Sunday, March 9, 2008

Pencils! Points: February 26, 2008


Another terrific meeting (and we only got rain instead of snow! The Gods smile upon us!)

Welcome back, Al! After a nearly two-year full hiatus, it’s great to see you back and reading. We hope to see you again soon.

We also got another surprise: Matt has returned! For those of you who don’t know Matt, he wrote a lot of good stuff and joined Pencils! back in its early days. Then his e-mails started bouncing back and I lost track of him. Wow, it was great to see him again! He’s got a website, www.ArtDepreciation.com, which is a really neat webcomic and definitely worth the time to check out. Welcome back, Matt. We hope you’ll find the time to join us again soon in the future.

Nice going, CAROL!

Carol is back—and she’s been busy. Her business, Y Wait 4 Success—Real Estate management, training, and coaching resources—has taken off since its inception just a couple of short months ago. The website looks really sharp. Check it out at www.ywait4success.com.

Announcements

~~ The Rejection Slip Party on Feb. 23 was an enormous success! Lon showed up with a bag full of slips, Jerry burned an entire book (which was a New York Times Bestseller but that didn’t mean it didn’t suck and wasn’t worthy of burning), Kaye got a special gift, Roger burned for his first time, John P had a great story about getting screwed (by the publishing industry, ahem)…and assorted other adventures! When the photos are up in the Pencils! Scrapbook, I’ll be sending out the link for all to enjoy. Stay tuned!

~~ Pencils! 5th Anniversary Soiree in Wonderland has been slated for JUNE 14. (Please note it is NOT in July). We’re doing this in the hopes we’ll have some finer weather than we’ve had in the past. Mark your calendars now—details coming soon!

And now, on with the show.

1. Roger was up first with more of his book—actually, the Epilogue of his book—How My Retirement Went South. There was also a bunch of discussion about the differences between Epilogues and Afterwords. Anyone know? Please share. Anyway, from Roger’s book: “It was also the home of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s now defunct Heritage USA, a 2,300 acre Christian theme park of sorts. In its heyday, it attracted six million suckers a year, employed over 2,000 people, and earned more than $125 million annually.”

2. Carol M brought a piece she had written just that afternoon, called “Answers from Questions.” “I believe this new approach to achieving what I want in life is working in ways I never imagined. I am not there yet completely, but I am on the right course. I actually have those out-of-body moments when I realize my thoughts, my behaviors, my reactions, and my actions are different than they have been in the past.”

3. Joyce presented more of Venus Ascending! “Murray walked into the sun room to the syncopated caws and trill of the parrot, mackaw, mynah bird and love birds. He restocked their trays with fruits and nuts and refilled their water cups. Lady and Scooter followed him, adding a barking beat to the chorus.”

4. Al was back and brought his newest venture, “Easy Way Out.” Although he didn’t bring copies to read from, I do remember one really cool phrase: “Jackpot! The slot machine in my brain registered all 7’s.”

5. Jerry closed out our evening with a bit from Omniscience. “She had often thought of her life as a road trip, and as she listened to the cars on the freeway, she thought of how they were as different from each other as people. Each went through a unique series of turns to get to this highway where they would whoosh by her in an instant, each to get off on their own exits and continue through another unique series of turns.”

Quotes of the Night

~

“Don’t let the truth ruin a good story.”

-- Joyce

~

Kaye: Anything here is worth reading.

Jerry: Great! I’ll get out my driver’s license.

~

Al: …and then the Star of Baghdad could be the Star of Uranus!

~

Jerry: …and in between, she shops for books.

Kaye: Any book called The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands…I had to check it out, you know? Like they’re llamas or something.

~

Al: She’s a phone-y waitress.

Matt: You know, I’m outta here, listening to the bad puns all night.

~

Jerry: But you know she didn’t skill someone with her knees.

No comments: