Writers’ Mill Minutes, February 16, 2025
Cedar Mill Library, Beaverton and online Zoom
Fourteen participants attended online, and five were present in the library meeting room, for a total of nineteen. Zita led the meeting, and Sheila was an assistant host from her perch (with puppies) in Oklahoma. Matthew assisted with technology, which proved necessary when the Zoom screen in the library went dark at least five times during the meeting (our librarians will try to have this fixed before the next meeting). Jean took Minutes. Zita made announcements and introduced Judy to announce this month’s contest/ezine awards.
EZINE NEWS
Judy announced the winners for February’s contest/ezine hosted by Ric Getter. The theme was “They were the perfect couple, but. . .”
1st place: Sheila for “Roman Holiday”
2nd place: Lyndsay for “A Barely-There Affair”
3rd place: Karin for “Angel and Bill”
Our other entries and authors were:
- Almost Perfect – a poem, By Jessie
- And So Between Them Both, You See… By Nora
- Friends – By Mark
- Gossip – By Matthew
- Not What They Seem – By Peter
- Ode to My Computer—a poem, By Sheila
- Perfect Indeed! – By Jean
- Perfection Expired – By Judy Beason
- The Odist Couple – By Gary
Upcoming ezine themes are
- March “Embrace the Unknown” hosted by Karin—let your muse be inspired by the vast unknown and apply it to… DEADLINE – Sunday, March 2nd See https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/march-2025-ezine-contest-page/ for more details
- April “Art in Life and Art Coming to Life” hosted by Mary—The seed for this month’s theme is EKPHRASIS. A suggested response to this theme involves choosing a painting or public photo (I would say famous photo, but that isn’t necessary) that speaks to you and then let it speak to us by composing a poem or fiction story that takes us into and behind that “simple” image. Sci-fi will work well, essays too. . DEADLINE – Sunday, April 6th. See https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-contests/ for more details and suggestions
- May “Peering through a Window” hosted by Ruth—Use “Who-What-Where-Why-When” and look through that window from both sides then play with your imagination to compose a story, poem, essay. -Again, more details and ideas found on the UPCOMING CONTESTS page on our website. DEADLINE Sunday, May 4
SPEAKER LINKS
Zita then introduced our speaker, Minnette Meador. Find notes from her wide-ranging talk at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/22/minnette-meador-on-point-of-view-character-creation-plotters-vs-pantsers-writing-tools-images-ai-and-more-feb-2025/ on our website (or look for Guest Speakers and find lots of talks).
CONCLUSION
We all enjoyed a great discussion, not just of writing POVs, but also of AI, copyrights, social media, various platforms and apps. We should plan to have a meeting soon where we look at how these evolving technologies impact writers, artists and even general content—websites, blogs, etc
Zita and others in the group thanked Minnette for her enthusiastic and informative presentation of these tips, tricks, and tools for writers.
Then Ria announced that she will be our speaker next month and will present a fun and challenging project based on an absurd news story. The group will plan how to write a story (perhaps a dramady) based on the newspaper article.
With a few minutes left in the meeting, Sheila asked the group for comments about her winning story this month and why some claimed that it was her best KitKit story among many. Several reasons were given.
- Seeing the world through a different point of view (the cat’s)
- Interesting scenery (Rome)
- Problem solving
- Details
Sheila has one Kitkit book in print (Claws for Concern: https://www.amazon.com/Claws-Concern-Book-Fred-Kitkit-ebook/dp/B09M9CY3Q9) together with two books of dog stories. She said she hopes to write and publish a new KitKit book with a proposed title, Cats Don’t Go on Cruises.
Zita closed the meeting at 3 pm.