"Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out."
- Samuel Johnson

Phil Arnold brought in a copy of the most recent Elvis International magazine, which featured his article "Backstage with 21 Music Legends." The article and the layout looked great.

Phil's next assignment will be to write a story for Elvis International magazine about an upcoming 90 minute TV special called "The Guitar That Changed The World." The special was filmed in December when Elvis' original guitar player, Scotty Moore, plus a number of notable English guitarists, went to London to record 21 Elvis songs at the famous Abbey Road Studio. In preparation for the story, Phil will be interviewing an American musician and friend of Scotty's named Steve Shepherd, who traveled with Scotty to London and played keyboards on the songs.

ARP Magazine (a magazine serving Leland and Carolyn Beaudrot's denomination) accepted a non-fiction article written by Carolyn. It is likely to be published in the March issue.

An SCWW member who lives near Spartanburg, Roger Meadows, is attempting to restart the Spartanburg Chapter of SCWW. He has scheduled a meeting at the Westside Spartanburg Library for Tuesday, 22 February at 7:00 p.m.

Roger sent mail to some members who live in the direction of Spartanburg, but anyone is welcome to attend. The purpose of this first meeting is to "get organized and pick place and schedule for the future."

Anyone who would like more information can contact him at RDM730@aol.com or call him at 864-587-7019. The address and phone number of the library is Westside Branch Library, 2400 Winchester Place, Spartanburg, SC (864) 574-6815.

This just in! Steve Vassey has just posted the Catfish Stew Submission Guidelines on the SCWW website: http://www.scwriters.com/anthology_guidelines.htm Submissions must be postmarked by April 30, 2005.

At the February meeting, folks were wondering about the contests mentioned on the statewide SCWW website: how are they chosen and are they reputable? Leland said that the choice of content on the website is left up to the webmaster. Listings on the website and those in Printed Matters should be considered casual, incomplete referrals provided only as a courtesy. They are not intended to be an all-inclusive list and are not being endorsed by SCWW. That being said, if there are any contests or events that you feel the group might be interested in, please send a note to the editor.

The South Carolina Book Festival was held on February 19-20 in Columbia, SC. Leland Beaudrot was one of the volunteers who manned the SCWW table at the Festival.

Leland reported the following: "The SC Book Festival, presented by the The Humanities Council, offered a wide variety of panel discussions by and for writers of all kinds. Dozens of exhibitors presented opportunities to network with many facets of the writing/publishing world. This is something to mark your calendar for. To be ready for next year, bookmark http://www.scbookfestival.org right now. -- Write on!"

The next meetings of the Greenville Chapter of SCWW are as follows:

• Thursday, March 3 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, March 15 - Third Tuesday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book (all genres welcome)

Phil Arnold's humorous essay, "Diet Red Dew", succeeded, judging by the number of chuckles it received as he read it. Except for the chuckle about regularity which was for the wrong reason.

Each of us has his small foibles and Phil's is Mountain Dew, which progressed to half-healthy Diet Dew, which segued to Tequila and Diet Dew. The ultimate is Tequila and Diet Mountain Dew Code Red, which Leland christened Dequila.

As a computer geek who works in Production, I applaud Phil's effort to subvert the IT Department to the accomplishment of his will- a ready supply of Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (without Tequila) at work.

On the negative side, too many sentences suffer from a weak construction that begins with "There is ..." Please continue the everlasting search for strong verbs.

The group failed to reach a consensus on the quantity of yawning. We recognize the need for exaggeration in humor but never decided if Phil exceeded that subtle line.

First year college student, Josh, has a most satisfying reunion with the girl of his dreams in the second part of Kevin Coyle's short story, "Ish kabibble." As usual, with Kevin's work, the story was compelling and tightly written. Delightfully, I was as astonished as Josh was to discover Rebecca, Josh's kindergarten girlfriend, in the wedding crowd. That surprise was a brightly colored bow on an already nicely wrapped package.

Kevin's changes from third to first person perspective also worked well, and defined the flashbacks easily for the reader.

In the group critique, suggested modifications were few. Were Rebecca's eyes truly 'opal' and her face 'cherubic'? Or were there other more appropriate descriptors? Was Mom's boss 'over there' or 'up there'? Should the boss's name be used? Delete the adjective modifier for Mom's voice and let her words describe her tone. Small stuff - to make a good story even better.

I enjoyed the characters in this piece: waspy, up-tight Mom; long-suffering Dad; witty and wonderfully malicious Karli; and distracted all-American boy Josh. I hated for the story to be over, and - wishful thinking , maybe - felt the ending left room for more.

Jim McFarlene takes us back in time with a rewrite of this portion of his novel, Penelope As Good As Dead. The year was 1642, and Jim's research of that period was very impressive. He did a good job of weaving the information of that era throughout the story.

The first paragraph had one very long sentence, but breaking this into two shorter sentences is an easy remedy. It was also noted that more information was needed to make Matthew of more interest to the reader. There was the issue of whether or not to spell out numbers. The group was split on which to do, so it was agreed to just be consistent with the way you do it.

Jim is pulling this story together well, and it is looking good. We anticipate future readings as this story moves forward.

In chapter two of We, The Jurors, Faye Tollison brought us to the opening of the trial. In it we see what could be possibly a sub plot between the judge and a female lawyer, Sheila. Although apparently not related to the case, the relationship opened some speculation. Some of the members suggested the relationship should be clarified. One wonders if this character will have a bearing on the trial itself.

The opening of the courtroom scene was brisk There was some comment as to changes in the point of view.

Since the story is to be based on the jury, it was suggested that Faye do a little more background on a particular juror. Myself, I think it would be helpful to have some vignettes on another juror or two, to set up the scenes to follow. Maybe that could be a help to see what the jurors were thinking during the trial. Or, to get an insight as to their thought processes during the deliberations.

The important thing, that I can gather from the critique, is to maintain balance on the tightrope between suspense and letting the cat out of the bag.

John Helfrich, one of our poets-in-residence, decided to venture into the untried waters of prose with a collection of stories entitled Stories from the Rooms. The first story of the collection, "The Hobby," concerns Helen, the overprotective and overindulgent mother of Billy, a drug addict. Only by heeding the advice of friends and counselors to try a little "tough love" does Helen finally realize that her (s)mothering was "enabling" Billy's dependence on both drugs and her.

My beef with the story (aside from the overuse of narrative, which make the piece more of a sermon than a "story" per se) concerns the following line: "She even followed him to the bathroom and peeked under the crack under the door to see if he was taking drugs." This reviewer posed the following question: "How could she see what he was doing? Unless either the crack under the door was an inch or more in height or the bathroom was as big as the average apartment, the angle would be such that all she could see were the soles of his shoes." To which John responded: "Of course. All she'd have to see was which way his feet were pointing." John explained that if Billy's feet were pointing one way, he would be using the bathroom for its intended use, but if the feet were pointing the other way, he must be doing drugs.

Frankly, I found this explanation unsatisfying. How can Helen be so sure in her assumptions arising from the direction of pointing feet? To put this delicately, the male of the species usually points his feet in different directions while in the bathroom depending on whether he is doing "number one" or "number two." What if he's combing his hair or brushing his teeth or sitting on the john (no pun intended) clipping his toenails? Then, of course, there's the activity that most males engage in that their mothers would rather not know about. Where do the feet point during this activity? Auditory clues-the sound of running water, the tinkling of urine, or the grunts and groans of whatever one might find oneself doing in a bathroom-or the suspicious absence of such clues, should have been more useful to Helen in her snooping than pointing feet.

John's response was this: "You've obviously have no experience dealing with drug-dependent people." That may be true, but the same can be said, I would assume, about most readers. Unless this story is written only for those unfortunate enough to have personal experience with drug abuse, I would guess that most readers would be as confused as I was about the meaning of the whole pointing-feet thing.

Bob Strother touched off memories and touched our hearts with "Love Hurts," his tender and entertaining personal essay about first love. Bob takes us back to when Bob (Bobby?), age ten, falls hard for raven-haired Sandra at church camp, to have his love only half-requited. Bulldog is infatuated with Bob's smooth, evocative style that's long on humor and tinged with just enough poignancy to make this Southern gal want to bless young Bobby's heart.

Bulldog's favorites among Bob's fresh phrasing-"followed her like Poo after honey," and, after the first kiss, falling "headlong into love's sugary abyss."

This piece was so good that Bob's critiquers struggled to find anything to suggest he might improve upon. A few thought that the title gave too much away, but Bulldog had no bone to pick with it. This reviewer did question the ending sentence-"It was the first in a lifetime of lessons in love." While admiring the alliteration, she wondered if it was a little clichÈd, and would have preferred something that circled back to the title. Others, however, liked the close just fine.

Bob may have been disappointed in his first foray into love, but he doesn't disappoint his readers, and his "Love Hurts" leaves us feeling great.

Nancy Parker read a dramatic monologue titled "Son of His Father." The monologue is one in a series of staged parable ruminations by people on Jesus' periphery about how they were affected by his life.

In this narrative from Barabbas, he wonders aloud about his good fortune in escaping crucifixion. Nancy has Barabbas uttering the double edged line "Jesus died for me." It is an effective way to have the listeners plug in their knowledge of the events even while Barabbas remains clueless.

Folks felt the story was a little too complex to be spoken aloud; much of the hidden meaning might go unnoticed. The use of the word "gallows" had some folk wondering - we normally see it as a scaffold used for a hanging, while it can also mean a place for any form of execution.

The group wanted more clarification about the words "Son of His Father" - some listeners might not know that Barabbas means "son of Abba" or "of a father." Other group members wanted Barabbas to question Jesus' motives more deeply. The group wondered if Barabbas would have as extended a vocabulary, but Fatz says - "Hey, it's a parable. Listen for the underlying message."

It's always good to see and finally hear from Nancy. Fatz hopes she brings more good stuff to the meetings.

If Carol Isler comes to the next meeting, it will be her third, and we will have a new member. The Professor hopes she does decide to join our group, because that means we will get to hear more installments of her novel Reunion Fire. Her unnamed protagonist is a delight as a twenty-year-old college student, but cousin Eddie is what catches your interest and keeps you reading. Putting his uneducated mountain dialogue on paper successfully has to be a tough trick, but Carol does a great job. The verbal interplay between the two is a delight. Members around the table were unanimous in their praise for Eddie and his distinctive mannerisms, like the clasped hands chopping the air, and catching a kiss and touching it to his lips. As was stated at the meeting, Eddie is so sweet, but he also squeezed her cheeks and shook her head when provoked, which lead to some over-the-top verbal jousting by our heroine. The whole group looks forward to seeing where this charged relationship will go.

With this review, I'll no longer be a virgin. I'm tickled that my first time gets to be with John Migacz and his protagonist, Jolly, the thirty-something time traveler, trapped in his own six-year-old body, in John's work in progress, A Second Chance. Weird, huh? I am developing a real liking for this story.

After attending only two Greenville Chapter SCWW meetings, I had to go back and read some of the past issues of Printed Matters to get a feel for what I'm supposed to do. I'm used to evaluating only educational software, not a novel in progress. So here goes (rubbing hands together with delight).

In this installment, Tyler, Jolly's adoptive father, introduces his son to a surreptitious looking rascal, Roscoe Drumond. He refers to Mr. Drumond as a "sports enthusiast" who handles his "monetary investments in sporting contests." Tyler leads Roscoe to believe the secret to their two year winning streak is in a formula they've worked out, not giving any hint to Jolly's "previsionary" powers- in truth, his memory.

We, as a group, wondered if someone can really remember the winners of sporting events that far back, but then I considered that my husband can recall every play that Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins has even been a part of- so, yeah, I guess you can.

Tyler reaps great monetary rewards from Jolly's talent and manages to keep it concealed from the wife with a money laundering scheme through an export business in which he has invested. We see a glimpse of Jolly's memory of the future when he tells Tyler, "You could give lessons to the drug cartels."

With the spoils, Tyler plans a dream vacation for Martha to Egypt and an African safari. Several of us thought that it told a lot about how Jolly feels about his status in the family when he asked Tyler, "Where are you going?" - excluding himself in his own mind. Tyler reassured him that he is included in the vacation.

The group felt that there was a very quick transition from discussing the trip and BOOM it's over. Personally I would like to know what they experienced on the vacation. A trip like that would have to make a lasting and profound impact on anybody of any age. Another point we offered John to ponder is to use the conflict with ethical implications involving Jolly's knowledge of the future. Can he change the future? Should he try? Is it cheating to benefit monetarily from his knowledge?

John left us wanting us more. Tyler has another gift for Martha. It is not revealed here. I'm enjoying watching this story unfold.

This whole Writers Workshop thing is turning out to be more fun that I thought it would be.

It was a quiet February meeting this time, with six attendees and only three readers.

John Kingsbury read a rewrite of his previous selection from his book, Trailer Trash. Jake and his fellow ex-patient friend called "The Apostle" sit in the Greenville Mall after being eliminated from a chess tournament. The Apostle explains to Jake how the theory of evolution is outlined in the Bible.

Bob Strother continued with his novel, Love Among the Greeks. This week, Johnny's girlfriend Randy gets serenaded by the brothers of Kappa Sigma. Randy and Johnny spend the spring semester together, including going to Gatlinburg for the weekend posing as a married couple. Finally, Randy announces that she's going home for spring break and suggests that Johnny go to Daytona with their female friend Rivers.

The next installment of John Migacz's novel, A Second Chance, begins with Jolly's adoptive father Tyler giving Martha a 1957 T-bird convertable for their anniversary. During their first drive (without Jolly - it's a two-seater) Tyler and Martha are killed in an accident. Jolly is devistated. He goes back into the system, ends up in a foster home, and falls into a prolonged depression. After a few months, his foster mother informs him that his Aunt Selma, whom he didn't even know existed, is coming to get him the next day.

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter, SCWW, which meets on the first Thursday and third Tuesday 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:
Jim McFarlane Bob Strother, Faye Tollison, John Helfrich, Kevin Coyle,
Nancy Parker, John Migacz, Phil Arnold, Carol Isher, and Leland Beaudrot

Copyright 2005 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.