The Moosemeat Writing Group

Spring 2012 Update

Moosecall #9: Moosaic, our 9th annual chapbook, was launched at the swanky Arts and Letters Club during another Moose-tacular evening of readings, trivia, showmanship, and high octane drinks. We are happy to report that WE SOLD OUT!!!

If you attended, thank you very much for coming. If you purchased a copy, thank you even more. If you missed it, stay tuned for future events and adventures.

The chapbook's Facebook event page still exists if you want to check out bios and what was said in the aftermath.

It should be noted that we've always been pleased with the rambunctious audiences at our launches, beginning in 2004 with Moosecall #1: Mating in the Bleak City/Romance in the Urban Wilderness. Reviewed in issue 26 of Broken Pencil, Dooney's Cafe has a mostly intentionally amusing write-up of the event.

Moosemeat Chapbook Releases:
(2004) Mating in the Bleak City/Romance in the Urban Wilderness

(2005) Ten Pounds in the Freezer

(2006) Big Game, Small Stories

(2007) Premium Cut

(2008) Flash in the Pan

(2009) The Buck Starts Here

(2010) The Seventh Edition: Free Range

(2011) Moosecall, The Eighth Edition: Of Moose & Twins

(2012) Moosecall #9: Moosaic

Incriminating Images:

Ten Pounds in the Freezer

Big Game, Small Stories

About the group...

Moosemeat is a writing group that meets every second Thursday in Toronto to discuss short stories, chapters from novels or other creative prose written by members. We have a format for critiquing, but basically it's an informal discussion which tempers candour with sensitivity and gives authors a chance to see how others perceive their work and hear suggestions and critiques.

Sounds charming. Who can join?

Why you, my pretty. Such nice big stories you have!

Seriously. Who's in the group.

Our talents range from modest to published authors. This is good, because you are with people whose writing is worse than yours, so you won't feel outclassed, and better than yours, so you'll benefit from their piercing insights and courageous examples. Most of us are out of school and workin' folk. You must submit pieces to be critiqued and participate in the discussions. No poetry. And no fees.

We meet in the evenings (start time varies depending on location) and usually finish up between 9:30 and 10:00.

What's the format for critiquing?

Good question. In point form:

We have around six to ten people at a session. Once in a while, a larger herd makes it out.
We workshop two pieces that have been sent out and read ahead of time.
There is a round of general remarks where everyone takes two or three minutes to say whether they liked the piece and their principle thoughts and suggestions. The author does *not* respond.
This is followed by the free-for-all, when people respond to others remarks and this is when the spirited, freewheeling discussion kicks in. The author is still mute.
The discussion runs its course. Now the beleaguered writer responds with tears of joy or snarls of rage.
Most pieces are short stories, a few people are working on novels.
No poetry.

Cost?

I said, no fees. And no poetry.

Whatever. How do I find out about joining?

Email Heather for directions and introductions...

(to reduce spam it was necessary to obfuscate the address) HeatherW (@) moosemeat DOT org.

Next meeting dates?

Thursday, January 3, 2013 - Heather, Isabel

Thursday, January 17 - James, Ben

Thursday, January 31 - Stacey, Sheila

Thursday, February 14 - Ele, Zag

Thursday, February 28 - Ashley, Oliver

Thursday, March 14 - ?

Old Schedules

"Snapshot", "Evolution","Lust" and "Epitaph for the Deluded" are flash fiction stories by members of the group.

Snapshot
by Mary Lou Dickinson

    Janet was wondering what to do with the rest of her life when the telephone rang. Cliff was at the corner of Yonge and Bloor with the bustle of that noisy intersection in the background.
    "So, are you coming over?" she asked. "We could have lunch."
    "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
    That's what they did the last time. Had lunch. They didn't make love or even allude to the long ago affair. She had a new camera and took his photograph. She took one of her neighbours on the east side also. She was glad she had when they both died later, a year apart. Who would have thought that could happen so quickly to two young men? The photograph was taken before anyone talked about AIDS. And another photo of her son at his graduation from university, before he had the stud in his nose. She wanted everyone in her life on film. She made a good stab at it, too. The pictures on her refrigerator were suddenly from another era. At least six years earlier.
    Janet and Cliff sat at the table in the little room at the back of the house that looked out over the garden. One red rose was in bloom and a bird moved along the top of the fence. Cliff said he felt anxious, that he ached all over and had gained twenty pounds. He wanted to move to the country. He asked a lot of questions. About why she stayed in Toronto, whether she was seeing anyone. Janet could tell the questions were only a prelude to whatever he wanted to talk about.
    Things were worse since his father'd died.
    "My father never showed any anger," Cliff said. "But he never showed anything else either."
    His hair was grayer than six years earlier and she could see his stomach bulging under his blue t-shirt.
    "Do you think someone can change his life by moving somewhere else?" he asked.
    "Maybe."
    She noticed he'd left all the cucumbers on his plate, so she ate them. She didn't say anything about not knowing what to do with her life. She told him she was cleaning out drawers and throwing things away.
    "Me, too," he said.
    "But you take the twenty pounds with you," she said.

Evolution
by Bill Zaget

    I wonder if the common housefly will ever evolve to the point of understanding "glass." I had been idly watching the poor thing, smacking itself silly against the windowpane. A range of reactions swept through me. Contempt. Pity. Eye-rolling impatience. "No, you buzzy, shite-eating fool, it's solid... sol-id."

    What a lowly creature, an insignificant speck in the great weave of the Universe. If it could be deceived by the transparent hardness of glass, what was its worth? And what was my worth, wasting time observing its useless activity?

    I dropped along the thread of my drag-line. Surrounding the fly with my wondrous eight legs, I paralyzed the "six-legger" with my lovely poison. Spewing strands from my spinneret, I bound my victim up to devour at my leisure. Tasty as ever!

Lust
by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy

    Three fat Mormon boys are sitting on a bench at Broadview Station. They are wearing dark suits, crisp white shirts and shiny nametags. They are all double chins and sideways glances. An old Chinese lady is cornered.

   The fattest Mormon keeps looking at me over and over when he thinks I don't see him. He makes me want to move closer. I want to stand in the corner beside them; want to hear them talking about whores in furtive voices - all longing and ties askew. A pack of girls with flowing hair and tight jeans comes up the escalator.

    The fattest Mormon moves his eyes to firmer flesh and I feel small again. After the girls pass through the dusty glass doors, his eyes return to me.

    I leave the station and walk down the hill under a blue sky. An airplane is cutting a piece out of it in a hot gleam of an arc, the sun flashing stony off its wings.

Epitaph for the Deluded
by Ken Murray

    Things'll get better. I was just like you once. You'll understand when you're older. Trust me. I know exactly how you feel.

Email: HeatherW (@) moosemeat DOT org

Moosemeat Website World Premiere - December 2003
Last updated - January 2013

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Spring 2012 Update

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About the group...