Newsletter June 2007 Guild Gram Newsletter: PALM SPRINGS WRITERS GUILD Newsletter serving writers of the Coachella Valley June 2007 MEETING TIME: Sunday, June 3, 2007, 2:30-4:30 P.M. Palm Desert Community Center 43900 San Pablo, Palm Desert, CA BEING A MEMBER OF THE GUILD HAS JUST BECOME EASIER AND MAKES MORE SENSE THAN EVER! Your board has decided to change the membership (and fiscal) year to begin in October rather than January for the following reasons: 1. To clear up confusion about when dues are payable. If you have paid your dues this year, they will be payable again in October 2007 at a prorated amount of $30. They will not then be due until the following October at the regular rate of $40. New members will still pay $40 for the upcoming year; 2. It will facilitate budgeting. Since this will require a change in the by-laws, there must be approval of the membership. A vote will be taken at the June meeting. Please attend and vote. PRESIDENT’S LETTER by Dawn Huntley Spitz Kudos and thanks to Phyllis Costello for bringing such a varied array of outstanding programs and workshops to the Guild this year. We were both entertained and inspired by May meeting speaker, author/poet/songwriter Steve Peterson, who generously shared his life stories and songs. This has been an eventful year for the Guild. We have been saddened by the loss of some of our members and heartened by the success of others in having their work recognized and published. We have increased our membership, have become members of two Chambers of Commerce and have found a new home at the Palm Desert Community Center. Our meetings were well attended and, thanks to Ted Pannell, are now an organized venue for Guild authors to sell their books. We have established the Barbara Serenella Memorial Scholarship Fund and plan to award a $500 scholarship to a promising young writer this year. Under the chairmanship of Mary Barrer, members Jack McLaughlin, Judy Fabris and Kristin Johnson recently contributed their time and talents to the Authors and Artists Day at West Shore High School in Salton City. Our short story contest brought in a substantial number of entries and our new contest is off and running under the aegis of Jim Misko and his staff. Our critique groups are meeting regularly thanks to Gordon Gumpertz, chair, and those in charge. We owe the success of the Guild to all those who have taken on the responsibilities of serving on the board, the committees, and as contributors to the Guild Gram. To all of you, I extend my profound thanks. I have enjoyed being president this year and look forward to another successful Guild year of continued growth, and service to the Coachella Valley. I wish you all a pleasant and productive summer. See you in October. And KEEP WRITING! The National League of American Pen Women luncheon is the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 11:30. Contact Estelle Shanley for details. 760-771-5849 or estelleshanley@aol.com. SPEAKERS REVIEW by Judy Fabris Steve Petersen is a man full of life, full of love, full of poetry and music. He is the epitome of a self-taught person with a passion for living that transcends any difficulties. His smile is infectious, and his laughter makes one laugh with him. For those of you who did not come to the May 6 meeting, you truly missed a wonderful afternoon. Steve was not only inspiring but he entertained us as well. He is a poet/singer/songwriter/author/actor having started his career in entertainment shortly after September 11, 2001. After that most fateful day, Steve stepped into the unknown to follow his dream. Steve’s song “These Colors Don’t Run” was part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom program made available to all radio stations in the USA and our troops. Steve grew up in Long Beach. When he was around ten, his Dad gave him a guitar, and told him if he learned to play it, “The sky is the limit.” Steve wanted to be a surfer, and spent many an hour surfing the waves rather than attending school. So much so, the truant officer picked him up and put him in the California Youth Authority for a day. He decided there were much better places to be—so he returned to school. His mother attended college at a later age, and became a speech therapist. She taught him a song, and asked that he serenade her every night with the “House in New Orleans. When Steve met his wife, he had a complete religious transformation. His wife-to-be was Mormon, so Steve joined the Mormon Church, and for two years he was a missionary of the church. It was at this time in his life that he took the opportunity to explore other religions from FourSquare to Snake Handling, which was part of one religion. Steve and his wife have four daughters that are the apples of their eyes. But as their girls grew older, Steve and his wife drifted apart. Eventually they separated and divorced and he left the Mormon Church. Steve believes that one of his gifts is the ability to be observant, and that remembering one’s dreams can be critical to writing, having the ability to communicate one’s own thoughts and words. Donovan Taylor, the owner of the Palapas Gardens in Palm Springs, asked Steve to be the Poet Laureate in the Palapas Artist Garden. Steve was given a place under a seemingly dead tree that he tended lovingly until it returned to life and leaf and yellow blossoms. He called it the Poet Tree. He hung poems in frames from the limbs of the tree. People brought their own poems and hung them, and gifts would regularly appear at the base of the trunk. Unfortunately Palapas Gardens closed in 2004, although the owner hopes there will one day be another. The Poet Tree is still in existence . As the number of poetry items grew, the city asked him to put a poet tree in front of the library. One was built in 2006, and 170 poems graced the branches within the first week. Steve helped the youth of Cielo Vista School to learn how to create positive forms of communication. He began to put his poems into songs even though he can’t read music. He began playing the guitar in earnest, even if only a few chords and progressions. Steve waited half a century to share his creative spirit. He walked away from corporate America to pursue his passion. He told us a bit about his first book Healer, written in 2001 after the planes crashed into the twin towers. Steve has a new album and new book coming out soon. You can buy it, and his music on Amazon.com. Steve Petersen can be reached at xoxrox@earthlink.com Writers Guild Board and Committee Members - click here GUEST POLICY We always welcome guests! To help defray the costs for our larger facility, we will be charging $5 per guest per meeting. This can be applied toward the annual $40 dues for the Guild membership if guest decides to join the Guild. Renew Membership or become a Member - click here Sunday June 3rd 2:30-4:30 PM OPEN READING… ICE CREAM...COOKIES…!!! Do you have something you have written and want to share with others? You're in luck! We will be conducting Open Reading at the final meeting of this year on June 3, 2007. Each reader will be allowed five minutes to read. Open readings, in the past, have been great fun with hilarious, poignant and scary selections! If you wish to participate, please call Phyllis at 760-321-6173. You must have a reservation in advance to read. We will also be installing officers. Following past tradition, we will share ice cream and cookies for this event. See you there! by Phyllis Costello, Program Vice President If you have a book to sell at the meeting contact Dawn Spitz (dawnlspitz@aol.com or 770-4708). Include your name, name of book, and short blurb. It will be announced before the meeting. Guest articles from members are welcome. The subject must be on some aspect of writing and no more than 500 words. The Crow’s Nest By Dodie Cross We have a new member, Jeff Kaye, who has some crowing to do. Jeff and his family recently moved to La Quinta from Nevada, where he worked with the Reno, Nevada Police Department for 24 years. Jeff tells me he has one book published, and is looking to find a publisher for the second: “My first novel, Two Faces Have I, is a fact-based police mystery/fiction, loosely based on a two-year undercover operation I was involved in. It was published by the Xlibris Co., and released three years ago. It is available on Amazon, booklocker.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Xlibris.com. “My second novel, Mainline, was completed three months ago. The story line is also fact-based fiction. It covers drugs coming into the country through Mexico, and cash going back across the border to fund terrorist cells. Two years of research went into this book.” Welcome to the Guild, Jeff, and we look forward to you speaking at one of our meetings in the future. Mel Harter is having his article on laughter published in the next issue of Eceptional Magazine, an E-zine published monthly by Monica Davis in Washington, D.C. He can also crow about his article “How to Read a Person like a Book” which is being published in the fall edition of Bonkers, a Borders bookstore publication. Got something to Crow about? E-mail me at dodiecross@dc.rr.com and inspire others www.abroadinthailand.com Limerick by Dawn Huntley Spitz A writer, not to his credit, Refused his ms. to edit But the joke was on him 'Twas the publisher’s whim To return it without having read it. Member Profiles by Mary Barrer Kristin Johnson - author, screen writer, journalist Kristin Johnson, our youngest member, is our most accomplished. Shortly after receiving her Master's in Professional Writing from USC, her first novel, Butterfly Wings, was published. Next she joined with one of America's top scientists, Dr. Rupert Perrin, in co-authoring his book, Ordinary Minds. It is a best seller both in the medical community as well as with mainstream readers. Kristin's talent is like a diamond with many facets. She joined her childhood friend in compiling and publishing a cook book, Christmas Cookies Are For Giving, which was popular during the holiday season both in the U.S. and Canada. Kristin did not rest on her laurels. She constructed a web site for her poetry and marketed poems for special occasions. Many were used by brides and grooms at their weddings. In her critique group, she often shocked other members with the gory details of her first screen play, Bloody Mary. It is yet unsold but it led the way to Hollywood. A well-known producer of horror films contacted her with two assignments, which she completed ahead of deadline. Her first film was completed and premiered in Hollywood. It is being distributed by Ravor Digital Exit nationally. A short time later, her second screen play, Pirates of Ghost Island , wrapped and again was premiered in Hollywood to enthusiastic audiences. It is being handled by Lion Gate for national distribution. As with a diamond, another facet is shinning brilliantly. A serious screen play is ready for marketing to Hollywood. It deals with a man imprisoned unjustly and the hardships his wife faced visiting him in California jails. Kristin's newspaper articles have appeared in The Desert Sun, Desert Post, Bottom Line and in the newest Valley publication launched this month, Dune. Her article “The New Philanthropists” is an in-depth piece on charitable organizations. This lovely young lady with sparkling eyes and a soft voice dreams of higher goals. She plans to produce her own full length feature film, possibly in the horror genre, being script writer, producer and director. Her goal is to film it here in the Valley, giving work and creative opportunities to actors and behind-the-scenes technicians as well as enhance the Valley's image as Hollywood East. SHORT STORY CONTEST Deadline: postmarked by June 10, 2007 Mail to PSWG, P.O. Box 947, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 Winners will be announced at the second meeting of the new season. Many exciting announcements upcoming! For information contact Jim Misko Jim@jimmisko.com Enter Short Story Contest - click here BUT IS IT FUNNY? By Melvin M. Harter In America people don’t laugh appropriately anymore. Isn’t that funny? When I first learned the panderers of television and radio comedy inserted pre-recorded laughter into what they felt were humorous scenes I felt insulted if not violated. If the skit or joke isn’t funny enough to elicit a laugh from a live audience, it probably isn’t funny, I thought. Not getting a chuckle should have been enough for the producer to cut out the “gag.” It is my position that spontaneous laughter ought to be the acid test of comedy. I was appalled to observe over the years that as self-proclaimed humor became less funny, the technology of “canned” laughter (as pre-recorded howls are known in the industry) progressed from monaural to stereo, from analog to digital, in depth, breadth and height not to mention volume. The contrived electronic reflex seems like a booming voice from heaven set in motion by the Wizard of Oz himself: “Thou shalt find this funny!” Recent events in my life however have cast doubt on the phenomenon and given me pause to reflect on it. In the theatare recently my wife elbowed me rather sharply. She either does this or she kicks me under the table to alert me to some social boo boo I commited that may subject me (her?) to being noticed in a crowd. Mea Culpa! I had laughed out loud! I thought it was a very good comedy scene in a neighborhood presentation of Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” With expert vaudevillian flair corpulent and elfish slave Psuedolus, a manipulator of everyone’s life grimaced and vibrated grotesquely as Likus’ comely courtesans advertised their wares by dancing their goodies in his face. For me that was comedy at its cunning best, a mocking demonstration that since antiquity little has changed regarding irrational sexual vulnerability of the male. What troubled me was that in an audience of a thousand or more I was the only one laughing loudly. Did they need canned laughter to alert them to the humor? Reflecting on this later, I became equally troubled by the fact that when we go to see a horror story and the satanic villain is about to cannibalize the heroine, the audience laughs. I don’t find that funny! By then my brain was churning. I began to doubt my own ability toknow for sure what is and what is not funny or even if it matters. Why do we need to laugh at all, I wondered? No other species on earth laughs, appropriately or otherwise. I tried to figure it out. What is the use of laughter? A recent local newspaper column reminded me of one good reason to laugh. The author addressed the benefit of bringing laughter to self-help groups of cancer and grief victims. But this Is not news. More than a quarter century ago Norman Cousins, UCLA Professor of Medical Humanities, wrote “Anatomy of an Illness” in which he convincingly described the benefits of laughter in the treatment of diseases. I realized that it is probably not a coincidence that many of our greatest comedians emerged in therapeutic response to the tragedy of The Great Depression. Laurel and Hardy film festivals continue to highlight summer entertainment programs in the smallest hamlets of Europe. Jack Benny and his cohorts Burns and Allen cast the comedy mold for the future to build on. Jerry Lewis who was inducted into the French Legion of Honor by presidential decree participated in the first “Laughter and Healing” seminar at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. I’m beginning to sound like an old curmudgeon who drops names to prove he didn’t fall asleep on life. Forget the names! What I’m trying to say is comedy used to be funny, the audience used to respond with live laughter and it all worked without electronic assistance. Laughter tempered the pain of poverty and the tears of tragedy. Perhaps I’m now getting depressed about the evolution of laughter in our society. Social values seem to change faster than the politicians who preach them. Certainly they change faster than I. Laughter is not alone. Romance also seems to be on its deathbed. Guys don’t seem to get more thrills out of the process than the conquest anymore. Good manners and common courtesy seem to have gone the way of the necktie. Fashion and decorum? Forget it. Conversation? All distilled into a dozen four-letter words. Still, I think that regardless of whether our civilization is on the rise or on the fall, genuine laughter heals and sustains us. It lives only in our very souls. It cannot be flash frozen, vacuum packed or canned. In America people don’t laugh appropriately anymore. Isn’t that funny? SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS June 3, 2007 Ice Cream and Cookie Social; OPEN READING by members (contact Phyllis at 760-321-6173 to sign up); new officers installed; scholarship recipient announced. No meetings in July, Aug, or Sept. Keep writing and have a productive enjoyable summer! Oct 7 , 2007 First meeting of the season!! Watch for our exciting opening program news! Nov 4, 2007 Short story contest winners announced….and much more! We have tabulated the questionnaires from last month and are aware of the direction you want us to go. We have many exciting programs lined up for next year! by Phyllis Costello Critique Group Requirements: Must be a paid up, current member of the PSWG. Many successful published authors credit their Critique Groups for the support and excellent feedback that helped them write on to success! We welcome new and current members of the Writers Guild to all critique groups! We’ll cheer you on to success! Limerick by Cynthia Slater For whatever they use as a reason In spring, winter, fall, any season Good lim’rickers all Will answer the call Writing sentiments funny and pleasin’. Book Review by Cynthia Slater Reading Like a Writer — A Guild for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose Professor Prose has taught literature and writing for more than twenty years at major universities including Harvard and Columbia, and has authored over twenty books. After I read the first twenty pages of this book that I had checked out of the library, I was so pumped up I started to do a fourth rewrite on a supposedly finished manuscript I was working on. By page thirty I was determined to have my own copy and called Barnes and Noble. Chapters are entitled: “Words,” “Sentences,” “Narration,” “Character,” etc. Each subject covered has an example, an excerpt from a famous author. Thus we are also learning from Kafka, Chekhov, Joyce, Dickens, Eliot, Roth and many more. In this book you’ll learn as much as you would in a weekend seminar and you won’t have to drive, get out of your bathrobe or floss your teeth. A copy of Reading Like a Writer is available at the library, but you may have to wait your turn. Sorry, only my dearest friends may borrow mine. Need to find good subcontractors for writing help? Come to the meetings and look for the sign-up forms for resources and network with those who use them. Palm Springs Writers Guild P.O. Box 947 Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 PalmSpringsWritersGuild.org ^ posted by Webmaster @ 5/24/2007 06:25:00 AM Pacific Time Powered by Blogger. |
