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The Shawano Area Writers met Sept. 19 in the Elsie Engel Reading Room at the Shawano City-County Library. Two new members came to the group, and the Writers were treated to some special goodies at the end.
Terry Misfeldt came to the group from Green Bay, where he has a marketing and consulting business. Terry does a lot of web content with writing on side — mostly historical fiction and magazine articles.
Blair Beacom Deets has a cottage along Shawano Lake. She was a teacher for more than 25 years in Manitowoc County, and she has written for the same amount of time. She writes poetry and is a playwright, being a national semifinalist for the latter. She is looking at writing a novella where the plot focuses one of Shakespeare’s scripts being stolen.
Wendy Goerl, president of the Shawano Area Writers, reported that she had not had the opportunity to speak with the local publisher about the new anthology, and therefore did not have copies to share with the group.
Lee Pulaski read another excerpt from his work-in-progress, “As American an Apple Pie.” At this point, three prominent women in the community have been murdered, all with connections to the recent Applefest.
Todd Shewchuk is working on the second chapter of the novel he is currently working on, “A Family Divided.” He read an excerpt that found T.J.’s family getting into a conflict over who he chose to love.
Carol Schlehlein wrote a short story about a wealthy man in his 50s who stops at a little hotel. He was enjoying a meal when he noticed in the room a portrait of the woman who ruined his life. The man discovered the next morning that the hotel was actually abandoned, even though he had interacted with people — a hotel clerk and chef — the night before.
John Mutter wrote a short story called “The Dirty Men.” It followed two men at a fair, a woman with no bra and some annoying bees.
Barb King read the fifth chapter of her book, “Tug Lake Tales.” The chapter showed the one-room schoolhouse preparing for and participating in its annual Halloween party.
Lois Smith wrote a short piece about her grandfather. She recalled how he would provide $5 to all of his grandchildren for gifts to be purchased for him, and about how back then $5 was special.
Blair read one of her poems, entitled “Fragile Things.” It addresses life and some of the things that can easily fall apart, such as a cat’s cradle and falling in love. She then read a second poem called “Dragonfly Goth,” which looked at an unresolved love.
Wendy read a poem called “Strangler Fig” about a fig tree. It was from her published poetry book “Fantasms of Freedom.”
Marcie Leitzke read her planned column for the September Senior Living section of The Shawano Leader. “You know you’re getting old when…” In the essay, she spoke about the Older Americans Club, which meets regularly at the Shawano Civic Center, and then recited a poem about growing old.
The meeting ended with Todd sharing some of the jelly he recently made and canned at home. His Mountain Dew jelly was a hit, and he also shared some jelly made with cherry lemon Sun Drop. Todd also had some traditional grape jelly for any purists in the group.
The Shawano Area Writers will next meet at 10 a.m. on Oct. 17 at the library. The group traditionally meets on the third Thursday of the month.
