Members Present: Alan, Jackie, Judy, Karen Patty, Pete, Valia
Members decided to move the meeting day to the second
Thursday of the month.
Valia read his poem “Lovebirds” about two chickens,
written in 2010 and published in Literary Veganism: An Online Journal https://www.litvegan.net/2020/09/poetry-by-hardarshan-sing-valia.html.
He then read another poem entitled “November 1984 in Delhi” about the violent
attacks and murders of nearly 4,000 Sikhs after Indira Gandhi was killed by two of her Sikh guards 39 years ago.
Pete read two riddles and members guessed the
answers. PenIt publishers would like him to send in 40 poems for consideration
which, ironically, is the amount of poems he has ready. Pete then reported a Lowell
art teacher has agreed to illustrate his poem about the grave yard.
Alan read “Angel and the Magic Badger”. Alan is
interested in self-publishing Poems of the Pioneer Spirt (a collection
of poems he wrote as well as other poets) and another book of poems for children. Members
then discussed illustrations in childrens’ books and their cost and impact.
Karen read Chapter 2 of Haunting Mom. She said
an agent who loves ghost stories is interested. The book is complete and ready
to go. Karen and Patty discussed the percentage of profit writers and illustrators
generally split, the illustrator taking a bigger cut if they are well known.
Patty read Chapter 7 of The Iron Ladies and
the query letter she has been working on. She actually took a class on
submissions and query letters. Members offered some editing suggestions.
Jackie will send two versions of her fractured fairy
tale picture book to Alan, both with and without her illustrations. She started
the book over a decade ago and never finished the artwork.
Judy passed out copies of the article she wrote on
Uncle Sam for her residential community’s July newsletter. Members can offer
critique via email since we ran out of time.
Next Meeting: August 10, 2023 at 6:30 at Rosati’s.
JSH
