By Linda Donaldson

Our September Guild meeting began with Anne Kaler welcoming a new member, Shelley Craig. The group then began a short round-robin with each of us introducing ourselves and our writing genres.

There are short story authors, poets, essayists, memoir and non-fiction writers, news magazine feature writers, academic writers, and all sorts of novelists – historical romance, mystery, psychological thrillers, fantasy/adventure, and dystopian novels. Something for everyone!

Melissa Triol started us out with a her novel’s introduction featuring her protagonist Eglantine welcoming her new boarder. Her precise descriptions of setting and characters allowed us to picture the scene in perfect detail. Melissa leaves us wanting to read more.

On a happy note, Jane Bleam wrote about an animal rescue. Her heroic efforts to build up the strength of three baby squirrels led to their appearance at her daughter’s classroom for a “hand on” show and tell. Jane ended her story there, but under pressure for more info, we learned that handling by people doesn’t always end well for animals.

The next selection was a poem by David Werrett. He wrote an essay to accompany the poem expanding on the theme of child abuse. David revealed the often-hidden statistics of long-term mental and physical health damage that plague abuse survivors. Forty percent of adult men who were abused as boys have an average life expectancy of 46 years. They die of substance abuse, taking inordinate risks or by taking their own lives. In addition to his published fiction novels, David plans to write non-fiction that helps empower survivors and their care givers to face their day-to-day struggles.

Prior to submitting his essay for our Winter 2018 Literary Journal whose theme is Transformation, Paul Teese read it aloud to us. The Naming Project is about a worldwide online search for a new name for the species homo sapien or “wise man.”  Paul’s lead character is a dying linguist who is watching a televised update of the most popular terms trending in the last day of the voting. Be sure to read it in our Journal.

We escaped into Irish Philadelphia for a bit with a story by John McCabe about fetching his Dad’s pay envelope from the bar on Friday night and waking up early to go fishing the next morning. The dialogue and characters put you right in the pub, took you through the neighborhood and into an old Hudson as John, his Dad and buddies take off for a Saturday on the water.

Don’t forget to submit your work on the theme of Transformation to the Pearl S. Buck Literary Journal by October 31^st, 2018. Here is your link to the Submission Guidelines.

Only one more Writers Guild meeting this year: Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 1pm. Looking forward to seeing you there. Bring some work to share and join us!