Homework from this afternoon's meeting

We had a small group of people there today, not surprisingly, and didn't actually do any writing exercises on there, this time. We certainly talked about writing, both the subject in general, but also our own writing works.

Bruce shared an article, I spoke of my soon to be published short story, and Colleen mentioned her 'Ekphrastic' morning at the Gawler Gallery. We talked about various things, war, politics and poetry and finished up a little bit earlier than usual, but all, I think, well satisfied with the afternoon.

The most important thing we did for the afternoon was this one, and I say thank you to Bruce for the idea - our homework to present to the group next week is this - 'Write a recipe for a politician' This idea is a great one, I think, and I'm looking forward to hearing/reading what group members do with it.

You can interpret this idea as widely as you wish - you could write a recipe for required personality/character traits required to be a good politician, you could write an actual food recipe for something to help to get rid of a politician. You could write up the recipe for what happens when a politician goes wrong. Anything, it's entirely up to group members.

Have fun with the idea, and thrill us with the results next week!

Don't forget, two things are happening before we meet again on Thursday next week. The first is the Gawler Poets at the Pub is happening on Sunday, and the Poetry Workshop is on at the Gawler Community House on Monday night. I look forward to catching up at these events, if you're going.
Carolyn

First Post for Bruce: Redneck Charlie

At the risk of breaking Internet convention, I thought I'd cross-post a little poetry I'd previously posted here, just to get in the habit of contributing to the Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse blog. 'Redneck Charlie' was originally intended for an Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse meeting in March, so it probably, more rightly, belongs here!

***

Charlie: rusted out, four-wheel-drive, shit-bucket. Conveyor of cray pots.

I remember the late nights on Flinders highway driving home, air from the engine warming bare feet through a rusted cabin. Sand and shell grit falling away from toes and hems as they dried out.

Charlie was my first drive. Off-road. It helped that I didn’t have a road to keep on, nor that I had to dodge any trees. Charlie made short work of whatever got in the way as long as I kept him in first gear.

Mind you, the prickle bush could swipe back, so it paid to keep the windows shut –  an advantage not afforded by the tractor I once got up on two wheels.

I never knew where Charlie went. One day he was there, and the next, Dad brought home a white Ford ute, V8, cassette stereo, broken antenna and all.

Charlie probably deserved to go out with a bang, and Dad was fond of blowing things up at the time.

~ Bruce

I love creative writing exercises!

Fun things to do with words:

This is the exercise to be done for the North Eastern Writers group, with the meeting on Thursday night:
The writing task, as far as I understand it, was to write a poem with that famous story starter “It was a dark and stormy night” and then continue on, without using the letter ‘E’.

http://gardendog.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/it-feels-kinda-like-cheating/

I posted this bit on my blog post for today, with the poem I wrote in response to the exercise. It was tricky, that's for sure, but it made me think hard, and that's got to be a good thing, doesn't it? It's so difficult to write in English without using 'E', that's for sure.

Our New Member

This is Mr Boots, Puss to his friends! He joined us at our last meeting at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler. I'm hoping he will continue to be a friendly face at our meetings. 

If you'd like to have him in your home for a week, let me know at the meeting, and you can take him home with you. Make sure you bring him back though!

We had fun writing short stories last Thursday, using some interesting bits of writing as our story prompt. These 'bits of writing' were something I'd never heard of, that were emailed to me by a friend, Jocelyn. They're called a Paraprosdokian. Apparently Winston Churchill liked them. That may or may not tempt you to give them a try.

I was certainly inspired by the two I chose, my story flowed along very easily. I'm happy with my story, and I look forward to hearing the others again, when they're properly finished off. Another very pleasant afternoon of friends and words.

Homework from Yesterday's Meeting

The homework for the week is interesting to say the least. Each of the five members present gave one word, and group members are to write something using all of the words. Just to make it more challenging, member Chris L. gave a challenge 'write the shortest piece that uses all of the words'.

The words were picked at random, but as the list grew, there was a little more thought put into it. The words are as follows:

 Colleen - river
Bruce - candiru *
Chris - shards
Marilyn - muddle-headed
Carolyn - nurse

So what do you think? Can you put these words into a piece of writing that will amuse/inform/entertain others? Have a try and either post your result here, or bring your words along next Thursday!

Your piece can be in any form of writing, prose, haiku, longer poetic form, whatever you want to try.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWgUht-ObI
follow the link - and never pee in an Amazonian river!

That's all folk!

Group's Ekphrastic Outing

Last Saturday lots of our group members visited the Gawler Community Art Gallery, armed with pen and paper, and open minds.
We all chose a work of art and then set about writing creatively about that particular painting. We had a lovely and at times frustrating time of it, trying to capture our thoughts and feelings and perhaps find something magical.
This combination of art and creative words is Ekphrastic writing, ( Greek word). If you've ever heard of the poem 'Ode to a Grecian Urn' then you've heard of an ekphastic poem. The poems or creative writing penned will be typed up and displayed with the relevant art work. The writing will also be judged, with the best given a certificate and kudos!
The members on the day all agreed this was a fun exercise, and we've decided we want to do it again, at least annually, if not more often. If you love creative writing, why not find yourself some art, and pen some words to go with it. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you come up with!

If anyone reading this post has any thoughts about it all, please leave a comment!

Last Week's Short Story Prompt

Last week for our writing group meeting, the members present wrote on this prompt - 'Cross Purposes'. The responses were completely different, and went in directions that were surprising to the writer. When we meet up next Thursday, I hope these fascinating pieces will be finished!

These writing exercises have been extremely interesting, as group members discover interesting things creeping out of their heads! The quality of the writing of members is good, and the willingness to get truly involved has been excellent. 

This group is a caring and committed group, and creative writing is the winner!