March Issue of The Scribblers Newsletter

March 2013

Welcome to the March edition of The Scribblers.  February is gone and March is here.  Spring is on its way and this month we will set our clocks ahead for daylight savings time.  

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March Writing Prompts

Each month we try to give you one or two writing prompts to get you started.  I don’t know about you, but these help me immeasurably.  So take one or both of these and write 700 to 1,000 words using the prompt as your first sentence.  And make sure to make it fun.

1.  Sara dreaded seeing her father.  It had been 17 years since he had ejected her from his home and loudly requested that she never return.  

 

 2.  “Excuse me, Dan,” Susan said quietly, “Mr. Davidson would like to see you in his office right away.”  The gleam in her eye and the smirk on her lips belied her sympathetic tone.

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Writer’s Digest Writing Contest

The 82^nd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition is under way.  Early Bird deadline is May 6, 2013; final deadline is June 3, 2013.  Early Birds receive a $5.00 per entry discount.

Grand Prize is $3,000.00 plus a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City and individual consultations with 4 editors or agents.

Entry fees, submission guidelines and other details are available at www.writersdigest.com

  

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A Look at J.D. Salinger

 

Jerome David “J.D.” Salinger, the reclusive American author, published his last work, a novella entitled “Hapworth 16, 1924”, in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.

 

Born and raised in Manhattan, the son of Saul Salinger who was the son of a rabbi and his Scottish born wife, Miriam, ‘Sonny’ (J.D.) Salinger wrote short stories while still in secondary school.  Several were published in Story magazine in the early 1940’s.  In 1948 his story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” was published by The New Yorker magazine.  Many of his later works also appeared in The New Yorker, his favorite magazine.

In 1951, his most famous novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was an immediate success.   That success led to public attention and scrutiny, which caused Salinger to become reclusive and to publish less frequently.  He followed Catcher in the Rye with a short story, Franny and Zooey in 1961 as well as a volume including a novella and another containing two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam and Carpenters and Seymour:  An Introduction in 1963.

After the publication of “Hapworth 16, 1924” in 1965, he struggled with unwanted attention which included a legal battle in the ‘80’s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release of memoirs written by Joyce Maynard, and ex-lover and another by Margaret Salinger, his daughter.

During his lifetime, Salinger met and was married several times.  First, for a very short time to Sylvia, a German woman who may have been a former Nazi, after having been hospitalized after he suffered a nervous breakdown.  He married a second time in 1955 to Claire Douglas.  Their union lasted a little more than 10 years and produced 2 children, Matthew and Margaret.  In 1972 he found himself in a relationship with a much younger girl, Joyce Maynard.  They lived together for 10 months before Salinger kicked her out.

Maynard auctioned off a number of letters Salinger had written to her during the 10 months they lived together.  They sold for $156,500 and were bought by a computer programmer who later returned them to Salinger as a gift.

Several other relationships followed; he also dated actress Ellen Joyce for a time.  He then married a young nurse named Colleen O’Neil.  They remained married until his death due to natural causes on January 27, 2010 at the age of 91.

Although Salinger hadn’t published anything during the last 40 years of his life, it is said that he worked every day and there is speculation that there may be as many as 10 finished novels locked away in his home.

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Christmas Shopping

  By

 Holly Woods

            The parking lot is deserted as I lock up the office and jump into my car.  I am always nervous when I’m the last person to leave the building, especially in this neighborhood.  I want nothing more than to go home and relax, watch a little TV, maybe have a glass of wine, but it’s Black Friday and even though shopping is a war

of nerves, the prices are supposedly worth the battle.   Walmart is the battlefield.

            I wish I had my old running shoes along for tonight’s shopping trip.  The heels I’m wearing are making my feet hurt. 

           

It’s cold and dark and the wind is whipping the branches of the trees in the parking lot when I pull into Walmart’s parking lot which looks like a sea of cars.  Fortunately I have a handicapped placard for my car and can get a space that doesn’t require me to walk a mile to the store in these pointy, uncomfortable but fashionable shoes.  Who knew a bad back could be useful?  Maybe I should buy a cheap pair of moccasins to wear while I shop.  Anything to get these damned heels off. 

The store is packed with shoppers ramming their way through the aisles with no regard for other customers in their way.  Carts are slamming into other carts and into old ladies with walkers.  A stoop shouldered old lady flips the bird at a young guy with green and pink spiked hair and several piercings in his eyebrow and upper lip, muttering, “Fuckin’ kids!” and swings her purse at his face.  Thankfully she misses him.  No telling what he’d do if she scored a direct hit.

 

I need gift cards for several of the adult children.  Not because I’m too lazy to shop, but because that’s what they asked for.  I’ll get those at the check out counter if I survive the trip through the store. 

Donny’s gift was already hidden away in my office.  A gift card to Cabelas so he can buy more fishing stuff.  He needs more fishing stuff like I need an extra 25 pounds.  But he’s a good guy and it’s what he wants.  Also a pair of camouflage slippers.  I wonder why men like camouflage so much.  I understand the purpose of it during hunting season, but for every day wear?  You got me!   While I’m here I’ll pick up that fishing vest he’s been looking at every time we’ve been here lately.  Maybe a new cooler to take on the boat when he goes fishing.

Plowing through the throng of shoppers a short, fat, sweaty man in dirty jeans held up by a wide, worn leather belt with a brand new looking NASCAR buckle tries to pass me while at the same time shoving people going the other direction out of his way.  Passing, he elbows me and winks, smiling a semi-toothless smile.  “Hi Cutie!” He says and pinches me.  Oh, the men I attract!

Pretending not to notice the man, I keep plodding through the throng of people toward the sporting goods section.  Miraculously there is no one at the counter.  I literally run to the rack of fishing vests, pull off one in Donny’s size and run back to the counter where I see NASCAR belt buckles identical to the one my would-be lover boy is wearing.  

The sales clerk behind the counter’s weary face tells me just how tired he is, so I’m going to just pay for the vest and get the slippers at Payless on my way home.  I can’t take too much more of this store, either.

“Help you?” the kid says with a weak smile.

“I just want to pay for this vest,” I say, then can’t resist saying, “Those NASCAR buckles in the case.  Are they expensive?”

“Yeah, they’re fifty bucks,” the kid says.

“I just saw a guy in really grungy jeans wearing a brand new looking one and it looked like something he couldn’t afford.”

“Fat guy, no teeth?” the kid asks, smiling.

“Yes, that’s him.”

“That’s Floyd.  He’s here all the time; steals stuff all the time.”

“You know about it?” I ask stunned.

The kid laughs again, “Yeah, he’s the General Manager’s uncle.  We just keep track of what he takes and the GM pays for it.”  He hands me my receipt.  “Merry Christmas, lady”.

“Merry Christmas”, I say and work my way out the door to my car.  I really need that glass of wine now.

 

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And Finally

 

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Happy Writing!