Pencils! Members Wed

Al and Maryanne got married on August 18, 2007! Congratulations, guys!

Al says he hopes that he'll be able to return to Pencils! when we begin again in January.

Jerry's "Egghead" sold

...remember that piece "Egghead" that Jerry had originally wrote for an Alfred Hitchcock magazine contest? Well, it's been SOLD to Mouth Full of Bullets and will appear in their March, 2008 Issue.

Jerry indicated to the editor that this story was very much inspired by Keith Harjes, a member who passed away early this year...Keith's birthday, incidentally, is August 27. Jerry has requested that in his bio that the story be dedicated to Keith when it appears in the issue.

Congratulations, Jerry!

News from Peter in the Philippines

I got this note from Peter, and he wanted me to pass it on to all of you. If you've got a minute, be sure to pop on over and check out his site. Looks like he's been pretty busy even though he's half a world away -- and he's hoping already to make our rejection slip party this year!

Thank you for continuing to send me emails about
"Pencils"

I am in the Philippines, where I managed to bring
along enough materials to continue working on my book.
I have also added an immense amount of material to my
website/blog "Peter's New York"
(www.petersnewyork.com), of very unequal quality. (I
am proud, without reason, of course, of a piece I did
on the "National Public Service Academy," a project
being pushed by Hillary Clinton and Christopher Shays.

I am trying to update the site every day. Most of the
material consists of nonpartisan, issue-oriented
material. Politically I come down almost equally for
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, the presidential
candidates on the extremities of the political spectra
of the major parties.

There's a chance I will return by the end of
September. Then I shall be glad to be able to see you
all again.

Peter

Pencils! Points: August 14, 2007

First off, a VERY special thanks goes out to Vance, who ran the August 14 meeting when I couldn't be there. I heard you guys had an excellent time!! Although there's not much to report, I would like to announce that:

THERE'S A PROMPT!

Yes, Pencils! members, there is a PROMPT FOR THIS COMING TUESDAY'S MEETING! No excuses -- you've still got the weekend. All you have to do is write 500 words or less using the following sentence somewhere in the story:

"Who is the lucky person who gets garbage detail..."

We'll spend the first hour or so sharing and reading our pieces.

Happy writing...now sharpen those pencils and get busy!

(In case you're wondering, I'm going to do the prompt, too...)

-- Kaye

Where to find Lon's latest poetry on the web

Lon's been at it again. His poem, "A Romance (with switchblades)" will be appearing in next month's issue of Flashquake!

In addition, you can read his poem "Spliced" at http://www.theswordreview.com!

Mike gets his certification

I got an e-mail from Mike letting us know he hasn't "erased" us, but has spent most of the summer pursuing his teaching certification -- and he's succeeded! He's been hired as an English teacher in Bridgeport!

Congratulations, Mike! Our students need competent writers teaching them so we can all look forward to a brighter future!

Congratulations on a fabulous 4th Anniversary Party!

Ahoy, Maties! It was pure mutinous fun down at Carol's house for the 4th Anniversary Party! Not only did we have a great big Clam Bake and Barbecue, we had boat races on the river, the anniversary cake, the unveiling of the Pencils! Writing Workshop T-shirts, and, of course...fake tattoos and lots of beer!

A special thanks to our gracious and generous hosts, Kevin and Carol McManus. They truly went above and beyond with providing the festive decorations, extra victuals, and a comfortable place for us to celebrate. In addition, Lon did a phenomenal job at captaining our boat race project!

Wanna see pix? Visit our Pencils! Scrapbook page!

Lon sells quantum physics and Frost!

Lon sold his poem, "The Roads Both Taken" (A quantum look at Robert Frost) to Star*Line, the magazine of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Congratulations, Lon!