Program for West Michigan Ikes

This evening I gave my program, "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink," at the Annual Fish and Game Dinner of the Dwight Lydell chapter of the Izaak Walton League. It was well-received, but the group was smaller than they expected.

I'm posing with Fred Eyer (treasurer) and Georgia Donovan (president). It's one of those pictures that doesn't really say much, but at least we are all smiling.

I sold one book. I was hoping for two, but for the size of the group, even one is good, particularly since this group's primary focus is fishing, not hiking.

I've been trying to apply the theory to my life that you shouldn't ever leave a program without making a contact to book another one. Didn't succeed in pulling that off tonight, but Georgia is a live wire- she might recommend me to someone else. One big problem is that my good printer died over a month ago. I hooked up my old printer, to limp along, but I'm out of business cards, and program flyers. Other things that require quality printing are low too, but I still don't have the cash to replace the good printer. It's a problem!

Hey! If you'd like to book a great program, check out my offerings at Joan Young's Program Info

Working on Article for Your National Forests

Nothing completed to report, but I'm working on the article that I need to have done by the end of the month for Your National Forests magazine.

West Side Gang- Writers' Group

Tonight was the twice-a-month meeting of the local writer's group, the "West Side Gang." I've been going long enough to be no longer exactly a newbie. Most of the people brought poems tonight. There was one prose vignette, and Ellen had a chapter from her novella. Nine writers came, and seven of us brought things to read.

I took "Now Then When," the poem that popped into my head, mostly last Tuesday night.

Most of the group, and particularly the facilitators are very fond of unstructured, stream of consciousness poetry. I'm not opposed to that, but I like the challenge of making words fit into the structure of a meter and form and still have it be meaningful and readable without being "sing song." However, "Now Then When" is less structured than most of my poems, and it was well-received. I think it needs a couple of tweaks yet: there are two parts that don't work as well with the theme and symbolism, for me, as I want them to.

I'm hopeful that there will be a call for more poems for the Elements of Life anthology, and if so, I plan to submit this. (from Twin Trinity Media).

Ludington Daily News Column- April 2011

Finished and turned in my Get Off the Couch column for April. The title is "Not Just Any Old Sand Dune"

It begins:

Where in the Great Lakes region can you find seven concurrent miles of undeveloped public beach? Let’s see... there is the combined length of the Ludington State Park, Nordhouse Dunes, and the Lake Michigan Recreation Area. There is the... can’t think of anywhere else? That’s because there isn’t another such place. Our local resources are unique and of outstanding quality.

Although this column is seldom difficult to write, I'm always glad when I get another one successfully turned in.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords.

Finished Poem

Last night I stayed up late and more or less finished the poem "Now Then When." I think it needs a couple of tweaks, but it's pretty close.

Research, Research

Not all of writing is putting words on paper. My monthly newspaper column, "Get Off the Couch," is due Monday. I know what I plan to write about: the history of the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness. But I can't do that out of my head, cold. I know enough to have a casual conversation with a friend, but certainly not enough to commit words to paper with details and expectations of authority.

So I talked with a National Forest ranger on Wednesday, and got some literature, and some personal observations. Next project, to find pictures I knew I had taken of a beautiful and slightly unusual plant that grows there, the Hairy Pucccon. Took me two hours, but I finally located them.

This is all part of writing!

Story on Stage

Elliot Plummer reads "My First Cake Was a Failure" by Andy Mozina

As I'm trying to get more involved with the local writing group; this is the second installment of "Story on Stage" that I've attended. The idea is that there are three stories selected by Michigan writers. Those stories are then read by local thespians. In between the stories are songs performed by local artists.

This is the third such event presented by Ludington Visiting Writers. The stories were "My First Cake Was a Failure" by Andy Mozina, and read by Elliot Plummer; "Beach Glass" by Deborah Ann Percy, and read by Lisa Enos; and "What We Don't Know" by Phillip Sterling, read by Chris Plummer.

There was quite a good turnout, which is encouraging for the arts in Ludington. I have mixed feelings about the event. I've now heard six stories in this venue, and they are all the same tone, which is not my favorite. They were all depressing and open-ended; the "life is a sad enigma" sort of story. I'm not sure if that's the only kind of stories that do well right now, or if the selections are a function of the fact that the person who chooses them likes this kind best.

So, I'm caught between wanting to be involved and not really enjoying the stories all that much.

But, all three authors were there, and there was an open question and answer session at the end. They all said that they really enjoyed hearing someone else interpret their stories. I would have posted that picture, but it wasn't in focus. Bummer.