March 3, 2007
Small meeting here on Thursday,
with only Margaret, Ellie, Susan and me trying to pacify The Muse.
Lynette was off to sunnier climes in southern California. Gemma
had car trouble. Bob was staying home to tend to his wife, who
was not at all well. And I don’t know what happened to anyone
else.
Margaret read first from her
Peabody story. We heard where Hamish and his wife, Matilda, were
glad to see Hamish’s uncle, Rev. Peabody arrive. They showed
him around the castle and then Matilda cooked an elegant supper.
But Peabody felt nervous at bedtime and went to bed with the light on,
only to awaken later to the sound of clanking chains.
I read Chapter 34 of my novel.
This is where Cam is arrrested for arson and taken to jail, left to
twiddle his thumbs in a cell and then later in an interrogation room.
He is told by a duty lawyer not to speak to anyone, but when Tanner
shows up he tells him all about his Dad’s affair with another woman
and how her husband threatened them and Cam’s suspicion that the man
set the fire that killed his Dad and is now setting the other fires.
Tanner was not able to reach Fiona, and neither he nor Cam know where
she is.
After reading an article on
making revisions and doing re-writing, I wanted to pass on this information.
The article suggested revising by focusing on only one editing concern
each time you run through the manuscript. For instance, do one
run through for spelling and gammar. Do another for plot concerns.
Do another for character. Do another for setting. Do another
checking point of view, or tense. Do another for formatting manuscript.
Make a list of the things you want to address, and then proceed working
on just one item at a time. It made sense to us, and would alleviate
some of that dread of re-writing, if you don’t have to try to remember
looking for everything at once.
Susan read to us of Barley
after he agrees to go to Barkerville and look for the cache the kidnapper
has left there. First he has to take Stanley home, and then he
travels to Barkerville. He enters as a tourist, and finds the
co-ordinates are located at the courthouse where an actor playing a
judge gives him a hard time. He eventually finds the cache under
the building and discovers a picture of the kidnapped boy and the judge.
We learn the picture was taken several days ago. Barley contacts
Newton and Phyllis, who are still stranded because of a forest fire.
The next co-ordinates are for near the Peace Arch border crossing, and
Barley has to find that cache, too. This whole section was a really
good read.
Mother’s Day is coming up in May
and thought it would make for a good page on our Website, if members and/or
others would like to contribute. For members, send your self-edited pieces
(poems or short prose) to Sonny at his gmail account. If others want to
submit something, they can send to info@ramsheadwriters.ca
and we will peruse those pieces before they are included.
Next meeting will be here at
my place on Thursday, March 8th, at 7:00 p.m. Hope
to see you then. May The Muse inspire you in the meantime.
Lisa