January Starter Sentence

Gina Buzby

The forecast calls for snow in Columbia, South Carolina.  That in itself is out of the ordinary, but I don't care because I am headed  out of town  - to Jacksonville, Florida for definite sunshine! After throwing my two bags into the trunk, I hop into my classic, golden brown, '63 Chevy Impala and rev the engine - it is 6 AM.  The time is noteworthy because I do NOT rise early...ever!  And it is soooo cold out.  But, I am motivated, on this day, by the idea of a girl's road-trip adventure.  Mom has packed fried chicken and potato salad in a large Tupperware container.  She makes the best fried chicken (marinates it in buttermilk overnight).  It smells so good that I find I am salivating already.   But, we will enjoy it for lunch on the way down to the Sunshine State.

 I drive down Beltline Boulevard and pick up three of my college buddies, Linda, Kim, and Jackie.  Although we are all home for Christmas break, we are coming together for this fun trip and meeting in Columbia, at Kim's house.  As we converge in the driveway, everyone seems sleepy and not too excited quite yet.  We pile the suitcases into the trunk and throw pillows, for napping, into the back seat.

We decide to stop at McDonalds for a biscuit and coffee to go.  It is going to be a long 16 hour drive and we hope to make it all in one long day/night.  The Chevy is very reliable for an old car.  Dad made sure it had a good once over in preparation for the trip.  It's nice to have a dad who owns his own service station.  No, it isn't a glamorous career field.  I  tell most of my more affluent acquaintances that  my dad is in the "oil business" and leave it at that.  Linda's dad is in charge of deliveries for the local newspaper...she just says her dad is in the "newspaper business".  This draws giggles from most of the girls who really know us.

There is plenty of room in this car, and that's nice.  The girls can stretch out and slumber.  Kim is my "wingman" - she'll stay awake just to keep me alert.  And halfway into it, Jackie can drive.  She has a big, old Ford Fairlane, so she's used to this kind of car.  She is only 5 feet tall though, so we have her sit on an old phone book to enable her to see over the steering wheel.  Thankfully, she can reach the gas pedal with no problem. We are determined to make this trip to the 1982 Gator Bowl.  The University of South Carolina is playing Ohio State University.  It's going to be a great football game not to mention a fabulous social opportunity.  

You see, we all go to a nearby women's college.  Only one of us, Jackie, is dating someone...the rest of us...are LOOKING!   

January Meeting Minutes

East Beach Writers’ Guild

January 17, 2014

Meeting Minutes

In attendance:  Mike Owens, Jenny Sparks, Pat Clark, Mary-Jac O’Danial, Sally Parrott

Announcement:  Sally Parrott (writing as Jayne Ormerod) thanked EVERYONE who came out to the book signing at the sandwich company last Saturday.  The turnout was beyond her wildest expectations!

Kudos:  To Gina Buzby who used her December starter sentence to respond to a story call from the Virginian-Pilot about Christmas gifts that didn’t turn out quite how they planned.  She made the front page of the 12/21/13 Daily Break section, complete with illustrations.  Congratulations, Gina!

Status updates and New Year’s Writing Resolutions:

- Mike is in a holding pattern waiting for the national release of The End of Free Will.  He is revising 2 other manuscripts.  His goal for 2014 is to get 3 more books published.

- Jenny’s goal for 2014 is to WRITE MORE!

- Pat has been writing and is up to the 5^th chapter (out of a proposed 80 chapters) and his goal is to have the as yet untitled manuscript completely done by the end of 2014.

- Mary-Jac continues to edit Untitled

- Sally’s goals are to self-publish Blond Faith and finish writing Welcome Aboard  her military spouse mystery

New Business: 

- Jenny shared a Reading Bingo challenge for 2014 to get everyone to read outside their comfort zone (and all writers should read outside their comfort zone!)  Good luck to all who accept the challenge!

- Sally shared the January 2014 issue of “Writer’s Digest” which was chock-full of advice for writing. 

Old Business:  Library Organization—Kay Abiuness is already working on.  EBWG will offer support t if she needs it.

Upcoming meetings:

- February 21, We’ll have a guest speaker Maria Hudgins, a multi-published mystery writer who was one of the ones at the signing.  She’ll talk about the writing life.

- March 21—We’ll have another guest speaker, working on Sheila Buff (Randi’s friend)

- April 18 will be critiques again. 

Starter Sentence:  This month’s starter sentence was, “The forecast called for snow…”  You can read the submissions by clicking here.

                  Reminder:  Whether you read your musings or not, please send your story to Randi so she can upload them to the blog.  Remember, one of the first things about being a writer is SHARING your works!

February Starter Sentence: ”Flight 142 for Cleveland is now boarding…” 

Meeting Adjourned and turned over to critique.  All agreed it was a great session.  

January Meeting

Reminder! Our January meeting is tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 17 at 9 AM,in the Bayfront Club Library.


We have 5 member submissions for critique.

Please bring your own beverage this time.

Hope to see you there!