Gaithersburg Creative Writers Group

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Impressions of our meeting on 3/5/24 are below. Click the link to read our latest meeting report.

The schedule and login information for our Zoom meetings are below. The link is the same for all meetings.

Our next in-person meeting will be on 3/19/24 at 6:30 PM at La Villa on route 355 in Gaithersburg. Our next Zoom meeting will be on 4/2/2024 at 7:30 PM. Send an email to silverpenken@aol.com to receive additional information or read below. 

For in-person meetings, please bring copies of what you want to read so that you can get better feedback. For Zoom meetings, please plan to “Share” your screen when you read. Please research how to do that on the Internet. Plan to read between 600 and 1,000 words to keep the meeting on-time.

Visit our links page for members’ news. Also, please scroll down to see schedule for our new novel writing initiative. 


The information for our Zoom meetings is as follows:

Every month on the First Tuesday of every month, unless otherwise notified.

Oct 5, 2021 07:30 PM, Nov 2, 2021 07:30 PM, Dec 7, 2021 07:30 PM, Jan 4, 2022 07:30 PM, Feb 1, 2022 07:30 PM, Mar 1, 2022 07:30 PM, Apr 5, 2022 07:30 PM, May 3…..

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZApdOiprTIpGNww51UHWc62XcobZTYjCXdF/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGsqjgrG9ecsxuPRpwIBojCd-vztlhejY1Ki0q0NghkYVWkDuFNMIhLKdLz

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84431139328: Meeting ID: 844 3113 9328


At the end of our meeting on 1/19/2021 we decided to write a novel communally. Mike Waters volunteered to head the effort and developed a schedule for each writer’s product. See the table below for information. Green signifies that the project has been completed to that point. The novel is completed and pending decision on next-steps. As of May 2022 we are in the process of doing a final editing of the novel. Connie graciously volunteered for this important phase. We are now in the process of distributing the hand made corrections to the writers. Sorry for the delay.

Collaborative Writing Project
Chapter Writer Baton passed Due date
1 Suzyn 24-Jan 7-Feb
2 Kenneth 7-Feb 21-Feb
3 Mike 21-Feb 7-Mar
4 Melina 7-Mar 21-Mar
5 Cat 21-Mar 4-Apr
6 John 4-Apr 18-Apr
7 Lawrence 18-Apr 2-May
8 Karuna 2-May 10-Jun
9 Mario 10-Jun 24-Jun
10 Connie 27-Jun 11-Jul
11 Suzanne
12 Daniel

Our meetings in person will alternate with virtual ones. Please visit this page to know how the next meeting will be conducted or subscribe to our IO group, GaithersburgWriters@groups.io. To join the group, send a message from the email that you want to receive messages to GaithersburgWriters+subscribe@groups.io

Meetings summaries

We were seven on March fifth, and we had a good time, as always. A first-timer, Kenny Gatten III, signed in from Pennsylvania. He has a Bachelor’s degree in English and has written a sort of biography of his home town. Suzanne reported on our member, Richard, who is regaining good health. He has come from an ER, not long ago, to planning to attend part or all of our March 19th meeting.

Natalie drew the number one position and read part of a story about Kitty Haven, which needed a manager. She had been asked to take the job and is considering it carefully. There were good lines such as, “All cats deserve names,” information about adoptions and adoptive families, and more. Alex commented that he would like more information about why she might not take the job. Also, he saw plenty of “what” information but not enough of the “why.” Mario continued with another piece of his memoir on  experiences in the Vietnam war. In his first experience with combat. His unit discovered a hole in the ground, and he was ordered to see of it led to a tunnel. He dropped in carefully, fearing the worst, but it was only a foxhole. Then, he described how friendly fire was almost lethal. “Friendlies” had mistakenly passed the perimeter and triggered warning flares. This piece led to discussions of how soldiers prepare to spend a night, how field maps are drawn, and more. It is good stuff. Alex then read more of his developing sci-fi story about the interplanetary letter carrier, Gus, who has gone to an unused post office and might not be allowed to leave it. He has a lively conversation with someone by means of a red envelope that he is carrying and must deliver. Whoever or whatever is on the other side of the conversation has no empathy. The structure and word choice are unique and clever but maybe too much so for some of us. If you grow up on meat and potatoes, it can be hard to deal with carpaccio scallops. The final reader was Mike, introducing new characters for his new story related to an inn on a supposed road to the West. In a tavern, Dorman tries to persuade three young men to go with him to “pick up” gold. They are skeptical and want to talk with someone who had been to the wars in the west when Shaen and a friend walk in. Shaen, a bandage on her her facial wound from a weapon not revealed, has a major grudge against one of the men–and shows it. More background information would be welcome, but that might be found in other parts of the story.

Our next event will be on March 19th, back in La Villa. You can tell me, anytime now, that you plan to attend and that you plan to read.


Report for the 2/20/24 meeting at La Villa.

Eleven of us graced a long table. La Villa tried hard to keep us going there, and it paid off. The best chef and waitress worked extra hours for us, there was free guacamole, and more. We expect to meet in La Villa on March 19th. Before that, we will meet via Zoom on March 5th. You can sign up now for both events, to attend and to read.

Someone asked how readers in the meetings were selected. I take the first few people who say they want to read, unless they did so in the previous meeting, and sometimes rearrange them to keep it interesting.

Last night, Thomas led with a description of a 6:00 a.m. meeting of a joint terrorism task force. One of the group had been murdered the night before, professionally, in a D.C. Metro station. Other details were scarce. This is to be part of a full-length novel, and we were intrigued by it. Perhaps the only suggestion was to tighten the descriptions of the people in the meeting so as to get to the crime, and its implications, more quickly. Mike followed, introducing a new character into his story about an inn on a road to supposed riches. The character and his comrades, treasure hunters all,  did not know about Delvers but learned quickly, as the two groups repulsed an attack by giant centipedes. It was not easy. Mike’s work is always good, but there was a suggestion to move part of the introductory material to the end. Let’s get those swords into centipedes, ASAP. Then came Ken, with a short true story about problems with a series of cell phones, which turned out to be his fault. There was an unexpected dip in the Caribbean Sea after a night kayak trip to a bioluminescent bay. With no rice in the rented townhouse, Ken packed his phone in corn flakes, but that did not save it. There was a suggestion to clarify the connection between the train oracle and the Nexus and Motorola phones. David E. was up next with part of a story named The Falcon and the Prince. In the Prologue, the palace guards were AWOL, so Ava was outside doing their job when Radovin appeared. The two had enjoyed some kind of relationship in the past and were in the garden together, but they might not see each other ever again because Radovin had come to be a royal VIP.

That led to a discussion of prologues and prefaces and the role of each. This morning, Tom commented with tongue-in-cheek definitions, as follows:

When the matter of “prologue” came up at our Tuesday meeting, Mario asked about the difference between prologue and preamble. With the insight gained by a night’s sleep, I can now say: “Prologue” is a word offered in favor of (pro=in favor of; and logue from logo=word).  A “preamble” describes the preliminary attention that avoids dealing directly with the matter (pre=before; and amble=to wander around aimlessly). Any further questions? T😁m

With time left, an able newcomer, David B., read part of his story set many years in the future in the Free State of Carolina. It is prose and poetry. The sea is ever present but, for 1,000 years, only death has come from it. There was discussion of rocky shores in the Carolinas, and there was information, mainly from Mike, about books that had some similarity with David’s. The writing was excellent, and we hope to hear more of it.

As usual, some people hung around for a a few minutes discussing writing and—whatever.


This is a report for our meeting on 2/6/2024.

Greetings, all. We were a super group on February 6th, blessed by a newcomer, David Easterday. He has nearly finished the manuscript of a fantasy story and hopes to see it published. Our next event will be on February 20th at 6:30 p.m., in La Villa, at 18701 North Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg. The new menu has been delayed, but the new chef is on the job, and the food is clearly better. You can sign up now to attend and to read.

Karen began the reading with a story about orcs (originally, mythical monsters) in her kitchen. They were invading, like ants, to her great displeasure. Her partner, however, hardly noticed them, even when the protagonist bisected one on the counter. It was an adventure. It showed how what bothers one but not another can be a source of friction. Then, Natalie read a nonsense poem entitled “yes no maybe so,” which we all enjoyed. Someone said it was an excellent characterization of a person with Attention Deficit Disorder and of his/her thought process. A line about twiddling one’s thumbs led to on-line demonstrations of that fine art. Next, Mike threw us for a loop; he did not read. Rather, he explored with us his wife’s suggestion that he scrap the first 48 pages of his story about Kaari and the new inn. None of us expressed a firm opinion; to do so, we would have to read the manuscript, but we agreed that Mike’s prologue was so exciting that he had to let his readers relax for a few pages. Moving on, Suzyn read part of a fairy tale she had written some years earlier. We liked it enough to ask that she read the rest later and that she revise the story for possible publication. It is about a “temple orphan” and a new friend, who turns out to be imaginary. Karen suggested that some of the paragraphs be shortened and characters be introduced more slowly to prevent confusion. Mario kept things moving with a memoir of a trip to Oakland, MD in 1977, when he was a young engineer. It was to inspect sanitation infrastructure. Mario traveled with a wise old engineer, Bill, who carried only a toothbrush, didn’t take baths, and know a great deal about the history of the area. The actual work became a side show as the telling of tales took over.

The reading done, Connie stepped in with a limerick she had written, in her head, during our meeting. Yes, that is permitted. It gave us a good laugh. Then, Ken brought up our next two in-person meeting places, La Villa in February and Bucca di Beppo in March. He mentioned that, the last time he had been to the latter, there was “some fairly risque grafiti” on the walls of the men’s room, and that led to to a discussion of all the current types of genders and sexual preferences. The “End Meeting” button rescued us, five minutes ahead of schedule.


This is the report for 1/16/24.

In February, we plan to meet online on the 6th and in-person on the 20th. You can sign up now to attend and to read.

We expected nine, and we were nine. We moved from a cold room in Dogfish Head Alehouse to a noisy corner and ignored the noise. No problem. The service was almost instant, and the food was good. To save time, Ken told the waiter to bring him what Mario ordered. Good choices, Mario.

The order of readers turned out to be Karen, Alex, Thomas, Mario, and Ken. Karen read about experiences with doctors and medicines for arthritic thumbs and related ailments. Who would have known? Remedies: She tried them all. Entering a “sports medicine office, she found herself in “a waiting room filled with seriously old people.” She had her documents ready but had mistaken an auto insurance card for a health insurance card. It was not accepted. Karen’s writing is close to perfect, and we had very few suggestions. Alex continued his tale of a postman in some strange world. He was trapped in a former post office with its only inhabitant, who had stayed in the building. The two proceeded to discuss a number of issues–a sort of philosophical debate. In the end, the postman tries to flee, and we could not be sure whether he would succeed. People who had not heard earlier parts of the story requested more background information, and Alex said he could include it. Then, Thomas provided a conversation between an author (himself) and the main character in his book, Stephen. The latter was badly banged up from an auto accident and blamed Thomas for it (of course). Among other things, Stephen wanted to know what would happen to him next. Tom pulled rank and said that he, alone, would decide when and how Stephen would leave the story, and the latter insisted it be painless. Our group found the story very creative and had few serious comments. Mario read a re-written version of his three-day leave, in the army, to pick up a package at the Vietnamese post office in Saigon. He was surprised but pleased and jumped on a plane the next morning. This was neater and trimmer than the prior version, but Ken lamented that information about what GIs did on leave had been deleted. The package was not important, but the affair led Mario to discover a way to enjoy leave almost whenever he wanted one. He was never “challenged” by MPs or other authorities. There was discussion of several points including other words that could replace “challenged.” At the end, Ken read a  memoir about his five-month stay in Honduras in 1974 and 75. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had hired him but did not support him, and his Honduran co-workers were indifferent because one spread a rumor that his was with the CIA. He and his family rented a house that was known to be haunted, spent time with a group of left-leaning students, and more. Everyone seemed to like the memoir and made suggestions, for which Ken is very grateful. Our group is THE BEST.

_._,_._,_


Greetings, all. Last night (1/2/2024), ten attended our meeting, and five read. That is 50%,isn’t it? Hey, it is!

To start with, Suzyin presented her son, Christopher, who spoke of his creative work with comics. If I heard it right, his first publication is available on https://stargazercomicsgroup.wordpress.com/ and on https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas. Asked which software he used, Christopher mentioned Fusion 360 and gave us a brief but impressive demonstration. This young man has a bright future! Then, Connie read the beginning of A Real Life Nightmare, about a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, which she recently suffered. She was in a terrible situation. She fell, the right side of her body was non-responsive, and she could not quite reach the phone. It is a vivid, moment by moment, description, and we all want her to finish this non-fiction story. An almost newcomer to the group, Bob Rogers, then read a poem about what he should be called, as his 80th birthday comes along. He has been “Old Bob” for 20 years and is now thinking of “Ancient Bob.” The piece lends itself to thinking about old age and the meaning of it (if any). Ken mentioned that, in the Gaithersburg Rotary Club, the “up in years” guys enjoy teasing each other as their birthdays come along. Getting to more serious writing, Mike treated us to part of his story of building an inn on a dangerous road to (presumed) riches. Kaari and others had been taken into a sort of protective custody by the Chahoy tribe. They had trouble communicating until the Chahoy brought a wizened trapper, who could interpret. The tribesmen were befuddled by the moving of rocks “from one hole to another,” to build a foundation for the inn. The trapper made the mistake of insulting Kaari’s sidekick, Ethan, and was sentenced to serving him for a year. We will see how that works out. Suzyn finished the reading with a wonderful memoir about being invited to a company affair in New York at which it might, or might not, be announced that she was promoted to Vice President of the firm. All signs pointed to “yes,” but she had been disappointed before. Finally, the champagne glasses clicked, and she know she was in. We loved the story, and her way of reading it, and were able to make helpful suggestions.

RICHARD BOGOSIAN

Bryan and Suzanne then reported on the condition of our member, Richard Bogosian, who has been in Shady Grove Hospital for several days. He remains in the ICU but is making progress. Richard is not eager to receive visitors, but get-well cards are fine. They can be left at the hospital for him, in the ICU, room E-15. Cards can be mailed also, but he might be out of the ICU before they arrive.

Mike said he had uncovered a 160 page writeup of an oral interview conducted with Richard. Apparently, this is standard practice with U.S. ambassadors. Mike displayed the table of contents, which is amazing. Richard has worked in several of the worlds hot spots and has been involved in serious negotiations, evacuations, and more.

OUR NEXT MEETING

We will meet in person on January 16th, at 6:30 p.m. The location is not yet determined, and suggestions are welcome. In the past, we have met in the Dogfish Head Alehouse, La Villa, Don Jorge, and several other places, but none has met all our criteria. We always look at new restaurants but have not found one that is appropriate.

Happy New Year (again),

Silver Pen Ken


Good morning. Note that i said above “party,” not “meeting.” Not much of what was read last night was intended for publication, and there were no negative comments or suggestions. Thanks (again) to Mike for arrangements with the Dogfish Head Alehouse.

Suzanne started by giving everyone a free CD and ended the reading with a poem that poked fun at most of our active members. Mario will make it available to all of us. (See below) We heard a bit of everything–rhyming and non-writing poetry, haikus, memoir, and fiction. Toward the end, people started moving around the table to strike up new conversations, and no one wanted to leave.

Again, everyone seemed happy with the food and the service. At least one of us (yours truly) finished his dinner today for breakfast.

So, it’s kind of “adios” until the new year. We will meet on Zoom on January 2nd and in person on the 16th. The in-person location has not been selected. Comments will be welcome.

Suzanne’s Poem

‘Twas a week before Christmas and writers each in their house

Were stirred by a challenge so they grabbed their computer mouse.

They clacked on their keyboards, writing with care

because Ken said write a poem about Christmas if you dare!

Soon we’ll be nestled at The Doggish Head, at least one of us wishing we were in bed.

I wonder with glee what the others will write. Did Mario in Vietnam ever have a silent night?

Will mention be made of “no room at the Inn?” Will a woman and Delver’s construction of theirs ever begin?

I wonder if Natalie’s Santa’s suit instead of red might be pink?

Will Karen work in addiction or a shooting? that would drive me to drink.

Will Ken treat us to more travel adventures in his life?

Will he finally include more about his lovely wife?

Maybe Thomas will write a racy love scene between Santa and Mrs. Claus

making it hard to believe he was a man of the cloth!

Will Santa arrive in a sleigh pulled by deer or will Connie protest, “there will be no harming of animals here!”

As Santa brings gifts to every little boy and girl, Alex will lead deliveries to a subterranean world.

If Ray tells a story, I can’t imagine why but it probably includes a naked sexy elf running by.

Janet’s Santa Claus may have fins and a tail, Karuna’s Santa is passionate and meditates daily without fail.

Suzyn’s story might focus more on Mrs. Claus, examining her creativity, and investigating its cause.

Marianne and Ethan could make anything fun. Will John’s Santa and sidekick Melinda carry gravity guns?

Ron, a proud Lakota, could create a masterpiece in a jiff. Lizz might have Santa jumping off of a Hawaiian cliff.

Lo, there’s a clatter and whoever would imagine, Bryan’s Christmas haiku in Pakistan, about a gun pointed at him.

Then with a wink of an eye Ambassador Richard makes way! And with his skills of diplomacy he saves Bryan, and the day!

Now, Danielle, now Linda! Now, Anita and young Chris!

Ellen, Beatrice, John King,and Cat Burgess!

Come back to us soon for you are all missed!

Though I’m not sure who some of you are, I will leave you with this…

To a truly wonderful group of people who write

I wish Happy Christmas (Qwanza, Hannukah) to all, and to all a good night!


Following is a short report on our meeting on 12/5/23.

First, Natalie read a list of haikus – some very  good ones. One example: Summer rain falling. Pink roses and wild lilies, Hiding under trees. Mike read a new part of his ongoing story. It was about Kaari’s realization that “her” people had stolen the land of the Delver people. That generated much debate about similar atrocities in the U.S. and other countries. Mario provided information about his first weeks as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam. He also described a later phone call with a fellow soldier about the war, but the soldier did not want to talk and only gave a very insightful description of how a soldier feels in a war zone. Then, Mario found out why. Ken read the third introduction of his memoir about living in Korea in 1968 and 69. As usual, the group more details. Ken will happily add some, including his honeymoon trip, mostly by bus, from Bogota to Minneapolis. Suzyn read two entrancing poems, one entitled “A Love Story” and another about colors, beginning with red and encompassing the spectrum. What can I say? We loved them.

Then, we decided to hold a different kind of meeting on our regular date, December 19th, at 6:30 p.m.. Every member is invited to attend and to invite his/her family members and more. Also, each is invited to write, and read, a poem or short story about any special day in December. A list of those follows. The location is almost decided and will depend partly on the number of people who sign up and what space we can find. Kindly tell me, as soon as you can. whether you will attend and how many guests you will bring.


On November 21st, nine of our group braved the rain to and from Dogfish Head Alehouse. Ten chairs in a room for eight did not phase us, but the room temperature did. We moved to a quiet corner and met our very nice waitress, a college student from Chile. The prices were a little higher than in La Villa, but the food got high marks. Two of us tried the “fake” beer, while one went for the eight percent variety.

Karen was first to read with a timely tale about fear of mass shooting, in bowling alleys and elsewhere. The fear was well justified in this excellent piece of writing, enough that she was encouraged to try to have it published. Strategic spacing showed when the protagonist was thinking. We learned an important term, TBI, traumatic brain injury. Mario read second–more of his extended memoir about service in Vietnam. He detailed his trip from the U.S. west coast –4,000 soldiers for 23 days in a transport ship. He had taken several novels, which he read and then sold, even though they weren’t racy enough for the guys. There were requests for more details on some of his companions, the temperature at the landing site, etc. Then, it was Mike with a poem entitled, ‘Friends in Deed.” On the surface, it was about leaf blowers. Then, the author brought in Aeolus, who gave Odysseus a western breeze and a bag filled with the four winds. Unwise sailors opened it, with unwanted results. We enjoyed the piece and had few suggestions, other than to strengthen the relationship between the ancient gods and the present. Next, Ken read the second introduction to his Korea memoir, but it fared little better than the first one. The group wanted more information about his “young” wife and did not think “young” was the right descriptor. Also, they were interested in how his dog might have ended up on a dinner plate. So, it is back to keyboard. The third version is already coming into focus. Devin gave us dessert, reading part of a tale about Elgon (sp?), a wizard who had seen and done a lot, and his interactions with other people. Terms such as pulling the cord to start the engine set the work in the “steampunk” age, the 1800s, and that appeared to be too modern for the wizard. This seemed like a perfect tale for its intended audience, and we hope to hear more of it.

Before we drifted out to the soggy outside world, Ken ask the group where we should meet on December 19th, and the answer was: Dogfish Head Alehouse. You can sign up now to attend and read that day in person and/or December 5th on Zoom.


Zoom meeting on 11/7/2023

What can we say about last night’s meeting on Zoom? We started on time, did our work, had a good time, and ended on time.

First, we got Karuna’s work on the screen. It was an essay with photos entitled, What Were Your Grandparents Like? It made some of us think immediately of our own grandparents. Hers were definitely part of the extended family – preparing meals together, etc. The group had only a few suggestions for clarification and minor grammatical changes. Then, Ken barged in with an introduction to a memoir about his stay in Korea in 1968 and 69. He received excellent suggestions. His basic error, perhaps, was not realizing that most readers today aren’t familiar with relations between the two Koreas, five years after fighting was ended by an armistice. Crossing an invisible line in the Yellow Sea would probably have taken him from freedom to captivity. The next reader was Connie, who offered short poems entitled, If I Had Despair and If I Had Wings. We preferred the second of these. Connie has good ideas and is able to express them in a few lines. We all got involved in looking for ways to shorten the final line so it would match the first three in length and meter. Then, Mario continued his memoir about serving in the Vietnam war. He was authorized to travel from Seattle to Bethesda, MD, but went to Bogota instead. No one checked his orders or his passport. He was advised to take off his U.S. Army uniform during a stop in Panama. Arriving in early morning in Bogota, he woke up a friend, located  family, and ran into an old girl friend. They had a good fling and then parted forever. There was discussion of a few statements, mostly for clarification. Then, a surprise – Alex had returned and read more of of his novel about a postman who delivers mail anywhere. This time, he was off course and arrived to a post office that was closed, and met an old acquaintance who had become its self-appointed ruler. The postman “let the slow lead blanket of his understanding drape over him.” The work definitely held our attention, although there were comments that Alex needed to pick up the pace.

The next meeting? Oh, yes. A few members complained about La Villa, so we are going to try the Dogfish Head Alehouse. It’s at 800 West Diamond Avenue in Gaithersburg, and we’ll meet there at 6:30 p.m. on the 21st. Worry not; if you don’t like ale, they will find something for you.


Greetings, writers. On Tuesday 10/17/23, we were ten members, and all was well except that waitress gave Tom’s meal to Natalie and spilled much water on the table in front of Ken, who commented that he could use a diaper. Talking about his Ethiopia story, he mentioned that his second daughter had been conceived in Somalia, and John asked Ken if he was there at the time (big laugh). We had a guest, Ray’s son, Devin.

We got down to reading at 7:00, with a wonderful short story and two poems by Thomas. The story-teller  was, I guess, omniscient. The subject was an observation of a man and woman, maybe from the same organization, talking and flirting at their table in a bar. Their interaction became suggestive, then the man backed off, and then the seduction returned. It ended with the couple headed for, presumably, the lady’s boudoir. I don’t recall any suggestions at all. The poems were “A Ride on Copperhead Road” and “On Coming to Understand” – very different from each other but both well written and meaningful. Mike kept on the heat with part of the story he has been working on. A forest, the group camping, an attack, and the “Delvers” rebuffed it with no one, on either side, killed or seriously injured. How? They were very good, and they were ready – even with bells on strings in the woods. The protagonist, Kaari, reminisced about her (supposedly) late husband. Mike welcomed minor suggestions including smoothing out one of the transitions. Ray was next with more of his adventure story about rescuing young women who had been kidnapped in the U.S. and taken to Mexico (human trafficking). One was found, bound and gagged, with her blouse torn open and no clothing below her waist. A severe fight ensued, during which four men guarding the women were killed, while the “good guys” did not suffer casualties. The main suggestion as that the super hero was somewhat too super, while Ray insisted that he know a real live hero who could have done the job, as it was written. Mario brought us down from a fever pitch with three short accounts of his life in the U.S. Army, just before going to Vietnam. There was a train trip to Vancouver, where the bars had separate entrances for men only and for groups that included women and children. Also, only beer was available. The second trip was to Port Angeles, in Washington State. Another GI invited Mario for a “weekend out” with his family, and they had a wonderful time. Third, he stopped in Panama en route for a short stay in Bogota. His Army uniform alone got him through Passport Control, etc., but he was warned not to wear it in Panama City. We were a bit tired by then and commented little, mostly on selection of words.

The next meeting? You know. November 7th on Zoom. Let me know if you can go and if you want to read. Yes, Natalie, you are first on the list. In fact, so far, you’re all alone on the list.

Ken


Report of our meeting on 10/3/23

Greetings, Writers. 10/3 is over and 10/17 is to come. We will be in La Villa that day (sorry, Suzanne) at 6:30 p.m. You can sign up now to attend and to read.

Last night, Karuna led with a personal essay on love. It was about her relationship with her late husband, Ron. Theirs’s was a case of love at first sight, and they seem to have had an ideal marriage. “Self-acceptance leads to loving others,” she said, and “Love is to be responsible in everything.” This was Karina’s philosophy and could hardly be criticized, although there were suggestions to delete some of the quotations of famous poets and put in one or more by Ron. I, Ken, was next with a memoir of my stay in the Empire of Ethiopia, from summer ’71 until summer ’74.. Adventures led to anecdotes that the group appreciated. After the reading, there were no suggestions, but there were questions, and they revealed areas in which I should add background or explanations. I love this group. Where else can one receive such useful comments, enjoyably and free of charge? Mario followed with another part of his extended memoir on preparing to serve in Vietnam. This part was mainly about learning to fire a mortar and similar armaments. There was quite a bit of technical information that would be understood by most veterans.  Mario, however, stuck to his guns (pun intended) by saying his target audience would understand the names and acronyms. Natalie was next and last with more of her creative story about “pink.” The pink goddess in her pink queendom (a very uncommon word) began to be troubled by a sinister figure who seemed intent on rallying the “anti-pinkers” to destroy her. She began to receive help from the Goddess of Violet, but we did not know if that would be enough. One comment was that some of the paragraphs were too long, thus making this interesting story harder to follow.

Mario’s comment on the verbiage was to quote from actor, Jeff Goldblum, in the movie “The Big Chill” who said, “The only criteria that my editor has is that cannot write anything too long that cannot be read while taking a dump.”


Report on our 9/19/23 meeting

Greetings, all. We ended up with eight last night writers. La Villa treated us well, except for Mario’s dessert. It was TOO BIG.

Ray begin by reading three poems written in 1991 by a person named Bob Applebaum. Bob has begun having mental issues, and Ray has taken on the job of compiling and organizing his poetry. We found it to be very good. Then, Richard read what he called: “… an example of negotiating failure despite a major international effort.” It was set in Somalia in the 1990s. There was anarchy, and there “… was civil war with all against all.” Richard became Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office and was to “… oversee the orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces …” That was done successfully, but negotiations to resolve conflicts in the country continued to have few positive results. Shortly after Richard’s tour of duty ended, the Liaison Office was closed. We made several small suggestions, mostly that people who were not familiar with the situation would need more background information. Then, Mike was up with additions to his story that includes building an inn on a supposed road to riches. He read a new section that told of Kaari and her companions traveling to the building site with a sort of military escort. As Kaari helped to prepare dinner, a soldier briefly mentioned her husband, who had disappeared during a war. Another soldier was said to be “… casting sheep’s’ eyes at (her),” which she did not appreciate. There were lovely phrases and descriptions, and we enjoyed this addition to the tale. Natalie read next, continuing her story about a pink kingdom. Everything in it is pink, although different shades are allowed. We were introduced to the word, “obliette,” defined as “a secret dungeon with access only through a trapdoor in its ceiling.” Do not, repeat, do not – get thrown into one. Then came an interesting discussion of what is pink, which involved looking around the room at colors. Ken questioned whether the word, “pink,” was repeated too many times, but that is the essence of the story. Natalie plans to continue with her writing. An early night? No. John surprised us with a story that he and Mike had written for a contest. They were given a first paragraph and two last paragraphs. The task was too write forty-eight others, alternating – one by John, the next by Mike, and so on. They read the first few pages – enough to get us wildly interested – and then gave us copies of all twenty-one pages. My guess is that all of us will read them. Those guys are talented officers. It will be no surprise if they win the prize, which, I think they said, is a thousand bucks.

Our next meeting will be on Zoom, October 3rd at 7:30 p.m. Registrations to attend and to read are now OPEN.

P.S. by Ken: Hearing Richard’s Somalia story made me think I should tell my own Somalia story, but, this morning, I realized that my Ethiopia story had to be told first. The first draft was finished by lunchtime. Now comes, as we all know, the hard part. Look for it soon.


Report on our 9/5/23 meeting.

Greetings. Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 19th, at 6:30 p.m. in La Villa. Last night, we talked of other possible meeting places and might try one in October, although we’ve tested several in the past and found none that meets our criteria.

The meeting last night was calm and actually ended on time, at 9:00 p.m. Natalie read first, from her story about “pink.” The color symbolized power, not femininity, and the Goddess of Pink was all powerful. Still, the men in the village thought she was “hot.” We don’t know where the story will go next, but Natalie had clearly thought a lot about it. Then, Mario came on with more about life in a U.S. Army boot (Basic Training) camp, during early 1966. The highlight was a demonstration by Mario of the cadence jingles used by drill sergeants during marches, which Mario sang – both parts. We learned how a few guys beat the system – one by hiding on a roof and other places to avoid marching and the other hardships of Basic. We learned a bit about hand grenades, and we suggested that Mario clarify some of his sentences. Reader #3 was Karuna, with a memoir about meeting her husband, Ron, many years ago in India. He was a consummate adventurer, and she willingly went along, which did not please her family members. Treacherous curves in mountain roads on an old motorcycle? Yeah, man. Ultimately, Ron paid the bride price, and the couple headed for Canada, but not before one of Karuna’s sisters urged her to see a psychiatrist. Then, Ken jumped in with a sort of memoir about the Labor Day Parade in Gaithersburg (which was cancelled this year). Through incidents, he told the history of his Rotary club’s participation and how it might have ended this year, for good. No more hobnobbing with politicians, watching Bolivian dancers in short skirts, lunch in the Diamond deli, etc. Karuna provided the grand finale, offering Ken her 2003 red Thunderbird ragtop to use if the club participates in 2024. Then, the session was over. Not much small talk this time, but we definitely enjoyed the reading.


Report on our 8/15/23 meeting.

Can our meetings get any better? I don’t see how. Last night, thirteen attended including two very welcome newcomers, Andy and Dennis. Five read – wonderful stories – and invited comments. The waitress was confused about who had ordered which meal, so we ended up with: “Whatever you get, eat it.”

Karen was first with part of her tale of addiction. Molly had moved, didn’t know many people in her new area, could hardly make friends because she didn’t want people to know she was an alcoholic, mixed coffee with her booze to disguise it, although the resulting beverage tasted awful. In her mind, she made friends with Kitty Dukakis while seeing her on the Oprah Winfree show. A former alcoholic in our group verified that Karen’s description was right on. We had few suggestions for her, except to improve the transitions in one or two places. The second reader, Lizz, described travel to Hawaii and “cliff jumping” from the edge of a waterfall, an activity that did not look safe. Images in her mind did not make it easier. That excitement gave way to a beautiful sunset. Then, the piece turns philosophical. After all, who is holding the camera? Who toggles the zoom button? Is it me? Is it God? Is it other people? Lizz’es writing is excellent. Her descriptions are excellent. There was one comment, which she seemed to accept, that her zooming in and out was confusing and could be simplified. Then, came our newcomer, Andy, who presented a small play. He asked for voice actors for the parts of Andre, Bill and Dwayne and found them immediately. Andre and Dwayne are robbers, but Bill has nothing they can take. They get into conversations about weed, education, a knife, stealing from old ladies, crashing a party, and more. In the end, Bill apologizes that he has nothing for the robbers, and they part as friends. One comment on the piece was that Andy could have said more about where the incident took place – a  physical description. Mike, batting fourth, read a segment of his novel about building an inn on a dangerous road to riches. The protagonist, Karri, recovered from her husband’s apparent death and, in the process, reviewed in her mind the deaths of her father and her nurse. Both had worked until their final moments. There were meaningful paragraphs about the life of stone in that society. “Stone keeps us mindful that nothing lasts for ever, hm.” There were several questions from those who had not heard Mike read before. Then, a big question: Was Kaari’s husband really dead. Mike said he did not know – yet. To end the evening, Ray read a query letter and asked for our comments. It summarized his story in a way that definitely grabbed attention. There was; however, a general feeling that it was too long for most editors to read. Ray said he would work on it and read a new version at our next meeting, Ken responded that, if Ray wanted comments sooner, some of our members would offer to review it. One member suggested that Ray see what kind of query Artificial Intelligence would write. We scoffed, but Ken tried it. The query written by Chat GPT follows this report. 

There was a brief discussion of one member’s suggestion that, occasionally, we have just two readers in a meeting so that each would have more time. The conclusion what that our current format was working well. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

We will meet again, on Zoom, on the first Tuesday in September. We can sign up now to attend and to read.


Greetings, writers. We were a more serious bunch last night but had our usual positive experience with good writing and reading. We will meet again on August 15th, 6:30 p.m., in La Villa. You may sign up now to attend and to read.

Last night, Ken began by reading an email to him from Connie’s tablecloth. The lime green cloth felt dejected because Ken had opted to use a different one at MonkeyCon this Sunday. Poor thing. We were sympathetic.

Mario was the first serious reader, with more of his story about serving in the U.S. Army. The smart guys in charge flew him from the east to the west coast just before a leave to celebrate Christmas. He finally got a free flight to Dulles, first-class, no less, and rang the bell at the home of an uncle who did not expect him. Soon thereafter, he returned to Ft. Lewis, Washington to deprivation and experiences such as pitching tents in 40 degree weather, in the rain. The group congratulated Mario for constant improvement and asked for more detail in a couple of places. Then, Ron read two brief essays regarding American Indians. One was about a burial ceremony – women with scarves and long skirts, somber men, and a Catholic priest who spoke words that no one understood. When the priest departed, the Indians performed their ceremony in their language according to age-old customs, then gathered in the house of the deceased. Ron explained that, with the grand wisdom of our forefathers, Indian groups were “assigned” to religious groups and had to practice their own faiths in secret. It was wonderful writing: clear, concise, descriptive. Abby followed with more of her extended memoir about the death of her husband and its aftermath. She had clearly mastered the art of revealing information little by little. She went through a lengthy traumatic experience, which led her to write, at one point, “If I’m going to get through this, it’s got to be to help other people.” We thought it was wonderful that she could put such a personal story on paper and seek to have it published. She mentioned the need for an editor to smoothen a few rough spots. The final reader, Charity, began, innocently enough, with a lady who did not like her middle name (June). Then, she abandoned the word, “tree,” substituting “silve” for all things of wood that had leaves or needles. We realized, little by little, that the protagonist was out of touch with reality, was living in a parallel world. This is a well-written story that Charity will try to market to sci-fi magazines. Will she make it to Clarkesworld or Asimov’s? We surely hope so. Then, somehow, the talk turned back to MonkeyCon, and Ken shared its website and list of exhibitors. Almost suddenly, attitudes changed from disinterested to WOW. You can find the site at http://www.monkeycon.com. We expect to be at Table 14, near the doors. Why are we doing this?, someone asked. It is for benefits yet to be seen, but Ken expects a major boost to his creativity.


On Tuesday 7/18/23, our table in La Villa grew until it could hold a dozen people. Orders were placed, and the reading began.

Karen started with part of her story about a young lady who died of a drug overdose, and her mother was determined to learn how it happened. She went so far as to say, to the town’s mayor, “Someone murdered our daughter.” This was part of the dialogue, which was excellent but demanded close attention. As always, Karen’s writing was excellent, and we had few, if any, substantive comments. Staying with the letter K (no, not Ken), Karuna read next from a sort of essay about growing up in a small town in India. Her childhood was “… pretty normal in a chaotic household.” There was not much to do, people went to bed early, and her sisters died from “alcohol-related” causes. It was fascinating. Mike, especially, would have liked more detail about the sisters and Karuna’s relationships with them. Suzanne followed with a recount of her contacts with Mattie Stepanec, an uncommonly brilliant boy who died in 2004, at the age of 13, of a mitochondrial disease. He left seven published books, Rockville named a large park for him, and more. Suzanne produced an excellent summary of his life in just a page and a quarter. Of course, we would have liked more details, especially Karen, who once interviewed Mattie’s mother for the Rockville Town Courier. The last reader was Mike with more of the life of Kaari, the protagonist in his story. Kaari and her friends are very curious about red-haired people from a different part of the country. Could they be witches? The strange boy says her mother can do magic tricks, and she does a good one for them. This incident fits neatly into Mike’s general theme of discrimination, for whatever reason, which appears throughout his story.

Connie was ready to read, but Suzanne took precedence with a wonderful birthday cake for Richard. He blew out the candles, and we sang. The home made cake was absolutely delicious.

We will meet via Zoom on August 1st and in person on the 15th. You can sign up now to attend and to read. Also, thanks to John, our group will have a table in MonkeyCon (first edition), on August 6th at the Activity Center in Bohrer Park. Look it up at http://www.monkeycon.org and come to see us.


Report for our 7/6/2023 meeting, prepared by Ken.

It never happens, but it did: Two scheduled readers had to cancel. That opened opportunities for two newcomers, who sparkled like diamonds. See the reports below.

Mario kicked things off with his Army boots. He described reporting for basic training, after being drafted just seven months after arriving in the U.S. A highlight was that all recruits had to do pull-ups before entering the mess hall. The number of pull-ups increased weekly. Those that were overweight and couldn’t do the pull ups were sent to the end of the line so that they arrived late for the grub and did not have time to eat much. Presumably, then, they lost weight. Comments centered mainly on Mario’s ESL grammar, noticeably improved but still not perfect. He was also asked to show how he felt about all these changes. Janet read next – more of her story about an underwater world. She presented a wonderful description of the mermaid queen with hair that could shampoo and style itself, possessor of all knowledge and languages, etc. Then, she aptly told of the king and offered excellent capsule descriptions of their “merbabies.” Sadly, the king’s brother was enticed by a comely human and was banished from the briny deep. The story is progressing nicely, and we are eager to hear more. Then came Connie, with a four-line poem that was cute as a gnat and, in fact, was partly about gnats. She was asked to read it twice, and we all enjoyed it. Ken continued with a memoir about a business trip to a part of Colombia in which control had recently been wrested from FARC guerillas and drug traffickers. He seemed to take the danger in stride (What else can you do?) and to pay special attention to the comely young ladies in skin-tight jeans. Suggestions were mainly that he explain some terms for readers who were not familiar with “coca substitution” projects of the U.S. Agency for International Development. With time remaining, Ken called on newcomer, Ron. He has a published book of poetry, Silent Shouting, Quiet War, and is working on another. He read a poem that used gravel roads and toilet paper to illustrate life on Indian  reservations. Ron, a Lakota Indian from South Dakota, made it clear that soft TP and magazine pages are not the same – one of many ways in which people who grow up on tribal lands are limited by their surroundings. Then, another newcomer, Abby, read, from a book she is working on, “A Letter to Myself” which is the preamble to her memoire. It was so touching that we asked to hear the next few pages. They were about the aftermath of her husband’s suicide, in their home. Yes, he was a defective human being, but that did not make his death easier to bear. The writing was excellent, and we had few, if any, suggestions to make it better. (Mario opined that maybe she was suffering from PTSD from this experience).

Now, our next meeting: Back to our usual schedule. It will be on Tuesday, July 18th, at 6:30 p.m., in La Villa restaurant. That is at 18701 North Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg. Do let me know if you plan to attend and if you want to read. The names Mario, Ken, Janet, and Natalie are already on the yellow pad list.


Report for our 620/2023 meeting by Ken

As Ken said last night, the writing was so good that it was like pulling teeth to extract suggestions. Lizz, Richard, Bryan, Karen, and Ray had all done very good work. For our July schedule, see the final paragraph. 

Lizz began with her story about Diane, wife of a man whose cancer had come back and who had decided to let it run its dearly course. Diane was reminiscing on happier times when a young neighbor arrived to deliver a home made pie and did not know what to say to her. There was more awkward conversation, as she assured the boy that anything he said would be all right, and more fascinating reminiscing. Diane was not a person to keep a fatal illness secret but talked about it in her social circles. This story is getting better and better. Richard was next with a memoir about working for the U.S. Government, in the African country of Chad, and being ordered to recover Stinger missiles the U.S. had given to that country. He was authorized to pay to get them back – two million dollars. Richard succeeded by working with the vice-president, not the newly-elected president, and applying his knowledge of Chadian culture and politics. Our group was very interested, mainly about details such as the number of Stingers there were, how portable they were, and whose “wrong hands” they might have gotten into if the U.S did not get them back. They were capable of bringing down U.S. aircraft. After Richard came Bryan with a memoir of a trip to the lawless border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was part of a group hired to report on the border and show whether it was closed, as Americans had been told, or open. Soon surrounded by dozens of young men who called that region “home,” the team managed to stay perfectly calm, do its job, and get out of there fast, with film of buses rolling through unchecked. High adventure combined with Bryan’s writing had us paying rapt attention. We moved to Karen and her take of a reporter, Sandra, in a small town hearing on the opioid crisis. Her descriptions of the decrepit high school, people attending, and people on the stage were very well done. We could see the scene. “My kids would never go near this stuff,” said one lady, ever the blind optimist. The tips of Karen’s pink nails “clacked” on a school desk as emergency responders made sure the rules on fire safety were followed. And, then, she stopped, leaving us with a strong feeling that we had heard the beginning of another useless meeting. The fifth to bat was Ray, who finished with a baseball analogy that might not be the perfect ending. He read an exciting memoir in which he, past his youthful speed and strength, had saved a woman from an attack by a vicious dog. The first object of the attack, her little fou-fou dog, had high-tailed it out of there. It took a hit on the head with a framing hammer (a large, heavy one) to send the large mutt packing, whereby its owner took it inside and closed the door. It was found and taken away by Animal Control, a large man brought the fou-fou dog back, and the woman refused to leave in an ambulance. We liked the memoir very much, and we learned the term. “framing hammer.”

Our next meeting date falls on the 4th of July, and some might prefer fireworks to reading. Let’s meet on Thursday, the 6th at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Then, we’ll be in-person at La Villa on Tuesday the 18th at 6:30 p.m. You can sign up now to attend and to read.


Report of the Zoom meeting on 6/6/23

Karen, Natalie, Connie, Alex, Mike and Mario participated in the Zoom meeting. Ken joined us from his car later, as he was driving home from another meeting. There were three last-minute cancellations and one person who did not receive the logon information (Ken accepts the guilt).

Mario read first from his memoir of coming to the U.S. in 1965. He had a conversation with a fellow student, who was driving him home, which changed his beliefs. He spoke of his induction into the U.S. Army and the many firsts he experienced. Alex suggested that he should reveal how he felt about these critical changes in his life. There were other suggestions about how to improve the piece. Alex continued his sci fi piece with the protagonist, Gus, a mail carrier who delivers mail to unusual places in the universe. In this piece, he is in a subterranean world delivering to a man who works at a gym and has a semi-aggressive and demanding attitude. We are not sure if he is asking Gus to pay for water. As usual, Alex’s prose is very creative. There were minor suggestions of ways to clarify the scene. Natalie read about a Pink Goddess and her pink kingdom/world, introducing conflict by mentioning snitches and possible punishment. We were happy to note that her writing seems to be better every time we hear it. Mike told us that he was working on a sequel to his main book, which might or might not be finished already. In this work, several fortune/treasure hunters find themselves sleeping in a crypt they had breached to rob, but with no success and are not sure they can find their way out of it until they remembered that one of of the party had marked every corner with chalk when they walked in. Will the marks be still visible when they try to get out? They dream of eating well while consuming their meager and half rotten supplies. The action takes place in the wild past where a travelers’ inn has been built. We all liked the sequel, and very few suggestions were offered.

Ken has made a reservation for out meeting in La Villa on 6/20 at 6:30 p.m. Want to go? Then, tell him so. Want to read? He will take heed.


Report for our 5/16/23 meeting by Ken

Hey, we had curtains and better lighting. La Villa is shaping up.

On May 16th, Mo arrived exactly at 6:30, and there was just one chair left. We had an even dozen writers. Ken started by asking how many knew what “GBF” stood for.  It’s the Gaithersburg Book Festival, of course. About half of those present plan to attend at Bohrer Park on May 20th. Then, John displayed a deck of cards designed to help fiction writers describe their characters. For information and/or to order, go to www.betterbackstories.com.

We will meet again on June (June already!) 6th, on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. On the 20th, we’ll be live in La Villa at 6:30 p.m. The signup sheets to attend and to read are now open.

Mo had the disadvantage of going first, when most of us didn’t have our ears open yet. He read from his book, Phoenix, a children’s story about cruel times. The protagonist was an anomaly – was kind to his servants. We liked the story and the lesson it teaches but commented on the arrangement of topics and the position of the narrator. There was a question about where Mo came up with his characters, which he was happy to answer. John was next with an exciting part of a new book in the series about Professor Grady and the Gravity Gun. The target audience is probably high school kids who can understand a bit of physics, like traveling beyond the speed of light. The ship malfunctions, the heroine, Melina, falls and breaks her wrist, and there is no easy fix for either. The discussion ended with John describing his writing process. Ray continued his tale of five young women kidnapped in Tucson and trafficked to Mexico for illicit purposes. They have a chance to escape, but not a good one, so they end up taking just the first step. They are caught by a very bad lady, Gloria, and a dark future awaits them. One suggestion was was to say more about Gloria’s attack on Sofia. Another was a minor rearrangement of some clauses. To end the show, Mike read more of his story about Kaari and her friends, “regular folk” and “delvers.” On the road to the west, they come across a band of people who threaten to rob them. Kaari takes a chance and faces them down. As the evil ones move one, several of Kaari’s Delvers emerge from the woods, sheathing their swords. The conclusions, not stated, are that there are travelers on the road who could stay in the (future) inn, but they are not all desirable guests, and danger lurks all around. Watch oouuut.


Report on our meeting on 5/2/23, by Ken.

At the end, there was a brief discussion of our next meeting. It will be in person May 16th at 6:30 p.m., in La Villa. One member asked if we could look at potential meeting places in the far north (Germantown), and there was some discussion but no conclusion. You can sign up now to attend and to read on the 16th.

Lizz was the first reader, with her story about a man dying from cancer who wants to go on his annual fishing trip with a buddy, but his wife objects. Question: Whose side would you be on? It is a poignant topic and a well written story. Personally, I want to hear more. Then, it was Natalie with another in her series of poems about pink. We liked the ending. The main suggestion was to add another color, probably blue, so as to create some contrast and maybe even tension. Connie read a tale, or memoir, about adopting an elderly cat that would not eat. She and a chakra healer helped it back to health. The cat turned out to be older than Connie had been told and had to be put to sleep after a few years, but the author never regretted adopting, and loving her. Mario was next with more of his story of a sort of fugitive named Miguel. His sidekick, Dio, is identified by a bad guy while he (Dio) was driving Miguel’s car. Miguel and his lover, Maria, debate what to do with the car and whether to undertake a dangerous mission. There were several suggestions, mainly to clarify specific statements. Also, we enjoyed speculating on the best term to use for the lover. Would it be “babe,” “hottie,” “dish,” or something else? After that thrilling discussion, Mike read another part of his story about building an inn on a supposed road to riches. As always, it was well written and had excellent dialogue. There was some discussion of active vs. passive voice. Confusion about where we were in the story led Mike to say he was writing in two directions at once and hoped they would meet in the middle. For a final topic, Ken asked about Mike’s wall decorations – beautiful antique Moroccan firearms. We speculated about whether they could be fired. Ken’s conclusion is, “yes,” but they might blow up in the process. This is based on one of his short-lived business ventures, importing muzzle-loading shotguns to the U.S. from Mexico.

As always, we had a good time and learned more about writing. It was excellent!


Gaithersburg Creative Writers Group, April 18, 2023

Good group, good food, good service – we even applauded our servers. We’ll be back to La Villa on May 23rd but, before that, we’ll be on Zoom on May 2th at 7:30 p.m. You can sign up now to attend and to read.

Ken led last night with a brief critique of a concert at Strathmore Hall. There was consensus that he had gotten across his main impression – ambivalence. Members of the group opined that he could have said more about the singer’s requests for wine and the sounds of the Moog synth. Richard followed with another memoir about his service in poor countries. Friends in Paris gave generous gifts of caviar, champagne, etc. When the wealthy friends had a baby and Richard needed a gift, he and his wife provided peanut butter, jam, and sliced white bread from the U.S. Post Exchange or Commissary, and their gifts were valued very highly. Richard had written a poem about the event, and it was delightful. One comment was that he could have explained post exchanges and commissaries for people who had no experience with them. Karen followed with more about about a lady in a senior citizens home, and her daughter, Kerry, on New Year’s Eve. They were a lot alike, but the 94 year-old was depending more and more on Kerry Also, she became ever more set in her ways, such as topping off the Brita pitcher whenever she poured water and the fourteen steps to brewing a cup of tea. At the same time, the daughter was catching glimpses of her future. The piece was serious but also light and funny.  Then, Suzanne read about when, in her 30s, she wanted to share her gift of music. The location chosen was a hospital. There were choice incidents about piano playing and singing making sick children feel better, almost instantly. There were a suggestions that she say more about the environment and where she was in life. Ken commented that most of her memoirs had men in them, to which Suzanne replied that a doctor would soon come into the picture. Mike was next with a revised part of his story about two classes of people in a town long ago. We were transfixed as young Kaari and her friends followed a strange wagon pulled by a decrepit horse. They met people with orange hair, then heard and saw Kaari’s father arguing with a man whom he had seen demonstrating against the “Delvers.” The father dropped the argument and went straight to Karri but couldn’t quite shield her from seeing the other man being being jerked away. Mike was asked to explain the title of the episode, “For a Reason,” and did so ably.

Karen gave us all bookmarks to remind us of the Gaithersburg Book Festival, on May 20th, and we actually finished on time.


Report on our 4/4/2023 Zoom meeting by Ken.

Greetings, all. We had a great turnout last night – 13 writers (and we all know that is a lucky number). To begin, someone launched a discussion of where to meet on the 18th, and several people spoke out for La Villa. Democratic, as we are, their arguments won. I just cancelled our prior arrangement and reserved the room in La Villa, at 18701 North Frederick Road. I’ll take a lamp again. Maybe someone else can do so the next time. Note: while at La Mexicana, cancelling our reservation, I ran into a fellow I knew who had just won $500 bucks in a lottery. Perhaps he bought 13 tickets???

We had Lots of leaders (sounds better than rots of readers). They were, in brief:

–  Connie, with a cute limerick about Natalie and a flute. We all liked it.

–  Natalie with a poem about being bored and not wanting to do laundry. Mario opined that this was her best poetry piece so far.

–  Lizz, with part of a story about a lady whose husband of many years was dying of cancer.

–  Karuna, with part of an article or memoir about trying to combat alcoholism in her home village in India.

–  Thomas, with a spoof on Aristotle, written like the ancient Greek would, with a cool new word: “credularium.”

–  Mario, with part of a story about his life in the U.S. as a young man – working studying, and partying.

–  Cat, with a continuation of a story about a lady who fears she will lose her job in a wholesale nursery.

Either we had on velvet gloves or the work was too good to find fault with. There was universal praise and fewer suggestions that usual (but, of course, they were some). We regret that there was not enough time for everyone to read.

Now, for April 18th, at 6:30 p.m., vote often, vote early – NO, sorry, but do sign up early. We will probably look for the first members who say they want to read and did not read yesterday.


A few words about our 3/21/2023 meeting, by Ken.

Greetings, all. We had power writers at the meeting on Tuesday. I hear it was a good one. “I hear,” I say, because I could not attend. Mario ran the show. We had a delightful newcomer named Charity.

There were close to a dozen people to hear Tom, Karen, Ray and Mike read from their work. They all received positive comments and, OK, a few of the other kind.

In general, La Villa worked out well. The private room has only romance lighting, but we solved that by taking a floor lamp. Rumor has it that the lamp became a subject of discussion.

We are scheduled to meet next  on Zoom on April 4th, at 7:30 p.m. After that, we’ll be in-person on April 18th at 6:30 p.m. We have reserved a LARGE room at La Mexicana, at 16143 Shady Grove Road in Gaithersburg. That’s a sliver west of Route 355. Happy hour ends at 7:00, so we’ll have to order bevs and/or hors d’ourves in a hurry. One can now sign up now to attend these events and to thrill us with his/her reading.


Report for the meeting on 3/7/23

Our group’s meetings are never mundane, and the one last night was no exception. But, first, let’s talk about March 21st. .We are going back to La Villa, where we met when our group was new and there were different owners. It’s at 18701 North Frederick Avenue, near the Salvation Army and the Board of Elections, and we’ll be in the VIP room. If you want to eat cheap, go for Salvadoran specialties like a pupusa and a tamal for $4.50. There will be happy hour specials on drinks You can sign up now to attend and to read.

Ken   

P.S. Yes, I did start a sentence (above) with a conjunction. It just seems to fit.

Mario drew the long straw and read first. He spoke of his arrival, at age 21, from Colombia to the USA in 1965. He found the US “the most interesting country in the world.” This was his second time living in the US. The first time was from 1957 to 1959 when he had attended a military boarding school in Virginia. This second time was different, he found the US a wonderful place to live. Young people could work, study, explore – pretty much whatever they wanted to do. His statement that there were no drugs was questioned, but a quick internet search suggested he was largely correct. It was a lovely existence – a “honeymoon,” that lasted until he was drafted and ended up in Vietnam. The group made several suggestions in wording and arrangement of sentences, and we were pleased that Mario’s “immigrant experience” was a good one. Then, Mike was on stage with a new section for an early part of his book about building an inn on a supposed road to riches. A group of “regular people,” occupying the city of Esgard and its surroundings, rioted against the original inhabitants, known as “Delvers.” The protagonist, Kaari, then age 7, harbored some in her room in what seemed to be a combination home and workshop. Of course, the Delvers were very grateful, and the readers learned, in those early pages, of social unrest that will show its head many times in the book. As always, it was hard to find fault with Mike’s writing. We did suggest details he could add to make the event even more vivid or more frightening. Natalie was next with an unnamed poem about the color, pink. It is an introduction to a story she is writing about The Goddess of Pink. The poem contains several pleasing lines and gives an overall impression that pink is an absolutely wonderful color. In our group, we pretend to be able to make useful comments on any kind of writing, and the poem was no exception. We suggested names, minor changes in wording, and deletion of at least one specific line. Ken thought of running to put on his pink shirt but decided to stay put, as we moved on to hear from Cat. Cat might be our only member who no longer lives in or near Gaithersburg. It’s nice when she visits us. She continued her story about Nicki, who works in a wholesale nursery and has problems with her boss, Collin. We learn that the company has a 150K budget shortfall and will have to lay off at least one person. The joy of this piece is the sparking dialogue between Nikki and various co-workers. We suggested possibly adding text about the setting (the room and the upcoming meeting) and about the presumed shortfall, which is about the amount of Nikki’s salary (although adding details might dilute the impression that Collin is out to “get” her). Then, Ken jumped in with a sort of he-said-she-said memoir about 3/3/23, the day COVID hit him. It covered his disorientation, his fall, his wife’s actions, a visit by Montgomery County Fire an Rescue, and his daughters’ attempts to help. There is talk of prescription medicines and supplements. Then, our critics had a field day. There were opinions that he say where he picked up the illness, how he felt when EMS arrived, the supplements and food delivered by his daughters and neighbors, his wife catching the disease, and more. As usual, when Ken reads, he went away with excellent ideas and more work to do.


Report for the meeting on 2/21/23

Greetings, writers. This meeting report is about restaurants and reading and writing.

Last night, with 11 people jammed around a small table with a big lazy Susan, it was a miracle that only a glass of water was spilled. Our intrepid writers cleaned it up quickly, and Lizz took it in (wet) stride. With a long menu and a waiter who barely spoke English, it took us a half hour to order. Then, he kept running in with water, glasses, and food. making sure to talk loudly each time. The food; however, was wonderful. In the end, nothing remained but five dumplings and some spicy fish soup.

We will meet on Zoom on March 7th and in person on the 21st – location to be decided. Some candidates are IHOP in a semi-private room, La Villa in a private room, and Dogfish Head Ale House in a room for 30 people. Comments will be welcome. You can sign up now to attend and to read at either and/or both.

Mike was the first reader and had the most noise to contend with. Kaari and her team were finally setting out to build the inn on the road to riches. “We’re really doing this,” said or asked one of them. Leaving their city of Esgard, they were alerted that they had made an enemy on their previous trip to the site.  A former soldier, Byron, asked about the incident that might come to haunt them, and the response helped readers to understand its significance. This section was Mike’s introduction to conflict and to danger, and we suspect the story to contain plenty of both. Kaari’s group included four guards, and there was discussion of whether Mike should give them names and maybe say a few words about each and/or to say more about the “red tape” of leaving the city. Janet read next and continued her story about mermaids and mermen. Mr. Hayujama (not sure of spelling) had been a merman but left the ocean for a time, and was not allowed back. When he died, he was put on a decorated raft and set upon the water, but his body fell off. His apprentice, John, dove after it, in SCUBA gear but with very little air in the tank. John had a lovely necklace given by his father, which attracted a young female. Was the necklace made of pearls? We learned that, when oysters get old, they don’t die; they turn into pearls. One comment was that the point of view in the story was not always clear. Janet promised to tell us more later about the underwater world she was creating. During the discussion, we learned that she writes by dictating to her phone. Interesting, yes?

Then, Bryan read part of a memoir about a trip to Japan, with a small group, to interview and film modern-day Geishas and strippers. Tired, one evening, Bryan and a co-worker ducked into a bathhouse that had several tubs with water of different temperatures. There was a small tub with no one in it. Bryan plunged into an arm, and it became paralyzed. Called Denki Buro, such tubs are said to provide relief from rheumatism and spondylitis and, possibly, increase sperm count. Bryan concluded, later, that the bathhouse might have been for the Yakuza (Japanese gangsters), as he was not allowed to go in again. The writing was lively and had plenty of humor. We enjoyed it thoroughly. Bryan’s piece led us to a discussion of bathhouses and to good stories by others in the group.  Then, Karuna cracked a two-part joke that had to be one of the best ever. No repeating it here, folks. If ya missed it, ya missed it.


2/7/23 Meeting report

Members were asked to arrive early last night, and they did. We ended with ten on the screen and were ready to start. however, a newcomer ask about our cooperative novel, and that started quite a discussion. Connie, who is editing it and is up to Chapter 7, needs help finding email addresses to send each edited chapter to its author for review.

Alex became the first reader and continued his novel about an intergalactical letter carrier (the new name for “mailman”). The protagonist held a red letter that seemed to be scanning him and, later, met a strange man in an elevator. There were interesting phrases such as “…grim response of a hallowing breeze” and “missing sliver of his agency.” In general, and this might be just my impression, the novel is becoming more sophisticated with longer words, longer sentences, and more that makes the reader think about what is happening. Some comments from our group were “very interesting” “very literary,” and “… hard to tell what he is feeling at any time.” How this piece fits in, we will see as we hear more from Alex. Next came Karuna with a memoir from growing up in Mizuram, a state in northeastern India, a sort of buffer between Bangladesh and Myanmar. We learned that her actual name is Remmawii, and she told us its meaning. She said that neither she nor any of her siblings knew their actual birthdates. She described the area well, with phrases such as “…slowly, as the sun warms the mountain ranges.” We all enjoyed the piece, and one person said that any part of it could be expanded. Another commented on the lack of background information; however, that will be available when last night’s reading becomes part of a collection of memoirs. Cat, sometimes absent but always writing, read part of a story about working in a horticultural company. It gave us a brief education in that industry, but the focus was on the relationship between the protagonist and her boss. There was dialogue with nice satire as she talked about him. We liked it a lot. There was a suggestion that the best lead sentence would be found somewhere in the first paragraph and another that Cat could say more about her protagonist. We were left wondering what would happen in an all-company meeting, which followed one to which everyone except the protagonist was invited. Then, Ken jumped in to read a poem written for a contest to describe a work of art that had an effect on the viewer. His subject was the painting, “Echo of a Scream,” by Mexican painter, David Siqueiros. Ken’s perception: The poem seemed to have shock value. It conveyed an anti-war message – a “downer” near the end of an otherwise happy meeting. There was a comment that it would be better with rhyme and meter. In fact, most is iambic pentameter, but the number of beats per line varies widely. Also, there were comments on a few lines that Ken had identified as being weak. He will let it rest a few days and then try to improve it.

Before we left, some for the State of the Union address, we confirmed that our next meeting would be on February 21st at 6:30 p.m. in the Wang Manor (Rt. 355 just south of Shady Grove Road). Signed up to date are Mike, Natalie, Karuna, Marianne and Ethan, Richard, Ken and Mario. We can take our own alcohol, which saves us money. Ken suggests that each person order a dish (dumplings, soup, main dishes, dessert) and put it on the turntable. Then, we can somehow split the bill. This will be another excellent event!


Meeting January 17th, 2023

GCWG at Wang Manor 1/17/23

Prepared by Ken.

Greetings, all. We had quite a meeting last night. The Wang Manor is beautiful, and we were its only customers for a while. The waitress didn’t want to rearrange the seating for us but did so when the owner dropped in. Later, he sent us two large bottles of a delicious passion fruit drink. Then, the waitress refused to give us individual checks until one of our group stood up and walked out. She called the owner, and her attitude changed quickly. She was tough, but the writers WON.

The food was plentiful and very good. In the end, all ten of us were willing to go there again. At the same time, one member suggested trying That’s Amore (on Shady Grove Road) and another said Buca de Beppo (in The Kentlands). The first might not have a private room, and the second might be too far for some members, but we will check them out. Comments will be welcome.

Our next meetings will be on Feb. 7th on Zoom and on Feb. 21st in person. You can register now to attend and to read.

Our first reader, Natalie, had a poem on autism, from which her daughter suffers. It seemed designed to explain the disease and persuade readers they should not avoid people who have it. Anything goes in poems these days, so it was hard to comment on the format. Regarding the content, It was easy to see that Natalie’s message was important and needed reinforcement. Think of Albert Einstein, Emily Dickenson, Benjamin Franklin, and more. There is a long list of people with autism to have made great contributions to society. Then, Mario took the plunge with a brief memoir about his arrival in the U.S. in 1965. He set the stage for adventure by saying it “… foreshadowed … my future … in the U.S.” and “It would be … full of new experiences, some not very comfortable.” A rule of Mario’s U.S. host was that he start working right away,” and a job had been found for him. There were calls to Mario for more detail, especially about how he felt about the situation. Otherwise, we took the memoir as an interesting prelude to others that, we hope, will come very soon. About then, Maria, arrived and found a chair next to her husband, John, and a lot of food still on the lazy susan. We were very pleased to meet her. It was hard, but Ken interrupted the lively conversation so that Suzanne could read. She offered a short memoir – part of a series of memoirs – about a job she once had training D.C. Capitol Police officers. Her role was as a crazy lady, with a gun. One of the young officers talked into dropping it – god job, fellow. The next one man-handled her, but she didn’t mind because he was tall, young, and good-looking. On that job, she learned that paint pellets hurt. We found the piece well-written and entertaining. On to the next one, Suzanne! Batting cleanup was Richard with a tale from his work in the U.S. Consulate in Paris. One of his applicants was “… an attractive German/Austrian woman…” who told him, “I hope you’re not going to give me a lot of trouble.” Her act included whimpering, crying, and showing a love letter from her young boyfriend in the U.S. Richard doubted her promise to stay just a few weeks in this country, but he rewarded the act by giving her a very limited visa. The group concurred with John, who said the piece was by far the best we had heard from Richard. We could find nothing to criticize. We liked it a lot.

I was the last to leave the restaurant and, when I went to say “goodbye” to the waitress, there was nothing but milk and honey from both of us.


Meeting January 3rd, 2023. Prepared by Ken.

Last night, a new comer, Lee Lovett, introduced himself. He has written stories, scripts, and much more in his practice of psychotherapy. We were pleased to have him with us.

Marianne took the plunge and read first – a poem called Walking to the Memorial Service. The author walked down 16th Street, hesitant to cross to the small church for a memorial service. The street held beautiful memories of the person who was deceased – of eating and chatting and reading poetry. In the 18 short lines, there were no articles (adjectives) and little punctuation, which seems to be a trend in modern poetry. We all enjoyed it. Then, Mike jumped in with another part of the book he has been writing. Kaari and her team receive a sealed cylinder, which surely contains the response to her application to build an inn on a road to riches. After some trepidation, she breaks the seal and, voila, has approval. Her Delver sidekick, Ethan, introduces her to a Delver contractor, Peter, who reviews the plans, and a deal is struck. Mike’s description of the contractor is excellent. There were only a few questions about where this part fits in the story and about the dialogue. Lizz followed with a short article, Tuesday Morning, about getting up early to watch a lunar eclipse. She had to “wriggle (her) feet into some sneakers” and then return to the house for warmer clothes before heading for a hill in a lonely park. When the moon emerged, it had no green cheese but was a perfect egg yolk. We were witnesses to anxieties, associations and metaphors in her nice piece of writing. Most of the comments were on minor points such as verb tenses and when it is, or is not, acceptable to mix them. The last scheduled reader was Ethan, with a piece of fiction that began with a very old cat (Brunhilda) and morphed into a discussion of the protagonist’s early loves and sexual adventures. The cat posed serious problems but, apparently, the short-term love affairs did not. There were comments on the sequencing of events, and Ken asked how the group felt about the length of some sentences. As happens often, only he was concerned. This writing is excellent and, as often with Ethan, quite creative.
With a few minutes left before our curfew, Mike asked if he could read one of his favorite poems. He did, and it is now one of everybody’s favorites.


Ken prepared the report for our 12/13/2022 meeting.

Mamma Lucia treated us well, but the private room was noisy. We are still looking for a location for our January 17th meeting and hope to announce it when we meet on Zoom on January 3rd.

Last Tuesday, we were one short of a dozen because Natalie was in the hospital with her daughter, victim of a minor injury. We hope she is OK now. Only three people read, so there was time for good discussions.

Laurence led with a revealing essay about the dilemma faced by artists, writers, and others in Hitler’s Germany. If the regime did not like their messages, they could be silenced, or worse. Some stopped working, others protested (and often were arrested), and others left the country. Even then, they could be in danger. Hitler had ways of instilling fear in his enemies, although he was concerned about his image in other countries. The writing plunged us into a discussion of decent people’s behavior vis-à-vis repressive regimes. There were not many comments on the work itself. Next was an almost newcomer, Bob, who read a unique type of poem. The first nine lines get progressively longer, the tenth line (the title) is the longest, and the next nine get progressively shorter. It looks nice on paper. There is no attempt at rhyme or meter. The text says the author is trapped in many ways and ends with things he will do to heal the earth. Bob followed with a sort of poem entitled, “Boiled eggs were invented so peace can be seen.” In it, he explains why peeling an egg is like trying to achieve peace and finishes with ideas on what is needed to achieve it. After a discussion, most of us were convinced hat the title made sense. Third and last, Tom read part of his budding novel. It was about how his protagonist, Alicia, freed herself from her bonds and killed one of her captors, a domestic terrorist. Tom stopped reading when Alicia was pondering her next move – a difficult question considering she was alone, at night, in a house in a Florida swamp. Dialogue was essential to the story and was well written. Some members would have liked more descriptive material about the characters and the setting, and Tom said that was in earlier parts of the book. As always when a member reads part of a novel, we were left with eagerness to know what will happen next.


Report on our meeting on 12/6/22, written by Ken.

Greetings, all. Question: What comes in “baker’s dozens?” Answer: tasty rolls and terrific writers. We had a baker’s dozen in our meeting last night. A summary follows.

Our next meeting, the last of the year, will be in-person on Tuesday, December 13th, at Mama Lucia. That is in the Fallsgrove shopping center, across Shady Grove Road from Adventist Hospital. The time will be 6:30, but please come earlier to hob nob and to order your spaghettis, or whatever. If you can attend, please tell me so. If you want to read, tell me that as well.

Karuna, back from several weeks away, became our first reader. She treated us to an informative and touching essay about her children and grand children.. There were good examples and a few quotations, a.e., “Whatever the question is, the answer is love.” We all enjoyed the work, and our only suggestions were minor points of grammar. There was a newcomer in the Zoom room, Christoph Kirchen. He is Navy veteran and retired teacher and has published several stories. Christoph read one of a collection of essays, this one starting about dust storms and droughts in the mid west around 1930 and 40. That let him to examples of how the world has changed, from the party line phone on the wall to the gadgets we call “cells.”We all liked the writing and enjoyed the content. Richard brought up a comparison between the western drought of then and the western drought of now. Then, Mario bribed the organizers, of which he is one, and became the next reader. He continued his story about Miguel and Maria discovering that Georgi was an agent of the Uruguayan frim from which Miguel had absconded and was hiding. There aren’t many heroes in this story; they are all villains. Mario was complimented because the story is exciting and his writing in English keeps improving. Ruthless efficiency got us to that point in a hurry, so there was time for Mike. He offered a rewritten part of his novel about building an inn on a dangerous road to riches. This part was about naming and staffing the original inn, in the town of Esgard. Mike’s writing is so good that we had time to debate whether “sup” is a correct term for supper. Dictionary.com say it isn’t and offers “wassup” instead. Google says it is “dated” and  is “northern English”.  We agreed, autocratically, that Suzyn could get in a few words, and she read the ending of a speech on the art and practice of listening. She had previously read an earlier part of it. Writing for oral delivery is a bit different than writing for people to read, but Suzyn has done both and handled it nicely. She seems to be an accomplished public speaker.

Nearly two hours into the event, Ken was able to cajole the group to say “goodbye” until the next time.    Ken


Report of our 11/15/2022 in-person meeting. Thank you, Ken.

Greetings, all. Before I get to the meeting last Tuesday, here is a change for December. On the 6th, we’ll meet on Zoom at 7:30 p.m., as usual. Then, partly because of December holidays, we have moved the in-person meeting to the 13th at 6:30 p.m. It will be in a private room at Mama Lucia, in the Fallsgrove Village center.  The address is 14921 Shady Grove Road (across from the hospital). Registration is open for both meetings.

So, on Tuesday, with its torrential rains, eight of us swam to the little room at True Food Kitchen. We liked the quiet, the service, and the food, and we put up with the prices. When Ken suggested holding a future meeting at IHOP, Suzanne’s “NO” could be heard in the restaurant across the street.

Three people read, so we were able to give each one a good amount of time. The first was Thomas with part of a novel, starting with a sex scene (our second in as many meetings) that included helpful dialogue. Then, he previewed the rest of the book, which sounded like a thriller – adultery leading to high power politics and serious dilemmas. I am not an expert on sex scenes, but I thought it was described quite well, and the writing was excellent. There was a brief reflection on whether the couple could have stopped themselves, but that was quickly dismissed. Our discussion centered partly on the baby – I think nine months old – who was asleep in her crib when the love-making took place.  Karen was next with part of a novel, a part entitled “Emma takes a pill.” It was is a vivid description of a young woman dying after swallowing a pill laced with fentanyl. We had the clear impression that it could happen exactly as described, in vivid detail. One of us commented that the writing was “powerful.” Another said it was almost “too shocking. At one point, Emma hallucinates, seeing her mother’s face and hearing her scream. Then, the ending line: “Emma was gone.” A guy she trusted had done her in. We did not have substantive comments about the work but assumed that Emma was properly introduced in preceding parts of the novel. We did not speculate about what might happen next. Batting cleanup was Mike with a rewrite of the opening of his novel, “The Inn of the Sleeping Dog.” The book is finished, but he is revising some of the earlier parts. We saw the main characters come alive and witnessed them come together. We  learned that Ethan, the Delver, had a pink scar on his left forearm. Who knows how that will play into the story. The dialogue really makes this story, and it is catching. Pressed (finally) for a time and place, Mike said it might be, kind of, in the 16th century and in North America. The language is highly descriptive. There was some discussion of a few points of grammar. And, by the way, Mario has done a bit of research and determined that our group is now more than six years old. I don’t find information about longevity of writers groups but expect that we are already beyond the average.


Notes on a Gaithersburg Creative Writers Meeting – Ken Weiss, 11/1/22

Participants
Participants at our meeting

Zoom, zoom! The screen filled with a dozen writers. Two were new: Thomas Budesheim, referred by Karen and Bob Rogers, referred by Ken. Both introduced themselves and fit in to the group immediately. Elizabeth took the plunge and read first. Her story is about a guy who works in a beauty salon and is beset by a severe and progressive disease. Soon, we learn that he and his wife have four potions that were given to them by the wife’s Vietnamese grandmother, who, incidentally, was a known witch. Our few comments were, mainly, a desire to know more about their time in Vietnam. “People want these kinds of stories,” said Cat, and, “She makes the grandmother come alive.” Let’s hear more! Then, Alex continued his sci-fi fantasy about a mailman in the future on a faraway planet. This part is well written and “poetic,” according to one member. It is more enigmatic than parts read previously, with expressions like “…organs playing late afternoon yellow…,” but this is probably because we have not heard everything that comes earlier in the story. “Somehow, he (the mailman) always finds the way,” said Alex, as he moves from one risky situation to another. A newcomer, Thomas, read next – a poem entitled “A Ride on Copperhead Road.” It describes a visit to where the speaker’s grandparents used to live. Now, there are  dry ponds, a cornfield, a handmade cabin, and more. There are phrases such as: Life follows well-worn ruts, life is built on stones laid down by others, and we will be beneath the stones. We thought the writing was very good and could be presented as either poetry or prose. Then, Thomas read a shorter poem, with rhyme and meter, that he had written “just for fun.” A second newcomer, Bob, showed and read from his spiral bound book, “Awe was Invented so Earth can be Healed.” It includes excellent pictures as well as poems, which he, a former architect, builds and refers to as “word villages,” and is, in part, an expression of personal, Baha’i, and other philosophies. “Leaves were invented so that trees can fly,” is the title of one poem. Bob is especially interested in what needs to be done to prepare the book for publication. Then, Suzyn jumped in to read most of a speech on listening. Her reading/speaking manner is superb, as is the content. She spoke of listening as a “superpower” and introduced the term, “user experience,” or UX. She stressed the importance of listening for understanding and gave tips on how to do that. We felt, in general, that she had created an excellent 15-20 minute platform speech for a variety of audiences. Hey Suzyn, Are you available to talk in a Rotary Club meeting? Winding up, Marianne reminded us of the poetry reading series called Diverse Gaithersburg, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays in the Casey Community Center. If you want to read a poem, go early and run to the sign-up sheet.


Report for our meeting on 10/18/22.

Greetings. You probably know now that we showed up at Don Jorge’s on Tuesday, and it was closed. It seems they no longer open on Tuesdays. We picked another place, which I had looked at when we moved from La Villa, and it served us well – all 11 of us.

We started with a self-introduction by Ellen Schofield. She claimed to not be a good writer, but her comments on the pieces that were read were spot on. Then, Karen reported on the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival and Elizabeth on the Maryland Writers Association conference. Both are annual events, and the reports on both were quite positive. When we were ready for reading, Ray was more than ready also. He related most of the plot of a novel his is writing and then read a sex scene that left nothing out (and nothing on). We took it in stride and made helpful comments, as always. He had planned to put the scene in Chapter 3 but was thinking of moving it to page 1, or thereabouts. After the bedroom action, the guy and four girls went bar-hopping but being watched by sex traffickers from Mexico. We were left hanging – hungry for information about how the kidnapping would take place.  Some suggestions were to add dialogue to the sex scene (Whatever would they talk about?), to include descriptions of the girls, for the kidnappers to befriend the girls before they struck, to cut some information that might not be necessary, and to make sure the whole scenario was realistic. Ray expressed gratitude for the ideas and said he might do some rewriting and then read it again. Next, Karen continued her story about a medical doctor who is hooked on opioids and is stealing them from his employer, a hospital. The employer catches on and sends him to rehab, and we are privy to the conversation among the people in the car. The doctor begins to accept, reluctantly, that he has a problem. Then, Karen described parts of her background that clearly qualified her to write such a story, and that turned into a fascinating discussion of addiction and treatment for it.

As no one else was dying to read, and it was after 9:00 p.m., we crossed the street to Olde Towne Plaza and to our autos.

Ken


Greetings, all. Attendance was only five on Yom Kippur Tuesday, so we had a nice, relaxed meeting. We started with religion, swung into sex, and wound up with politics. Three people managed to read from their work.

Elizabeth was cajoled into going first. She read part of a story about the protagonist and her favorite man (his name is “Man”). who fixies her finger nails at #1 Beauty Salon. We began to get inklings that not all was well with Man’s health and suspected it would get worse, with consequences we could not foretell. There was beautiful detail. We had several comments but few suggestions, other than to lower the price of a manicure. Women, arise for this cause! Ken braved it next with a short essay on naming body parts – you can guess which ones – male and female. There were laughs, especially from Mike, and Ken was encouraged by the generally positive response. Mario said it could be sent to Pen In Hand, which published Ken’s piece about a wood pecker and a frozen pecker. Ken will revise it slightly and look for appropriate magazines to contact. After a joke from Connie, Mario read a memoir he wrote sometime ago about a trip to Oakland, MD to inspect sewage treatment plants. The subject was not sewage, however, but Mario’s traveling companion. For the trip, Bill packed nothing but a toothbrush. He had a bit of body odor but made up for it with his in-depth knowledge of local history. The piece was very well written and we had few suggestions – not even grammatical, this time.

Then, more jokes and more discussions. We will meet again on October 18th, at 6:30 p.m, at (probably inside of) Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne. You can signup now to attend and to read.

P.S. I understand there is still space in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference and in the Maryland Writers Association Annual Conference, both on or about October 15th. We will have at least one member in each of them.


Ken wrote the meeting report.

Greetings, all. With our usual meeting place closed for the day, we scoured Olde Towne and set up camp on the patio of La Casita. It was perfect except for bits of noise from four trains, innumerable cars, a few motorcycles, one plane, a very attentive waitress, and diners at other tables who, inexplicably, did not keep quiet and listen to us read. Ah, but we are strong. We rose to the occasion and had an excellent meeting. We were offered beverages at happy hour prices, and one of us tried to test each item on the extensive menu. Our next affair will be on Zoom, October 4th at 6:30 p.m.. If you need logon credentials, let me know. On October 18th, at 7:30 p.m., we will meet in person –  location to be determined.

We came to be nine writers, and most of us wanted to read. Ken started with a “nano-fiction” story by our member, Ethan. He said so much in just five lines. No wonder it was accepted for publication. We gave a warm welcome to our newcomer, Lizz, who briefed us on her background and her writing plans.  Then, Suzanne, our singer and guitarist, announced that she has an album coming out the third week in October. It will be released on November 5th to radio stations around the country. Hooray for Suzanne. She will send us information about the release and a pre-release concert. John passed out copies of early editions of his book, Professor Grady and the Gravity Gun, which I thought I had but can’t find. John, if you still have that extra copy, please save it for me. Then, he read the epilogue. John’s writing was superb, as always, and there were only minor comments. His protagonist, Melina, was back in 1862 and didn’t like it one bit. The newspaper she bought in a general store said, “Union Troops in Culpepper!” Then our newcomer, Lizz, tried her hand, err, her mouth, at reading. Her protagonist is a young lady named, if I heard it right, Willie She walks upstairs to find her mother and begins to see that her mother is, mentally, not quite right. It is a horrible realization. The dialogue is crisp as the reader slowly gets a sense of foreboding. We all agreed this was an excellent start for the story. Bryan had a surprise in store – 16 haikus about his early life that had crawled into his head. They go from Walking with Nina, my Paraguayan nanny. I am two years old to I’m running away. My father yells “keep in touch.” Light rain sends me back. What could we say about Haikus? We enjoyed them. Ken asked how many a person could read without growing tired of them, and no answer was forthcoming. The next reader was Ray with part of the “middle chapter” of his novel. Gloria. a captive, suspects that Tio murdered her mother. No one can save Gloria, but she might be able to save herself from Tio by doing things that she would never do. There were comments that the story was proceeding well and that more detail was needed here and there, especially in an interesting flashback. Richard, across the table from Ray, read a love poem named “It used To Be.” It was written some years ago and was a fitting tribute to his wife. We commented that it would be a good ending for a book he is writing, that his wife was clearly a “constant” in his life, and that the last verse could be eliminated. The penultimate verse seemed to be a more touching conclusion. Coming at the end was Mario with more of a story of which he read pages several months ago. The protagonist wants to go to the “Middle,” a nearly forbidden area where people live as they used to in about 2022. He is quizzed on who he wants to go there and cautioned about what he might find. John made a very interesting comment – that Mario’s English (not his first language) adds to the impact and makes the story seem more realistic.

And, when we departed, about 9:00 p.m., the noise from all sources had diminished.


Our meeting on 9/6/22 on Zoom was fun; see below.

Our next meeting: Tuesday, September 20th, 6:30 p.m., at Don Jorge’s restaurant in Olde Towne, Gaithersburg, where the margarita glasses and the coffee cups are about the same size. Either can improve one’s reading but in different ways. If you plan to attend, do let me know. If you would like to read, let me know that too.

Last night was marked by no-shows and drop-ins (but, the no-shows had so advised, and all excuses were accepted). We had nine on the Zoom screen, counting two newcomers: Adwoa Debrah and Elizabeth Chen. Both were soon jumping in with useful comments. Mario was last on the list, so, naturally, he read first. His entrancing memoir was about a minor discipline problem at his school in Colombia, which became a major one. The best part was: The students WON. Mario did an excellent job of describing the school, and the situation as it evolved. Our eagle-eyed group suggested minor bits of clarification and nothing more. We moved on to Karen, who read part of a longer work about a medical doctor addicted to opioids and stealing them from his employer, a hospital. He was summoned urgently to see his boss and tried to hide the syringe in his stocking, but was summarily sacked. There were comments that one paragraph seemed “clunky,”and the use of names (first or full) seemed inconsistent. Karen backed up her piece by explaining how and why addiction is common among hospital staff members. Alex read next, continuing his tale of letter carriers on an inter-planetary mission. Discussion of a mysterious envelope turned into young men’s banter, a bit off-color, but we know that sex sells. Ken’s trouble following the chit-chat led him to ask about the intended audience, and Alex said that was to be determined. We enjoyed the piece and made few, if any, suggestions. Ken had made a challenge to the group – to write about his neighbor who fed stray cats, threw treats to a crow, whom she called “Bandit,” placed metal flowers and bird feeders in her and her neighbors’ yards, and kept the feeders delightfully filled. Marianne accepted this challenge and wrote a sassy long paragraph with cute expressions such as “nibbled at a Fig Newton.” We simply enjoyed it. The last reader was Mike, with a prologue to a completed story about building an inn on what seemed to be a road to riches. This prologue bit from the first sentence – took the reader into a fiery hell, a narrow escape, and a strange figure outside a flaming door. Then, he jumped ten years back to the start of the story. All agreed that the prologue would make readers want to read on. There were only comments about tiny changes that might make it even stronger.

Once again, it was time to go, and we didn’t want to, but Zoom was zapped, and another event was over.


REPORT OF WRITERS’ MEETING ON 8/16/22 by Ken.

The gloves were off last night, as our members forgot to preface their suggestions with compliments. No one seemed offended, but we do need to be careful.

At least two writers were mildly admonished with the well-worn words, “show, don’t tell.” In view of this, Old Ken scoured the internet for an explanation that included clear examples. My conclusion was (drum roll here) to recommend the following:

https://jerryjenkins.com/show-dont-tell/ Note that there is no apostrophe in the word, “don’t.”

We were nine last night including newcomer, Ellen Scofield and guest, Beatrice Weiss. Ellen has done much writing in her field of interior design and now creates flash fiction. She encouraged us to read the book, “The World Played Chess,” by Robert Dugoni. Richard started the reading with a memoir about sensitive negotiations, in which he participated, regarding air travel to and from Taiwan. He, the expert, was held in check by the diplomats. We enjoyed the piece but commented that he could have more to take us into the room, so we could feel the tension between the Taiwanese and the mainland Chinese. Ray was next with a “middle chapter” of his thriller, which starts with a near-naked woman dashing in front of his car. He read about driving through Mexico, fast and at night, being stopped by bandits, and being saved by soldiers dressed in black. That Rachel is one strong lady! Ray received a few technical suggestions, a “show, don’t tell,” and a request to make the scene even more dramatic. Then, Mike gave us a new version of the start of his story about Kaari and Ethan, the Sleeping Dog Inn, and more. He elaborated on the inn’s location (away from the harbor) and described the Delver people. Reactions were mixed, from “bring us into it faster” to “the first two pages set the scene nicely.” His descriptions were clear, but he also received the “show, don’t tell” advice. Natalie followed with a short poem in which she presented “the Goddess of Pink,” who was not pleased by anything that was not that color. She read the poem a second time and was asked what message she wanted it to convey. Natalie’s poems are cute and often do not have deeper meanings or hidden messages. They might be best for kids around middle-school age. Finally, there was John, back with us but without Melina. John read a flash fiction story called “Grand Theft Earth.” Excitement? Yes, as a portal opens and scientists from another dimension walk through it. Soon, excitement turns to dismay as portals open everywhere and petroleum, prime beef – nearly everything good – disappears through them. We could only hope that the tables in Don Jorge’s would not be taken away.

We wrapped it up with expectations of our group’s next event, September 6th at 7:30 p.m., via Zoom. Registration, to attend and to read, is now open with silverpenken@aol.com


On 8/2/2022 we met on Zoom. Ken wrote this report.

Thirteen is a lucky number, isn’t it? I think we were 13 last night, including a newcomer, and all went well. We applied limits of 5 minutes to read and 10 for discussion. On August 16th, we will meet in person at Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne, Gaithersburg. If you plan to attend, do let me know. If you want to read, let me know that too.

The newcomer, Adwoa Debrah, introduced herself, and then Alex bravely became the first reader. His protagonist, a postman in the future on a distant planet, picked up a red envelope and found his hand paralyzed as the envelope extracted information from him. There was good dialogue. It was intriguing. Karen was next with a story about Delia, a 19-year-old who worked for a congressman of a different political party. In the interview, they didn’t ask her. She was quite naïve and did not expect his unwelcome advances. His wife was from Vietnam, neither could speak the other’s language, and he said they communicated “just fine.” We suggested that Karen offer the story to a major magazine. Chris followed, and later we learned that he would leave soon to take his senior year of high school in Spain. Envy! Envy! His story concerns a 40-year-old woman who is trapped in the body of an 18-year-old. She meets a weird fellow, etc. Chris introduced us to “Mr. Time” and to “the exterminator,” who kills magical creatures. Chris is already a good sci-fi writer. We enjoy his “stuff.” Natalie said she had a short piece to read, and it really was short. She called it a paragraph, but Ken said it read like a poem. It was about a mother and her daughter, and bubbles. We thought it was quite touching and portrayed an almost intimate relationship between the two. Then, Mike continued his tale about a lady who was building an inn on a road that could lead to treasure and/or tragedy. He gave an excellent description of a traveling minstrel, Jason, who developed good rapport with Kaari and made a journey pass quickly by singing as they strode along. There is much written that Mike hasn’t shared yet, and we look forward to learning more about the role of Jason. Suzyn provided an appropriate conclusion with a personal and philosophical short story filled with lines that made one want to stop and ponder them; “Does darkness hold wisdom?” “…on a roll in the angst hay.” “There is no bottom to her psyche.” “A black cloud floating through the immensity of sky.” At the end, she changed over and found more pleasure from light than from darkness. We applauded.

Our group hears very good reading, twice a month. We’ll be ready for more on August 16th.


We met at Don Jorge’s on 7/19/2022. Mario wrote this short meeting report.

Eight of us ordered our food and got ready to read, listen and critique. Bryan led with two short introductions to a longer piece he is writing. In the first he is in the search of a famous Geisha for a documentary, with all the Western pre-conceptions of what that term implies. He described his arrival in Japan and left us with a cliff-hanger about the true identity of the person he was seeking. The second short piece describes his disappointment when he visited his first Japanese Bath House. A bucket, a brush and a semi-shower just didn’t cut it. Natalie came next with her tale about a hot summer day and trying to find a fun activity with the Princess, her daughter. She finally decided to go outside and frolic with bubbles, bubbles, BUBBLES. It was a ball (of bubbles). Ray read last and delighted us with the background information for the protagonist of his book. We found this information useful in understanding the first chapter that he had read last time. He went on to tell us how interesting his real-life history was and how some of the action in his book is based on real events. One of this jobs was being a nurse in a newly-born and premature babies ward in a hospital. We were all in awe of his descriptions.

After the meeting as we were paying for our meals, three of the staff of the restaurant came to our table and presented Richard with a piece of “Tres leches” cake with a candle on top and we all sang him a happy birthday. He was surprised and very moved by the gesture. We could tell he really liked the cake.

We will meet on August 2 on Zoom. We surely missed Ken.


We met at Don Jorge’s on 6/21/2022. Ken again wrote the report.

After cancellations due to illness, etc., our attendance dwindled to seven, and that was a good number. The weather was fine on Don Jorge’s patio. A newcomer, Dr. Laurence Peters, introduced himself. He is an expert in international education, has published books on the subject, and teaches at the university level. Ken began with a very short true story, “The Blueberry.” It described a tiny piece of fruit that prevented people in a party from slaking their thirst. He didn’t expect comments but received some anyway, and they were helpful – mostly requests for more detail here and there. Then, Suzanne read another in her series of memoirs about jobs she held as a youth. In this piece, she was an actress; She acted as a suspect for people being trained in law enforcement. One officer-in-training had “… the delicate touch of a grizzly bear.” The comments called for more information about herself, her neighbor on the floor below, and people she met on the acting job. The key words were “Help us understand you.” So, who read next? ‘Twas Mario, with a rewrite of a scene from his story about a good bad guy who has to change identities often. Paco (his name at this point) “accidentally” collides with a young man, “Scarecrow,” who is entering a VFW lodge and surreptitiously takes the fellow’s firearm. That was followed by a flashback to explain how he obtained that identity. Questions centered on why Paco had attacked Scarecrow and and why he tried to leave the area without being identified. Mike followed with a rewrite of part of his novel about Torran, lost in war, and his wife, Kaari, who continues running an inn as she builds one on the road Torran had taken. She is besieged by men looking for jobs who claim to have served with her husband, and one of them turns out to be authentic. We see that Torran is still very much on Kaari’s mind. This version flowed well and drew few, if any, substantive comments. We look forward to the next scene. Connie ended the evening with a poem, which she was asked to read twice. She billed it as “morbid,” but “artsy” might be a more appropriate term. There was some discussion of the substance, but, of course, a poet can say whatever she wants to say. Ken asked whether the AAAA rhyme pattern or the diminishing meter bothered anyone (besides him), and it did not. Nice going, Connie.

We are scheduled to meet in July, as usual, the first Tuesday at 7:30 on Zoom and the third at 6:30 in Don Jorge’s restaurant. You may sign up now for either or both.    Ken


Ken wrote the meeting report for 6/7/2022.

Last night, our group had 15 on the small screens, and there were still 11 when we stopped at 9:30. That was great for getting comments, but, unfortunately, some members who wanted to read could not do so. They will have priority the next time they attend (but it wouldn’t hurt for them to remind Ken).

Dave continued his story about a small plane crash, a mysterious little box, and some very uncooperative property owners (one with “eyes wide and nostrils flaring”).This one is exciting. There was some discussion of specific words and of how hard or easy it would be to see the bullet holes in the cockpit. Then, an unexpected treat – a story by Suzyn’s son, Christopher. He definitely has talent. He read about Emilia Frigit, a lady with supernatural powers, who “jumped” to a different time and caught sight of an older Emilia. There were minor comments about transitions, a change in the “voice,” and the difficulties of writing about time travel. Karuna read next, She had a brief essay about her toys when she was a child in India. She told of various toys, using kerosene lanterns, an outdoor privy, and ghost stories. Our main comment was to ask for more details in each part of the story. Ray treated us to the first part of a detective novel. A driver, who turned out to be a private detective, saved a naked lady and killed her pursuers. It definitely got our attention. There were questions of logic, such as whether a running man can have an erection. Believe it or not, Google has no answer. Also, there were suggestions, such as inserting a flashback. John displayed his knowledge of Glock pistols, of which – who knew – there are more than 50 models. At 9:00, we “voted” to continue so Alex could read. He continued his story about Gus, who flew to a distant planet and was working, of course, as a mailman. He got in to conflicts, or were they conflicts, in a Chinese restaurant. The comments were mostly for clarification, from members who were not present when Alex read the first chapter.

Keeping to our schedule, we expect to meet again on June 21st at Don Jorge’s restaurant in Olde Towne. If the weather is right, we’ll be outside that night.


Ken wrote the report of our 5/17/2022 meeting.

We had planned to meet last night at Don Jorge’s, outside, but there were sun and some wind, and the tables weren’t ready, so we moved in. Some members who came a bit later were unhappy with the change due to fears of COVID. I today understand, and apologize. They had every right to expect that our meeting would be as announced.

Our next event will be June 7th at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. The one after that – June 21st at 6:30 p.m. at Don Jorge’s. There is no decision yet regarding inside or outside. You can sign up now for either or both (and a few members already have).

The big Gaithersburg Book Festival will be this Saturday, from 10 until 6. in Bohrer Park at 506 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg. If you arrive around 9:00, there should be parking behind Gaithersburg High School. Later, it will be better to take a shuttle from Lake Forest Mall or the Shady Grove Metro. There is no charge for admission.

Last night, we were 11 including two newcomers to the group, Karen O’Keefe and Ray Villemez. We were very pleased to have them. Ethan and Maryanne reported briefly on their open poetry reading May 15th and their new books. Ethan’s is called I Garden Weeds and includes many cute poems, in 8 categories. Ethan has copies for just $12 each.

Mike read first, continuing his story about building an inn, way back when, on a conflictive road to riches. The innkeeper, Kaari, is beset by visits from men who, supposedly, fought alongside her husband. Finally, one man comes who actually did so and is able to prove it. This was, effectively, an introduction to a new major character. We enjoyed Mike’s impeccable writing, although there were questions about why Kaari became so angry with the imposters.  The next reader was Janet, with a continuation of her story that is partly about interactions between mermaids and land lubbers. One must, pretty much, be one or the other. Discussion focused on Mr. Hajiama (not sure of spelling), a “merman” whom the principal characters in the story had met in Japan. The comments and questions showed a difficulty with the modus operandi in our group. When a member reads segments of a story, two or more weeks apart, it is hard for listeners do not know or do not remember the context. Then, Karen read about Delia, a 10-year-old girl who climbs magic stairs from, if I understood this, a children’s library to an adult library. Delia tended to feel guilty. Her mind was wondering. Someone said she showed symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Karen agreed. Karen has been a reporter, a press secretary, and more. We look forward to hearing more from her. Our other newcomer, Ray, was also prepared to read, but we didn’t know it. He has completed a book and is looking for help with marketing. Hopefully, someone in our group can give him ideas. Then, Ken sneaked in with two anecdotes he had written for the 100th anniversary of a canoe camp, in the Boundary Waters (between Minnesota and Ontario) Canoe Area. The main criticism was expressed first by Bryan, who said, “MORE DETAIL, KEN.” It became clear that some background was needed for people who were not familiar with the “north woods.”  All were surprised to hear that, 60 years ago, canoe travelers dipped their cups into a lake to get drinking water. The area is of pristine forests. There are virtually no pollutants, and some people still drink directly from the lakes. Richard finished the evening with recounts of international political negotiations in which he was involved in 1981. One was between the U.S. and Yugoslavia and the other between the U.S. and Poland. Both negotiations were eventually successful, although the one with Poland fell apart a week later because of a coup in that country. This is excellent historical writing and will form part of Richard’s rich collection of memoirs. By and large, we liked the work but did not know enough about the “cold war” or high stakes negotiations to make useful comments.


Ken wrote the report for our 5/3/2022 meeting.

The Next Time: In-person meeting May 17th, 6:30 p.m., at Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne. If you plan to attend, please let me know. Priority might go to attendees last night who weren’t able to read: Natalie, John, Connie, Mario and Ken.

The Previous Time: Hey, that was just last night. Ten attended and five read. Let’s see now, what percent is that? Our sessions are getting so good that we could take them private and charge for them (but, of course, we won’t).

After some chit chat, Dave took the stage. He read the first part of his story about a teen-age girl, Molly, who dashed to the scene of the crash of a small plane. Its famous occupant slipped her a small item and told her to not let them get it, and then, presumably, died of bullet wounds. Then, neighbors who did not like Molly appeared, and so on. We were wowed and had few substantive comments. There were questions about the girl’s wild dash through the woods and how it affected her, i.e., “…her eyes and more streamed…,” but few constructive comments. Suzyn followed with more of her tale of spending a fall semester in New York City studying experimental theatre. She was increasingly hungry and exhausted. She “…was sliding into (her) own kind of blackness.” Then, Christmas decorations and her mother came together to move her stress level down and her spirits up. We loved the story, and Ken liked the way the pages were numbered, i.e., “2 of 5.” That told us all how much was still to be read. There was a question about who, Suzyn or her mother, had gone through two divorces, and a few other questions, but none of consequence. (Suzyn mentioned that she has derived a lot of good writing from a method that she learned about at https://akimbo.com/thestoryskillsworkshop). Mike came on next with more of his story about Kaari, who was building an inn on a road west to where treasures lay. She wanted a map of the road and had to persuade the Delver (original inhabitants of the area) engineer to give it to her. There was a heated discussion about how Delvers would be treated in the inn and an explanation of why it would be dangerous were the map to fall into the wrong hands. It showed Delver communities, deposits of valuable ore and stone, etc. There was discussion about whether Kaari and her companion were too outraged at one point, about use of the word “riddles, and other minor details. This story is good! We went then to Daniel, who continued his tale of a young witch, Kyna, was about to leave the clan on her obligatory 366-day pilgrimage. Since a Tarot card reading had been ominous, her older sister, and heir to leadership of the community, suggested a second reading. Its results were up and down – encouraging and discouraging, until the firth card. It forecast that she would fall in love on the pilgrimage. She assumed it would be with a young, male witch, but we, who have heard previous parts of the story, suspect otherwise. A question and answer revealed that Daniel had studied Tarot card reading and used actual cards in the story. Suzanne read last. She had a memoir about going back to work in a supermarket after her mother died. Her mood was up and down – often grieving but doing things to try for a sense of normality. For example, she and a fellow cashier created a code to use when one of them spotted a good-looking guy in the store. One might say something to the other that included the words brussels sprouts. We enjoyed the memoir. Ken suggested she include a bit of philosophy, about grief, and put the recount of her feelings and actions into that context.

There were others who would have read, but time had run out on us.


Report for the meeting held on 4/19/2022, written by Ken.

We did it again. We filled a table for ten in Don Jorge’s. Five read, and everyone commented. as Ken’s electric heater helped keep us warm.

Janet provided a short piece on background for the story and then continued her story of an underwater world populated by Princess Ilana and others. There is a funeral with sea creatures transporting the body downward. If you leave that world, as one man found, you can’t go back, except in SCUBA gear. For almost the first time in our history, we had no comments. The next time Janet reads, we’ll have more background with which to understand the world she is creating. Mario continued with an exciting memoir about being caught in front of a stamped of horses when he was walking home from school in Colombia when he was 17 years old. He and his brother barely managed to climb an embankment to safety, as the horses collided with an oncoming truck. Several were killed. We were fully absorbed and would have liked more detail, especially about the horses before and after the collision, so we could “see” them more clearly. Bryan took the stage next with a story about traveling on assignment in a tribal area of Pakistan in 2001. Osama Bin Laden would have been welcome in most of the houses, he said. He was “the rear center sitter” in a vehicle, with the guard’s old rifle carelessly pointing at him, as they drove by shear drop-offs. Later, students leaving a Madrassa school surrounded the vehicle. We were left eager to hear what happened next. That led to a fascinating sharing of experiences in less developed countries by Richard, Mario and Ken. Next, Marianne read a poem, “In Warsaw, Facing West.” A lady listens to music by Samuel Barber and imagines the ocean, and, that night, she will dream of the ocean. The poem was pleasant and led to a discussion of Barber’s music, with which a few members were familiar. This was not surprising. You can name nearly any subject, and some of us will be familiar with it. Ken finished the evening with another short poem. Called, “By the Numbers,” it was about a funeral and, strangely enough, had two laugh lines at the end. The group seemed to enjoy it. Ken had a couple of minor grammatical errors – yes, even poetry has rules – and the group caught them quickly.

So, no more writer’s meetings in April. It’s on to May – virtual on the 3rd and in person on the 17th. Registration is now open.
SilverPenKen


Report for meeting on 4/5/2022 written by Ken.

We were an even dozen Tuesday evening, but not a dozen eggs because we are all different. What do you expect? We’re writers.

Cat got the nod to read first and continued her tale about establishing a colony on Mars. The husband was selected to move there, but his wife wasn’t. Talk about a major separation! In this episode, a comely lady on Mars makes a pass at the husband but, at the same time, a good friend of his desperately needs to talk, and the friend wins. There was excellent informal dialogue between buddies. Substantive comments were quite scarce. At the end, Cat told us of a Twitter writing community and a very helpful website:  https://reviseresub.com. After John opted to wait until it was too late, Suzyn asked us to vote on what she should read. The winner was a sort of memoir about spending a semester in New York City studying avant-guarde theatre when she was young and adventurous (not that she isn’t so now). She slept uptown but hung out on the Lower East Side attending experimental productions and meeting fascinating people. She did not get fat on her food budget of just $7 per day. Her reading was wonderful and her sentences short, with several examples and great phrases such as “…drinking a firehose of art…” Then, Mike, with his wonderful reading style, continued his story about building an inn on the way to a war in a strange land, sometime in the past. In this episode, the heroine, Kaari, and her small group had to escape from brigands on the road. As she rested to recover, her eyes “…no longer wept water and blood” and she went to sleep on the roots of a tree that were “…like the knobby knees of an ancient giant.” In the end, her small group outsmarted a big man with a big sword and were safe, for a while. There were questions related to the plot, and Mike had good answers for them. The fourth and last reader was Ethan, with a most unusual article called “Lysdexia, That is dislexia with two syllable reversed and, indeed, the entire article was about reversals. The sun rose in the west, the right side of the bed became the left, and much more. We didn’t understand why the 46th U.S. President, Joe Biden, became the 9th, but Ethan had an explanation. John quipped that Marianne should toss the mushrooms that were in the refrigerator. As said in the first paragraph above, we are all different. Much writing leans heavily on creativity, and Ethan has a great deal of it.

We will gather again, in person this time, on April 19th. The venue will be Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne. One can sign up now to attend. Priority on reading will go to members who attended on April 5th and did not get to read, if they are present, of course. SilverPenKen


Believe it or not, 15 were registered and 15 arrived. The folks at Don Jorge’s were happy and treated us well. Ken wore an authentic Saint Patrick’s Day hat, and Ethan tried to convince him that a grey sweater he wore was really green. We could not all read, so Ken started with members who had signed up to do that. There was time for two others, who were ready, willing, and highly able.

Janet led with a short but intriguing story about a switch on the ceiling, a secret door, an elevator to the beach, a cave and conch shells, and a strange man. We were captivated until the protagonist was able to get back to the elevator and push the “up” button. The only suggestion I recall was to look at each word to see if it was necessary. Richard followed with more experiences as a foreign servicer (FSO). He attended a very Swiss wedding, picked up a (at that moment) naked lady to rush her to a hospital delivery room, suffered from extreme heat and a “ghoulish” servant in Baghdad, etc. When he asked in Arabic for directions and understood the answer, he decided his language training was worthwhile, after all. There were a couple of questions to clarify the content, so perhaps more background information would have been helpful. Young Melina, who started meeting with our group at age 13, had a cute story of a dog born near Valentine’s Day. There were good details. It was a short essay for a school assignment and earned a grade of 20 over 20. Other than a question about the breed of the dog, there were few questions or comments. We couldn’t challenge a grade of 100%. Hey, can we take credit for it? Then came Daniel with more of his story about a dashing knight and a young witch, Keena, although they had not met by Chapter 7. Daniel has the book written and is reviewing and revising. We heard about the ceremony in which Keena was declared an adult and sent to live for a year in the world of, dare I say it, people. She received clothes worn by witches of past generations. There was a sense of foreboding about what would befall her. Some of us had questions but no suggestions. Suzanne asked to read next, then was not sure, and then went ahead with a story from her “early jobs” series. She was a 22-year-old cashier in a Giant store, had a crush on a guy from the produce department, and asked a handsome young customer to go on a date. That led to a situation that she would not read aloud, but she passed out copies so we could read individually. What a way to get attention! There was a suggestion of more background information and debate about use of the word, “moron.” Ethan batted clean-up with a story of a mouse in the house – actually, several mice. Being the kind of person he is, he would use only humane traps, but one did trap a mouse. Being averse to motorized transportation, Ethan took a dangerous bicycle trip to leave the rodent where it might not find its way “home.” We commented that a bit more information about his philosophies (no-kill trap, no car, etc.) would have been useful.

We wound up suggesting that the group meet April 5th on Zoom and April 19th at Don Jorge’s. We left the restaurant, and a group of five or six, unwilling to call it a night, chatted in the parking lot.


We did it last night, the first of March. We started on time and finished on time, Then some or most or all of us watched the State of the Union speech. In general, the pieces we heard were so interesting that we got involved in the substance and said little about the writing itself.

Natalie spun by some poetry and read an article that she, or someone, called “unZOOM.” It dealt with COVID, virtual school, her special education daughter, her mother in a home for senior citizens, the invasion of Ukraine, and more. Somehow, all those ends came together to make an interesting piece. If there was anything inconsistent, no one noticed, or, at least, no one pointed it out. Connie was next with a poem that Ken said had a 1-3, 2-4 rhyme pattern, but the author said it was more complex than that.  It spoke of COVID, the slow passing of time, the wish to go out and have a good time, and writing to relieve boredom. Connie had inverted a few sentences to make them rhyme, but that did not distract from the writing or the message. Then, Ken jumped in with a cute article about a woodpecker and a wooden pecker, that of the cross country skier in the Olympics whose most vital member froze halfway through the race. Ken broke down and laughed before he was finished, and the seven others laughed with him. Although a few words might have been changed, for impact, the piece got high marks. Karuna was up next with “A Love Story,” an article about a very spiritual Lakota Indian man whom she met several years ago. There was an instant attraction but no action because both were married at the time. Now, they are both single and have gotten in touch, and the man is coming to visit her. He writes beautiful poetry; he appreciates yoga, and more. Will this visit turn into something BIG? She promised to keep us informed. Then, Daniel continued his tale of a superb knight who has become a healer in a small village. The knight, Jan, meets an equally large man, Mathew, who is in the same inn and looks at him strangely. The innkeeper’s daughter clearly has a crush on Jan. He thinks of getting married and settling down in the village, but, first, he must do more healing to assuage his conscience for so much killing during the war. Mario read an article about a Thanksgiving dinner for soldiers in Vietnam. The clouds lifted and the food plane landed, just in time. The wet and weary soldiers filled their plates, and, BOOM, there was incoming rifle fire. “Simple things are everything to soldiers in a combat zone,” said Mario, but this group’s simple thing had been trashed by a traitor – someone who wanted to rob the soldiers of a happy occasion. We were in their shoes for a few minutes. We could feel their agony.

As of now, we plan to meet on March 15th, at 6:30 p.m., where we met before the pandemic. That is at Don Jorge’s restaurant in Olde Towne, Gaithersburg. We have not made plans to stream the meeting on-line, but any attendee who wants to do that has a green light. You may register now to attend and to read.


Ken again wrote the excellent summary report for 2/15/2022

Greetings, all. We had a fine time last night. Our tentative schedule for March is a Zoom meeting on the first and an in-person meeting on the 15th. Watch for details, but you can sign up NOW.

Last night, we were deciding who would read first just as Alex signed on, so he was IT. He presented part of a novel, heavy on dialogue, (young men’s bravado) about a postman and other men arriving to a planet. Postal mail in an era of space travel? That is right. The postman was off, unarmed and unafraid, to do deliveries on a rough part of the planet. We all liked the piece and were struck by how routine the action seemed, like driving a few blocks to mail letters. Ken was next, with a short essay in which he tried to show that that the color and the word, “black,” used in contexts such as a witches clothing and expressions such as “black ball,” contribute to racial prejudice. The group effectively “shot him down,” saying that he did not make his point and, maybe, there was none to make. Comments made in our group, positive and negative, can be very helpful. Sometimes, one must forget what he has written and begin again. Then, Richard read another of his series of anecdotes, or brief memoirs, from his days in the Foreign Service. This one dealt with with a dispute in a U.S. Consulate and with car trouble on the road, both in France. They presented a contrast between a not-so-nice French person and an extremely nice one. We were all interested and got the point clearly, although we suspected they were just two examples, of many possible ones. Ken would have liked a few more sentences to tell the outcome of each situation. Next, Daniel continued with his story of a knight, turned healer, staying temporarily in the village of Haldir. His work in healing had impressed the townsfolk, and people had suggested that he try to help the priest of the church. The knight’s first visit with the priest becomes a dialogue on the good or evil of war. The priest says, “War is a necessary part of keeping our way of life, young man,” and the knight disagrees. Alex had a great comment: “There is nothing heroic about killing people.” When Daniel stopped reading, the stage was set for excitement. We wanted to read it. After Daniel, Connie read a short poem she had read during the first part of the meeting. It began with the cute words, “While driving my car, I encountered another, metal to metal. Crunch. Oops.”  It was short enough for her to read it three times. We enjoyed it and offered no suggestions to improve it. The hour was a bit late, but some of us stayed to hear Mario’s brief history of “conquistadores” in South America, especially one Sebastían (Moyano) de Balalcázar. Born in 1479, he escaped a difficult situation by sailing to the new world. He went first to Panama and then Nicaragua, where he became Mayor of the town of Leon. He spent time in what are now Honduras and Nicaragua; then, with others, conquered Ecuador and founded the city of Quito. His next stop was Colombia, where he founded Popayán and Cali. He travelled northeast to where today is Bogotá. There he was joined by two other Conquistadors and face major disputes over land. He had an important Spaniard killed and was convicted and sentenced to death, but died of natural causes. Aside from doubts from Connie on genealogy, we were grateful for an interesting lesson in history.


Ken wrote the meeting report for 2/1/2022

Last night, Ken started by reading children’s poems about Chinese New Year. They were cute. Then, four members read from their work. Connie reluctantly led with the beginning of a children’s book. Little Mikey was confused about some things. The rest of us thought it was cute and well written for 6-10 year-olds. It looks like senior citizens can write for junior citizens. We suggested adding illustrations, which Connie had planned to do. Then, Ken mentioned the 8 year-old boy who recently sneaked his hand-written book onto a library shelf. The library staff discovered, examined and catalogued it, and there’s a one-year waiting list to check it out. Daniel was up next with chapter 5 of his adventure. Jan, the former night with a magnificent house, entered the “worn to the bone” village of Haldir. He quickly met the innkeeper – just one in town – and set out to cure the innkeepers wife of illness. Daniel let it slip that the witch and the sorceress were en route to the same village. We commented on some of the appealing phrases and made only minor suggestions. We will be eager to hear Chapter 6. Daniel has written nearly 50 chapters. Then, Marianne read a poem entitled In My Next Life. It was about leaving earth in a spaceship, never to return (attention, Cat). The main sensation it created was nostalgia for things left behind. We asked her to re-read it and discussed it until we understood, which is often hard with poetry. In the end, there few, if any, concrete suggestions except to reconsider the title and the format of thee-line stanzas. About this time, we discussed the new name of the Washington football team. Then, Mario read a short essay about the former Mapuche Nation in what is now Chile. He named some of the Mapuche people’s heroes, explained how Spanish “conquistadores” had lived in a state of war with them until 1641, when they signed a peace treaty. Later as Chile became independent, its military conducted a war against the Mapuche and took their lands. He also gave an example of how their descendants are discriminated against We questioned the title, commented on some of the word choices, and suggested changing the final sentence.

All in all, it was good fun, good writing and good reading. We will meet again on February 15th, at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Registration to attend and to read is now OOOPEN.


Thank you, Ken for the meeting report for 1/18/2022.

This meeting report is late, but our writers weren’t. There were an even dozen on the screen on Tuesday, and six got to read. Those who attended and didn’t read should have priority next time (see the final paragraph).

John thrilled us with more pages of his story about Marine 1 being shot down. His repetition of the words, “He had to run,” set the stage for a last sentence that left us hungry for more. Cat read a revision of a crucial part of “The Experiment,” to establish a colony on Mars. Was it nerves that made Nora gorge on muffins as her husband was launched into space? Suzanne gave us another in her series of short memoirs. It mentioned a lot of jobs and several young men, and we kept wondering when she would fall hard for one of them. Ethan read two mini-stories, “Sing, Sing, Sing” and “Who Did It (a Writer’s Black Fable),” When asked how he wrote, he said that sometimes, someone sneaked on to his computer and typed. Marianne offered a lovely poem about “Lunch Time, Summer 1970.” There were nice lines, such as “Sneaky sunlight squeezed past metal blinds.” She has the knack of writing well on any subject. Mario read about “Beautiful Day (or Survival Instinct).” Whatever the reason, he acted fast when buildings in the World Trade Center started falling. He didn’t waste time watching from his office window.

 You can sign up now for our next big event, on Chinese New Year, February 1st. Put down your Peking duck and write a poem, short story or memoir about Chinese New Year. Are you a pig? A tiger? A Dragon?


Ken provided the summary for our 1/4/2022 Zoom meeting. Thanks again.

Greetings, all. We were five last night, of whom three read. That was, as the cat says, purrfect. One person came by surprise, and that was fine. There were a few no-shows, and that drives me

After the almost obligatory banter about COVID, we launched the reading. Mario continued his memoir of a horseback trip in rural Colombia at the age of nine. The first segment was about crossing a rickety bridge made of bamboo sticks and twine. The group lost a mule, its cargo, and two or three hours of time but, otherwise, made it OK. We definitely liked the story. There were comments about not using the passive voice, adding detail, the term “had had,” as in, “he had had a rough night,” etc.

Mario’s second segment was hearsay about an incident between guerilla fighters and people in a village. It had gone wrong, very wrong, with the result that the fighters killed most of the villagers inside a church. There were nice phrases such as “oasis of peace” and “machetes made their presence felt.” Rather than comments about the writing, there was speculation about topics such as how the incident could have turned out differently.

Mike was chosen to read next because his face was well lighted on our screens. For such flimsy reasons are great decisions made! He was back to his story, set somewhere and sometime, about building an inn on a road used by treasure hunters. The protagonist, Kaari, showed the head of a local tribe the work done so far. He was not impressed, but alarmed. He rightly feared the arrival of many people from “the east,” and he warned Kaari of possible consequences. The writing was excellent and ended with a powerful sentence. After the meeting, there was a suggestion that Mike expand on the chief’s reasons for being alarmed. For example, he might foresee dangers to the resources on which his people depended.

Daniel read last with a continuation of his story about a young witch who must go out into the world. A sorceress, Sillach, had waited for years to identify the witch, and she finally succeeded, thanks to a crystal ball that could tell all (but really didn’t want to). There was no confusion about this short segment, which was very descriptive and contained excellent dialogue. Mike said that Daniel was hitting his marks. Daniel than showed us the cover of a book he is working on entitled “The Lengths to Which We Go.” It was done by a firm called Burning Phoenix Covers, and we all gave it high marks.

Then, we somehow got onto the topic of religion. That can be dangerous, but no one seemed offended. Ken finished by announcing the next meeting for January 18th, probably on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. You can sign up now, to attend and to read, by email to silverpenken@aol.com.   Ken


Ken, as usual, provided a very interesting summary of our Zoom meeting on 12/21/2021.

It’s a busy week. A thousand of our members had to miss the meeting last night, and a hundred signed up but forgot it. We ended up with a solid group of five. Four of us read, and none for long, so we had time for related discussions and good camaraderie.

Connie led with a cute poem about a hole in her ceiling, which included at least a half-dozen words that rhymed with ceiling. Mike commented that it could be published. There were a few minor suggestions, to which Connie responded by telling us why they were not practical or would not help. She had thought of everything. We enjoyed her work.

Then, Natalie read two pieces from her “Zoom Journal” that sounded like prose but were broken into short lines. Ethan suggested she try making the piece hybrid by adding spaces to mark off the parts that were like poetry. She usually writes stream of consciousness. The second piece dealt with her daughter, COVID, and the challenges of virtual learning. That led to a lively discussion of her unfinished short story about Alice, the foul-mouthed French robot. Will Alice catch COVID and spread it around?

Ethan read next with a tongue-and-cheek essay, The Elements of Fiction, Illustrated. Was it satire? He will know. It explained the elements of a story in a humorous way, and our discussion inspired him to add elements or sub-elements. Ken thought it would be excellent for college teachers of writing and, in fact, Ethan is one. A question from Ken led Ethan to say, “No one wants to be readers. They only want to be writers.” There is some truth to that.

Somehow, Ethan’s reading led to a discussion of mythology and ancient gods. Mike apparently knows much about the subject, and we hope to learn where and why he picked up that knowledge.

Finally, Ken took the Zoom stage with his report on a speaker in a Rotary club meeting, on the subject of ageing at home. Most questions were about the context of the speech. Ken had intended the report to be 80% or 90% positive, but the doubts he had included were too small to be noticed.

From Ken’s little piece, we somehow got into a discussion of the behavior of cats, led by Connie and Natalie. That somehow led to Gerrymandering, with Mike and Ethan doing a first-class job of explaining that ubiquitous process.

Anyway, happy holidays to all. Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 4th, at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. We will all write something between now and then. You may sign up now to attend and to read your work.


Ken again wrote our summary of the 12/7/2021 Zoom meeting.

Hey, guys, we’re slipping. There were too many positive comments last night. Just kidding, of course. Our writing is better now. There is more that is good and less that could be improved.
Our next event is scheduled for December 21st – a holiday party with reading. The tentative location is Don Jorge’s restaurant, inside, at 6:30 p.m., and we will try to go on Zoom from there. You can sign up now, by email to silverpenken@aol.com, to be on-site or to Zoom in.
Last Tuesday, Ken led with a brief personal essay on why he used to own guns and why he sold them all. He received solid suggestions, some of which turned into brief discussions of gun policy in the U.S. He will polish the essay and look for a publisher.
At this point, Cat had to clarify whether a word she used was “craft” or “crap.” It was the former. Then, Suzyn showed lovely Christmas ornaments she is making for young relatives.
Daniel was the next reader – another chapter in his fantasy book. The young witch is about to go into the world to learn more about it, and her father gives her sage advice. Suggestions included adding a pronunciation guide to the Irish names. Someone suggested we read “Of Water and the Spirit,” about an African rite of passage.
Connie followed with the beginning of a literary work, to be entitled “Return to Civilization.” It is about a group of boys, as in Lord of the Flies, returning from their ordeal. We wondered why some were not happy to be home and why parents were not invited to see them arrive. There were suggestions of where she might go next with the story.
Mario drew fourth place and continued his memoir about a horseback trip in rural Colombia, at a tender age. A truce was in force, and soldiers, towns people and an impressive guerilla fighter shared an evening of music and drinking. There were questions and comments but no real suggestions. The story is captivating.
Then, Suzyn read a one-pager she had typed as a writing exercise. It dealt with family dynamics around food, especially “comfort food,” and led to a discussion of ways to cook kale. No one said, simply, “do not.” Ken wanted to know the ages of her boys, which might help understand their comments. We wondered whether comfort food promotes a more comfortable family.
And we adjourned, almost on time, which was almost the first time we had done so.


Meeting report of our 11/16/2021, prepared by Ken.

Ten heads were warm last night but less so our twenty feet. Heater #3 at the Fontina Grill went wild and was promptly replaced. Heater #1 failed toward the end but, by then, the reading had warmed us. The place was more expensive than Don Jorge but was a good option given 47-degree weather outside and fears of COVID inside.
Our next meeting is set for December 7th, on Zoom. Plans for the 21st are uncertain, but sign-up for both is open now.
Mike spoke first with a partial rewrite and continuation of his exciting story of trying to open a hotel on the road to riches. His heroine is saved from ruffians by a lower class “Delver,” who is very good with a knife. Also, we see the Delver exercising authority over persons of a supposedly superior race. There were questions and comments but, I’m sorry, Mike, few if any suggestions.
Next, Bryan read part of a silent animated script that will lead to meetings in a nursing home between a young boy and Grace, an elderly lady. To us non-screen writers, his directions to the film maker seemed very clear, as they must be for a film. One suggestion was that he give a fuller description of Grace, and there was a question about the significance of the boy attending a Catholic school.
Then, Richard read an anecdote, or short memoir, about working in the U.S. Consulate in Paris in 1957. It showed how consular officers have power but are restrained by rules, and this leads to denying visas to some who deserve them and approving them for some who don’t. We would have liked more details of some of the cases, especially one of an attractive blond applicant who blew him a kiss.
Maryanne was ready with a poem entitled “Walking Up Lincoln Street.” It was a compelling description of the life and death of the 17-year cicadas. One bug landed on her, as if she were a tree that would last seventeen years on Lincoln Street. We could all identify with the cicada phenomenon, and we agreed that is hard to critique a poem. There is, after all, poetic license, which gives the author a lot of leeway.
Mario followed with more of his memoir about a trip into rural Colombia at age nine. He flew past the sex on an Army outpost and on to the soldiers being royally shunned as they approached a small village. The villagers know that any hint of cooperation could get them killed by guerrillas. Then, a bull rammed his way into a tent. The suggestions related mainly to grammar and word choice.
Awaiting the checks, we had time for Ethan to read a sort of poem about animals. It was from his newly published book, the second in quick succession, and dealt with “native Americans” returning to the suburbs They turned out to be squirrels and other four-footed creatures. We enjoyed the poem and thought about our cities being reclaimed by animals. Well, it is happening now, as with bears in Siberia.


Report of November 2 meeting. Thank you, Ken.

While people were busy counting votes here and there, our group was engrossed in members’ writing. We were ten, of whom five were able to read. Those who attended and couldn’t read will have priority the next time.

Mario was first with Chapter 2 of his story of a horseback/camping trip in rural Colombia at the age of 9. He described falling behind and riding through nests of snakes, then grabbed our attention with details of sex at a Colombian Army outpost. The group practically demanded more information. Also, we made grammatical suggestions and pointed out a transition that didn’t work well, a use of passive voice when active voice would be better, etc. We definitely look forward to the third chapter.

Karuna followed with a very touching story, or memoir, that began with her husband’s illness and death 13 years ago. Karuna explored the role of yoga in her recovery and her life, including starting her own business to help other people through yoga. That the main suggestions was to use fewer exclamation points shows the quality of her writing. She will perfect the story, and it will certainly be worthy of publication.

Natalie was the next reader and offered a poem about COVID, Zoom school and real school for her daughter, Paige. It is the kind of writing that can be presented as poetry as prose. It was clear that in-person learning is much better for Paige, but COVID could send her back to Zoom. There were suggestions about word choice and changing tenses too often but none regarding content. Also, there was a question about how she divided the piece into lines.

Daniel’s card came up next, to read Chapter two of a new story. We used to limit writers to two or three pages, but that is no longer workable. In Chapter one, Daniel introduced us to a young witch who must learn the ways of the world and, in this chapter, we met a warrior-turned-healer named Jan. They seem destined to meet and will probably have to confront a villain. Some comments were that a few words, such as “great,” were repeated too much and that known terms such as “Viking” stood out among the many fictitious names. It will be exciting to see this story as it progresses.

Connie ceded to Ken the opportunity to go last. He read a one-page memoir about a house he lived in for several months, in Honduras. The house had been the scene of a horrendous crime. Local people said it was haunted, and many would not go near it. Ken and his family poo pooed numerous small incidents but, when the anniversary of the crime arrived, they went out for dinner out and a night in a hotel. Some comments were that the introduction could be improved and that, as usual for Ken, more detail could be added.

Our next event is scheduled for November 16th. Our members, COVID and the weather will determine the location and the time. These will be announced in the middle of next week.


Report of Oct 19 meeting of Gaithersburg Creative Writers prepared by Ken.

We were a carton of eggs last night, a dozen writers in parallel lines at a long table. It was on the deck at Don Jorge’s with the temp a chilly 64 degrees. Ethan produced copies of his latest book, “Dreamscapes,” and money found his pocket. For info. and/or to buy this collection of vibrant vignettes, contact marianne.szlyk@gmail.com. Only $15 a copy.

Suzanne, the first up, read a memoir of a one-day stand as a hair model. Her description of the process was clear and compelling, as she found herself dressed in “super chic shabby,” “too large for the bottoms and too small for the tops.” In the end, her new short “do” was loudly cheered and she was compelled to parade before the audience. She is an excellent writer.

John came next with more of his story about the president’s copter being shot down near a bridge over the Potomac River. There were details aplenty to leave his credibility unquestioned, including even a copter blasting “Take Me Home, Country Roam” to woo voters as it flew over West Virginia. Members commented that this or that needed more explanation, but we thoroughly enjoyed the piece.

Then, Mario read the first pages of a memoir about a horseback camping trip in Colombia, when he was age 9, with adults who expected him to be one. We could feel the campfire and the saddle sores as the group ventured into former guerilla (the human kind) territory. There were minor grammatical problems and comments that the description of a land deal was confusing, but we were and are quite eager to hear what happens next.

Richard followed with a tale of the birth of his daughter in Baghdad, Iraq in 1964. With a normal birth in the offing, he and his wife chose a local hospital instead of traveling to Beirut. The baby came sooner than expected, but they made it to the hospital, only to find its maternity ward had been closed. To zip to another hospital, they rushed to their car, but its battery was dead. A taxi appeared, and all was well. We really liked the story, although there were calls for more explanation here and there and to consider rearranging some of the paragraphs.

Mike, the last to read, received few comments because the group had gone giddy to a great degree. We wouldn’t have had much to say, anyway; his writing is impeccable. In the early evening, Kaari and Ethan try to sneak by a pair of ruffians, but Kaari is discovered when her dog runs, barking, after a group of deer. That leaves her in quite a precarious situation. How, oh, how, will she get out of it? We will see when Mike wants us to see.

Others might have read but agreed to wait until the next time. That is scheduled for November 2nd at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. You can sign up NOW. Beyond that, we expect to meet on November 16th at 6:30 p.m., at Don Jorge’s. The forecast is for 85 degrees with sunshine and a mild breeze/


Ken again provided the summary for out meeting on 10/5/2021.

Fifteen writers were with us on Tuesday including a newcomer, Alexander Zito. Welcome, Alex. Five were able to read, and all were well worth listening to. Others were ready, but time ran out. They’ll have priority the next time they attend. We plan to gather again, at Don Jorge’s, October 19th at 6:30 p.m. If the weather is bearable, we’ll be outside. Someone said last night that she was from Canada and could take it cold. She probably has a closet full of snowmobiling clothes. 

To get us started, Suzanne and Bryan spoke briefly about their new film, Anacostia Delta, about the D.C. music scene. Only Mario managed to see it last weekend. The rest of us will have to wait for another opportunity. Karuna, the first to sign on to Zoom, became the first to read. The work was part of her “morning pages,” a tool for helping writers be more prolific. We all liked the opening, the anecdotes, and what could have been her play list for the day. There were suggestions that she add information about herself and her origin. Also, she included names of several family members, from an area in India. We suggested that she keep them but add space between them by saying a little about each person. Next up: Michael. He read new material from his ongoing story that includes building an inn on a road that is, increasingly, traveled by treasure hunters. He has lovely descriptions of the physical environment and excellent dialogue. The themes of loyalty and discrimination were broached, as they are throughout the story. About the only suggestion was to add to the dialogue when the protagonist met a group of travelers. This new material is definitely a useful addition to the story. In another change of pace, Marianne described a literary event she and Ethan hosted last Saturday. It featured readings in three languages and sounded wonderful. Also, she mentioned a session she will lead for Montgomery College on October 29th. Then, she read her poem, “One Night at the Flamboyan, 1993.” The discussion was mostly about different perceptions of what was happening with a young couple in a nightclub. It was well written and thought provoking. She is a practiced and prolific poet. Then, Daniel took the floor with more of the first chapter of his story, or book, about the young sorceress, Kyna. On her sixteenth birthday, she overturned tarot cards one by one and began to glimpse her future, and what she saw was unsettling. When we left her, she had more cards to see and had accepted that she must see what life was like outside her realm. Daniel’s style and word choice are well adapted to his subject. We could almost see Kyna and her mother, Moira, who was watching as the cards were revealed. Suzyn capped the evening with a short memoir written after she attended a workshop that delivered a “five C” format for stories. The components are Content, Catalyst, Complication, Change and Conclusion. Susan’s story was about growing up with very different parents and forming a special attachment with each one, but sometimes each felt isolated as she related with the other. Gender differences were evident. The story led to rave reviews and applause.


Ken wrote the summary of our meeting on 9/21/2021 held at Don Jorge’s.

Last night, the no-shows and the drop-ins were even. We expected ten and had ten, of whom (Aren’t you impressed that I said “whom” instead of “which?”) – of whom five were able to read.
Kristin was first because Ken liked her self-introduction. She read a series of 50-word poems, or stories if you prefer. She is writing several and plans to enter the best ones in a contest. The group didn’t say much about the writing but did offer opinions about which ones the judges might like. If she wins, we will all celebrate.
Ethan was next because he had offered useful comments to Kristen. Did Shakespeare say, “On such small things are big decisions based?” He offered two stories, each one-third of a page. “Incompatibility” caught us off guard, as it zipped from philosophy to marital (or non-marital) relations. There were comments that the reader couldn’t always tell who was speaking. Then, “Movie” took the fake sister from the TV screen to the living room. It was engaging. There were one or two comments about the choice of words.
Then, our newcomer, John King, read the first three pages of a novel he is writing about the president’s helicopter being shot down. He is trying to change his writing style from professional (law enforcement) to novelistic, and there were comments that he still had too many facts and not enough story. At the same time, some paragraphs were a bit wordy. We loved the phrase: “That was because he was assigned back on the USA and in a real city, not that the people of New River, North Carolina are not nice people, but…”.
After John, Mario read a re-written part of his story about a man on the run. We liked the dialogue from a person who spoke little, if any, in the first version. Mario had tried to write it the way an 18-year-old with limited education would speak. There were grammatical suggestions and a comment that there was too much detail in some places. Mario, and others too, had to compete with freight trains but, thankfully, only short ones.
Big John finished the evening with a short tale of life in the planet of Jabra, where “squillers” were running across the lawn hunting for nuts. “Kormo” wondered how it would be if the squillers could teleport into people’s lunch bags. Then, time started to skip, and both the Yellow and the Green people were frightened. Some comments were that the opening was confusing, but it was probably meant to be. Also, the work “skip” might have been repeated too much at the end. In John’s defense, a stone can skip more times than the word was used.
We expect to follow our usual schedule in October: the first Tuesday at 7:30 on Zoom and the second at 6:30 at Don Jorge’s. You may sign up now. In fact, some people already have.


Ken Weiss wrote the summary of our meeting on 9/7/2021

Next Meetings on September 21st at 6:30 at Don Jorge’s and October 5th, 7:30 on Zoom. You may sign up now for either or both. Mario and John (see below) will read first.

Last night. Ah, last night. A newcomer, John King was first on the screen. Then, others dribbled in. John said he was a “free thinker” but only because thinking was free.

As others endeavored to find their masterpieces, Ken read an essay on “My Goal.” He wrote it to try to win free admission to the Maryland Writer’s Association Annual Conference. Our experts tore it limb from limb, and Ken was overjoyed. One comment was that the real story was the people he met on his journey. Also, he was advised to give each paragraph a topic sentence, add detail to the examples, and strengthen the conclusion. Thank you, everybody.

Connie’s neck was next in the writers’ noose. She read a series of haikus about cats, and we enjoyed them. Our main advice was to write as many as she wanted to and then keep just the most entertaining. Her haikus led to sightings of two members’ kitties. Then, Marianne read a poem about words and music. Some comments were that we liked the “sparseness” of it and, believe it or not, that it might be better if she removed the last stanza. We had recently circulated five of her poems that were recently published.

Mike followed with a new page or two from his ongoing adventure story of Kaari, Torran and Ethan. A highlight was when Karri returned from a quick trip to the woods and thought she saw Torran sitting by the fire. Then, he disappeared, leaving no trace of his presence. Mike’s writing is impeccable, but there were questions about how the “lower class” Ethan could be so perfectly loyal. There followed brief discussions of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and the word, “scatalogical.” Sorry, the details are classified.

Daniel ended the evening with part of a fantasy regarding the seven realms of man, Sillach the Sorceress, and other characters you will never meet in downtown, Gaithersburg. There was good discussion but little in the way of helpful suggestions. His first page was packed with information and led to speculation about where the story would go from there.

Ken wrote the summary for 8/17/2021.

The table was set, outside and under cover, and Don Jorge’s treated us well – all ten of us, including one who got a lesson in screen sharing on the spot (thank you, Mike). Newcomers, Marianne Szlyk and her husband, Ethan became full members of the group almost instantly. Not all wanted to read – just enough for the time available.

At the end, Ken broke through the jumble of voices to say we would meet September 7th at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom and Sept. 21st at 6:30 p.m. in Don Jorge’s. You can sign up now for those meetings, and some have done so. It takes just an email to silverpenken@aol.com.

Ken introduced Natalie, who could not find the next chapter of Alice, the French Robot on her laptop, so Marianne became the first reader. She offered a lovely poem entitled Sunset, Facing West (after Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings). It was in free verse. We all enjoyed it and had few, if any, suggestions.

Then, Natalie read part of her ongoing story about Alice. The robot was still hot-tempered and error prone but with a new dimension: she was learning to swear in English. There were suggestions about spelling words in French phonetically and saying more about the other robots whom, Alice felt, were invading “her” home. The big dinner party approaches. What barbaries will Alice commit? We are on pins and needles.

Next, Richard read a brief memoir about traveling by road from Baghdad to Iran in 1965. It described beautiful sights, friendly people, a flat tire, a robbery and more. There were suggestions such as spacing out the place names, combining some of the sentences, and including more examples and more detail abut, for example, the 14-hour segment from Tehran to Baghdad when he was ill and his wife had to drive.

Connie followed with a series of illustrated haikus about cats. All of us especially cat owners, enjoyed them and thought they could be turned into a children’s book. Rumor has it that Connie was encouraged by our comment and wrote 20 more haikus before going to sleep.

Then, Ethan was up with an exciting essay about diving in a trash bag to find his wife’s glasses so he could donate them to help “… restore vision to distant corners of planet earth,” (while noting that a round planet was corner-less). He swam as “… banana peels and apple cores drifted by … ” and began to find relics of earlier days, including a flip phone. He tried to call his wife to say where he was, but there was no service. We all enjoyed this piece and had few suggestions.

Batting cleanup was Mario with a rewritten part of his story of changing identities, detective work and more. There was a question about why Miguel treated Dionisio so well. Then, a new segment described how Detective Candace determined, with help from the Lewes Marina, that her quarry had not drowned in a ferry boat accident. She is one smart cookie, that detective. The protagonist, named Paco at that point, had better keep his guard way up.


Ken wrote the summary for 8/3/2021.

The group rode again last night, on Zoom, with readers and non-readers Our punctuality was not great but was good enough. Ken led with a small poem about poems, which was well received.

Next, Mario offered a revision of an earlier part of his tale of Francisco Gallo, alias this and that. Those of us who heard that part several months ago agreed that the changes were helpful. There were no substantive comments, but they were several about choices of words. “Inconspicuous” emerged as the best to to describe a house and yard that were intended to not attract attention.

Mike followed with part of a “translation” of the novel, Moby Dick, from Melville’s English to more modern English, while trying to preserve the meaning and the humor. It was amazing that events Melville mentioned 180 years ago, such as war in Afghanistan, are still occurring. There were interesting lines, such as, “I’m going to hell, but first let me collect my money.” When Anita mentioned that her favorite poem by Herman Melville was “The Maldive Shark,” Ken found it on the internet and asked her to read it.

Then, Connie came on with a poem written one day when she had not slept well. It looked at aspects of her life and was a bit dark, with references to dying. The rhyme pattern was a very unusual AAAA, but the rhymes did not sound forced. Connie said she had files of poems dating back to, was it, the 4th grade?

Ken took the Zoom stage again with an essay he was writing for a Maryland Writers Association contest. He received excellent small suggestions, such as adding information about the countries in Africa that he mentioned. Not everyone is familiar with the dozens of small countries there. He could have given more details about the contest, but, hey, why invite competition?

Anita would up the event by introducing a book she is writing about her non-profit organization in Uganda. It has provided school children in her hometown with one million cups of porridge. She read an excerpt that discussed four types of people who form philanthropic foundations and said she was none of those. We look forward to the description of another type –  herself. The main suggestion was that she follow the usual process of asking two or three people to read and edit the book before it is released.

Our next meeting is scheduled for August 17th at 6:30 p.m. at Don Jorge’s restaurant (outside if possible). This decision will be reviewed on August 10th. Comments are welcome, and you may sign up now.


From Ken: Fun at Don Jorge’s last night (7/20/2021)? Yes, for sure, with a glass of Coke and a poem by Poe. If ya missed it, ya missed. Eight of us did not miss it.

Daniel led with a robot story that would have been murder and mayhem, except that the robot-for-hire had developed a conscience and could not “terminate” the target. She was something like a Virtually Intelligent Droid Assassin, or VIDA, although there were probably other descriptors that I missed. She fell victim to a Rapid Erasure Probe (REP) to wipe out her memory but had back-up systems to partially save it, as she was jettisoned into the void of space. Wow! Pure adventure, that! There was praise from the group and a few constructive commentsere

Ken jumped in next with vignettes from a collection of 93 that he wrote in ’94, in Haiti. He would like to see them published, now that he is not an “official” American and Haiti is much in the news. The vignette that got most attention was about the bakery on a hill that had a bell rigged up so it would ring loudly when the electricity came on. At its sound, workers would rush to the bakery and mix dough, then bake it in propane ovens. Its loaves were in high demand. There were suggestions that Ken expand some of the vignettes and ideas about who might publish them.

Bryan was up next and read a “treatment” for a film he is working on. The writing was excellent, including the dialogue, as Dina Capresi got the job in the coffee shop because no one else volunteered, and there met Jupiter, and so on. A few of us were slightly confused but only because we were not familiar with the kind of writing that goes into preparation of a film. All agreed that the result will be fun to watch, and we hope to someday be able to do so.

Mario continued his story of a Uruguayan in the U.S., who does not want to be found, adopting his second false identity. He planted evidence to show that his first “persona” had died in a ferry boat accident, but, of course, the body was never found and, already, a detective was suspicious. Discussion centered on topics such as how long it takes to grow a full beard, to whom his motorcycle was registered, and how quickly a Uruguayan can pick up a Colombian accent. Is it “jo” or “yo”? We will look forward to the next chapter.

Natalie read last  – a story about a “pleasure room” in the house of a Chinese couple that loved cats. The walls were decorated with soothing Chinese proverbs. At first, there seemed to be too much detail about the couple, but then it fell into place amid their “no kill” rescue activities. There was discussion of the point of view and of Natalie’s writing style. We look forward to hearing the ending of another story she has in process, about an incorrigible French robot that, or who, seems about to totally mess up a major dinner party.

SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST: The 3rd on Zoom and the 17th at Don Jorge’s. Registration is now open for the Zoom event. 


Ken wrote the summary for the 7/6/2021 meeting. As usual, it was a work of art (with a little hyperbola).

After 10,259 last-minute emails, our meeting last night began and went well. We have become more than a writer’s group. Emotions and feelings are coming out, and they make for great writing.

We plan to gather again on July 20th, 6:30 p.m., Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne. Suzanne and Bryan are already signed, and Mario and Ken. If you would like to go, please let me know.

The first sound last night was Cat’s meow, from the far away Shenandoah. She offered the start of a story about a plant professional whose boredom leads her to dangerous cross-breeding and unexpected romance. Cat is a excellent writer and a wonderful reader. There were some comments about minor points, which she accepted gracefully. The story surely has potential.

Then, Suzyn continued reading her poems about colors. She lamented that none seemed as good as the first one, on “red.” Connie chose to hear “”Purple,” and there was a comment that it could circle back, at the end, to the beginning. With regard to  a line in “Blue,” Connie asked, “Who’s the virgin,” and Ken had replies that were, thankfully, left unsaid. We learned facts about colors, including that, in olden times, wealthy people who ordered paintings would specify how much of a canvas would be in blue. That color came from lapis lazuli, and patrons wanted much of it as a display of wealth.

Natalie continued with a poem that was quite different from what she usually writes. It was about words, direction, cooperation – a journey. It’s hard to make suggestions about modern poetry because it is meant to be read and enjoyed, not necessarily understood. We listened well and enjoyed it.

Connie was the next and, as it turned out, the last reader of the evening. She began by expressing “complicated grief” that her (recently deceased) mother’s house had been sold the night before. That led to a discussion of visiting the houses in which were raised. Connie summed it up as: “Houses are important parts of people’s lives.”

Then, she read a poem she had written just after the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. She admitted to being “less idealistic” now but did not speak of making changes in the poem. Discussion centered on where it might be published for the 20th anniversary of the September 11th event.

Then, it was “goodbye” until the next event (7/20/2021 at Don Jorge’s), which I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting.   Ken


We numbered nine last night (6/15/2021), and the meeting was among the best ever. Don Jorge’s was perfect except that they gave us an upscale menu. Richard found a solution – just ordered what he wanted. It was not on the menu, but it came with the other dinners.

Kirsten Ferragut showed us her new book of poetry, Escape Velocity, published by Kelsay Books and for sale on Amazon.com, and read an excellent poem from it. At least three of us became happy owners of autographed copies.

Somehow, we started talking about a poem Ken had circulated, from Poet Lore magazine. Suzanne read it from her phone, and a few members alleged that they understood it. “Fat chance,” says Ken (but he is wrong sometimes). Then, Ken read a sort of response to that poem, exchanging camels for giraffes and mentioning work by Natalie.

Richard followed with part of a biography of his wife, who passed away a few years ago. It was about how they met, in high school. She sat by the pencil sharpener, and he became an obsessive user of that machine. Then, there was an invitation to the 1955 senior prom, to which they did not arrive because they were in a serious traffic accident. This biography will be a good one. There were few, if any, negative comments except that we wanted more detail.

Then, Suzanne, a brave lady, sang the first part of a song she is writing. After applause, she read the remainder and said the song would be part of an album. The rhythm and rhyme lead to a brief discussion of their roles in poems and songs. The title is, “The Best Things in Life are Free,” and singing is among the best things. There was talk of Suzanne and Kirstin getting together to pay guitars and sing and how that would make for a lovely summer picnic.

Connie then recited, from memory, a poem she had written after the horrific attack on the world Trade Center. It was justifiably, strong on patriotism. Ken commented that, after such horrific events, many people express their feelings in writing, but most of that work is never edited or published. That lead to a small discussion of where to send our work, and Kristin suggested the Beltway Poetry Quarterly.

Mario, our last reader, continued his story of Paco García (alias this and that). Paco, fearing that his assumed identity had been compromised, saw a chance to make it look like he had died in a ferry boat accident. He managed to insert his name in the passenger manifest and plant his briefcase in the submerged wreck. Discussion centered on whether he had taken unnecessary chances in doing that and how the (very smart) detective might go about uncovering the fraud. She would surely be suspicious.

The meeting ended with a discussion of what to do about meetings in July. It is very nice to meet in person, but the virtual method has advantages too. The decision for July was to meet the first Tuesday on Zoom and the third Tuesday at Don Jorge’s. You may sign up now for the July 6th event.


Good morning. Our writer’s group will meet again on June 15th at 6:30 p.m., at Don Jorge’s restaurant in Olde Towne (outside, if possible). It looks like attendance will be good. If you plan to go, please let me know.

Last night (6/8/2021), we were five. After a late start, the reading went until midnight (kidding, of course). Connie led with a brief essay, inspired by death, that dealt with loneliness and related topics. It was similar to work she has done before but with emphasis, especially toward the end, on the healing power of nature. The piece was well done as Connies’ always are, and there was little in the way of suggestions.

Natalie read next – a story-poem about going to a restaurant (McDonald’s) for the first time after months of isolation. We could almost see her enjoying Chicken McNuggets and making up excuses for not going home. That led, unexpectedly, to a discussion of the harm that animal agriculture does to our precious earth. It made us wonder how many of our members are vegetarians or practice RIAP (Reduced Intake of Animal Products). Yes, I just made that up.

Then, Daniel came on with a story set in Kansas in 1966. She lost her precious baby in October but couldn’t bear to tell her husband until Christmas. Right after she did, outside the house, a loud noise, a flash of light, a crash. The couple went out to find a rocket, whose roof opened automatically and revealed … a baby. “He’s going to change the world,” the husband said, and they named him Clark Kent. The piece survived our eyes and ears largely intact except for questions from Ken about whether this or that was logical.

To wrap it up, Ken read his review of the book, Professor Grady and the Gravity Gun, by our member, John Hardison. Daniel, who had read the book also, explained some of the science. Someone opined hat Ken’s first sentence was bland, and Connie said she had gotten lost in the detail. There was; however, agreement that the review was interesting and gave essential information about the book without giving away the ending.

And, so it goes. We write, we read, and we keep on getting better.


From Ken about the 5/18/2021 meeting: Many thanks to Connie, Daniel and Linda for sitting in last night. They have priority to read the next time they attend. See a report on the meeting, below.

We are on track to hold a special meeting, in person, at Don Jorge’s in Olde Towne, on May 25th at 6:30 p.m. Ken will try to reserve a place on the patio. We have five members signed up. Others will be welcome.

The next regular meeting will take place on June 1st, with Zoom open at 7:15 and exciting reading as of 7:30 p.m.. Four of us are signed up to date. Thee is room for more.

The May 18 meeting

Conversation was flowing even before 7:15, about writing and other hot topics. Then, Ken begged for permission to read first. He had a memoir of a Mother’s Day automobile accident in which his car was totaled, neither he nor his wife was injured, and they were helped by a good Samaritan of Asian heritage. The group questioned the need for some of the material and asked for a bit more drama, more detail, and more about how Ken’s emotions at the scene.

Pablo was next with a story of a good Samaritan who helped a down-and-out fellow to get a meal and, in the process, helped him feel a lot better. It was sad but also uplifting. There were not many suggestions, but there was disagreement on the main point the author was trying to make. Natalie was next with more of her story about Alice, the foul mouthed French robot. We heard about preparations for the big dinner. Considering how Alice messed up that process, how will she do in the dinner itself? The story is intriguing. There were few substantive comments, but the text needed quite a bit of editing.

Then, Mario continued his story about how the protagonist, who changes identities every so often, asked a very smart former associate to help him hide his past from a very smart detective. We learned about the former associate and were duly impressed. We corrected a couple of words, and Mario tried to explain his somewhat complex plot to members who had missed meetings. The last reader was Mike, who offered a rewritten segment of his book about a society, in another world or reality. The text explained how Kaari and Toran met. Both came across as intelligent, caring, and now flirtatious. We all agreed that the current draft would attract the reader more than the previous draft did.


Ken wrote the summary of our May 4th, 2021 meeting.

The writers were all business last night, except when we weren’t. One highlight was when someone misinterpreted the word, “go.” Did it mean “start reading,” or was it related to bathroom activity?

Our group, plus spouses and minus no-shows, came to nine. of whom five found time to read. Pablo and Ken will have priority at our next meeting, which is scheduled for May 18th. You can sign up NOW to attend and to read.

Bryan began with part of a screen play, about neighbors interacting, that clearly has potential. His writing is so good that we had little to say, except to ask for clarification. We learned that notes to the actors, in that kind of writing, are considered a “no no.”

Suzyn followed with two beautiful poems. She must have studied the art, sometime. The first was a mother-daughter celebration, in “forthythra,” from birth to death. Is that description vague? Yes, but the poem was clear and meaningful. The second was all about the color “red.” It was beautifully summarized in three one-word lines: “danger,” “problem,” and “love.”

Then, Mario read a short memoir about how he was drafted into the U.S. Army, partly because the “facts” he was hearing were not facts at all. “I will not make that mistake again,” he said, but, of course, getting drafted into the Army can be a fatal mistake. We encouraged him to, somehow, make the ending more powerful.

Natalie continued with her her story about Alice, the misbehaving robot, that uses all the dirty words in French. Heaven forbid: there are plans for Alice to drive on errands and for another robot, or maybe two, to help serve in a major dinner party. Natalie was urged to add more dialogue. We are all eager to see how the big party goes.

Then, Linda wrapped it up with more of her story about an unwitting subject of some kind of experiment. He has regained consciousness, after six months, and wants to get out of there, and find his family, but sedatives and his handler make it impossible. We know he has been given super-human abilities but don’t yet know what they are.


Cat, again, wrote the summary and Ken did the editing. Thanks for an excellent summary.

Yes! the writers were riding high. Eight people were present, and we found time for five to read. An (almost) newcomer, David Griffith, is clearly an excellent writer. See a meeting summary below.

We will gather again on May 4th – Zoom open at 7:15 and reading as of 7:30. Please register with Silverpenken@aol.com. Logon info. will be sent on May 2nd to persons who ae registered.    Ken

Gaithersburg Creative Writers Meeting April 20, 2021

Eight of us appeared in the Zoom frames last evening, and those of us who appeared early got to hear an inspirational quote from Admiral Grace Hopper: “Ships are safest in port, but that’s not what they’re for.” Inspirational, indeed.

Cat shared first from her manuscript, The Martian Experiment, begging for help on how to help a character go from hearing a crazy idea to taking it up and wanting to go for it. The “Greenies” had to find a way to make life on earth more livable, without getting arrested. We discussed world building and the need for Cat to show more history of the crisis besetting the world of her story, to make the urgency apparent. It was a lively discussion.

David’s video was working this time – hooray! – and we got to meet him (virtually). He shared an essay of his fan fiction on RWBY, an anime web series. His goal is to write fan fiction using the world of RWBY, but with original characters in an original plot. We learned about that strange world and shared thoughts about the tenuous use of racial tension in a story. We agreed that, if it’s done well, there is huge potential for making a powerful statement, but it’s easy to make mistakes. David described it as a “minefield.”

Suzanne followed with a continuation of her memoir on the odd jobs of her life as a struggling artist. This chapter documented her time as a role player in Capitol Police training. She would be a criminal, crouching in a corner with a paint gun, or a victim waiting in a smoke-filled room. It was a first draft, with a few easily-fixed mistakes. We discussed various ways Suzanne might tie in the introductory paragraph with the meat of the story and whether switching often between tenses was more effective or more distracting.

Mike went next and read to us a poem from his days at University of Maryland. It was based on the farm animals he would pass on his way from the parking lot to his classes. We discussed the evocative language of a flashback during a crisis and slowing down the event to bring a colorful and insightful moment to the story. We noted that a lot has changed since he walked between the fields of tranquil cows and excitable horses.

Mario resumed his story of our man of mystery, Paco. An exchange with a detective puts Paco on high alert, and he decided to dip into his dwindling supply of identities to disappear again. Some of us agreed that Paco might have acted rashly in changing identities so quickly after his conversation with the detective, but we felt it was true to his personality to be paranoid. Also, he did not act irrationally. The detective is sharp, she asked a lot of questions, and Paco has reasons for not wanting to be unmasked.

As Ken departed (early bedtime) a lively discussion of our cooperative book ended in scheduling a meeting for those who want to join in. It will probably be on April 29th. Some feel the need for more structure as the story advances, while others would like to maintain the free flowing spirit of the work. Some inconsistencies have been observed. All agreed that a meeting would help us channel our opinions into making the story more beautiful and exciting. Stay tuned!


The writer’s meeting last night was ideal. Couldn’t have been better. Please see the summary, below.

The next one will take place on April 20 – logon at 7:15 and reading from 7:30 p.m. Already, Suzanne, David, Ken and Mario are signed up. Why not put your name in, now?

Writers group summary from April 6, 2021, written by Cat and edited by Ken

Six of us appeared in our Zoom boxes, five ready to read, and one to take notes.

Ken went first and shared a description to be used in promoting a workshop that he will conduct for Sparkle, a program of Silver Spring Town Center. We all wanted to hear the story of his “… tattered trip to Topolobampo, Mexico …,” which he might read to the group. We enjoyed the rollicking nature of the writeup, and the hook at the end made us want to sign up! Sparkle may gain a half dozen new members.

Janet followed with a start-up mystery about John, from Jamaica. John traveled with a missionary group to Japan where he met a tattoo artist, who taught him the trade. Then, we met Esther, from Cuba, and learned about her and John’s budding relationship. We were curious about how John came to be a doctor AND a tattoo artist and were excited to hear that his perfect life with Esther was about to be disrupted by an impending mystery. Then, we got to talking about swimming in the ocean and the number of people and marine animals who, umm, relieve themselves there. Natalie did not approve of all our jokes, but, well, they were funny.

Mario took over after that, starting with Paco’s close encounter with the attack on the New York World Trade Center. Seeing an opportunity, he fled with new identity, cash, and clothes that he had ready and waiting. Some of us had questions about the importance of Paco’s attaché case being left in the destroyed WTC, and Mario revealed that its presence there could lead to his being declared dead. Then, he could start afresh in a new town. We left Paco with an imposing visitor on his doorstep: the whip-smart and alluring Detective, Candace Augustine.

Natalie returned to her story of Alice, the French robot who became rebellious and even frightful. After she was disabled, male and female scientists arrived unexpectedly to work on her programming. The robot’s owner is asked if she wants Alice taken away but says “no,” admitting that Alice’s cursing was endearing (but could be turned down). Alice will be serving at a formal event, and we bit our nails with trepidation, wondering how she would perform at the fancy dinner the owner was planning. Natalie asked if she should add more dirty words in French, and we kind of liked the idea.

Mike wrapped up the reading by taking us outside the mainframe of his story and into a brief but important subplot. We learned about the adventurers, John, Thomas and Vesta, who had risked their lives to steal from the monsters. John woke up in the Inn of the Hungry Traveler, recovering from serious wounds. Delvers had stitched him up. We wanted to know more about the Delver society and about the mysterious monsters that had supposedly killed Torran. Then, Mike broke down and gave us a preview of what might be the main plot for the rest of the story. On the other hand, it might not be.

Once the reading was complete, we talked briefly about our cooperative novel. We discussed multiverses, uses of Andrew, Andy, and Andrea as versions of the same name, and whether we should have a meeting to discuss the project. Cat asked that no one tell her mother about some of the language in her chapter, lest she lose pound cake privileges for the rest of her life!


Ken again was kind enough to writer the summary for out 3/25/2021 Zoom meeting.

Greetings, writers. Our “extra” meeting last night was excellent – well attended, relaxed, productive.

The Beginning; Most people arrived late, which gave us time to ask Suzanne to grab her guitar and sing one of her original songs. Suzanne, we want more. The next time you plan to sing in public, please let us know.

Ken: Ken grabbed the Zoom stage and read a short essay about a good friend who had died from COVID-related pneumonia. Everyone seemed touched by it. There were opinions that Ken should have put less emphasis on his moves from place to place and said more about the person who passed away. Comments well taken.

Natalie: A prolific writer, Natalie was next with a short story about Alice, the robot, who was exiled by the French space agency and became Natalie’s maid. Alice got way out of hand, so was turned off. A few days later, people from the space agency appeared at the door. How did they know? What will they do? We don’t know. There were comments about one of the agent’s contact lenses and some discussion of – ugg – grammar. Natalie has a unique style that might add to the enjoyment of some readers but distract others.

A Welcome Newcomer: At this point, a newcomer, David, introduced himself. He was a writer in high school; now has a PhD and works at NIST. He is beginning to write novels using a studied systematic approach. We look forward to hearing him read.

Bryan: Bryan offered the superbly-written beginning of a story about traveling, as a photographer, to the Khyber District of Afghanistan. We could visualize his car’s wheels, inches from a cliff and the aged rifle pointed at his belly. Written in the present tense, the story contains arresting expressions such as “pant wetting,” to mean frightening. There was discussion of his reference to Barnie Fife, a character in an old TV show whom some young-uns didn’t know and some oldsters didn’t remember.

Mario: Our co-organizer gave background on Francisco Gallo, the protagonist in his story which, spies tell us, might get into trouble with a drug-running, gang banger. Francisco, known as “Paco,” was too good with computers and spotted things that he wasn’t supposed to know about. One comment was that the story seemed to have some duplication and could be tightened.

Janet: To wind us up, Janet read a lovely poem written recently when her sister passed away. It contains nice line such as “How deep does love go” and “cannot be contained.” Then, she explained that her origin is the Bahamas and Jamaica, and her father in Jamaica immersed her into a fantasy world that inspired a lot of writing. Unfortunately, her collection was lost during a change of location, almost 20 years ago.

The Grand Finale: We finished with a discussion of Dell OptiPlex computers that have been made continuously, in different models, since 2001. David and Mario still use old ones, so they must be good.

Our Next Meeting: The next will be on April 6th. Zoom open at 7:15 and reading as of 7:30 p.m. A few members are signed up; there is room for more.


Summary of Gaithersburg Creative Writer’s meeting, March 16, 2021

We were ten in all, and five of us read. Most of the ole regulars were there, along with long missed and brand-new faces. The continuations of familiar stories hit like comfort food, and we were delighted to have new pieces to digest and interact with.

Our first reader of the evening, Bob, gave us a window into his poetry of the early 90s by sharing some of his romantic encounters. We were swept off our feet by the lyrical nature of his poems and the sentiments, and some of us found ourselves surreptitiously wiping our eyes along with him as he shared..

Mario’s novel in process is a thriller about an agent on the run whose current alias is Paco. Mario read the first chapter of the novel, and asked for impact on the reader. We watched Paco “accidentally” take down and take out a sketchy looking called Scarecrow, who was taking a concealed gun to a public gathering at the VFW hall in Rehoboth. We liked the quick action sequence that kicked off the chapter.

Cat shared the final pages from a chapter in her SciFi dystopian novel about colonizing Mar. Only the best and the brightest can go. There was an unfortunate encounter between the protagonist’s husband, Cal, and Cal’s boss. Also, we talked about her how our group can be helpful to Cat, given her 580 pages and our limited time.

Mike’s fantasy story continued with Kaari and Ethan meeting with the Chahoy. They found a translator in Esteban, whose insult to Ethan’s skill in battle earned him a punch, a slap on the head, and a choice he must make between serving Ethan and losing his trade connections. The plot twist of Regular folk serving a Delver was delightfully surprising.

Anita shared a piece of an essay she is writing, which tells how her non-profit was inspired by a petulant child who wouldn’t eat his breakfast and whose hunger distracted him so much that he failed an exam. She shared that the foundation she set up is geared toward feeding students at schools in Uganda and has now served THREE MILLION cups of porridge!

The members who did not get to read will have priority at the next meeting they attend. We discussed holding an “extra” meeting on March 25th and possible an in-person meeting toward the end of April. Note: Since March 16th, the extra meeting has been announced and is quite popular.


Gaithersburg Creative Writers Group

Summary of our Zoom meeting on March 2, 2021

Prepared by “Cat”

Screenshot 3/2/21 only ten of eleven participants.

 Our evening opened with some catch-up chatter. Mario described his experience from his last vaccine shot – so far, so good! Cat had gotten her braces off, but there were still no new teeth to show off. Mike’s job had picked up to a full forty hours a week, and congratulations went echoing through the nine Zoom panes. 

 

In all, eleven people were present at our meeting, which proved to be a highly productive and engaging time of critiques, ideas and sharing from our personal lives.

 

Suzanne started with more from her autobiography, opening a window in time from her stint as a hair model. A chance meeting with Cinderella at a theme park unearthed a secret desire in a tomboy of seven years old, to become a model. The group commented on transitions and how long autobiographies as a part of creative writing have the freedom to exist, and we spent much of the time sharing ideas for tweaking sentence structure.

 

After Suzanne’s sharing, Natalie stepped up to the plate with a prose-poem about a space-robot-turned-housekeeper, named Alice. She is a proper French robot, very fastidious about manners. We all thought it was fun and creative, with requests for more detail of Alice’s appearance and adding hints of conflict in her precisely ordered life! Suzyn’s perception about Alice’s emphasis on polite manners made us reflect on how we treat automated systems. 

 

Ken took the reins then, and the scene changed from a cooking robot to an old hotel in Haiti on a rainy night, where a demonstration of voodoo dominated our minds’ eyes. The piece was colorful and vibrant, and Ken admitted to having felt a little afraid during the ceremony. Connie made a comment about fear that took us one step further into the sensations of the story. We were all fascinated with the taxi’s lazy windshield wipers, and Suzyn raised the question of what we could learn about Ken from this piece: how he knows Creole, what his purpose in Haiti was, and what, if any, impact this episode had on his life to embed this story so firmly into memory.

 

Suzyn took a break from knitting a hat to read a piece from her book about communication. The story behind this book started with a big promotion, where, just as the champagne was popped, she found that a committee member shared her enthusiasm for her forthcoming business book. After permission from her boss to write one – if desired – she had developed an introductory chapter to share with us. We loved the updated version and discussed the poetic feel of the chapter. Suzanne brought up an excellent point, that the term “communications” isn’t solely limited to a department of people who send emails to others in the building, but also includes an enormous group of creatives in the arts world, in film and in radio. Connie suggested adding an example of non-verbal communication to Chapter 1.

 

Connie closed us out with a raw and powerful two-part poem about her mother’s passing. They came from two perspectives, a “yin and a yang” as Suzanne put it, of anger and grieving. The poems were written in third person as a way to depersonalize the pain of loss, but the change in perspective didn’t take away from the power of the sentiment. Mike reflected on how death is the loss of potential for change in a relationship. We discussed the poems, and all agreed they were thoughtful and reasoned, not a hurricane of emotion that can sometimes dominate the written word after such a loss. We were impressed that Connie was able to summon so much creativity in the wake of such complicated grief. 

 

Overall, the conversation was lively and full of helpful critiques, and we closed the night by sharing dancing experiences. Suzyn described dancing in a black dress to the Mambo No. 5 with her husband in a white linen suit. Mario wistfully recalled the days of disco, and a few bars of aged music punctuated his recollection.


Summary, by Cat, of our meeting on 2/16/21

Our evening began with good news: Mario and Ken were scheduled to get their second COVID vaccine shots in another week! Mike and Cat are near the bottom of the vaccine totem pole, it’ll be a while before they get the jab, but the relief of the end being in sight was palpable.

Lynda came to the Zoom meeting ready to celebrate Mardi Gras with a bag of popcorn. Not a few of us were jealous of her preparations. 

An idea for a list of favorite books was proposed. Perhaps we’ll form a thread and share our favorite reads from our quarantine time!

 

Lynda kicked us off with an early version of an intriguing SciFi story about a superhero waking up in a basement hospital, not knowing how he got there. A doctor with a dual PhD in zoology and ophthalmology delivers an astonishing message that turns his world upside down. Readers did not take the news as well as main character, Makoto, did.

 

Mike shared next from his story of Kaari and the Delvers at their work site encountering a strange group of armed, tattooed Regular folk. The people spoke in a strange tongue and, by pantomime and thoughtful observation, they started to understand each other. The feedback was varied and intense as we met these new characters in the novel. Then, Mike performed a disappearing act from Zoom, and we wondered if we had been too mean, but our fears were assuaged when he reappeared a few minutes later.

 

Bryan read a section of his new screenplay. Readers picked up on the delicious breadcrumbs of character description of Stuart and Robin. Through tiny details, we see Stuart is a shell of his former self, while Robin is a teenager unloved by his father. We’re all excited for Robin and Stu to meet and form a friendship around airplanes.

 

Connie went next and read a poem she wrote in the aftermath of discovering a dear friend of over sixty years had passed away unexpectedly. We shared our condolences and provided feedback on the finality of the subject of her “proem” (coined by Connie, it means a poem made of prose).

 

Mario’s memoirs continue to be wild and adventurous! We are all impressed he made it through such turbulent years. Some questions arose about how the word “paydirt” applied in the story, and we tossed around our thoughts on the drama and tension of learning the final details of the bank robbery.

 

Cat wrapped up the reading with more pages of her dystopian story, as her protagonists hold a fifth anniversary celebration with hints of darker days to come. We’re all still wondering what kinds of technology the Earth has salvaged. The group awarded points for interesting details and suggested new hybrid vegetables for the wife to grow. 

 

Before we signed off, Mike gave an update on our collaborative book, a Yet-To-Be-Named SciFi story about a man who has found himself lost in a strange place. Mysteries abound as we all wonder, with bated breath, what has happened to our hero. Mike is the third member of our group to write a chapter – we are on a roll!


Ken, again, wrote the summary for our 2/2/2021 meeting

Natalie led off with another in her sequence of poems about her autistic daughter’s struggle with on-line classes. The poems show clearly how hard this is for the kids, their teachers and their parents. The parents have to find an invisible balance between helping their children and letting them, and their teachers, forge ahead and find their own way.

Daniel was up next with the final part of his story about a duel with swords. There was nice phrasing, such as, this can no more happen than “…the sky take back the rainfall.” The conclusion of the fight was unexpected, and what happened after that was totally unexpected. Our suggestions included that Daniel try to clarify the last few paragraphs, about who did what and whose sword did what.

Then, Mario continued his story about Miguel and María, who went from two days of making love to trying to unravel a mystery that could affect Miguel’s chance of staying alive. There was good dialogue and good use of the active voice. We were somewhat confused because Mario started reading the story several months ago, and we didn’t remember it clearly. There were suggestions that he put more detail in some places and less in others.

Suzanne wrapped up the reading with a memoir of her work in a Giant supermarket, at age 18 and 110 pounds. We agreed that she was courageous, and the text showed she was strong enough to beat the boys in chin-up contests. There was a wonderful line about how long it took her to acquire “… a two-year degree and a two-year husband.” There were some positive and negative comments, but discussion was mainly on the situation in which she found herself.

The session finished with discussion about our group project, to write a novel with each  chapter by a different author. Natalie asked to be included (sure thing), and Suzanne suggested a degree of cooperation among writers. In the end, I think the man in charge (Mike) was like old Omar Khayam, who said, “When I was young, I did eagerly frequent doctor and saint and heard about it and about, but, evermore, came out through the same door wherein I went.”


Our next meeting will be February 2nd – Zoom open at 7:30 and meeting at 8:00. If you’d like to go, let me know. If you plan to read, let me know that too.

Ken again wrote the comprehensive summary for our meeting on 1/19/2021.

Last night, we had a good group of people, of whom six got a chance to read. Ken led with a poem written for the Maryland Writers Association’s “Fun With Words” activity. It involved a crab festival with red and blue crustaceans, whose groups bore a resemblance to political parties. Natalie followed with another poem about striving to not help her daughter with learning on-line. It was “hump day,” or it wasn’t and “the camel” finally made an appearance.

Brian gave us something we hadn’t seen before, a script (really, detailed instructions for actors) in a silent film. In a senior citizens home, a volunteer and a resident formed a strange relationship with each other, without saying a word. It was excellent. We could see the scenes in our minds.

Returning to our usual fare, Daniel continued his story about an impending duel. We began to see into the duelers’ minds, and we learned about one person’s weapon of choice, a “light saber.” Daniel showed a weapon, and, if he had pointed it at his camera, I would have jumped back several feet. Neither of the men wants a fight that could be fatal, but odds are it will go ahead. We will find out on February 2nd.

Cat read next, jumping back to an earlier chapter of her story about bleeding Earth dry to populate Mars. We start to see the family life of Cal, who has been selected to go there. We also see, for example, that working automobiles are a thing of the past, as they have been scavenged for parts that would be useful on the Red Planet. Some of her descriptions were vivid, like “windows were glum eyes” and “plants leaned into a home made fence.”

The clean-up hitter was Mike, with more of his story about building an inn on a rustic road that carried treasure hunters to and from the west in a strange land sometime in the past. A problem between the entrepreneur and a workman led to a revelation about how the people in positions of prestige and authority were invaders, and descendants of the original inhabitants still seethed with anger. How this will affect the business venture remains to be seen.

Our writers have gotten so good that it’s hard to find fault with their work, but, of course, the group made several suggestions.

At the end, enthusiasm burst forth, and we decided to write a short book collaboratively. Ken thought the idea would die for lack of a leader, but Mike jumped in and took it on. Please see his message, below.   

From: Mike Waters 

Friends and neighbors – 

We had an amusing proposal at the end of our meeting tonight.  The idea is a collaborative book in which each writer who would like to participate writes one chapter.  We would stitch the chapters together (somehow) into a coherent book.

In a moment of weakness, I agreed to coordinate this.  Let me know if you’d like to participate.

  • I will offer up a writing prompt to get creative juices flowing.  Chapters should be kept to about 5 pages (unless the muse demands 6-7).
  • In the spirit of improv, keep in mind the process of “Yes, and…”   That is: you cannot negate what the writer before you has written – you can only take whatever you have been handed and run with it.  That will be part of the fun and challenge.
  • Do not think you cannot participate if you think you “only” write poetry.  All the sagas were poems.  The Illiad and Odyssey were poems. 
  • …more details to follow as they develop

Let me know if you have ideas and would like to participate.

Cheers,   – Mike 


Ken Weiss wrote the summary.

Our writer’s group last night (1/5/2021): ten people, six who had signed up and four surprises. The walkins were Natalie VanRossum, Karuna Kristjnson and Bryan and Suzanne Brindamour. These last two are new to the group.

We will meet again on Jan. 19th. You can sign up now, to attend and to read, by email to silverpenken@aol.com. Persons who didn’t get to read last night will have priority.

Mike Waters read first this time, continuing his tale of exploration and prejudice. His protagonist needed land to build a new inn, two days’ walk west of the city. This required going through a bureaucratic process that sounded much smoother than many today, while helping a city official confront a deep-seated prejudice. Mike’s story moves on. We all like it.

Karuna followed with an article on Coronavirus, for the present and future generations. As one can imagine, the group quickly identified with everything she said. Admittedly, it was a draft, and we gave several ideas as to how to modify it, if she wants to.

Suzanne had a very well-written piece about (finally) being selected as a model in a hair styling exhibition. She was on stage and couldn’t object when the stylist reduced her hair length by half. The spectators loved it, and she was asked to walk the runway, in boots that were a size too large. Suzanne included at least three metaphors about birds. She is clearly an excellent writer.

Then, Connie McX read a traditional poem – clear rhythm and rhyme patterns – about the plight of too many animals. Animals should not be homeless, should not have to suffer. Ken asked her to read it a second time, and we offered praise much more than suggestions.

Daniel Sullivan was up next with a tale about an impending duel via fencing. Will the protagonists use foils, epees or sabers? We will soon see. Will the wise old hand come out ahead, or will the younger, more studious one find vindication? Our group asked questions, but most of the comments were positive.

Finishing the evening, Mario Salazar offered another memoire from his years in a military boarding school run by nuns. This one kept us more than interested by its focus on sexual experimentation among the cadets (and something beyond experimentation by one of the nuns). Suggestions were mostly on word choice and punctuation, not on the subject matter.


Ken again wrote the summary for our meeting on 12/15/2020. Thank you Ken.

Last night, seven faces were on our screens. We welcomed Karuna after an absence and new member Nathalie. Four members read.

Mario led with more of his adventures at a military school in VA. It was a tale of visitors’ Sundays, uselessly hiding candy, and parading for guests, whether the students wanted to or not (they did not). It was clear that none of us would have opted to study there.

Then, Catherine continued her tale about an experiment to send people from a deteriorating Earth to colonize Mars. Nora visited her friend, Mia, and they discussed how people in the past led pleasant lives but ignored important things, like preserving the environment.

Next, Nathalie read her poem about having an autistic daughter and being unable to intervene, because of school rules ,as the girl struggled with on-line lessons. It was excruciating! The poem was circulated in advance to our io Group and drew numerous favorable comments.

Mike finished the reading with an early chapter of The Inn of the Hungry Traveler. Young Kaari went to track down a foreigner from whom her father had bought some valuable stones, and she might have been in a tough situation, had a handsome young man not intervened.

We thought the meeting had ended until Mario asked each of us what was his/her favorite movie. That started quite a discussion.

Ken announced our next meeting for Tuesday, January 5th. Registration to attend and to read is open now. In the meanwhile, let’s keep chatting in our io Group.

There was some talk of holding a Zoom happy hour over the holidays, but no conclusion was reached. We could do it, say, from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m. almost any day, including New Year’s Eve. If this interests you, please let me know.


Ken graciously wrote the summary for our 12/1/2020 meeting, he hit a homerun!

On the first of December, Ken pulled rank and read first. His short memoir about getting mugged in Panama definitely held people’s interest. It was nice and descriptive. However, our eagle eyed (and eared) members found ways to improve it and even noted two grammatical errors, which is unusual for ken. Mostly, they asked for a more uplifting ending. Point well taken.

Cat mewed into the #2 reader position, continuing her story about moving some “qualified” people from a depleted Earth to the Red Planet. She took us on a bicycle ride through what probably used to be a nice street. There were suggestions, of course, including that she clarify whether the top dogs in the experiment were Martian natives or were people from Earth who had been transplanted to Mars.

Then, Mario took over and got Miguel and Maria out of a hot tub, into a shower and then – surprise, surprise – into bed. In the meanwhile, Dio, driving Miguel’s car, ran into someone who had a major grudge against him. That was, and will be, more than interesting. The group suggested putting in dialogue to increase clarity and make the text more lively. We also pointed out minor grammatical errors such as using “laid” instead of “lay” (no relation to sentence 1 in this paragraph).

Our clean-up hitter was Scott, moving on with his novel about a young Roman gentleman, in the year 58 BC, who cavorted with the wrong loose lady and was sent to join the army in Gaul. There, he found many attractive ladies. As always, there was little fault to be found with his work. It was, after all, just the first part of a chapter and was setting the stage for adventures to come.


Lynda graciously agreed to prepare the summary meeting for 11/24/2020.

Participants 11/24/2020 meeting

11/24/2020 – Gaithersburg Writers sum up

A mighty five were ready to meet and discuss for the most recent Zoom meet up.  Ken, Mario, Cat, Lynda and Scott attended, and only Ken did not read.  Some members had logged on early, and Lynda and Cat discussed Lynda’s wedding, honeymoon, and writing in general, as well as Cat’s new house she bought with her husband this year.  Lynda’s husband joined the meeting briefly to discuss The Witcher TV show and thank Mario for the purchase of his novel, Better the Millstone.

Lynda read first from her Nanowrimo first draft, currently untitled.  It was a science fiction work taking place in 2420 or so, and the characters are able to travel place to place on the astral plane – a different dimension where only the consciousness travels and the physical body was left behind.  Overall feedback was to add more dialogue and action at first, and insert exposition in smaller bits in between.  It was also suggested that medical technology, such as an IV bag, would have a different name or would have evolved from today’s technology.

Scott then read his ongoing fictional memoirs of a Roman soldier from Caesar’s time.  It was well received.  Sentence variation was the primary suggestion for improvement.  Also, the length of time to learn a new language and how it should be simple to master one’s native language.

Cat read a reworked version of the first chapter of a novel about a dystopian future where Earth is dying and Mars was considered a “great experiment,” but only a few select Earth citizens are chosen to travel to Mars.  Everyone agreed that POV was very clear and much improved this time as compared to the last reading.  More questions were asked than suggestions given.

Mario was allowed to read last (as a humorous penalty), since he was NOT presenting a continuation of the hot tub incident from last meeting (to which this writer was not privy 2 weeks ago).  He read an interesting section from his memoirs about a street fight in Colombia where Mario was walking with his father an took part in the fight.  It was suggested that we find out what his father had been doing during the altercation, to better show the father and son bond.

As an administrative note, the group is returning to meeting on Zoom every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month.  The next meeting is to be held on December 1, 2020 – in less than 1 week.  This meeting was ended as the group wished one another a Happy Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving 2020!


Ken wrote the summary of our 11/10/2020 Zoom meeting.

The Gaithersburg Creative Writer’s Group. All of our meetings are useful and fun. Sometimes, they’re exciting as well.

On November 10th, just-married Linda and Daniel dropped in for ten seconds. Well, we know they’re busy. Six of us were there much longer, and four were ready to read.

Mario added to his story of Latino intrigue. He broke it off when the protagonist and his former employee (female) were naked in a hot tub. What will happen next? Only Mario knows.

Then, Suzyn read excerpts from a book in process about communication. She related communication of a virus with that of thoughts, feelings, moods, attitudes and sometimes even information. The writing is extremely good.

Next, Mike was up with more of his story, set in the past, about social classes and a wild frontier. Kaari and Ethen are off to see if she can open an inn – a sort of halfway house – for hordes of treasurer hunters.

Batting cleanup was Larry, advancing preparations for a trip by balloon to capture wild beasts in Africa. Two new problems emerged: What will happen if the venture succeeds and the London Zoo doesn’t have money to build cages and how will British military formality get along with easy-going expedition members.


Lynda wrote the summary for the 10/20/2020 meeting. She is getting married Saturday, congratulations.

Larry reading his Steam Punk piece.

Last night, 5 of the writing hive joined for literary discussions.  These included Ken, Mario, Cat, Larry, and Lynda.

Larry welcomed us to the chat with the information that most if not all poetic verses written in iambic pentameter can be sung, if one wishes, to the theme tune of Gilligan’s Island.  He also said that Tom Lehrer made all of his music public domain – an even that occurred earlier this year.

Cat read to us from her new manuscript, The Martian Experiment.  A tantalizing hook was suggested since Cat wants to have her novel published with a known publisher.  We discussed which POV she was writing and if she had conflated a narrative 3rd person POV for the character’s own POV.  It was also suggested to use formal writing without contractions in a narrative POV, and opposing opinions were given concerning capitalization of the word “god.”

Mario read a continuing chapter titled “Maria Does Maryland” from his self-described thriller.  We suggested using the word “very” less often.  Also capitalization of the entire title and the necessity of spelling out the word “okay.”

Larry read more from his steampunk/Holmesian era fan novel.  The toughness of bamboo and the method of caging the mysterious large beasts the characters are after was discussed.

Ken read a short newsletter article about the offer of food assistance to those in the community – Jack and 3 grandads.  An exclamation point was suggested and inserted at the end.

Everyone wished Lynda and her groom Daniel a happy wedding on October 24, and Larry was sent good wishes for upcoming cataract surgery.  Something he has waited for a long while.  We decided to skip meeting on election night, but look forward to our first meeting on Nov. 10! Sign up today!


Ken wrote the summary of our 10/6/2020 meeting.

Last night, Ken had trouble holding the group down until 8:00. Then, Mario began the show with more of Jon A’s transition to the “Middle.” It included a description of how writers might ply their craft in the 23rd century technology.

Ken followed with a short memoir about whether he was too old to ride a bicycle. The answer was “yes,” as he nursed an injury for several weeks. So, what should he do next? Skateboarding, perhaps? Scott followed with part of his story about a long-ago playboy who gets his jollies with the wrong young lady and is sent to the war in Gaul. The comparison between what he thinks and what he says, in a critical situation, is fascinating.

Connie judged her work not ready to read, so Mike provided the grand finale. It was a revision and continuation of a story of “superior” and “inferior” races in a time of taverns, war and treasure hunting. Did the heroine’s husband survive, or did the monsters (or his own men) do him in? We will find out sometime down the line.


Meeting on 9/15/2020

Lynda and Ken wrote separate summaries, so Mario integrated the two versions.

Some of the participants in our Zoom meeting of 9/15/2020

Mario Salazar led off by telling of An Ambush Patrol, about a very scary event that he lived during the war in Vietnam. All was well in the end, at least that time. Mario was encouraged to show more than tell in his story about Viet Nam. Scott Fazekas followed with Trebonius’ Memories – My Time in Gaul, taking us back to a time when Romans ruled.   There was a respectful, if slightly loud discussion about whether footnotes should be added to Scott’s historical fiction book about a character during and after the time of Caesar.  Perhaps an appendix for Scott. Then, Cat Burgess continued her story about a German soldier in the trenches in World War I. She finished it, although some of us wished she would add more words (or pages). Then it was suggested that since Cat’s piece is also a historical fiction (from WWI), and since hers is a shorter work, a footnote would be more appropriate there.

Lawrence Tagrin told us more about the extensive preparation to try to capture at least two pre-historic monsters and take them to England. There was talk of whether bamboo cages would withstand their ferecious jaws. Larry would like to make his story sound more formal, so it was suggested not to use contractions and to use another word/working than “went through” such as reviewed.

Tina Osborn went deeper into trying to measure the intelligence of monkeys and stopped reading right after her protagonist got a burst of inspiration. Tina’s piece was an interesting review of her fictional character’s analysis of primate choices.  There was some discussion over whether most in the field of science would understand what “inference” is, or if the main character’s voice was music to her colleague’s ears.  Maybe those 2 will get together. To finish the session, Michael Waters described the growing up of his protagonist Kaari, and how she came to appreciate a downtrodden group in society, the Delvers. There was discussion of whether or not he should find another word to distinguish “regular people” from Delvers, who are definitely not the same type of humanoid.


Ken wrote the summary for our meeting on 9/1/2020.

Screenshot Zoom meeting 9/1/2020
Zoom meeting 9/1/2020

Sometimes it happens – a group of people come together for the benefit and/or enjoyment of all. Last night, it happened unexpectedly.

Mario and Ken were there as well as Connie, Michael, Lawrence, a newcomer named Scott Fazekos, and Lisa Martin from the organization, Downtown Silver Spring.

After introductions, Lawrence read more of his lively story about kidnapping monsters. The protagonist recruited a very strong lady to join the expedition. Then, Connie offered a rhyming poem about cats. It was good enough that Lisa asked if she could include it in a mailing, to 5,000 people. That will give a lot of exposure.

Then, Mario read an eye-catching memoir about a trip to a city in Peru, 14,000 feet high, in a USG vehicle designed to thwart attacks. The story ended, after a frog dinner, with a pistol-packing soldier breaking up a fight that was causing a traffic jam.

Mike was up next with an improved version of his intriguing story about the owner of an inn, in who-knows what year, as a battle raged to the west and dozens, or hundreds, of valuable items were left in abandoned cities. Mike appreciated the group’s comments on V.1 and will surely make good use of those on V.2.

Ken forewent reading from his father’s recently-discovered memoir, and somehow, the conversation went to the dogs (and the cats). Inevitably, there was talk of excrement, referred to by various names. Neither dog people nor cat people were converted, but we learned some history of our feline and canine companions, and we laughed a lot. No one seemed to want to sign off.


The summary for our meeting on 8/18/2020 by Ken follows:

Last night, Linda led with a string of haïkus about her upcoming wedding. They showed vividly what’s on her mind these days. Then, Mario read about his two difficult years in a military school in Virginia, run by Catholic nuns. There were rules about everything, said Mario, including how to go to the bathroom. No, he didn’t read us that regulation.

We switched to Connie, who read a poem composed after the World Trade Center bombing in 2002. It was raw emotion, put into rhyme and rhythm. Lawrence followed with more pages of his well-crafted story about a mission to capture prehistoric monsters, using the best technology available at the time. We are eager to see what follows.

Then, Tina read a captivating fictionalized memoir about her experiments with monkey’s intelligence. Thurman passed easily. If he’s still around, we should invite him to join us on Tuesday, the first of September. Registration is open, starting NOW.


The summary for our meeting on 8/4/2020 by Ken is very short.

Something went wrong night; attendance was low, but that gave us time to look well at Ken’s poem about a boy and a man, at more of Cat’s story on soldiers in the trenches in WWI, and at Mario’s frightening tale about being sent to military schools. All was interesting and worthwhile.

Ken and others had an in-person meeting on Friday 7/31/2020 in a park in downtown Gaithersburg. They talked about how to get published. It was well attended. Ken and Bea, his wife; John; Kristin and his son Ethan and Cat attended. They kept their social distance and no one got sick.


The summary for our meeting on 7/21/200 by Ken follows:

Thee were comments galore on our meeting last night: Looks like our group has found its niche, and it is …, it is …, well, anyway, we have found it.

–  Suzyn’s poem, soon to be published, was superb.

–  Mario’s essay on a flower vase that started a revolution- interesting and  informative.

– Connie, a newcomer. Her  poem, old and new versions was so good we made her read it again.

Lawrence, his story continued -impeccable writing about a search for an ancient beast.

– Michael, a newcomer – the beginning of a fanciful take: The Inn of the Hungry Traveler.

Kristin, back with us – a surprising end of her tale of spiders and a hidden greenhouse.

– Cat, Lynda and Ken enjoyed it all. They will have priority ro read the next time.


The summary of our meeting on 7/7/2020 follows:

Last night, Lawrence, Mario and Ken, whose average age is 39, like Jack Benny, talked and read and talked and read again. Lawrence continued setting up his story about capturing prehistoric monsters. Mario described “The Condom Incident” – could be re-titled “The Condom Caper” – from his high school days, and Ken had an article about mother and son sharing their respective technologies. There were three no-shows, but we understand. There are sooo many virtual meetings.


The summary of our 6/17/2020 by Ken Weiss follows:

A very good Zoom meeting last night. A cancellation and a no-show left us with a perfect group of four: Kirstin, Larry, Mario and Ken.

Kirsten continued her story of young lovers and large spiders. Her protagonist is now desperate, scratched and bruised as she hobbles from the woods toward a 7-11 store. Will she find help there?

Larry – let’s call him “Steampunk Larry” to distinguish him from “LarryTT” – began a new version of a story set in the past, of which he read several chapters some months ago. We partly remember what happened then and are eager to see how the story has been changed.

Mario read more of his futuristic tale of two different civilizations, with people able to travel from one to the other, within limits. His protagonist is now on the “transport” to the “Middle” colonies, and his reason for going there is unclear.

Ken offered a short article about receiving a debit card in the mail and not knowing whether it was from the USG or a scammer. He was encouraged to try to get the article published – the first time that has happened to him in our group. He is happy.


Ken’s summary of our meeting on 6/2/2020 and some screenshots.

Very nice? Our meeting last night was enjoyable and helpful. Kirstin led off with more of her story about a young couple, a dark greenhouse and large spiders. We are eager to know what happens next. Then, Mario read a factual piece about environmental problems. It was written for a newspaper and will be published soon.

Who was next? Oh, yeah, we call her Cat. She continued her story about soldiers in the trenches toward the end of World War I. It featured a debate about whether it was too risky to retrieve and bury their dead. Then, Suzyn read a very nice poem about lovely yellow flowers – dandelions. Ken finished with a humorous short essay about whether to visit his barber shop or keep cutting his own hair.

A newcomer, Russell, logged in from his place of work – a firehouse. We could hear the chatter on its PA system. Also, Larry, a long-time member and dedicated steam-punker, showed a steampunk mask that we all envied.

 Kristin

 Russ in the firehouse

 Steam Punk Larry

 Ken our leader

 Cat

 Suzyn


Lynda wrote the excellent summary for 3/3/2020

Eight Is Enough when it comes to holding our usual Gaithersburg Writer’s Club meeting at Don Jorge’s Restaurant.  This was a Super Tuesday on which we met.  Attending members were: Ken, Lynda, Cat, Mario, Richard, Janet, Daniel, and Connor.  Each person read, 7/8 of which were responses to the group writing prompt:  An Unexpected Side Trip.

Lynda read her offering first.  It was an untitled piece set in Earth’s future, 2064. The idea was that a human and an alien were on an errand to pick up groceries, when an animal is spotted in the distance, and they take a small side trip to see what it is.   There was discussion of what makes a side trip a true side trip and about how to make the audience feel connected to the animal in the story.

Ken read to the group next.  His piece was titled “Topo, A Memior (sic) Of An Unexpected Side Trip.  This story from his past began with a church work group trying to complete mission work.  The author (presumably Ken) stayed in Mexico after the group left, and tried to find the elusive town of Topolobampo.  There was a discussion of how others had had somewhat similar luck on their adventures.

Third on the reading list was Mario, with his mixed fiction/non-fiction work titled “A Beautiful Evening.”  This occurred (or not) at Mario’s home.  He was making use of his outdoor hot tub when unexpected visitors arrived to take him on a trip around the world.  Or did they?  The group requested some details that might throw more suspicion on the story; or confirm it.

Next to read was Cat, and it was her first time reading aloud to us.  She titled her piece, “Survival Tactics.”  This vignette was biographical fiction in that it was a fictionalized version of experiences Cat went through with her husband.  The story described finding unique items or circumstances to help get through long wait times at the airport.  Five finds in the right place on the “card” meant that the player had “bingo.” Some group members were able to share similar experiences, and we asked for more description of the homemade Bing-o cards.

Then, Richard read his piece titled, “An Unexpected Side Trip: A Personal Memoir.”  It was a true tale of how Richard was stationed overseas, but not necessarily at the post or posts he expected. After an assignment in Baghdad, he was told Cairo, Egypt was the next stop. That was canceled for Paris, France; but only after planning for and purchasing furnishings for the abode in Cairo.  He had to learn French in record time because of the switch.  The vignette was an interesting view of “being owned by the Junior Officer Division.”  Everyone wondered what happened to the Cairo furniture, and there was discussion of each country where Richard’s three children were born. Ken expressed interest in knowing where the children were conceived.

Janet read from her phone and we all leaned in to listen to her autobiographical history.  She described her journey of friendship with a close friend who developed cancer; this led her to see the bigger picture of helping others to make the world a better place, and cultivating and cherishing the friendships one has on an intimate scale.   The group wanted to hear more about Janet’s friendship, and her journey, along a side trip of illness, as Janet supported and encouraged her good friend (who is much better, now).

After Janet, Connor read more of his tale about Wulfric, and his adventures against the evil Vorcalthus There were an evil horse and a trip to Asgard after a dangerous chase through the woods.  This was a continuation of prior readings, and not a prompt response.  The group was able to give feedback regarding the use of flashback, point of view, and other aspects of the writing.

Finally, Daniel read his prompt response.  This untitled piece was a fan fiction nod to the TV Show “The Good Witch,” since he used the locale, the B&B, and a character from the show. Mainly, the tale was of a man on a motorcycle who is stuck in traffic so he takes a break to refuel, landing in Middleton (no state name), and meeting a fellow rider who was a woman.  The woman knew the town and was able to guide them both to Middleton’s Grey House Bed and Breakfast.  There were questions about why a woman would ride through the night to reach Middleton, but many agreed that if she wanted to, why not?  It seemed a miraculous coincidence that the two motorcyclists met at a gas pump in the mysterious town of Middleton.

Minutes later, we gathered our things and said our goodbyes, chuckling about the idea of knowing where one’s kids are conceived.  The side trip to Don Jorge’s was at its end.  The group had written seven lovely responses to the prompt, but it was not decided whether to repeat the exercise.  We might try it in April but not at the next meeting, which will take place on St. Patrick’s Day.  Anything can happen on the evening of St. Patty’s!


Lynda and Tina will colaborate in preparing the meeting summaries. Our luck, they are both great writers.

Summary of our meeting on 2/18/2020 by Tina.

Our Feb 18 Writers’ Group meeting boasted eight eager participants:  Janet, Pat, Lynda, Daniel, Catherine, Ken, Mario, and Tina.  As we were getting settled, ordering our food and drinks, we discussed Pat’s idea of choosing a writing prompt for our next meeting.  Our choices were to write about a decision we had to make, a summer of change, a loss, or an unexpected side trip.  After an initial vote and a subsequent runoff vote, we ended up with a tie.  Since Daniel hadn’t arrived yet, we decided that he would be the tie-breaker who would decide our collective fate.

We then plunged into our meeting.  Ken started with a trilogy poem about aging, in which he muses about forming a pain-of-the-day club where members do not need to pay dues but have the right to complain until their first cup of coffee.  We were enthusiastic about this new club and wanted to join.  We praised the poem’s humor, and Catherine noted the sprightly, youthful approach to a normally somber topic.

Lynda read another installment of her ghost story, which included the interesting device of having the ghost communicate with the protagonist Annie through her television and cellphone.  This excerpt included the unique but oddly relatable technical troubleshooting that Annie had to do before getting the ghost to transfer from the TV to her phone.  Some of our discussion centered on whether Annie could be characterized in more detail, such as how she feels so comfortable watching TV with a ghost, and whether Annie would be curious and ask the ghost about the afterlife.  Overall, it was well written, with clear dialogue and descriptions.

Daniel read us the prologue to his scifi novel, a vivid description of a futuristic luxury spaceship, which, in an unexpected and highly dramatic twist, explodes in the last paragraph.  We were all swept along in the narrative until its tragic conclusion.  Some of us wanted a more descriptive taste of the ship’s luxury from the passengers’ perspective, and others would have liked clarification on the timeline of docking and then leaving, but we did not have much to criticize in the writing itself.  We enjoyed hearing the back-story of the ship’s imaginative name, the Abraxas.

Pat read us a thoughtful essay exploring the question of when an autobiographical story becomes more of a selfish indulgence and does not serve any useful function.  This led to a good discussion of how far one should take honesty and at what point is only serves as a burden to the author’s family or other readers.

Janet read us a short but beautiful piece about aging, similar to Ken’s, but touching on how young children simply accept their grandparents as they are, without judgment or the label of being “old.”  We discussed how being “old” is a relative construct, as well as its interrelationship with health, such that an older person in good health can have greater vitality than a younger person with more health challenges.

Tina read a fictional excerpt portraying two schoolgirls, who, during recess, attempt to prove the existence of God in the school’s chapel.  Some questions ensued regarding what would have happened if they had been caught and whether the use of a literary device to indicate sentience (or lack of it) was effective.

Finally, Mario read the continuation of his detective story;  in this excerpt, two detectives collaborate on intersecting kidnapping cases.  The writing was clear and methodical, which was excellent at portraying the detectives’ approach.  Some of us wanted confirmation that the detective techniques were realistic (they were), and we also enjoyed the imagery of Pepe’s gold front teeth, which added a lighthearted and vivid touch.

Toward the end of our meeting, we prevailed on Daniel to break our writing prompt tie.  He decided to flip a coin, which ended up in the basket of tortilla chips amid much laughter.  The coin flip nevertheless fulfilled its purpose and led to the choice of an unexpected side trip as the writing prompt for our next meeting.  So, dear members, consider this your invitation to take a spontaneous side trip in the coming week, and describe your resulting adventure!


Thank you Lynda for an excellent summary of the meeting on 2/4/20.

In drips and drabs ten grand friends crossed the threshold of Don Jorge’s Restaurant to join in our Writers Group meeting on February 4, comprised of: Ken, Lynda, John, Melina, Catherine (who was new), Pat, Richard, Suzyn, Daniel, and Connor.

Our newest member is one of our youngest (we’ll keep exact age out of it), and her name is Catherine; nickname Cat will serve.  She joins us with a lifetime love of writing, and horticulture, in which she has a degree. She lives with her husband in Gaithersburg, MD; and after working at Butler’s Orchard, has retired from that occupation to give writing her full attention.

Our first reader was Richard – his first time sharing.  His subject was part of a true story or memoir-in-progress titled, “Two Women.”  He related what he knew of his father, his grandmother, uncle, and aunts emigrating to the United States of America from Turkey.  The family’s emigration was sometime between 1907 and 1914, coinciding with the early years of the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire/Republic of Turkey.  Discussion revolved around good places to begin and end the section.  Some of us were unaware of the Armenian Genocide, and once aware, found the piece more striking.  We wanted more description and detail regarding the “harrowing” parts of the family’s journey.  The form/format for publishing was also briefly discussed.  We look forward to learning what happened next for Richard’s progenitors.

Suzyn then read from her general fiction story, “Juniper,” about a young woman who was a recent college graduate, trying to be the best adult she could be.  To her that means having an apartment and job, and hoping for a marriage proposal.  This is told from the first-person point of view of the main character, Juniper, or June. The section read involved the big reveal of a billboard created by the small ad agency for which June works.  The group discussed that although the characters had convincing dialogue and names, they lacked descriptions.  Several agreed that more description almost never hurts.  There was also discussion of the story seeming lighthearted at its beginning, but turning toward a serious subject matter at its end. We hope to hear more of June’s trials and tribulations soon.

Following Suzyn, Connor read a revamped beginning of his short, medieval/fantasy realm story titled “Berserker: Odin’s Fury.”  Main character Wulfric spent some time on a boat,  in flashback first sparring and bantering with his older sister; and then with the story’s villain, Rothar.  The villain wants to know the secrets of Mjolnir, while the group was trying to discover – what IS the riddle of Mjolnir?  We also discussed the use of Dungeons and Dragons terminology in a mixed group of readers, with some who played and several who did not – and all were wondering what on Earth a dire bear was.  We may find out, next time.

Next was Daniel, who read the final pages of Chapter 3 of his sci-fi novel, “Better The Millstone,” in which Scamper, is led from Lady Skellex’s lair.  The skinny, mistreated young girl is ridden with parasites, and objects to vaccinations, hardly knowing what they are.  She objects also to seeing a doctor at all.  The girl knows a doc in Lower D, and as they make their way, Bailey and the captain exchange banter before the chapter closes.  We debated whether there might be some slang among the denizens of D-Ring – something for a doctor instead of that title, and perhaps the doctor, or the clinic, is not 100% above board.  We also discussed how the author could be sure the ruse from the previous part of the chapter was ongoing (in the audience’s view) until out of earshot of Skellex’s henchman/henchmen.  We excitedly await the next part!

Toward the end of our meeting, Pat suggested that we have a few writing prompts available, and that the authors work on a two week deadline to write from one of them.  Thus, every other meeting would be dedicated to reading these prompt submissions.  The author would choose a prompt and write whatever they wanted – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biography, etc.  The maximum length would be 2 pages,  double spaced, in 12 pt font.  Pat volunteered to harvest our first round of prompts for the Feb. 18 meeting, with the goal for willing authors to complete submissions for the first meeting in March.  After that, we would discuss periodically repeating this exercise.

No one happened to mention it, but this author noted the ambient temperature outside to be 63 degrees Fahrenheit.  Meaning that, inside, none of our legs were cold!  Some among us were excited to have only four readers, since it was also the night of the President’s State of the Union address, and various members wanted to view it.  Right before we said our goodbyes, Lynda and Daniel announced that they plan to wed late this year – which brought hearty congratulations and applause!  A few members hung back to talk about Superman and fantasy authors, and then we were all out the door.


Thank you Tina for another excellent summary.

1/21/20 Meeting

Thank you Lynda and Daniel for the photos.  Bottom photo, from left front and around:

Tina, Karuna, Suzyn, Angela (hidden), Lynda, Daniel, Connor Mario and Ken. Richard (right foreground top photo) and Pat (center back top photo) had already left us when the bottom photo was taken.

We had a gangbusters attendance at our Writers Group meeting on January 21, which boasted eleven wise, wonderful people:  Suzyn, Karuna, Tina, Lynda, Daniel, Richard, Ken, Mario, Connor, Pat, and Angela.

Mario started with a continuation of his detective story set in Montgomery County, Maryland.  This excerpt provided additional background on Liberty, one of the kidnapped girls, and we had a good discussion about how to tailor the amount of detail provided for each character in proportion to their importance in the story.

Pat then read us an autobiographical essay depicting a #MeToo experience that she had in 1966, when she was starting her career as a journalist and interviewing for jobs.  Her essay highlighted the fuzzy nature of some of these experiences as well as their unfortunate ubiquitousness and brazenness –for example, was the older, male editor interviewing young female writers under the pretense of a job that was not actually available?

Following Pat, Daniel read the next portion of his scifi novel in which Scamper, a skinny, mistreated young girl, is introduced to readers when Lady Skelex foists her on Captain Tyrone as part of the payment for taking a mysterious cargo.  We debated whether the captain could have found a way out of the situation, but the logic was airtight.  He was stuck in a bad situation and would have to make the best of it.  Some of us were interested in more detail about how Lady Skelex’s mechanical hand was attached, but no one found anything to quibble about regarding the dialogue, which was vivid and fit each character beautifully.  Scamper was an endearing character who immediately won our hearts.

At this point, some attendees in our group commented on a slight chill in the air.  Richard put on his coat.  Ken noted that he was wearing two jackets.  At that moment, we didn’t think much of it, attributing it to the January weather.  Nevertheless, a few hints came up after Lynda had read her ghost story…

Tina then read a short piece about a kindergartener from Puerto Rico who feels out of place among her classmates in Germany.  An excellent discussion ensued about how to keep the language from being too dry or academic and about removing extraneous details unless they are relevant later in the story.

Connor read us the beginning of his new story about a warrior, the warrior’s sister, and their fearsome battle skills.  The piece elicited good discussion, including how long a flashback scene should be and the importance of making sure the characters’ ages are in proportion to the ages of their children.

Lynda then read us an excerpt of her ghost story, in which Annie and her sister had a lighthearted conversation about the ghost –Ross, Ross Smith (a la James, James Bond).  The piece also revealed that Annie had found a child’s leg bone near the ghost’s gravestone and had alerted the police about it.  Listeners praised the easy banter between Annie and her sister as well as Bogey-the-cat’s interwoven antics as he tries to swipe some shrimp from Annie’s lunch plate while she is on the phone.

Toward the end of our meeting, we prevailed on our waitress Maya to take pictures.  Then we said our goodbyes and traipsed out the door into the January cold.  None of us noticed the echoes of words, thin and almost transparent, that ricocheted near the ceiling, having risen as we were reading.  The streams of words from each story clicked into each other like interlocking gears, and suddenly the sound of Scamper’s giggles came from a corner of the restaurant.  “Come on, Liberty,” she cried to Mario’s creation, “let’s get some shrimp from the kitchen for Bogey!”  An almost-transparent Scamper grabbed Liberty’s equally ghostly hand, and the giggles traversed the room.  A chair shuddered, as if a twelve-year old girl had bumped it as her friend was pulling her hand.  Oddly, the servers who were wiping the tables and closing the restaurant didn’t seem to hear or see anything amiss, except for Maya, who suddenly felt a chill and went to fetch her hoodie…


1/7/20 Meeting

Seven avid readers and writers attended our meeting on January 7, despite a topsy-turvy day that included snow, school dismissal changes, and federal office closings.  Lynda and Tina had been hoping to take Mario’s helicopter to get to Don Jorge’s Restaurant, but Mario informed us that his imaginary helicopter only transported imaginary friends.  Alas, we had to resort to driving our cars.  Besides Lynda, Tina, and Mario, the brave souls who attended were Ken, Peter, Daniel and Richard, who was our newest member.  At Don Jorge, after introducing ourselves and discovering that several of us are enthusiastic letter-writers, five of us read.

Ken read a short, humorous piece about a missing watch, mixed-up shoes, and glasses that re-appear unexpectedly.  Most of our comments were about whether Ken should provide more detail.  Mario read the next portion of his detective story, which added an interesting twist to the story of the missing girl.  Mario had carefully chosen the clues and details to develop certain inferences in the detectives’ and in the readers’ minds.  In answer to Richard’s question, Mario noted that he had already developed the story line, which clearly helps him decide which details to provide and which to withhold for maximum effect.

Daniel read an excerpt from his sci-fi story in which the captain and his android pilot enter a shady bar, to obtain the instructions for their next assignment.  This piece included an interesting dialogue between them regarding android templates and whether androids can enjoy their jobs.  The characters’ voices were clear and distinct –the android’s language proper, and Shane’s more informal.  We did not have much to correct, except perhaps wanting more detail, such as what the waitress android looked like.

Lynda humored us by reading the next chapter of her ghost story; we had been clamoring to hear what happened after the first ghost sighting in the previous chapter.  This chapter did not include the ghost himself, but it provided a wonderful depiction of a close friendship between two sisters.  Like Daniel’s story, Lynda’s had vivid, engaging dialogue between the two characters.

Tina read a new excerpt from her novelized stories about a family in Puerto Rico.  We had a good discussion regarding how to incorporate phrases in different languages to add realism, while still somehow allowing readers to figure out what the phrases mean.  There were other excellent suggestions regarding word choices for describing how an island disappears as one flies over it.

Overall, we exchanged helpful feedback, ate delicious food, and enjoyed good camaraderie.  The only things we left behind were a few tortilla crumbs and the echoes of our laughter.


12/17/2019 Meeting.

On a cold, dark Tuesday evening in December, eight hungry creative writers –Pat, Lynda, Pete, Daniel, Connor, Ken, Mario, and Tina–  bundled up at their separate locations and converged on Don Jorge’s Restaurant.  Our imaginary friends were a strong presence as well, although they did not add to our head count.  Pete was our newest (non-imaginary) member, so we introduced ourselves while crunching on warm corn chips with salsa and then ordered our dinner.  Six of us read.

Ken broke the ice with a humorous and relatable piece about a new cell phone that only worked intermittently until, several phones later, he found out that his thumb was the problem.

Lynda read us a Superman fan fiction piece that started where the fourth season of the TV show ended.  In this initial chapter, Lois Lane and Clark Kent discover a baby in their house that had inexplicably appeared there, complete with a mysterious House-El blanket.  After providing a few comments, we wondered whether we would get to hear more of the (separate) ghost story that Lynda had started to read previously.  We will have to be patient.

Pat read a riveting piece about someone who suddenly breaks off a close friendship after fifty years.  The use of direct, conversational language laid bare the hurtfulness of the situation.  We spent most of our discussion on why someone would act this way;  there wasn’t much to nitpick in terms of the writing.

Daniel read an excerpt from his sci-fi book “Better the Millstone,” in which the Captain and his pilot debate whether the Alliance is telling the truth about the number of disappeared androids.  The Captain’s mistrust of the Alliance is illustrated by his refusal to have a mental link with the android for fear that the Alliance could read his thoughts, even without Bailey knowing.  The piece was very well written, and we discussed the interesting contrast of the human Captain describing the use of android parts vs. the android’s recognition that this would constitute murder.

Mario read us an excerpt from his novel “On the Run,” in which the police entered the suspect’s concealed enclosure under his shed and apparently found the child victim.  The scenes were well described and easy to picture, and we discussed whether a police officer would be likely to use an idiom such as “hit the jackpot” when finding a kidnapped child. There seemed to be consensus that having the police officers talk colloquially during their workday would be realistic, even if one might not normally refer to finding a kidnapped child as “hitting the jackpot.”

Toward the end of the evening, Tina read part of a story about a young man in 1950’s Puerto Rico, in which an uncle discusses a scholarship that would ultimately send the young man to Europe.  This generated an interesting discussion as to whether more plot movement could be incorporated here, since nothing terribly new happened in this excerpt. Tina may take Lynda’s advice of ordering the chocolate “muse” for dessert next time, to see if that will help inspire her to create a more engaging plot. (Webmaster comment: the excerpt that Tina read was excellent. It served to set the tone and forward the narration).

Having finished our delicious dinner and creative discussions, we milled around before saying our goodbyes.  When we headed back out into the cold, our bellies were full, our hearts warmed, and our creative minds inspired.


At our December 3rd meeting at Don Jorge restaurant, we had ten attendees:  Angela, John, Melina, Lynda, Daniel, Connor, Tina, Ken, Mario, and Pat.  Four of us read.

John read an imaginative piece written from the perspective of Sarah, who inexplicably finds herself in an idyllic garden.  As she walks among the flowers, she runs into Buddha, Muhammed, Moses and Jesus, all of whom encourage her to figure out what she really wants. The piece ends when Sarah realizes that she is seated in a restaurant, menu in hand, as her dining companion and the server wait for her food order.

After a lively discussion, Mario read an excerpt about a gang member who reports a suspected kidnapping and how police detectives begin their investigation.  We debated the effect of writing this piece in the style of a police report, with some of us thinking it enhanced the story and others being unconvinced.

Daniel read another installment of his sci-fi novel, this time about the seedy docking station where the captain and his android pilot land their spaceship and how the android feels when a Port Authority attendant sneers at her.  We discussed whether and how much emotion an android might feel.

Tina read a piece describing a math professor’s teaching style and how having him as a father affected his daughter via a combination of genetic and non-genetic inheritance that cascades across generations.

After a delicious dinner and excellent conversation, our meeting adjourned, with plans to meet at Don Jorge again on December 17th.


We had nine attendees at our Creative Writers’ Group meeting on November 19, which began by extending a warm welcome to one newcomer and to an almost-newcomer.  This was also our group’s first meeting at a Panera, and we variously regaled ourselves with delicious sandwiches, salads with hints of sweetness, soft raisin-oatmeal cookies, and fragrant hot coffee.  Ken, Vickie, Angela, Anita, and Pat provided helpful feedback after Lynda, Mario, Daniel, and Tina each read their pieces.  Tina read about a Puerto Rican farm boy in the 1950’s who doesn’t want to spend his entire life working at a farm. This excerpt generated discussion about how to keep domestic scenes from being too mundane, which is tricky when a story doesn’t have action-packed scenes.  Next, Lynda read her novel’s prologue, centering on a village elder whose dream presaged the arrival of a Lost Soul.  All of us enjoyed the imagery, including the protagonist’s long, wavy red hair and her glittering jewelry, and we were intrigued by the mention of the mysterious Lost Soul.  Mario then read us a piece from his memoir, which described a brief R&R stay that he and two other members of his battalion had in Bangkok, Thailand during the Vietnam War.  The excerpt was only one-and-a-half pages long, but it was fascinating, describing the transactional way that military personnel could acquire a female companion, and the happiness that the soldiers felt at having this little bit of freedom, consisting of the ability to go out for a meal, dancing, and female companionship.  The excerpt also illustrated the bravado that exists among members of the military even when they are allies, and Mario’s characteristically kind way of defusing it.  The piece ended with the heartbreaking knowledge that a few days after this R&R, one of Mario’s two friends was killed in battle.  Daniel then read the next portion of his sci-fi novel, in which the two main characters, Captain Tyrone and his female android pilot Bailey, discuss why they might pick a job that pays well but is rather shadowy in its details.  The clear descriptions of the ship maneuvering in space made it easy to picture the scene, and the Captain’s slightly rough-sounding accent made this character more vivid.  We parted with smiles and heartfelt goodbyes, leaving the warmth of Panera but looking forward to our next meeting, for which our group will be trying out another new location.


Thank you again Tina for such an excellent account.

Our Nov. 5 Writers’ Group meeting boasted ten attendees, including six readers.  Our wise advisors consisted of John, Chuck, Angela, and Ken, and our readers were Lynda, Melina, Connor, Mario, Daniel, and Tina.  Lynda started us off with an intriguing piece about a photographer’s encounter with a ghost, and Lynda’s printout set the mood with a cover picture of a cemetery.  Tina then read an excerpt of one of her family stories, describing aunts, uncles, and cousins arriving for a birthday party in 1955.  Melina read us a touching short story about a blind girl’s grief at losing her beloved dog Cinnamon, and then how she finds a new friend.  Connor read from his Sasquatch story, which featured vivid dialogue between two young male Sasquatches.  Mario then read a piece about conversations he overheard while volunteering at a soup kitchen the previous day.  By then, the restaurant’s music had been turned up to a bombastic level, but Daniel valiantly read the next portion of his sci-fi novel about Captain Shane Tyrone and his gynoid pilot Bailey, explaining how androids are created via nanotech.  At the end of our meeting, we brainstormed about quieter places where we could meet going forward.  The chilly autumn air greeted us when we stepped outside the restaurant, and a half-moon gleamed against the black sky to see each of us home.

For a more detailed version of the meeting please see out blog.


For our Oct. 15 meeting, we had nine people: Lynda, Daniel, Connor, Pat, Bill, Cece, Pablo, Mario, and Tina. Ken and his wife joined us at the tail end of the meeting. Five of us read. Lynda started us off with a double drabble about a friendly squirrel that she encountered at the National Zoo. Bill then read us a piece that drew parallels between biological, sexual reproduction and computer programs and their compilers/interpreters, which generated a robust discussion about how to define life. Connor then read us a revamped version of the first chapter of his Sasquatch book, piquing our curiosity about how the plot would evolve in subsequent chapters. Some of us teased him for giving us spoilers, but knowing what might come up probably only added to our interest in the book. Next, Tina read a portion of a chapter describing a boy’s birthday party in 1950’s rural Puerto Rico. Finally, Daniel read us the ending of Chapter 1 of his sci-fi book. This portion described the human captain and the android linking up their communication channel with each other and plugging themselves into the spaceship. One of the interesting aspects of this was how the android, Bailey, can sense the inner workings of the ship after she links up with it. Almost as if he had timed it, Ken and his wife walked in just as we were finishing up. With any luck, we will have a full contingent of people for our next meeting.Tina again did a wonderful job doing the summary. She also has a piece in the blog pages.


We had ten attendees at our October 1 meeting –John, Melina, Pat, Mario, Ken, Vickie, Connor, Daniel, Lynda, and Tina. Seven of us read. John read us a story about teddy bears who had suddenly gained consciousness, and lived in a gritty, urban world, complete with fires in trash cans. Pat shared a letter she had written to someone in her past, which included the unexpected twist that the person she was dating had her accompany him to a job interview. Even more surprisingly, when the interviewer asked Pat’s beau when they were getting married, Pat’s boyfriend proposed to her on the spot! Mario read us the next installment of his science fiction novel, this time introducing us to a character who was an old academic, which was an interesting counterpoint to an otherwise futuristic world. Ken entertained us by reading his carefully-crafted poem about Maryland birds, which included references to the Ravens sports team, as well as to Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem. Connor read us the next chapter in his book about sasquatches, this time showcasing their weapons. An interesting aspect of his main character Marduk was that, in addition to his violent side, he also had an affectionate side, illustrated by his protectiveness towards his sister. Daniel, in turn, read us a portion of his science fiction novel in which the protagonist’s spaceship is described, and how humans and androids can link their minds to each other and/or to the ship. Tina read an excerpt in which a grandfather’s and his grandson’s math abilities are contrasted when each was 12 years old.
We exchanged plenty of helpful feedback, including debating how to expand on a love letter to create a memoir around it; whether every line in a poem needs to have the same rhythmic structure; and how to balance descriptions of a mythical character’s violence with his empathic and protective side. We also discussed how teddy bears could possibly eat without having digestive organs; when to use perspective shifts in a story; how to best use punctuation to convey slowness in speech; and how to break up long descriptive passages when a particular futuristic world needs to be portrayed. Through the course of the evening, we wove a unique tapestry, created from living interactions. This tapestry had never existed before this evening, and now resides only in each of our memories.

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Again Tina overdid herself with the summary of our meeting on 9/17/19.

G'burg writers

Front row: Suzyn, Mario, Ken
Back: John, Connor, Daniel, Bill and Tina

We had eight attendees at our meeting on September 17:  Suzyn, Bill, Connor, Mario, Ken, Tina, Daniel, and John.  Most of us brought treasures to read, whether diamonds-in-the-rough or already polished and glittery.  The theme of the evening seemed to be the nature of consciousness, and to start us off right, we ordered delicious food and drinks, ranging from taco salad to pupusas, and from beer to strawberry margaritas. 

John kicked off the meeting with a humorous piece about our very own writers’ group, in which he had imagined that we had all died and had been reunited in a digital holding space before being rebooted with a new life simulation.  We laughed as we read about Mario’s initial elation at realizing that he was correct that there is no afterlife, only to be disappointed again when confronted with the possibility that there may be a god after all, and that we might be simulations in god’s computer.  As readers, we did not have much to critique with regard to John’s writing;  the dialogue was crisp, the description of the digital holding space vividly portrayed its stark whiteness, and the slow unveiling of the rules that governed life and death in this world kept us interested.  Part of what made it effective was that the story was told from Mario’s perspective, and as a character, he had not experienced this limbo before.  As readers, we were discovering this afterworld along with the character Mario.  The only substantive suggestion for the writing was to keep the perspective consistent.  The characterizations were also spot-on, and we laughed at Ken’s character muttering in Spanish to himself. 

Our next reader was Suzyn, who read us a poem called Binary.  This was a concise, interesting piece that also explored the theme of human consciousness.  It began by contrasting our competing impulses to see life as a zero-sum game, where the gain of one person is necessarily the loss of another, vs. seeing life as a cooperative endeavor.  With examples that we all recognized from real life, such as kids in cages, the poem concisely conveyed its meaning.  The interesting twist came at the end, when the concept of selfishly wanting “one for me” became the one’s and zero’s of binary code.  Further, this became the idea of humans collectively creating our reality.  Our world then becomes our own projection.  A very clever addition was that the last strings of one’s and zero’s in the poem were the binary code for an equal sign.  We discussed what this poem meant to each of us.  Not surprisingly for a good poem, we had slightly different, but interesting, interpretations. 

Connor was our next reader, and he read us the Prologue and the beginning portion of the first chapter of his book on sasquatch-type beings.  The Prologue set the stage by giving an overview of how most cultures have giant beings in their mythology, and the mystery that surrounds these stories.  Chapter 1 opened with a gripping hunting scene in which Mardukarahat, a sasquatch, kills a buck with a spear, as his next meal.  We felt that the description of the hunting scene was vivid, and we brainstormed about how the sasquatch’s abilities could be made more realistic while still showcasing its superhuman targeting ability.  Another turn of conversation regarded their consciousness, and how sasquatches might compare with ancient hominids. 

Next, we heard from Bill, who read us an excerpt from his book on Doggybabble.  It was an original conceptualization of a world in which dogs can speak human languages to different degrees.  In this excerpt, a new dog joins a kind of kennel and one of the resident dogs tries to communicate with him.  Our discussion afterward centered on how Bill was able to weave realistic aspects of dogs, such as their differently-shaped snouts, into how well they could speak.  The work was an interesting conceptualization of languages, including the amount of practice each dog had, and its experience with previous specific languages.  We also discussed why dialogue can be effective in allowing readers to feel that they are part of the scene with the characters. 

Tina read the next piece, which was the beginning of the third chapter of a book she is working on, loosely based on Peter, a child with autism and intellectual disability.  This chapter began to delineate the 1950’s farm upbringing of the person who would eventually be Peter’s grandfather, nicknamed “Pibe.”  The chapter opened with a description of the island of Puerto Rico, seen from the point of view of the wind that sweeps from the ocean across the island.  As in previous chapters, this one continued to try to show the internal patterns of brain activity rhythms, using snippets of metered prose and visual imagery.  The story intercalated this rendering of brain function with the external events from Pibe’s upbringing on the farm.  The descriptions were considered to be vivid, although possibly using too many adjectives.  Other helpful suggestions were to focus on transitions and to break paragraphs into smaller sections. 

Daniel then shared the next chapter of his scifi book with us.  This excerpt centered on the interaction between the human protagonist, who has just been released from prison, and his android pilot as they negotiate their contract.  The writing was very clear and easy to follow.  We did not have much to critique in terms of the writing itself, and we enjoyed discussing the differences between humans and androids.  One aspect we wondered about was whether the android’s insistence that the human should read the contract was foreshadowing something.  If it wasn’t intended to do so, we felt that it could be shortened, although it did serve to highlight the adherence to rules on the part of the androids vs. humans.  Conversely, since most of us had interpreted this as a foreshadowing, this could be a good technique for us to keep in mind as writers. 

Our last reader was Mario, who read us another chapter from his book.  This excerpt was about the character Diablo and his assumptions about his neighbor.  The writing was interesting in that, as readers, we seemed to be led to believe that Diablo’s neighbor had kidnapped a young girl.  We initially thought that this was somewhat too obvious in the writing, until Mario clarified for us that the neighbor was not necessarily the kidnapper, and that we were going on assumptions just like the character Diablo was.  Diablo is also faced with a dilemma of reporting the neighbor or staying invisible. We also discussed how, as writers, we can keep the information that we put into stories realistic, such how much detail a character in a story can learn from an missing-persons alert.  John had the interesting suggestion of having Diablo see an interview of the victim’s mother on the evening news.  Using a literary device such as this might allow Diablo to have a plausible way of getting more detailed information about the kidnapping than from the missing-persons alert. 

Our evening of spirited conversation and companionship came to a close with a group picture.  We each packed up our gifts of advice on polishing our diamonds-in-the-rough, and, with smiles and good wishes, we scattered into the night, looking forward to our next gathering.

 


Our Sept. 3rd meeting of the Gaithersburg Creative Writers Group (GCW) was a rollicking success, with Vickie, Pat, Connor,

Writers group
Gaithersburg Creative Writers group, Sept.3, 2019

Mary, Bill, Mario, Ken, Tina, Lynda and Daniel in attendance (from left around the table).  Mary, Lynda, and Connor were new attendees, so we did a round-robin of introductions.  Vickie then read us the beginning of what will become a collection of first-hand stories about living near a nuclear power plant, and the looming dread of its dangerous effects on health.  We discussed the themes that the piece brought up for us, including the worry of not being told the truth by authorities, and the potential for PTSD-like effects from living near a nuclear disaster.  Our suggestions were minor, such as using a more gripping first sentence.  Overall, we thought that the piece would be good at building up anticipation and interest in the topic. Next, Ken shared a humorous one-page story, “And the Clown Went Down,” which he wrote in response to a prompt, for submission to a contest.  We appreciated the verbal as well as the conceptual puns, and we discussed how to deal with references that not everyone might understand, such as what a Brownie Hawkeye was (turns out, it was a camera!). Our third reader, Bill, read us a vignette entitled “Alfie,” from a book he is working on.  The vignette was designed to shed light on the abuse of minors that occurs all too often in cults or religions.  We felt that Bill’s writing was vivid, detailed, spare, and written convincingly from the protagonist’s point of view.  Most of our conversation centered on whether it was necessary to focus the piece on a specific religion (through hints such as location), or whether it might be better not to single out a specific religion.  Sadly, these abuses of power seem to occur in many religions. Mario then read us an excerpt entitled “Mens sana in corpore sano,” from one of the novels he is working on.  The chapter was constructed in an interesting way;  Mario included three points of view in separate sub-sections, even though the entire piece was only a few pages long.  For those of us who were not familiar with the entire back-story, it was a bit hard to follow, but we appreciated the interwoven plot strands and the creative use of names, such as Dio, Diablo, and Chispa. Tina read the next piece, which was intended to be a creative illustration of how brain activity rhythms are necessary for normal cognition.  This idea was cloaked, perhaps too deeply, within a story about a boy with autism and the loneliness that he feels at not being able to communicate, except when the kindness from another human being synchronizes his brain activity.  The conceptual links between neural rhythms, human connection, and cognition did not seem to be fully conveyed in the story, so Tina will continue to work on trying to balance the external surface story (about the boy with autism), with the internal parallel of how the “glows” within his brain need to fall into rhythms, in order to do specific mental tasks such as recalling a memory or understanding math division.  Nevertheless, listeners seemed to enjoy the imagery and Tina’s attempt to convey rhythm via metered prose. Daniel was our last reader, and he regaled us with a portion of a science fiction book he is writing.  The early chapter that he read to us described the release of the protagonist from prison.  The writing flowed beautifully, and the descriptions were precise and allowed us to picture what was happening.  An interesting aspect was that all the prison guards looked identical, since they were genetic clones.  Our group discussed the differences between clones and androids, and between sexaroids and other androids, but we certainly did not have much to critique in the writing itself, since it was already well constructed.

Our group members had so much to read for this meeting that we ran a bit longer than we usually do, but we all left the restaurant delighted with our shared fellowship, and looking forward to our next meeting.


August 20th, Ken, Mario, Bill, Pat, Daniel and (newcomer) Kismet descended on La Villa. Four entertained with their reading and received helpful suggestions. Pat delighted us with a short piece about why she likes the “Man in Black”, Johnny Cash. Is it the raspy voice? Bill read about virtuous Enoch and Klaus from different sides. The former dies in squalor while the latter, who was evil, died peacefully. Daniel introduced his Sci Fi piece with the protagonist getting out of jail and hinting at the differences between clones and androids. Mario read the continuation of his futuristic novel about a visit to “The Middle”. This was a transition chapter, written in a descriptive mode. Kismet, the newcomer, was involved in the comments portion and indicated that she will read something next time she comes. She informed us that she is a motorcycle fan and rides. Daniel indicated that he was also one.


Again Tina was kind enough to do a great recap of our meeting of 8/6/19. Ten members attended.

Our lively Gaithersburg Writers’ Group on August 6th began during a fierce, unexpected rainstorm.  Each of us arrived at the restaurant heartily water-bespeckled but glad to get inside, scratching our heads as to why the downpour had not been predicted. 

Our meeting was attended by John, Melina, Vicky, Chuck, Pat, Karuna, Tina, Ken, Mario and Daniel.  Karuna and Daniel are our two newest members, and we all shared a few sentences about ourselves.  We teased Chuck about exceeding his word allotment when he was introducing himself, but we were happy to learn more about each other, especially hearing about each other’s varied day jobs. 

Tina started off the meeting proper by reading the first half of a short story based on her son, who has autism.  Vicky, Ken, John, Pat, and others provided excellent advice, including that the longer paragraphs would be better if they were chopped up into shorter ones to give readers some psychological breathing room to process the information. 

Chuck was our next reader, and he shared a brief piece he had developed based on one item from the humorous “advice-to-young-uns” list he read to us last time.  At our last meeting, John and others had encouraged Chuck to expand some of the two-line items from his list into longer stories, with the idea that this would draw readers in.  Chuck took that advice to heart and, for today’s meeting, expanded his premise that men with beards are not trustworthy.  Toward the end, the piece became somewhat political and controversial, and Vicky pointed out that this might make readers tune out.  Another valuable piece of advice was to better document some of the political, polarizing assertions. 

Next up, Mario read us a re-worked chapter from a sci-fi novel he is writing.  The futuristic world he is envisioning was meticulously constructed and drew us in.  Some of our feedback was whether some details were truly needed, such as describing the reusable water bottles.  Conversely, we wanted more vivid detail about other aspects such as the slurry with which one of the minor characters is suddenly covered. What color was the slurry, we wondered.  Also, was it hot, lukewarm, or cold, and was it gritty, or was it sticky like molasses?  Clearly, we were all intrigued by the concept of scary futuristic slurry.  Vicky offered the excellent advice that the story might be more compelling if it were written from just the protagonist’s point of view, rather than from two characters’ points of view, even if they experience the events together. 

Our next reader was Ken, who shared a summary of an interview he had conducted with a writer.  We were intrigued by the advice that the writer provided including immediately applicable suggestions such as writing about situations one has experienced.  As usual, we only had minor comments about Ken’s writings, such as clarifying who was speaking the quoted portions. 

Our last reader was Karuna, with an excerpt from her journal, in which she initially writes about attending a wedding, and then reminisces about a place where she used to live.  We liked the imagery that she used of specific flowers and butterflies in her garden.  We encouraged her to expand on some of these aspects and to give the story a structure and a conflict that can resolve in the end.  As the meeting was closing, we encouraged Melina to humor us with her writing in the near future, but the outlook remains bleak on this front. 

Regardless, we parted happy to have spent another Tuesday evening in each other’s company.  By then, the rainstorm had stopped, and the lightning jags had moved off into the distance.  Instead of having to execute another disjointed scramble through a downpour, we could all sashay gracefully to our cars and drive away while the evening peacefully blanketed itself around us.


Tina, our newest member, wrote this wonderful summary of our meeting on 7/16/19.

Eight enthusiastic writers attended our meeting today:  Melina, John, Bill, Ken, Mario, Pat, Chuck, and Tina.  Four read their latest work to us.  Mario started us off with a piece that was inspired by a conversation he had had with Chuck at the previous meeting (even though politics is normally off-limits for our group).  Mario’s article, entitled “Second-class Citizenship,” was an opinion piece relating to the current US president’s latest tweet furor and delving into possible reasons for racism and discrimination against immigrants.  A spirited yet friendly discussion ensued, and we see-sawed between constructive suggestions for the writing and political debate.  Having successfully navigated those treacherous waters, we moved on to Chuck reading excerpts from a list of advice points he had compiled from his life experience.  He has previously shared his 31-item list with a high school as “Advice from the old farts to the young ones.”  Much of our discussion centered on the statement, “it’s not alright to be stupid,” with various thoughts being voiced as to what was meant by stupid vs. ignorant, and some of us felt that the preceding sentences could stand on their own perfectly well, without the problematic phrase.  After absorbing as much life wisdom from Chuck’s list as we could, John shared a playful poem about how helmet-wearing squirrels are actually dealing with those murderous cars by valiantly trying to take them down with thorns, sticks, and even spears.  The fate of squirrel Princess Melina was a bit harsh in the end, but this did not detract from anyone’s enjoyment of the poem’s conceptual creativity and its rollicking rhythm.  Some minor comments were whether the poem should strictly follow an ABAB rhythm, or whether it should have a set number of lines per stanza.  Ken, our last presenter, moved us to more somber topics by reading a summary he had written about a police officer’s presentation on how to survive an active shooter.  We all listened attentively to the information being presented, which was clear, useful, and immediately applicable, even to our choice of seating in the restaurant.  We did not have much to critique in the writing itself;  the main substantive question was whether all the information presented was factual, and how to present information that the officer or Ken himself were offering more as opinions, such as whether video game playing plays a causal role in leading an individual to commit violent acts.  Despite this heavy topic, the entire group finished our meeting happy to have had the fellowship of such good company on what otherwise would have been a humdrum Tuesday evening.


We had five participants at our meeting on 6/18/19. Besides Ken, Larry Alfredo and Mario we had Charles, a new member. Charles read two of his essays that were very well receive. Larry read a hilarious piece about Bush 43 burning and speaking to people in the past, during the Deluge and a pair of penguins trying to make the cruise. Ken gave us a very nice piece about how mangoes felt being shipped to the US as well as fighting drones getting ready for commerce. Mario gave us a piece about his fiction piece “On the run”. A lively discussion about religion and politics followed the readings.


We had nine participate in our meeting on 6/4/19. Larry read a SciFi piece with the dilemma of what a Zombie should do when he is already full. Pat told us about her confusion with what noun to use when dealing with the proliferating genders today. Ken read a translation of a very moving beginning of a letter from a dear friend. He also read about how attributing Climate Change to supernatural entities will get us into trouble. Mario read about his ancestor Sebastían de Belalcázar, but apparently did not provide enough information to satisfy the rest. In the words of one of the participants, “we want more from you, man.”


Five members participated in our May 21st meeting. Larry read a Sci-Fi piece about the “Society of conspiracy theorist” that was Happy and Righteous. Ken about a missionary known to him in Bolivia that was killed by a guerrilla group. Mario gave us a piece about a street fight. A lively discussion was also part of the meeting, related mostly on how to provide positive feedback.


Our meeting on 5/7/19 was well attended. Of the eight participants, six read. John delighted us with a colorful poem he wrote for someone’s school project (that couldn’t be presented). A new member read the first chapter of a novel she is writing. Vicky read an interesting piece that she wrote for a contest, and Larry a SciFi short story about the end of the Earth video and Mario about stopping a thief when he was a teenager. Rafael asked for input on what text to add to his “Doctor Zhivago” themed napkins.


Our meeting on 4/16 was exceptionally good. 4 1/2 people read, all with good writing and good reading. Peg delighted us with a new chapter of her science fiction project that included some funny references to Trump. Pat read of her experience j-walking in Germany. Ken read some moving poetry and Mario told us when he got a package sent to the main post office in Saigon. Alfredo tried to read from a hand-written memoir in Spanish. We left inspired.


On the 4/2 meeting. All was well for our group last night in La Villa. Mario read more of his adventure story, Larry conveyed a really unique approach to Heaven and Hell, and Ken read an essay and a poem written on his trip to Jordan.


Our meeting on 3/19 had five participants. We enjoyed readings by Peggy and Mario. We also reread Larry’s piece about releasing Hitler from hell. We had two new members that we hope will continue to attend. 


Our meeting last night (3/5/19)- eight members and four readers. Perfect! Larry TT had a new take on old Aesop, Trekkie John read a fanciful tale, Our Mario gave us valuable historical information, and Silver Pen Ken edged into race relations. Good discussions followed each one. 


Ten people attended our meeting at La Villa 2/5/19. We enjoyed readings by four of those attending. Food was enjoyed by all. Larry Hodges returned and read an interesting piece about Hell closing out for good. Here is a photo of the group.

Photo of those attending.
We had ten participants on 2/5/19.

Nine people attended our meeting on 1/22/19. We had a new person, Pablo Guzmán and two members we have not seen for a while, Bill and Suzyn. Five members read and we had lively feedback.


Twelve persons attended our 1/8/19 meeting. Ties our most attended. The highlight was John’s piece about …. well you ask him about it. 


We had a very well attended meeting on  12/4. We heard from five of nine writers. A good time was had by all.

Attendants 12/4/18
Attendants 12/4/18

Ken’s remarks on our meeting on 10/24/18:

When we arrived to the Barking Mad last evening, a major rally for Governor Hogan was in full swing on the patio. It was a hard to find parking and even harder to push through the crowd to the door. We spoke of this and that and ordered from the waitress. Then, Mario read a memoir, hot off his printer. About the time we finished commenting on it, the Hogan rally ended and, and the cafe filled with people looking for warmth, food, drink and conversation.

Carol read more of her Ghana story, loudly enough to be heard over the din, and there were several comments. Those ended when Lee, from the family that owns the Spectrum complex, including the cafe, saw our sign on the table and came to say “hello.” She is a journalist. Then, her husband, Peter, came to join in the conversation.

As they were moving on, a Puerto Rican artist and writer, Alfredo, arrived to check out our group. The time for reading was over, and people drifted away, as Ken and Alfredo stayed to enjoy some good café americano.


On May 1st we had six participants. We thoroughly enjoyed the company and the readings by five participants. Larry H delighted us with a short story about the last Pluter. Carol read the second chapter of her book. Marylou showed one of her recently published articles about a fabulous exhibit at the Barn in the Kentlands. Larry surprised us with part of his book about the lost pterodactyls.  Mario continued the saga of a couple of the characters in “On the run”.


We had a very successful meeting on April 17. We missed some of you, but we had a great addition to the group, Carol Bouville. She delighted us with part of the first chapter of her novel.


We had one of the better attended meetings on April 3rd. Heard from six of the participants. Regaled with both fiction and non fiction that made the evening very enjoyable. Here is a photo of the participants.

gaithersburgwriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


Meeting on June 21, 2017

Our group’s writers are meeting high standards. On June 21st, Ben read a fascinating one-pager entitled, “Beautiful,” she said,”And tragic.” Bill followed with an excellent piece that began: “She was lethargic and seldom spoke–a clear portent that her ancestors were beckoning.” Ken followed with a poem about acquaintance and impermanence, and then Mario’s ongoing story moved into the realm of a Latin gang.

At one point, our waiter said something about “The Ancient Mariner,” and Ken spouted a verse of it. Bill knew the poem too and recited the opening verse. 

Newbies, Elizabeth and Sandy participated in the critiques, found things in common, and stayed after the meeting to talk about them. Writers attract writers.


On March 21, 2017 we had an excellent meeting. The photo below shows us in the middle of it, from left: Rachel, Ken, Mario, Ben, Larry, Ellie and Dell. We also hosted a videographer from the city of Gaithersburg that came to tape Ken, as our host. Rachel, Mario, Larry, Ellie and Dell read from some of the projects they have going. Rachel is a newcomer, she has two more writing Meetons. The fare was good and the company better.


We had a great meeting last Tuesday January 17. Six people attended. DelRica one of our new members sent me a link for a short story competition.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/ct-2017-nelson-algren-literary-awards-official-rules-20161201-story.html

The dead line is fast approaching. If you have that literary jewel, this is your chance.

Participants at our meeting on 7/19/16

We enjoyed the company of : (from left), Arlene, Holly, Richard, Anna (with Henry), Mario, Matthew, Ken, Mo, Nancy and Vivian. A good time was had by all.

Participants at our first meeting on 7/5/16.From left: Bea, Mario, Holly, Ken, Mo, Peter and Nancy.