Netwest Prose Group

Thursday evening at 7:00 at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC the Netwest prose group met to read and share ideas on the stories and essays of each of those attending. This week Richard Argo, Jerry Hobbs, Natalie Grant, Shirley Uphouse,Peg Russell and I filled the chairs. Richard facilitates this group and is dead on with his remarks on how to help improve each piece. Shirley Uphouse is writing a book on her life with her dogs. Shirley is a professional dog show judge. This week she touched us all with her story about Jesse the young Australian Shepherd who seemed to be born a natural therapy dog for those confined in a nursing home.The saddest thing about this story to me was that I knew Jesse, the sweet and beautiful young dog who died quite suddenly last year.
Being an animal lover and having lost my own beloved pets, I felt the sadness of the author who never mentioned Jesse's death in this story, only her captivating way with the patients.
Natalie continues working on her novel. Last night's episode was well written and we could see in her descriptions some interesting characters. I want to know more about this story.
Jerry Hobbs took us to a bar where a "bad girl" seduced our hero in sensuous scenes without using any vulgar or shocking language.

Peg Russell, who is a darn good editor, kept us guessing with the beginning pages of her short story. Now we want to know what the clues are going to tell us. Rance Eliot died in prison. The elderly lady in the hospital became agitated when she saw the announcement of his death on TV. Why? We'll go back next month and see what comes next.
Richard continued with his science fiction novel where I learn more and more about space travel and terms I have never used in my own writing. Last night Richard threw in a bit of humor to lighten up the story.
My own hastily re-written personal essay on my mother's death turned out to be two stories, according to Richard, and I need to re-write it (hopefully)one more time.
Good writers in a good critique group have been the impetus behind many published authors including Jerry Hobbs who has three books on the market. We are fortunate in the Netwest Area to have members who take the critique group seriously and do their best to help each other in a kind but honest manner.