by
Something like a memoir but fictional, describing the travails of living through the second half of the twentieth century, changing jobs, meeting new people, losing old friends, living alone and making do.
Available now on amazon.com
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Monday, July 15, 2019
The Last HoW
HOUSE OF WRITERS
Nine friends from the former Six Sentences Social Network got together in 2010 to break bread, imbibe and meet the faces behind our little avatars. That initial gathering took place over Labor Day weekend in New Orleans.
The term House of Writers was coined earlier by Teresa Cortez, who once imagined her fellow wordsmiths laughing and sharing under a common roof. Mike Handley and Gita Smith, who had organized similar gatherings of cyber friends in other cities, added kindling to that dream and it flared to life.
The first HoW was set for three days, and most stayed in rooms at the Doubletree on Canal Street. Some folks went early. Others stayed late. Afterward, everyone agreed a long weekend was too short a span to savor the company of dear friends.
While the initial event was held in New Orleans mostly because it’s rich in story fodder, subsequent HoWs were more about people and on-site writing.
The second (2011) gathering was held in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, split between neighboring chalets; HoW3 (2012) took place inside one big house at Spirit Lake near Oskaloosa, Kansas; the fourth meet was in Cape Charles, Virginia; and How5’s setting was a log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Our sixth reunion was held inside a spacious riverside home near Portland, Oregon, but things went awry on the seventh HoW. Several participants were to attend at Mike and Gita’s place in Montgomery, Alabama, but it turned out to be a small showing, and Michael Brown, there from the first, did not make it as he miscalculated the date he was supposed to fly up from Mexico although he had already purchased tickets.
HoW8 occurred in July 2019 at Galveston, Texas.
[adapted from Mike Handley’s intro to The Stories of HoW6]
ATTENDEES:
HoW 1: New Orleans, 2010
Mike Handley, Gita Smith, Sandra Davies, Teresa Cortez, Julia Davies, Jared and Isabel Culpepper, Michael Brown, Joe Gensle, Shauna McClure
HoW 2: Blowing Rock, 2011
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Mud, Bill Floyd, Amy Hale Auker, Ed Dean & Nancy, Robert Crisman, Bolton Carley, Elliott Cox, Jamie Hogan, Travis Smith, Kristine Shmenco
HoW 3: Spirit Lake, 2012
Mike, Gita, Sandra & Steve Davies, Mud, Travis, Ed & Nancy, Kristine, Bolton, Dorothy Pendleton, Jen Schneider
HoW 4: Cape Charles, 2013
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Mud, Nicole Hirschi, Ed & Nancy, Travis, Kristine, Joey Delgado
HoW 5: Smoky Mountains / Gatlingburg, 2014
Mike, Gita, Sandra, Dorothy, Travis, Amy, Mud
HoW 6: Tualatin / Portland 2015
Dorothy, Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Joey, Mud
HoW 7: Montgomery 7/22-29/2016
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Kristine
HoW 8: Galveston 7/6-11/2019
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Kristine, Mud
Nine friends from the former Six Sentences Social Network got together in 2010 to break bread, imbibe and meet the faces behind our little avatars. That initial gathering took place over Labor Day weekend in New Orleans.
The term House of Writers was coined earlier by Teresa Cortez, who once imagined her fellow wordsmiths laughing and sharing under a common roof. Mike Handley and Gita Smith, who had organized similar gatherings of cyber friends in other cities, added kindling to that dream and it flared to life.
The first HoW was set for three days, and most stayed in rooms at the Doubletree on Canal Street. Some folks went early. Others stayed late. Afterward, everyone agreed a long weekend was too short a span to savor the company of dear friends.
While the initial event was held in New Orleans mostly because it’s rich in story fodder, subsequent HoWs were more about people and on-site writing.
The second (2011) gathering was held in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, split between neighboring chalets; HoW3 (2012) took place inside one big house at Spirit Lake near Oskaloosa, Kansas; the fourth meet was in Cape Charles, Virginia; and How5’s setting was a log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Our sixth reunion was held inside a spacious riverside home near Portland, Oregon, but things went awry on the seventh HoW. Several participants were to attend at Mike and Gita’s place in Montgomery, Alabama, but it turned out to be a small showing, and Michael Brown, there from the first, did not make it as he miscalculated the date he was supposed to fly up from Mexico although he had already purchased tickets.
HoW8 occurred in July 2019 at Galveston, Texas.
[adapted from Mike Handley’s intro to The Stories of HoW6]
ATTENDEES:
HoW 1: New Orleans, 2010
Mike Handley, Gita Smith, Sandra Davies, Teresa Cortez, Julia Davies, Jared and Isabel Culpepper, Michael Brown, Joe Gensle, Shauna McClure
HoW 2: Blowing Rock, 2011
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Mud, Bill Floyd, Amy Hale Auker, Ed Dean & Nancy, Robert Crisman, Bolton Carley, Elliott Cox, Jamie Hogan, Travis Smith, Kristine Shmenco
HoW 3: Spirit Lake, 2012
Mike, Gita, Sandra & Steve Davies, Mud, Travis, Ed & Nancy, Kristine, Bolton, Dorothy Pendleton, Jen Schneider
HoW 4: Cape Charles, 2013
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Mud, Nicole Hirschi, Ed & Nancy, Travis, Kristine, Joey Delgado
HoW 5: Smoky Mountains / Gatlingburg, 2014
Mike, Gita, Sandra, Dorothy, Travis, Amy, Mud
HoW 6: Tualatin / Portland 2015
Dorothy, Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Julia, Joey, Mud
HoW 7: Montgomery 7/22-29/2016
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Sandra, Kristine
HoW 8: Galveston 7/6-11/2019
Mike, Gita, Teresa, Kristine, Mud
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Saturday, July 6, 2019
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