Word Pirates

Greetings Word Pirates,For those of you who missed last night’s meeting (and those of you who were there but love summaries), here’s the scoop:

Part 1: The February reading
Are you excited yet? If anyone has special chef or foody friends who would want to donate food for the event, it’s time to butter them up. If anyone has friends who are artists, we’d love to see their work and possibly feature them at the reading. We’re still in the brainstorming stage for the event. At this point, we don’t need any commitments. However, if you know for sure that you don’t want to read, let us know. We don’t want to pressure anyone to read when they are not ready or interested, and we could definitely use help with food, set-up, general crowd mingling and good cheer. By January, we would like to have the line-up decided. One thing: While it is cool to choose not to read, it is not cool to say you will and then cancel. The reading may feature a pirate duel. Details forthcoming.

Part 2: The critique meeting
Dec. 7, our next meeting, will be a critiquing session. You are free to submit any piece you want for this (short story length), but it is a good opportunity to get feedback on the piece for the reading. Please e-mail your story to the group by Saturday, Nov. 25 so we have time to read it and think about it before the meeting. Mention in your e-mail whether or not it is the story you plan to read at the event. Word around the pirate ship was that the last critique was fun and fruitful. We’ll have special snacks!

Part 3: The prompt
The prompt was inspired by Joy’s conversation with someone from On the Page Magazine. Its next issue will feature the theme of “mavericks.” So Joy and I compiled a bunch of sentences using the word maverick. The prompt is to use the sentence in your story. Here are some sentences you can choose from that aren’t already taken:

• The little brown maverick is winking its eye
• When the pilot has selected a target, the TV image is “locked” in the missile’s seeker logic, and the Maverick is fired.




• He had obviously shaved before their date, but a patch of maverick hair remained near his chin and she couldn’t stop looking at it.




• The maverick is the rarest of all.




• The Maverick is a sensitive book of urban poetry written …




• Move over, _________: there’s a new Maverick in town.




• “Which is tougher: A Maverick or a Coyote?” he asked.




• That maverick needs some reigning in, he does. Yup.




• Not a lot of people know that the Maverick surfing contest is named after a dog.




• You ain’t been on a roller coast until you’ve been on the Maverick.




• She couldn’t keep their names straight, so she called them all “Maverick” and none of them seemed to mind.

Yay! -Marcia