Writers Club meets once a month

Essayist Marcia Camp.

Poet Nancy Foris.

Author Susan Jennings.

Author Linda Black.

The Village Writers Club meets the last Monday of the month at Ramona's Kitchen at noon to share a meal and listen to area writers and a guest speaker.

This month the guest speaker was Maria Camp. Camp discusses the essay as an art form. Her article, Writing the Essay: Fear and Loathing or Fun and Games? from The Storyteller was the basis of her talk.

Camp talked about her experience as a freelance writer and about her exploits on interviews. In addition to writing essays featured in several newspapers and magazines for 35 years, Camp is currently working on her autobiography. Camp also works as an editor.

She talked to club members about the use of a bent sentence to get your essay going, the unexpected twist. The trick is to keep your energy up throughout the piece making it as fresh and interesting as the lead sentence.

Camp joked that writers know the end of the piece before they begin writing. She added, "it is the middle that will kill you." A writer's sensitivity allows him or her to see the unusual and the emotional conflict in a story. Make the reader a friend, not someone to be lectured. Camp said the best essayists make fun of themselves in their writing. They also use metaphors to hook into the readers emotions.

Camp illustrated her advice on effective essay writing by reading her 1984 essay, Everyone Seems to Have a Love Affair with Rocks. Her points were well made. She went from a light-hearted opening to a serious message.

Camp said the use of outlines is very helpful when writing. They don't have to be labor intensive. She suggests putting the outline on your desk to be referred to often during the writing process. Camp added the most popular essays are about 750 words, stretching it would be 1,000 words.

Club member Linda Black gave club members an update on her success as a writer. She currently has two books under contract and a third book looking for a publishing home.

Local author Susan Jennings read an excerpt from her published book, 100 Kisses from God. In addition to writing, Jennings illustrates her own book covers. She just completed her second book and will meet with the publisher this week.

Jennings said "God puts stuff in my head." Her work concerns the simplicity of what God wants. In addition to being a writer Jennings is an ordained minister.

Local author and poet Nancy Foris also read some of her work. She read a couple of poems her daughter wrote and segued into her own poetry with the poem Arkansas Summer.

For more information about the Village Writers Club visit the website, http://www.villagewritersclub.com/