Happy 4th

A day off from work is a welcome luxury especially when it includes celebrating our freedom and independence. I hope everyone has a lovely and fun fourth of July. Be safe out there with those sparklers and cherry bombs. I know we will all be thinking of our boys and girls over in foreign lands serving the U.S.

I want to welcome to our group three of our newest members who attended the June meeting for the first time. Sheila Wolfe-Carroll from Saint Cloud is an accomplished poet and shared some of her delightful poems. She is seeking publication for a collection of her poetry. Ruth D. Layng also from Saint Cloud brought her published novel which is a historical mystery based on the lives of her husbands ancestors. She read us an excerpt which was rivating. Barbara Parish from Kissimmee writes fantasy and is seeking publication for her recent novel about Angels. From her explanation it is not about the traditional beautiful singing choirs of Angels. It sounds intriguing if not a little dark.

For the July meeting coming up next week on July 12, I would like to continue focusing on character development. I will give a writing assignment on developing characters by focusing on how they interact with their family members. It's called the 'Family Picnic'. My resource is an excercise out of a book "What Would Your Character Do?" by Eric Maisel, Ph.D. and Ann Maisel. I'll share more with you at the meeting.

For those of you who want an assignment, write a story about a voice. I'll bring my fast fiction prompt book in case we want to do some excercises. I've been contacting a couple people to present workshops for us in August, September, or October. I'll keep you posted on the arrangements.

I'll see you all next week. Have a Happy Fourth of July.