Minutes! 4-24-12

Another tiny meeting this evening. Y'all better come next time or I'll start to get worried! (I have no idea why I chose to say "y'all" there.) Anyway, here are the minutes:

• We read Chapter 7 of Glenn's story. Discussion ensued.
• We also discussed the end of Chapter 6 of Glenn's story. (For real, people, we need to start commenting online.)
• We read Chapter 3 of Becky's story. Discussion ensued.
• We read Leta's story. She joined us on G+, and discussion ensued.
• Becky informed the group that Chicago-based Wildclaw Theatre is hosting a radio play contest called "Deathscribe." They are looking for 10-minute horror radio plays; their favorites will be produced live and turned into a podcast. The deadline is July 31st. Full details can be found on their website. 
• Our next meeting will be May 8th at 7:30 p.m. at Becky's.

That's about it. Maybe if the weather is nice enough next time we can hold the meeting on Becky's deck...

See you there!

Minutes! 4-10-12

Here's what you missed:

• We read the first section of Joe's novel. Discussion ensued, and comments will be emailed to him since he wasn't at the meeting.
• We read Meghan's story. Discussion ensued.
• We read the next chapter of Glenn's novel. Discussion ensued.
• We read the next chapter of Becky's novel. Discussion ensued.
• We have officially decided that "noveling" is now a verb.
• Since so many of our members are noveling now, let's all try to comment more online using the Google Group. That way people won't be receiving feedback on only the first halves of their chapters! 
• C2E2 is this weekend, and there are lots of panels about writing/story creating. Even though it's mostly about writing comics, it will still probably be helpful. Becky, Meghan, and Glenn are all going. Hope to see some more of you there as well!
• Two of Becky's stories are going to be published in a horror flash fiction anthology later this year! More details to follow as the publication date draws nearer. 
• The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 24th at 7:30 p.m. at Becky's apartment.

And that's about it. It was a relatively tiny meeting this week. Hope to see more of you next time!

Minutes! 3-27-12

Last time on Drivel & Wit Chicago...

• We have a new member named Joe! New members are always fun.
• We read Becky's story. Discussion followed. (Remember, if you want to read more of Becky's stories you can do that here.)
• We read Jane's stories. Discussion followed. (Remember, if you want to read more of Jane's stories you can do that here.)
• We read Gena's poems. Discussion followed.
• We read Chapter 5 of Glenn's novel. Discussion followed. 
• Meg thinks we should all enter the City Lit short play adaptation festival.
• Raphael thinks we should all enter the American Theater Company's 10 x 10 Festival.
• Raphael's theater company has a space in which to perform now! Exciting news. 
• Joe works for Steampunk Chicago, and they're hosting a party THIS FRIDAY (the 30th) at 9 p.m. at Ace Bar. Everyone should come.
• Our next meeting will be Tuesday, April 10th at 7:30 p.m. at Becky's.

That's about it. See you all next time!

Minutes! 3-6-12

Recap of tonight's fabulous meeting:

• We have a new member named Gena! Huzzah!
• We also have sort of another new member; since the original Drivel & Wit in Denver has sort of fizzled, Leta will be G+-ing in for the time being. (Felipe still hasn't found an apartment, so he's been G+-ing in, too. If you have any apartment tips, let him know!)
• Felipe, as per dibsies rules, had his story read first. Discussion ensued.
• Leta read the first few pages of her story. Discussion ensued.
• Rachel read some of Jane's stories. Discussion ensued.
• Becky & Gena read some of Rachel's poems. Discussion ensued.
• Jane read one of Gena's poems. Discussion ensued.
• Gena described her romance novel. Discussion ensued.
• At some point we mashed together the idea of someday having a literary reading event called "Tapas," where are the readings have to be really short. Keep in mind as a future side project.
• Jane and Rachel are starting a book group that reads only short story collections. If you're interested, contact Jane through the Google group.
• Because some people will be out of town the week after next, our next meeting will be on March 27th at 7:30 p.m., presumably at Becky's again. See you then!

That's it for today. You have 24 hours to call dibsies on the google group...

Minutes! 2-21-12

Hey y'all. Don't know why I just went Southern there. Here are the minutes for tonight's meeting:

• We have two new members! Jane & Rachel. And there was much rejoicing.
• It was universally acknowledged that we are horrible people and that we seem to be physically incapable of commenting on Dan's story online. So we FINALLY read it aloud at the meeting, and will be sending him feedback shortly.
• We discussed Becky's story "Bibliophilia."
• Becky mentioned that if you want to write a story of up to 10,000 words about something weird having to do with books, you have until March 31st to submit it to this anthology! (Full details can be found at that link.)
• We discussed Chapter 4 of Glenn's novel.
• We discussed Raphael's new poem/theater piece.
• Rachel brought up the fact that the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is having its annual meeting in Chicago the weekend after next! That means there will be lots of off-site literary events going on around the city; here's a list. Maybe we should go to some? (Let's discuss on the google group, or comment on this post.)
• We think more events might be fun in general. We should find some readings to attend? (Or perhaps we should even PARTICIPATE in some meetings? Discuss.) Chicago Writers Association has a list of recurring readings in the city. 
• Jane & Rachel are starting a book club that features short story collections. More details to follow.
• Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 6th at 7:30 p.m. at Becky's apartment. 
• If you so choose, you have 24 hours to call dibsies by emailing the google group. If you don't remember how dibsies work, see this post.

Anyway, that's about all for tonight. I'll see you all in March!

Minutes! 1-17-12

Apparently this website doesn't get updated unless I do it the night of each meeting. Good to know. Here are the minutes for the most recent meeting:

• Dan posted a story! We didn't feel comfortable discussing it since he wasn't at the meeting, but we are excited to start using the google group more and have a conversation about it there.
• David suggested that he would be more motivated to write if a system were built in to DWChitown that called for more accountability. A large debate ensued, and a compromise was agreed upon. Our brand new "Dibsies" process will be outlined later in this post, and it goes into effect NOW! 
• Thought we couldn't come up with a better story prompt than "Cats and/or Batman"? Wrong. After discussing the recent cruise ship sinking, our minds wandered to The Lonely Island's seminal classic "I'm on a Boat." (We may or may not be horrible people.) Thus, after watching the the video, we all wrote stories that began with the phrase "I'm on a boat." It wasn't a contest, but Elizabeth won our hearts with the line, "Fuck it, I'm on a treadmill." 
• Becky, Meg, and Felipe read each other's Doctor Who space-and/or-time-travel-related stories from last week's whiskey tasting. Constructive criticism ensued. 
• At the end of the evening we all discussed what we've been reading lately. Works mentioned included the plays of Sarah Kane and Doug Wright, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, and the Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin. (We mentioned some others, but I can't remember what they all were. Feel free to comment on this post!) Meg suggested that perhaps we could start bringing in passages from published works that we feel are particularly good examples of writing. Something to think about. 
• Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 31st at 7:30 p.m., Becky's apartment. (It seems it's a little bit easier for people to get there.)
• Also, it is apparently a national tragedy that I have not seen the Back to the Future films. I have borrowed Glenn's DVDs, and I will have a short essay prepared for the next meeting. :)

As I mentioned earlier, we have a new "Dibsies" system that will allow for more accountability, if you need that accountability to be motivated. Here are the guidelines:

• For 24 hours after each DWChitown meeting (until 10 p.m. the next day), you will have the opportunity to "call dibsies" on submitting a story for the next week by emailing the google group. If you don't call dibsies, you can still submit a story, and we'll still read it. However, by calling dibsies, you are absolutely committing to submitting a story for next week, barring any extreme unforeseen circumstances.
• Two people can call dibsies per meeting. The first person to call dibsies has their story read first at the next meeting, and the second person has theirs read second. All other stories submitted for that week will be read afterwards.
• You have to wait a week in between dibsies. So if you call dibsies for the January 31st meeting, you cannot call dibsies for the meeting after that. 
• If you have called dibsies for a given meeting and you fail to produce a story, you will be punished in one of two ways: A) You will have to perform a glorious rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot" for the group, or B) You will have to do ten pushups. 

You hear that, my friends? You have until 10 p.m. on January 18th to call dibsies for the next meeting by emailing the google group and letting us know! Even if you weren't at tonight's meeting, you can still call dibsies for the next meeting. That's one reason we decided on a 24-hour waiting period. So get going! I want to see some commitment! And if you have any questions, feel free to email dwchitown@gmail.com. See you next time...

Minutes! 12-20-11

Sorry I took so long to post the minutes from this week! Holiday things, etc. Life gets busy. Here's what happened:

• We did a writing exercise in which we each imagined a place, described an object in that place, then picked someone else's object and wrote it into our place. It was fun! And thus, I ended up with a red trolley in my graveyard.
• We read a portion of the second chapter of Glenn's novel. Constructive criticism followed.
• Becky read the beginning of a story she started a long time ago. Constructive criticism followed.
• David read his own story. Constructive criticism followed.
• We decided to change things up for the next meeting and meet up at Glenn's apartment. Address will be given to members through the Google Group. The meeting will be January 3rd.
• It turns out that an awful lot of us like Doctor Who, and that there is a TARDIS whiskey tasting is taking place at the Irish Bistro on Lincoln the second Tuesday of January. Thus, a DWChitown special event may be in the works...

Anyway, that's about it. Hope your holidays have been lovely. See you all in 2012!