.m. Look
forward to seeing you then
Lisa
P.S.
Hope everybody is sending something to Sonny for Valentine’s Day on our website.