FAWNS NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY, 2009 Fellowship of Australian Writers – North Shore Branch Meetings held 1pm on the third Sunday of each month at The Community Centre, Willow Park,25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby
President: Jan Foster Secretary: Maria Encarnacao Treasurer: Dorothy Walker Editor: Jany Garland President’s Report - February 2009
Hello all, The silly season is over, normal routines are now back in action and it’s time to think about several FAWNS issues for the coming year. The first one is the AGM, which is held next meeting, when the offices of President, two vice-presidents, Secretary and Treasurer are up for election. If you’d like to nominate someone for a position, first make sure they’re willing! We have our Vibrant Verse poetry competition under way, closing in June, and I hope you’re all thinking about entering. The judges will be Maria and Lois. There’s also our inaugural FAWNS Award, due next meeting, to be judged by Eastwood/Hills FAW. Why not try your hand at that too? I know the maximum is 3000 words, but it can be shorter if you wish. By the way: the shortest short story ever written was the following: “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.” Jan Foster – President. How to Injure Yourself Creatively Over Christmas: If FAWNS awarded a prize for the most creative injury over the festive season, I would enter. I hurt my knee. And this is the creative bit – by chasing magpies out of my back garden. I don’t like their large white deposits. The method is to run at the birds while screaming inanities. When they fly up onto the carport, you leap into the air while still running toward them and flap your arms as if you too can fly. They squawk, then disappear into someone else’s back garden. I sustained my creative knee injury during landing. © Richard Brockton 18.1.09
“Adopt the pace of nature – her secret & 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
FAW Tasmania Shakespearean Sonnet Award …
Sonnets to be original, unpublished and must not have won a prize in any other competition. Poems to be typed, one per A4 page, title only on manuscript. Entrant's name, contact details and poem title/s to appear on a separate sheet. If sub-mitting more than one entry, use a separate sheet for each sonnet. Fee of $5 per poem, pay-able to FAW Tasmania Inc. Entries postmarked by 31 May will be eligible for judging. Results will be announced at the FAW Tasmania meeting on 11th July. Prizewinners not present will be notified by mail. Send entries to: FAW Tasmania Inc,
“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.” Winston Churchill
THE WAY KNIT WAS:- Japan’s Edo period 1603-1867) was the first time that true knitting, along with the word meriyasu (stocking stitch) appeared in Japanese Haiku poetry.
The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
(Here’s a true story emailed to me by an American penfriend, which is guaranteed to make you smile:-)
On 20th July 1969, as Commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the Moon. His first words after stepping on the Moon, "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" were televised to Earth and heard by millions. But just before he re-entered the Lander, he made the enigmatic remark "Good Luck, Mr Gorsky”. Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival soviet cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years, many people questioned Armstrong as to what the Good luck, Mr Gorsky … statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled. On 5th July 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr Gorsky had died, so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question. In 1938 when he was a kid in a small mid-west town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit the ball, which landed in his neighbours’ yard by the bedroom windows. His neighbours were Mr and Mrs Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs Gorsky shouting at Mr Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the Moon!”
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. Jany G.
TWO TANKA FROM JAN FOSTER
Writers’ Prompt: Look into my eyes. Or A limerick, beginning:
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February 2009 Newsletter |