Newsletter, March 2023
WGT Newsletter, March 2023
Next Meeting: March 27th
WHEN: Monday, March 27 @ 7pm
TOPIC: "Lessons from a Cupbearer: Building the Walls of Your Writing Career" with Jeaninne Stokes
DESCRIPTION: All writers at some point consider how to use experiences and life lessons to aid in planning, developing, creating relatability in, and bringing life to our writing. Christian based writers and authors are not exempt from obstacles and the need to build these qualities into written pieces. Author and author coach, Jeaninne Stokes, will discuss how we are building the walls of our writing career by examining the lessons that can be learned from prophet Nehemiah as he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. This discussion is open to all writers.
WHERE:
In-Person: Richardson Public Library (basement program room)
[no registration needed to attend in-person]
OROnline: Zoom, but you must register for the link.
2022 Flash Fiction Contest
3rd Place Award Winner:
"Treasure Island"
by Yasmin Waring
She was his treasure he had told her when he took her from the island.
It was rainy season. The torrents poured hot, steaming the red earth with their heat. A girl as skinny as the limbs of the spiny trees that sprouted like endless fingers along the island’s coast caught the buccaneer’s eye at market as he haggled over sacked tendrils of vanilla. He indulged in the bargain on occasion, during port stops while the crew restocked.
He saw her glide through the muddy stalls with a strange bird perched on her shoulder—a pink-beaked, gray-feathered parrot that looked as if it weighed more than she did. The French had established a prosperous slave port here on the Red Island. He had no taste for trading in flesh, though he had no guilt over the duplicities that had fattened his pockets and equipped him with a ship and crew.
She was stunning, despite shapeless hips and a flat breast. Tall like the English Cypress in his homeland, her black the shade that could be found in a ruby’s prism. He found himself short of breath when she passed by. The bird eyed him, but she did not.
“What is your name Miss?” He called after her, hoping she spoke his language.
“No good! No good! Awwk!”
The bird spoke English.
He ran after the girl, reaching for her hand. The Vasa nearly attacked him for the offense, puffing up its chest while it squawked its alarm.
“What do they call you?” she said, still not looking at him as she quieted her pet.
“John Silver. Captain John Silver.”
She repeated his name with the hint of a French accent mingled with her native dialect. They stared at each other. Both had stopped breathing.
“Come away with me!” he said dizzy with affection.
“My father will ask a bride price you may not be willing to pay,” she said.
“Just tell me your name and I’ll gladly pay any price.”
She whispered it in his ear and he smiled.
They left the island as man and wife. His leg for her hand a bounty he never regretted.
Weiss Cracking
Monthly illustrations are courtesy of Jerry Weiss, former WGT President.
