Barbara Morrison speaking

Barbara Morrison, who wrote Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother, will be the featured speaker at the October meeting of the Carroll County Chapter of the Maryland Writers Association.

Do you think acceptance is the end of your toil as an author? Come hear about how Barbara tackled the task of promoting her book so successfully.

The meeting will be on Saturday, October 13 at 1:00 pm at the Westminster Library, 50 E Main St, Westminster, Maryland 21157.

She grew up in a prosperous neighborhood and graduated with a BA in English. However, a few years later her marriage collapsed and she found herself forced to go on welfare to care for her two small sons.

 This award winning author is also a poet, publisher, teacher and dancer. More information about Barbara is available at bmorrison.com.

A writers’ group I belong to recently held a contest. The rules were to write a short story with a beginning, middle and end, in three sentences. I find it fun to try new things. Below are some of my attempts for this contest.

1 – The young couple talked and dreamed of a better, safer world. They fell in love and had a son, their future. They named him Adolf.

2 - Every Saturday Roger flew below the clouds in his Cessna 150, away from the cares of the world. In the sky he escaped from his low-paying job and his unfaithful wife. One day Roger flew his little Cessna until, out of gas, it returned to the world on its own, leaving his mind in the heavens forever.

3 - Yousef ran for his life from his burning village. He ran from the soldiers, trying to make him and his friends like them. He kept running in races all the way to the Olympics.

4 – Patches the donkey eyed the lovely flowers. He bent over and put his nose into one, jumping back when a bee stung him. He learned that beauty can hold danger.

Have a try. It is fun and maybe it can give you an idea for a full story or a poem.