Check Out These Talented Dreamers

(Before I begin tonight's entry, let me make an addendum to last night's entry: for the record, there is another entire sub-section under the blog heading outside of personal and news: many use blogs to promote their business, cause, or passion.  I did say I was under the influence of something other than my own clear head!)

Note: Highlighted words in blog are actual links.
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I joined my first writing group a few months back -- a writers workshop.  A friend of mine has floated various scribe-oriented activities to my inbox over the past year or so, encouraging me to kindly get off my duff and git' to gittin,' for Pete's sake!  Talking about writing a book, or ten or twenty, is not the same as writing the book(s).  Simple enough concept.  My habit has been to peruse the e-mails she lobs my way with something akin to one part interest, three parts dread, and delete the sucker as quickly as my hot little fingers can do so.

For whatever reason, this one last-minute message about a woman known to my friend through educational circles who was hosting a workshop out of her home struck me.  For two days, I read and re-read the forwarded invitation.  And, then, I picked up the phone and called this congenial person who delightedly welcomed me to the fold.  From the very first meeting, I was hooked.  How had I denied myself the good solid company of other earnest and passionate writers for the entirety of my life?!

Though seven is the actual number of our core group, it has dwindled down to a regular gathering of four women most Thursday nights from 5:30PM to 7:30PM.  Of the three least seen, one is a dedicated single mother to a teenage son who wrote a rough draft book for kids in a month through an online writing challenge called "NaNoWriMo" a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month.  Another joined Toastmasters and was there to discover if she had what it took to write as she harbored a head full of family tales itching to come out and play with the page.  The third, an 8th grade student for a few more days, pens her stories in multiple notebooks in a steady stream of words, words, and more words; she'll be published sooner than later, I'm betting!

The rest of us are as varied as the first bunch.  Our fearless leader is a professional editor, a published writer, a musician, and a teacher . . . and a wellspring of support, inspiration, and encouragement.  Currently, she is working on two books -- a work of fiction and a biographical account of her father's life.
The second in our Brain Trust joined up to prove to her friend that she was NOT a writer.  Ahem!  Don't it chafe something fierce when friends turn out to be right?  And, you've got to hear her orate; she's a Toastmaster member, too -- practiced, amusing in her delivery, and superbly natural for the role.  There's me, of course.  Finally pushed to choose a project and START my engines!  I've chosen to capture the essence of my relationship with my youngest brother, Gary.  He's endured 17+ years of incarcerated living before finally being diagnosed with mental illness.  His hard work has just begun in a California state hospital.

Our last, but definitely not least, member is a novelist with completed works under her belt -- Stephanie Cardel.  Not only is she a writer, but her college-age daughter doth also possess and exercise the gift!  Presently, Stephanie (I'm allowed to call her Steph but I'm not sure you can, yet) seeks representation for her finished young adult fiction novels.  One is part of a trilogy under the genre of "magical realism."  Of the seven of us, she is pursuing the elusive dream of publication that we all dare to entertain in our confident moments on the writing trail.  Generously, she shares what she has experienced through this sometimes grueling process.  I've learned a great deal from her.  I plan on bringing a host of friends to her first book-signing.  In her 'spare time,' she and her daughter run an oustanding and informative website which reviews children's books, ages 7 and up, called "Check Out These Books" (link).  Any of you with kids, who yearn to encourage their love of reading, this is THE site for you.  Please check it out.  They are voracious readers.  They KNOW their stuff, inside and out.  Also, she can be found on Facebook at Check Out These Books Fan Page.  Become and fan and tell her Gloria sent you!

Oh, and buy her books once she becomes a bestseller.  Now that I mention it, look for ALL of us on the bookshelves and audio collections in the years to come.  I'll pass along the authors' names.