Gathering # 2: "It's all good."

With a number of potential members again unavailable, we had another small gathering, but last week's trio grow to a quartet when Joe B. made it out to Rich's place for gathering number two. And what a gathering it was!

This was hardcore fun. We killed an hour or two just hanging out and eating great italian food before we even read a thing. When we finally got down to "business," nothing disappointed. Joe led things off with pieces from a great manuscript of fantasy, Oz-styled writing that he brought to the table. I can't wait to hear more. The diversity and overall knowledge among the participants just blows me away. And it's all good. Rich followed up with a movie review of "Daddy Daycare" he had published in a New Jersey newspaper and if you're thinking this sounds like a dry, boring ,"thumbs up or thumbs down" assessment, you're way off. Written in a clever way and with a distinct voice, the analysis was a tremendously entertaining piece in its own right. Susanna threw a curve when she temporarily left her proposed sci-fi novel behind in favor of chapter one of "Me and the Weirdos," a humorous, personal memoir about life growing up in her quirky household. And on the subject of quirky memoirs, I rounded things out with a ludicrous ranting about the life of an obsessive, detail-oriented child when I read my essay, "Santa Claus: the Myth, My Experience With it, and How I Handled the Truth."

What I want everyone who wasn't there to know is that above and beyond the thrill of sharing our writing, it seems that these evening are really about everything that happens in between the readings. Namely, wonderfully engaging conversation, shrewd observations, and lots of laughs. The writing starts us off with thoughts to ponder and discuss, but from there we end up on 100 different tangents, espousing on all subjects. And it's all good.

We rounded out the evening with some pecan and apple pies, and if it weren't for the fact that we had to go to work the next day, we probably would have hung out all night. So whether you've got a 300-page novel or simply a list of items you need to buy at K-Mart--whatever you've got--bring it down and join the fun.