by Pat Ritter
Writing Group Stories
By
Pat Ritter
© Copyright Pat Ritter – 2010
ISBN: 9781465724137
This book may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety, without alteration.
Stories I have written at the Pomona writers group in 2010
During 2010 I fell into a hole with my writing. I didn’t feel lost only a little subdued and not wanting to write as much as I had.
A notice in a local magazine advertised the Pomona Writers Group which meets each Tuesday morning at Pomona Community House calling for new members. I decided to attend. These weekly meetings have become a Godsend for me to reignite my writing ambitions.
Each week we are given homework to do and this is a story of approximately 300-500 words on the topic chosen by the facilitator.
At the first induction to the group the facilitator handed out:
‘Helpful Hints For Creative Writers’.
‘To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong’.
Among other things were - keep writing – don’t edit on the run – when the inspiration stops and the pen rests that is the time to edit and rewrite.
This is sound advice for any writer and finally words of wisdom:
Practice, Practice, Practice
Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy.
I hope you enjoy reading these stories.
Food for thought:
From the moment Jim gave us our homework of the title food – my taste buds immediately sprung to life. Memories went to my grandmother’s cooking; such a great cook she was. Saliva melted from my mouth at the thought of again eating her freshly baked bread and butter custard pudding. The smell of oven cooked custard melted the membranes in my nostrils. Then he added two words for thought.
On the journey home the words flashed through my mind. Food for thought – Food for thought - what did it mean? I was puzzled. I had no idea of the meaning.
One of the greatest inventions since sliced bread must be cyber space – the internet. My decision to head off into the unknown appealed to be the answer to discover the true meaning of food for thought.
My journey into cyber space took me to the planet google in 20 seconds. There I discovered 9,780,000 un-opened envelopes all providing information about food for thought. I wanted to learn more.
The first envelope contained a Phrase of the day: proverb; this is something one should think about. An example is: Food for thought: Did you know that Canada is the second-largest country in the world, and yet has a very small population. What a discovery, it certainly gave me food for thought.
I quickly opened the second envelope. It was a conversation between a mother and her son.
Son: I learned something cool in school today.
Mom: That’s great son. Tell me about it.
Son: Do you know what the largest organ in the human body is?
Mom: The heart? The lungs?
Son: It’s the skin. Food for thought.
Mom: Wow!
This information overloaded my mind with imagination to discover more about food for thought and I quickly opened the third envelope – the word meaning jumped from the page - that’s the information I wanted, anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking. I was on a roll.
Eagerly I opened the fourth envelope to discover another example of food for thought - an idea or issue to ponder, as in, that interesting suggestion of yours has given us food for thought.
On making these discovers I filtered by mind to come up with my own version of food for thought. Presently our nation is awaiting clarification of what party will govern our country. At this stage it may result in a hung parliament. It all depends on a decision made by three independent politicians on which party they would prefer to govern. I listened to their proposal of change and one recommended a mixture of members from both sides become involved in the decision making process. Now that would be food for thought or is it pie in the sky.
After discovering this last phrase of food for thought I now know what Jim was thinking when he added the two words to food – for thought.
Word count: 490
Scenes from a train window:
JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter novels has become the first billionaire author on the planet. How did she do it?
It was 1990. She was on a train between Manchester and London. Harry literally strolled fully formed into her mind while she was gazing out the train window at a field full of cows.
She spent the next four hours (the train was delayed) imagining Harry, the world he inhabited, the friends and enemies he had there and the dangers and joys he may encounter there.
She had nothing to write on so had to be content to play this all out in her imagination. By the time she got off the train in London, the central cast of characters were already cemented in her mind.
The Harry Potter books are about death and are driven particularly by the death of Harry’s parents and his miraculous survival. I doubt she had imagined death while gazing from the train window, unless there was a dead cow; but to imagine the epic story formed in her mind at the time is somewhat challenging. What did she see to make her imagination run wild for four hours?
We know she saw a field full of cows; what triggered her mind to form all of the characters in the books? Was it the landscape – perhaps rolling hills, green fields as far as the eye could see; a cow wearing steel rimmed glasses; or a witch’s hat worn by another; or a cow flying over the moon? Only JK Rowling can answer these questions.
How did she imagine the story from the train window? Obviously her mind filled with pictures, scenes, acts, conversations, and names of characters?
What an opportunity the train was delayed at that particular point. Would she have imagined the Harry Potter novels, if the train was not been delayed? It’s a question that never can be answered.
At that point in time and place each seed of the novels were planted into a fertilized mind to create a story to capture the imagination and desire of children and adults throughout the world. Her imagination flooded with desire at what she saw from the train window and the rest is as they say – is history.
Word count – 383
A Free Country:
Have you ever wondered what life would have been like had Australia lost World War 11?
I personally know an Australian Digger who fought the Japanese in Malaya and became a Prisoner-of-war in Changi Prison for three and a half years.
Some years ago he gave an address to a group of school children about his time as a POW. This is part of his speech he made on that memorable day:
50 years ago Australia was part of World War 11. Singapore had fallen to the Japanese with our 8th Division A.I.F. taken as Prisoners of War.
We were imprisoned in Changi. All but essential traffic ceased. All privately owned vehicles were confiscated, taken to dumps, torn apart by two trucks and the parts shipped to Japan. Imagine if all of our cars were taken from us and wrecked for the parts.
After a couple of years in Changi, I was off to Burma in F Force. The train journey from Singapore to Ban Pong in steel rice trucks was not first class. 26 men and their gear made things a bit crowded.
From Ban Pong to our camp at Burma is 300 kilometres walking mostly at night. All gear needed had to be carried and when we arrived had to work in the pouring rain.
We become railway workers. We, the slaves, carried the earth in baskets, two men to each basket which was dug with pick and shovel. Bridges – small logs were carried by teams of men and big logs were moved by elephants.
Back to Changi – first by the railway we had built and then by boat to Singapore.
The great day c
ame. The Japs were defeated. Slaves one day – free the next. If this had not been so this country would have been in the same bad way as Singapore, Malaya and other countries under the Japanese rule.
This country has fought in many wars in the past and I have no doubt we will fight in many wars in the future. Wars are expensive in the loss of lives and property. Property can be recovered, lives are lost forever. But that is the price we pay for freedom. 1060 Australians died as P.O.W. of Japanese on the Burma Railway. F Force lost just half of that number. Our country is a memorial to those and all other P.O.W. who died so that we might be free of the Japanese and any other aggressor.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
I say again – we should remember the sacrifice of all those men and women who died so that we might live in FREEDOM.
In my opinion this speech should be emblazoned and placed at each school in Australia to remind us we live in a free country.
Word count: 468
Be careful what we wish for:
On the second Tuesday of each month I drive from Brooloo to Brisbane and visit my daughter and grandson.
My daughter holds the position of Manager.
This past month when I visited her we spoke about her work and how she came to work in her present position.
She shared with me how over 15 years ago she was the Manager at Mobil Service Station at Nundah. Each time she completed her shift at Nundah, on her journey home she drove past the Shell Service Station at Virginia and wished one day she would be the manager of that particular service station.
‘How things turn out is a mystery, dad.’ She told me. ‘Working for Coles/Express is totally different to working for Mobil; you wouldn’t think when both companies sell fuel.’
‘How do you mean different?’ I asked.
‘Coles/Express is a huge company, or the actual company is Westfarmers, they purchased Coles a couple of years ago. My position as manager is to motivate staff to get the customer to purchase more than fuel – a bit like McDonald’s adding “do you want fries with that” to encourage the customer to purchase more than they initially want.’
‘How does this affect you?’
‘I had to sack an employee today because he did a stupid thing. Some people are stupid. Each employee is encouraged to ask the customer if they want anything else, like a mars bar or other items from the counter. Each time they sell an extra item apart from the fuel they are rewarded with an incentive point and each month I tally up the points of each employee and send it off to head office.’
‘Is it legal to do that?’ I asked.
‘I don’t like the idea – but if I don’t do it I’m out of a job myself.’
‘What happened to the fellow you sacked?’
‘Instead of asking the customer if they wanted anything else, he registered an amount of money to show the customer purchased an item without making the sale. I picked it up and reported him and he was sacked.’
‘How did that make you feel?’
‘Awful, I never thought the position was so hard emotionally but unfortunately that’s the way it is.’
‘Sometimes you got to be careful what you wish for.’ I said.
‘You can be certain of that.’ She replied.
Word count: 407
Never give up:
I have a dream. My dream is to win lotto or pools. Only once will be sufficient for my dream to materialise.
You may ask how on earth can this person create this dream and hope it will eventuate. I can share with you my secret:
I was given a cassette tape on the best selling book ‘The Secret’. At first I must admit to being a little dubious about the concept; like the questions: what do you want? When do I want it? How am I going to get it? Where will it come from?
The secret is: know what you want and never give up; believe with unwavering faith that it will happen to you and be thankful when you receive it. The universe will provide.
In order to
