Another Evening with the WWWPs

       Yes, tonight was our writing critique night. Another snortingly good time was had by all.

        Since I know everyone is frothing at the mouth for details, here are the highlights:

• One of our members (I won't name names, lucky for you, Tammy) did an encore of "I-don't-think-I-really-have-anything-here-but-it-had-been-sitting-around-for-a-while-and-I-just-dug-it-up." (She's done this for the past three meetings. It's getting old. Real old.) The rest of us figured we were going to have to roll our eyes, because we knew we were going to be blown away. We did and we were.

Lesson:  Periodically go through your old writing. You never know how you can recycle it, and you also never know what some fresh eyes will see in it.

• Beth came armed with pizza (from Twigs--is that spelled correctly) and was bundled up with a scarf around her neck. She said she was "chilly" all day.

Lesson:  Get some lard on your body, Beth. If you had a fat content more than negative three gazillion and seventeen, you'd have some insulating capabilities. I don't carry around these rolls of cellulite for their looks, ya know...

• Linda,  one of the founding members of the WWWPs, is extraordinarily generous with her gifts. Tonight she pounced on one of the stories that was shared, and said, "You really have got something here. Expand it, and Chicken Soup will jump on it." She then gave some suggestions on how to embellish the tale.

Lesson:  We're a community of writers. We can flounder alone or flourish together. Share the wealth.

• Getting into a character's head, with all of the crazy tangents that bounce around in our brain, takes talent. Our thinking is hardly ever linear. Making a stream of consciousness believable as well as interesting, is tough to do, but Lynn can do it with one hand and a couple of extra fingers (from the other hand) tied behind her back. 

Lesson: Stay true to the character you create. Channel the rhythm of their speech, capture their idiosyncrasies, and make us care about them.

• One of the WWWP's loved ones recently traveled south. To Brazil, I believe. Many trips to new places are fun. This one was terrifying, from all accounts. However, even though it involved some novel experiences that were hair-raising, it was tranformative. 

Lesson: Embrace the new. Finish what you start. And don't be afraid to go where no man has gone before.