An Exercise in Writing

Below is a follow-up to my previous post, dated Tuesday, September 18, 2012.

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SMOKE

A Prelude

My cherished group of lady writers recently met for our monthly sharing of prose. Collectively, we are 17 talented women of diversified nationalities including: German, British, French, Bahamian, American, Canadian, Canadian of Aboriginal/Native ethnicity, and French Canadian. With such expansive backgrounds, one can imagine how dissimilar our stories turn out.

Why Write?

Bennett Cerf, eminent publisher, punster, writer and television game show panelist once said: “Coleridge was a drug addict. Poe was an alcoholic. Marlowe was killed by a man whom he was treacherously trying to stab. Pope took money to keep a woman's name out of a satire, then wrote a piece so that she could still be recognized, anyhow. Chatterton killed himself. Byron was accused of incest. Do you still want to be a writer - and if so, why?”