Volume 22, Issue 9

September 2008

Next NETWO Meeting will be

Thursday, September 11, 6:30 p.m.

at Western Sizzlin, Mt. Pleasant

Minutes of August Meeting

The Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization met August 14, 2008 at the Western Sizzlin, Mt. Pleasant, Texas at 6:30 p.m. Ted Rankin presided. Fourteen members and Cheryl Hines, a guest, were present.

Old Business:

• Minutes for the July meeting were unanimously approved. Jim Callan made the motion. Bryan Freeman seconded.
• Gay Ingram brought a Basket of Books for a raffle for the East Texas Writers’ Association Conference on October 4, 2008. The tickets are $1.00 each. The conference will be held in the Kilgore College Ballroom in the Student Center.
• Jim Callan reminded members of Jory Sherman’s classes for Beginning, Middle, and Advanced writers. There will be three classes, four weeks long and two hours for each class. For more information, look on NETWO’s website. The classes will be held at the Pittsburg NTCC facilities.

NETWO OFFICERS

President………………………Ted Rankin

Vice President…………………Skip Hughes

Treasurer………………………Pat Hamilton

Secretary………………………Michele Chitsey

Newsletter Editor……………...Floy Smith

Newsletter E-Mail: floysmith@windstream.net

NETWO Website: www.netwo.org.

• Pittsburg Main Street Chick Fest will be Saturday, September 20, 2008. This will be a great author opportunity. NETWO has reserved a booth for members to bring books to sell. Gay Ingram, Bill Carl, Tom and Galand Nuchols, and Bob Allen will serve on the committee to help make arrangements. Contact Galand if you would like to help with the booth. The committee will report on the progress at the September NETWO meeting.

New Business:

• Jim Callan brought the book, Manuscript Make Over written by Elizabeth Lyon. She wanted someone to read and write a review. Jackie Brown volunteered.
• Bob St. John donated two copies of his book, Sketches in His Own Key as door prizes. Jean Pamplin and Michelle Chitsey were the winners.
• Jean Pamplin reported on Dan Haley’s health condition. Georgia Henson brought a get well card for members to sign and send to Dan.

• DeAnna Hambly mentioned the North East Christian Writers’ Organization conference to be held in the Metroplex September 12^th and 13^th.
• Bryan and Wally Freeman will celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary August 23, 2008, at their home between 2:00 and 4:00.
• Pat Hamilton’s birthday was celebrated with a delicious chocolate cake.

Meeting was adjourned for the critique session.

Readers:

• Jean Pamplin read a humorous short story on mishaps with the chocolate fountain entitled A Sweet Job.
• Georgia Henson read a personal essay entitled Do it the Easy Way about having automobile problems late at night.
• Ted Rankin read a piece entitled Unfinished Business about a son who seeks to recover his family’s valuables that were stored at the beginning of WWII.
• DeAnna Hambly read a chapter from her three-novel series entitled Grace. The plots of all three writing projects reveal how women discover redemption within their own generations of family members.
• Michele Chitsey read a writing exercise entitled Courage in the Dark—a teenage girl seeks to have a few minutes alone in a suspenseful way with a classmate she’s had a secret crush on all through school.
• Jim Callan read the first chapter of his new novel, Where There’s a Will, There’s a Murder.

Readers signed up for September:

Galand Nuchols

Bryan Freeman

Cheryl Hines

Bill Carl

Jackie Brown

Ted Rankin

If time allows, more readers are invited to read or sign up for the following month.

Remember if you have anything extra or unwanted that could inspire someone to work on writing projects, bring it for a door prize. @

* * * * * *

NEW MEMBERS

DeAnna Hambly

Greenville, Texas

Cheryl Hines

Como, Texas

BITS AND PIECES

Wa Wally and Bryan Freeman celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary at their home on August 23^rd. We wish them many more years together.

Dan Haley reports he has had another stroke and is paralyzed on his left side, but he can read and talk on the phone. Please remember him in your prayers.

The September 2008 issue of ACTIVE AGE, a supplement of The Texarkana Gazette features an article about NETWO member Bill Carl and included an excerpt from his novel, Until Tomorrow.

HOLLY WHITE

A PROFILE

By Jackie Brown

Holly White joined our group in 2007, and has already made herself felt. I hear she was a great help, acting, in the Murder Mystery we put on at the conference at Lake Shiloh this year. But she’s always been a fine actress, so that’s no surprise. When I think of her, I always think of her with a bright smile on her face, and she’s usually excited about a play or a book or whatever is going on, wanting to help and be a part of it.

Holly Thorne White was born in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Vanderbilt Hospital where her daddy was Chief Resident, back in April, 1956. She has a fraternal twin sister, Heather.

Holly attended S.M.U. in Dallas, Texas from 1974-1978, earning a B.A. in Art History.

Bob and I first met Holly when we acted together in a play, back in the l980’s, I think. We both worked with the manager at the Perot Theatre, Jim Clark, who was a gifted actor and director. She took part in several plays there, and more later with Joy Stilwell and her Texarkana Little Theatre Group, then later with the Texarkana Repertory Theatre that operates through Texarkana College.

Holly starred in Barefoot in the Park, at the Perot Theatre, and had a large part in

Mary, Mary put on by Joy Stilwell, which also starred Shirley Jackson, Bob Brown, and Tom Webb. She acted in many others, and also directed or helped to direct others with TexRep. She thinks of herself primarily as an actress, not a writer, and also is a painter. But whatever she does is done well, and with flair.

She has written one children’s book so far, and although passionate about books and reading, says writing is really hard work! A story from that book is in our Anthology, A Treasure Box, and concerns the underground railway that helped slaves escape to the North back before the Civil War, which her ancestors, the Thornes, were active in.

Holly’s idols in the writing world include: Nelson DeMille, HermanWouk, Winston Churchill, Margaret Atwood, D. H. Lawrence, Ken Follett, Anita Shreve, Edmund Rutherford, and Benjamin Franklin. She enjoys mysteries, biographies, and novels. She loves to help others write, but isn’t sure she wants to write any more herself, as it is such hard work! I have to agree that reading is usually more fun than writing, but told her I write because I make up such interesting characters that I’d like to know! Where else would you meet them? She says that Jory Sherman was very helpful to her in her writing.

Her favorite sport is football; her favorite historical period is medieval; her favorite magazine is Martha Stewart’s Living (great photos, recipes, and advice. She’s brilliant!, Holly says.)

Holly says that a writing contest would not motivate her, but she would enjoy spending a weekend at a writing retreat. When she is writing, she likes to listen to Rock, and Alternative Rock. ( I can see why she would have trouble writing—I can’t think at all when I hear Rock music!)

She loves to read and re-read favorite books. She’s read Sons and Lovers five times, and re-read The Pillars of the Earth, Cold Mountain, Winds of War, and Angela’s Ashes (all again and recently).

Her favorite subject in school was History. Her favorite movies are: Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient and Cold Mountain (the only time the movies were as good as the book, she says).

Holly says, “In my writing, I am inspired by the beauty of simplicity—a word or short phrase that captures the essence of scenery, thought, environment, etc.”

Her advice to people who want to become writers is: “Start young. I don’t have the patience!”

I believe that instead of fiction, Holly needs to turn to non-fiction, biography and autobiography, as I think she has a lot to say to us.

She says she and her husband, Rusty, love living in Leesburg and being away from the city rush.

One word to sum her up, she says, is “Cheerful!” @

& & & & & &

EVENTS

Harvesting Your Writing ’08 Conference

Saturday, October 4, 2008 at

Kilgore College Ballroom in Student Center

1100 Broadway Blvd., Kilgore, Texas

This event is planned by the East Texas Writers’ Association and will feature speakers Tom Townsend, Kathryn Lay, Cathy Roewe-Myer, Lenora Worth, Becca Anderson, Kay Sellars, Candace Haven, and Cathy Clamp. Registration fee includes conference fee and lunch. Registration may be done online at www.etwawriters.com

and use Paypal to submit your fee. Unfortunately, the deadline for pre-registration was September 2, 2008. Late registration for non-members is $65.00; $55.00 for members. Conference registration and fees may be sent to:

Pat Lavigne

1016 Fort Worth St.

Jacksonville, TX 75766

The conference will run 8:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Pittsburg Main Street Chick Fest

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Contact Galand Nuchols for more information on the booth NETWO will have for the sale of books. More details will be provided at the regular NETWO meeting on Thursday, September 11^th. t

NETWO WORD FUN

Match the correct term with each definition:

______1. editing

______2. Rita Award

______3. series

______4. nom de plume

______5. John Newbery Medal

______6. roman a clef

______7. royalties

______8. piracy

______9. Edgar Award

_____10. acquisitions editor

A. related articles or books covering the
same subject

B. a person who seeks out authors to write

books

C. “novel with a key”

D. recognizes outstanding contributions in
mystery/suspense

E. unauthorized use of copyrighted

Materials

F. making material suitable for publication/

production

G. recognizes outstanding contributions in

romance

H. an award presented by American Library

Association for best book for American

children

I. “pen name”

J. the author’s portion of a book’s selling

price

(Answer key after THE RIDE)

THE RIDE

By Janice Glass

(Unfortunately, a True Story)

By the window, I prepared lunch on the kitchen counter and watched my three precious children and their adorable little friends playing in the backyard. It was a beautiful spring day in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1967.

The six of them had dragged a thick, eight-foot sheet of wood siding from the workshop and placed one end on the picnic table to form a ramp to the ground.

Such creative children. They’re so intelligent and inventive, I thought.

Santa brought my youngest child a small, pedal go-cart for Christmas a couple of years earlier, and I watched them lift the go-cart to the picnic table. They took turns sitting on the toy, getting a push from the others, speeding down the ramp, and zooming across the backyard. I could picture assorted scrapes and bruises, but after a few small tumbles they had gotten the gist of it and were having fun. I decided kids had to be kids. After a while, I went outdoors to watch them, caution the little darlings to be careful, and tell my angels their lunch was ready.

They saw me and yelled, “Try it! It’s fun, Mama. Try it. Do it, Mama. It’s fun.” Their friends chimed in, “Do it, Mrs. Glass, it’s fun!” Six bright and happy, angelic faces urged me on.

“What the heck,” I thought. “If they can do it, so can I - - don’t want them thinking I’m a big chicken. They’re all so sweet, you know.” Besides, it looked like fun.

The helpful kids lifted the go-cart to the table. I climbed up, got on the little kid-sized thing, and folded up everything, with knees under my chin. Then, I looked down the ramp. It was a long way to the ground.

The dogs looked up at me and whined. I should have heeded them.

Looking across the yard, I thought, I don’t remember all those trees. And there’s the huge brick and concrete barbeque pit, and those deep holes the dogs dug. How do the kids steer this thing - - and where are the brakes? I began to picture myself in a full body cast, trying to drive kids to school and carrying bales of hay and buckets of feed and water to horses at the farm.

“I don’t want to do this!” I shouted, but it was too late to change my mind when all six little brutes gave me a mighty shove. “Get the dogs out of the way!” I yelled.

The six little fiends had already run away. Two big dogs and I were on our own.

I hadn’t reckoned on the weight difference between a sixty pound kid and a hundred and thirty pound, clueless mama. That piece of junk and I plunged down the ramp at warp speed, broke the sound barrier with screams, and jolted the earth when we hit bottom. It had to be the quickest stop in history.

After removing my spine from my brain and my jawbones from both knees, I pulled my upper teeth from my sinus cavities and pushed my eyeballs back into my head to see if they still focused. They did - - just in time to see the conniving little brutes’ parents watching and waiting at the fence to call their maniacally laughing beasts home to lunch.

Pretending not to see them, I unfolded what was left of my body from the go-cart, extracted my tailbone from the ground when I stood, and walked funny into the house to feed my own laughing monsters. @

Answer key to NETWO Word Fun:

1. F, 2. G, 3. A, 4. I, 5. H, 6. C. 7. J, 8. E,

9. D 10. B