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On Thursday, June 12, 2014 New York Times best-selling author Michael Perry appeared in a public presentation sponsored by Third Story Writers Guild at the Park Falls Public Library. Perry -- humorist, writer, storyteller -- kept the audience on their toes with a rollercoaster of heartfelt and hilarious stories. Perry returned Feb. 27, 2016 to a packed house and a great program. Thanks to all who helped make his visit possible!

About Us

If Park Falls, Wisconsin, is a dot on the map, Third Story Writers Guild is its ink spot. Meeting weekly since its creation in October 2009, the writers brainstorm topics from novel ideas to essays, poetic asides to paradoxes, first chapters to the deep edit; honing their craft. Free writing and open discussion are a large part of the Guild's make-up.

Meetings are held every Monday from 5:30-7 p.m. in the board room of the Park Falls Public Library [unless the library is closed]. We host public readings of original works, hold writing contests, and encourage visits from area authors. See News & Events for upcoming happenings.

"I felt the pressure of imagination was so great against the doors of my mind that they were going to burst.""""

~~J.G. Ballard

 

"""""A writer should write with his eyes and painter paint with his ears."""

~~Gertrude Stein​

Quotable Quotes

 

"This is how you get to be a writer, incidentally: you feel somehow marginal, somehow off balance all of the time.""

~~Kurt Vonnegut

 

Myriad Musings

    It can be rare that we writers get positive feedback to spur us through those times when writing seems like a daunting pursuit. Those times when the idea of wrestling words onto the page makes one want to run with abandon for the nearest bottle of wine, or bag of cooies, or both. I will freely admit I need someone, anyone, to throw me a bone of "ya did good" once in a while to keep me going. It's true. I can admire my own writing 'til the cows come home, but I need to know someone else thinks so too.

    I was going through a rough patch last fall. I was struggling to find an agent for my latest novel, struggling to finish the current work in progress, struggling to promote an earlier release and beginning to wonder why I was putting myself through all of this. Then I met Melinda.

    It was on a flight from Chcago to Raleigh-Durham this last September. My husband Tom was sitting two rows up from me and chatting non-stop with a woman in the window seat. She was very animated as she spoke and had the cutest wide-brimmed hat on her head. Not long before landing, Tom turned back to me and announced that this woman had read my books. This had never happened to me outside of Wisconsin. My first reaction was that she had the wrong person, but then it became apparent that she did know me and had read my books. She was so excited and couldn't believe she had been visiting with my hsband all that time. Over the head of those passengers between us, she thanked me for the hours of enjoyment I had given her.

     Very shortly after, the planed landed. She and her husband got out before us and disappeared into the throng of travelers pushing through the airport. Tom told me her name was Melinda and she was on her way to a cruise. Six months earlier she and her husband lost their son in an accident in Nashville and the cruise, they were hopping, would help them get their lives back from the tragedy they'd survivied

     As soon as my husband told me this, I looked for her everywhere we went. I so wanted to hug her, offer my sympathy, and thank her for the gift of validation she gave to me, but I never saw her again.

    I came home from that trip with renewed entuhusiasm for ths crazy journey I am on. How often do we ever consider the ways in which we, as wirters, reach people? We don't know those that psend their money and time with the stories we create. We don't know at what point in their lives our stories reach them. Be we reach them. That's what counts in the end.

Thank you Melinda. And wherever you, belssings to you.

 

 

   

    

Terri Kaiser

February 1, 2016

Writers Wramblings

And here it is nearing the end of April and my personal Muse has been so active I can hardly keep up with it! Since as a human I always need something to complain about I will say this: Why in the world can't it show up in the winter when there is so much less to do? When the outdoors does not beckon like some siren calling a sailor to his doom? When I don't mind sitting by the fireside with my laptop in my lap, the only sound the tap of my fingers on the keyboard? Or, as sometimes happens, there is an open notebook in front of me as I  scribble words so quickly they are barely legible.

 

It is the way of things is it not?

 

I've been enjoying our Monday evening Writer's Guild meetings immensely though. We've taken to viewing one of the great courses via DVD that deals with creative writing. Watching it alone might be a bit of a bore but when there are a group of folks around the table to discuss things with it makes it so-so much more interesting! We've been having a good time with it, as well as learning something I'm afraid. Oh dear.

 

Of course we have not given up sharing the things we write at home. We still engage in impromptu writing. Discussing books and authors is a pleasant pasttime. Critique is important.

 

And then I go home...

 

There's never enough time to get all that is in my head out of it. Disgraceful I know, but my enemy is the ticking clock, the need for rest and repose and renewal.

 

Multi-tasking thy name is Karen. For now at least.

 

Oh and I was beta-reader for an awesome writer and a dear friend. THAT was easy to make time for!!

 

Keep reading. Keep writing. And don't forget the fresh air...and a little digging in the dirt,

 

 

 

Karen Dums

April 21, 2016

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