Open Mic celebrates one-year of shared writing

By Caroline Rosacker

The Guttenberg Public Library Writers Open Mic program, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, provides a welcoming, non-judgmental environment for individuals to share their current work. The successful writer's group meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. The library doors open at 6:30 p.m. for attendees who wish to visit and get comfortable before the program begins.

Regular attendees  Duaine Palas, Hannah Whetston, Jim Pfaffly, Loretta Pierce, Emily Pont, Shawn Carr, Susan Snow, Anita Grunder, Jeff Palmer and Caroline Rosacker are grateful to have the opportunity to share their writing with others who also enjoy the process. 

Clayton Ridge High School student Loretta Pierce was the inspiration behind Writers Open Mic. "I wanted to create a space where my daughter, Loretta, could share her work," commented Betty "I reached out to head librarian Katey Simon to see if we could utilize the library space to gather."

"I thought it was a wonderful idea, and have enjoyed seeing the program grow and evolve," Simon added.

Duaine Palas

Retiree Duaine Palas of Luana, who belongs to two other northeast Iowa writing groups in McGregor and Elgin, shares his hand-written comedy/realism stories based on the Lone Wolf Valley. 

"I created the Lone Wolf Valley, when several of my close friends and I realized we were probably never going to get married," he explained. "The married guys always used to give us a hard time, so I created the imaginary place with virgin forests and trophy buck deer that were plentiful, but only available to bachelors at the end of their days." 

Loretta Pierce

Loretta Pierce is sharing her latest work in progress, "Former Lives" with the group. "The story is about two young, orphan girls who stow away on a pirate ship and are discovered by a band of evil pirates," she began. "The girls eventually are befriended by the men onboard and become pirates themselves to survive."

Anita Grunder

Retiree and vacation rental owner Anita Grunder of Clayton joined the group to challenge herself to write a new story every month for a year. "I have always been a storyteller and not a writer," she told The Press. "The Open Mic program gave me the push I needed to put my personal account stories down on paper." 

Although Anita has fulfilled her commitment, the group encouraged her to keep writing and sharing her imaginative stories.  

Hannah Whetston

Alternative and Holistic healer Hannah Whetston of Guttenberg is currently working on her book, "Rose's Story." "It came through as stream of conscious writing. I have flushed it out with my own experiences," Whetston commented. 

The book's characters include ancestors – unseen and dead. The story line came to Whetston in her dreams and nightmares first. "I embarked on writing this about grief, and when we are not able to, or unwilling to, embrace the sadness and keep pushing it away unprocessed," she noted. "I have some perspective from the unprocessed grief that I am experiencing" 

The story includes a ghost that is trying to get a message to her family about the grieving process. "It is a hero's journey that includes a spirit guide that is the main character's dog," she added. "I have the whole plot laid out in my mind. I know where the book starts and ends and the beginning of the second book, and that there will be three in the series."

Whetston views her characters as containers and tries not to control the experience while creating the story.  She tries to see something, learn something, and be understood. 

"I experienced a wall and I didn't' want to write," she shared. "I am learning you have to hold grief and gratitude in the not so beautiful things."

Shawn Carr

Playwright Shawn Carr of Cascade is writing a mystery with supernatural components and dream sequences.  "The historical fiction includes the ghost of a young boy named Jasper who lost his life, was buried and never found," Carr commented. "He haunts the main character and leads him to where his bones are buried. Once freed he joins his family's spirits and never returns to haunt again." 

Carr's highly successful play Lost Memories, about a middle age man diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, had six performances and six standing ovations. 

Jeff Palmer

Two-time published author Jeff Palmer, aka Jake Kaminski, of Guttenberg suggested the group take time to visit after shared readings to draw inspiration from each other. "Great writers such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Stein often drew inspiration from one another over drinks in Paris bars," he noted. 

Palmer's first book Shadow Wolves a Novel could have been quite lengthy, but his publisher discouraged him from making the book too long. "I still had a lot of stories left, so the end of Shadow Wolves became a cliffhanger. I started writing the sequel, but stopped because the story line and characters for my second novel, Beneath the Polish Moon, kept coming to me in my dreams, so I had to write it to get it off my mind," he recalled. "The book was based loosely on my childhood and best friends. When I finished the book I couldn't stop crying because it was like saying goodbye to that part of my life experience all over again.”

It was hard for Palmer to return to the subject of drug cartels to finish the sequel to Shadow Wolves. He had experienced some bad reviews seeking out a publisher for that body of work, and sought out advice from a good friend who helped him move forward with the sequel.  “You have to live with bad reviews. A friend of mine reminded me to write the truth – don’t exaggerate, but don’t underwrite it either,” he shared. “Our minds absorb so much more than our consciousness. Sometimes we don’t have the capacity to understand it all.”

Jim Pfaffly

Retired Clayton Ridge High School Science teacher Deacon Jim Pfaffly is working on his book, “How Bill Baxter and His Friends Changed the World”. 

“The book is science fiction with some action/adventure mixed in with a bit of romance,” Pfaffly began. “The basic premise is that the hero, Bill Baxter, is struck by a bolt of lightning and it changes him in a number of ways, and he and his friends begin working at changing the world for the better.”

After the introduction to two of the main characters, the book has four recruits working to save schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, back in 2014. This project ends up involving multiple nations.

The second part of the book has the main characters gaining some strange allies, as they try to transform the world’s use of energy, but of course there are those who resist this change by any means possible.

“I enjoy attending Writers Open Mic, because I get to hear what other people are writing, and I am very impressed with the talent of the group,” he commented. “We hear parts of novels that are under construction, short stories, poetry, humorous stories, etc. It is fun to hear what they are sharing.”

Pfaffly feared being judged and found it difficult to share his writing at first, but the group has been very supportive. “I definitely recommend Writers Open Mic to aspiring writers, as well as people who just want to hear what other people are working on,” he commented. 

Non-readers

Non-readers Emily Pont, Caroline Rosacker and Susan Snow enjoy attending the monthly gathering. 

“When I first moved to Guttenberg, Writers Open Mic was the first event I attended. I was looking for ways to connect to the community,” said Snow. “In the beginning the group was quite small so I felt obligated to attend. Now I really enjoy the group and look forward to the writers’ progress.”

Clayton Ridge High School student Emily Pont attends to support her classmate and friend, Loretta. She said, “I like to hear the progress Loretta has made on her novel. I used to write myself, but had to keep my activities in check so I don’t become to over-involved,” 

On a personal note, this writer’s group has been such an inspiration for my own writing as a feature writer and columnist for The Guttenberg Press. With their encouragement I hope to someday soon tackle the daunting process of writing a book myself.