The Point of View Police were off duty this meeting, probably following the holiday saturation coverage, looking for saturated drivers. However, the Punctuation Police stepped in to warn us that excessive use of exclamation points renders them pointless. Imagine that!

We also had among us a pair of sisters as visitors: Ashley McCollum and Leslie McDonald. We hope you come back and share your talents at our table.

Two of our talented troupe will be taking their tutoring on the road to the Florida Christian Writer's Conference: Robin Monroe and Nancy Parker. Robin will be teaching a continuing class on "Creative Problem Solving & Writing" and Nancy will be doing workshops on "Add Editing to your Freelance Arsenal" and "Making a Critique Group Great." Hope we're a great example.

In Death is Your Heart, former Presbyterian minister Chris Sherrill takes a novel look at death. Lieutenant Richard Ward of the Virginia Highway Patrol has often encountered death on the icy mountain roads of Virginia, but is nonetheless surprised to meet death face to face in the enigmatic Mr. Moriman. Like Moriman himself, the story is both engrossing and grossly alarming. Caution, don't start reading this at twilight!

February is a month for hearts and flowers, so why not write something romantic for your sweetheart or spouse (but not both, unless its the same person). Then run it by the group at out next meeting, 6:00 p.m., Thursday, February 6th at The Open Book. We'll let you know if we love it or love it not.

Sue Renault read what she described as "a rough draft" of a "Smart Writer's Checklist." It would be nice if this lawyer I room with could write such nice first drafts. I did have a problem with a few things on the list of things to do and not to do as a writer. Sue mentioned verbs and adverbs which are foreign terms to me. For example, can you diagram this sentence: "Nice work, Sue." I cannot not because to my lawyer friend sue is a legal turn and not a proper noun or did he say it is a verb or an adverb? Sue's list, however, really holds our feet to the fire as writers. It is so easy to forget the rules and then complain the editors we submit to aren't smart enough to see our genius. After all, craft is not merely a cheese spread.

Pat Stewart read a short article on the value of banned books. I am sure if they banned The Quill more of us would read it. Which is Pat's point - good books that are banned seem to sell better. Therefore a truly commercial writer always has an eye to getting the book both in print and banned. It would be a literary triumph to have a booked banned and listed with Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, and The Chocolate War. Or make the money J. K. Rawling made for the Harry Potter series. Could you imagine going to a writers conference and overhearing someone say of you, "yeah, that's so and so, he wrote that bestseller that was banned."

Hopefully others in our group will agree with the Professor's assessment of Leland Beaudrot's writing sample at our last meeting. I think it was the best work he has ever read to us. Leland continued the story of "Trail Mix," but this time the plot really thickened. The young hikers' simmering lust for each other was revealed with nice graphic details, but before we got to the main event, an emergency shattered the mood. A friend tracked them down to advise that Lauren's father had suffered chest pains. Soon everyone takes off for the hospital in Walhalla. We all want to find out what happens there, as well as where the budding romance goes.

The next five pages of A Cool Dry Place by Kevin Coyle were equally intriguing. A new character, Kalash, is a good addition to the story, and the description of him and our main character in their first day of class at college was a hoot. There were minimal suggestions for improvement from our group: remove a few unnecessary adverbs, find a new name for rikshaw because it doesn't fit a scene in New York City in the future. No mention was made of Kevin's technique where his protagonist recounts to his lady friend stories from their history together. The professor is OK with the narrative sections, but still has trouble with the sequences of back and forth quotes between the two. Is that the way people reminisce with a dear old friend?

John Kingsbury got us thinking about titles. Okay, if you don't want to read a book where the heroine is going to die (Dying with Amanda), what would you pick up to launch you into Johnny Preston's coming-of-age experience? Johnny on the Run? Dancing with Amanda? John's own choice, for now, is simply Amanda, but some of us found this too succinct. Anyway, we all enjoyed another chapter and John's humorous turns of phrase and cleverly drawn scenes: the whispering devil girl, the book buddy system, the teaching monster who hates Johnny because he can't diagram a sentence. John sets a nice pace and keeps us entertained.

What do you offer a guy who almost never strikes out with his poetry? Not much but a little edit here and a little tightening there. That's about the best we could do for I'm-not-really-dark Gene Fehler. Gene brought us some pretty heavy themes, served dramatically on trays overflowing with emotional angst and strong visual images. Gene does what a poet should do: he crafts an experience, sucks us into the story, then leaves us with a powerful emotional punch. You can finish each poem and attach a word to it: "Almost Before the School Bus" (outrage); "When Birnam Wood" (Loss); "You Say" (torn) and "Boxes" - my favorite - (emptiness). Thanks, Gene.

"The Gift," was John Migacz's first attempt at a short story. It got my attention from the start. The hero chose sniper duty Christmas Eve. He was eager to take out some of the enemy since "Each enemy we took out meant that a few more of our guys might make it home." He backed off when he realized the "targets" were a pair of the enemy, but they were a couple meeting for a lover's rendezvous. When he tried to fire his gun, he couldn't. The woman's gestures reminded him of his Karen, killed by a drunk driver. A few comments: Too many exclamation points on page one!!! Change the sequence of the sentences on page two to make it better. Show us more; don't tell.

Diane Barr read "A New Chapter" in her Conclave of Princes. Padre comes to interview the mechanic who worked on the dead Cardinal's Mercedes. Some felt there were too many beats. Head bobbing was another problem. Omit the bobble heads in the story. Page 6 begins with two paragraphs that could be eliminated. We already know he is a cop who became a Jesuit and is now back in the cop's role. One comment should be a red flag and omitted. "There was no brotherhood of protection like when I'd been a cop." Page 6. With the problems in today's Church, it would be best cut out. The story line of where the Jesuit begins and the cop ends is intriguing to me and I want to see how he comes out in the end. Give us more!!!

Robin Prince Monroe / "Untitled"

She wanted to read, but her primary need was an article to be presented. Although tired and spent, to the Muse she still went 'till her poetry had been invented.

Robin was tired, but said, "No matter what, I'm going to write something!" The poem she produced was acclaimed as "clever" and "a winner." She asked for help with a title - suggestions included "Blocked" and "I Can't Think of a Title." Inspired by the quality of Robin's poem, people agreed that when you're tired you can still write well.

Phil Arnold / "Bo and The Basketball"

Phil Arnold shared a thoroughly entertaining story about "Bo and The Basketball." Bo is Phil's golden retriever and the story chronicled the games Phil and Bo played with an old basketball as it slowly lost its air and then fell apart. Everyone enjoyed the story - comments included "loved the writing style", "good word choices" and "the rhythm was good."
People thought that having the dog come up with the games was a great idea. Some liked the repeated use of the word "prancing" and suggested that Phil finish with that or add a final game of "Prancing for Points." Another suggestion was that sometimes real life doesn't provide the best story and maybe Bo could end up by prancing across fresh paint or something. No matter how it ended, this story left everyone smiling.

"People don't like cemeteries," observed Moriman as they walked toward the truck. "Cemeteries remind them of death, but cemeteries should remind them of life, life that clings tenaciously against the void. People don't seem to realize that death isn't the intruder, life is."
He stopped and faced Ward. Passion flowed from him though he never raised his voice. He spread his arms to encompass their surroundings and turned his head to take in the entire view.
"Look around you, Richard. What do you see? Life. Trees with new greenery, birds nesting and singing in the trees, people hurrying on their way somewhere, tiny creatures crawling from plant to plant. You see life everywhere, but everything you see will die. It is the universal rule because this is the kingdom, the domain, of death.
"Life is the exception here. Death is the rule. Life is the gift of the Creator which breaks every rule of death and even conquers it, so that death becomes the door that releases one to the Creator where life is the rule that cannot be broken, where the concept of death isn't even known."

Death is Your Heart, p.71-72.

Death is Your Heart is available from the author, Chris Sherrill, who may be contacted by e-mail at sherrillch@aol.com or from Leland Beaudrot.

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter, SCWW, which meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters: John Kingsbury, Phil Arnold, Sue Renault, Pat Stewart and Marcia Migacz.

Copyright 2003 by Leland Beaudrot, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.