The Words of the Beebe Family |
Have you ever felt an urge to sit down a write a poem about a beautiful spring day or an ode to the love of your life? Ever had a cinematic vision of a plot for a book you thought Hollywood could make into a movie? Ever wanted to experience the catharsis of revisiting the scenes of your youth--or to tell the stories of the lives of your ancestors? Well, in December 2006 a group of aspiring writers in New Jersey got together and decided to start doing something about those literary promptings.
Over the past three years a group of six to eight individuals has been gathering together every two or three weeks in the home of one of its members to read and discuss each other's writing projects ranging from short stories to novels to poetry to nonfiction essays. Topics have run the gamut from historical fiction to semi-autobiographical material to sex education to the spirit world. Over tasty refreshments provided by the current week's host, the group offers a support structure for that week's presenter's fledgling efforts to create a potential literary masterpiece. A deep degree of trust has been established enabling the group members to speak freely in their praise or constructive criticism.
In January 2009 the group, which came to refer to itself the "Writers' Haven," published an anthology of some of its members' material under the title The Spirited Goldfinch (in honor of New Jersey's state bird) through an online, on-demand publishing service called Lulu. This first effort contained two short stories by Robert Beebe, one based upon a sermon given by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in which he spoke about Peter's relationship with Jesus at the time of his arrest and trial, the other a futuristic look at an America in which marriage has been abolished. In his piece Jerry Chesnut speculates on the nature of daily life in the heavenly kingdom. Kerry Pobanz offers two takes on the spirit world: one which examines ways it differs from earthly life, the other on ways in which it is the same. Paul Russell has a biblical exegesis on the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament. June Saunders reflects on the Victorian notion of love and sex by looking at Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women. The book concludes with a painfully heartfelt episode in the life of Valerie Shimoyama looking back on the estranged relationship between her parents.
In response to the publication of that issue, the group received inquiries and submissions of literary works from various people from within and outside the U.S. The group itself continued to meet throughout the past year and this January has come out with a second issue of The Spirited Goldfinch, which we are now calling a literary journal. This new issue contains new pieces by some of the group's members plus submissions received from McArthur Gilstrap, Charles Kannal, John Haydon, and our own New Jerseyite, John Lombaerde. There are sections on short story fiction, poetry, essay, as well as a memoir.
Each piece is a reflection of the character and interests of its author. The fictional pieces take the reader from the snowy hillsides of Connecticut to the majestic bluffs of the West Coast to a coterie of caged birds with a very different set of attitudes to their predicament and end at an airport where a very peculiar feather causes havoc. The poetry ranges from an intimate portrait of a neighbor sitting in her backyard to a wonderful medieval fairytale of true love to the apocalypse.
The set of essays includes an interesting discourse on the nature of the spirit world plus an examination of the effect of the Civil War on American identity. It all ends with a frank memoir on growing up in mid-20th century America with all of its dysfunctionalities and wonders.
As with the first issue, behind all these diverse entrees lie the celebration of God's everlasting love, human spirituality, marriage and family, service to others, and harmony and unity in human relationships.
In addition to our collaborative efforts, many of our members have been working on their own personal projects. Over the past year, June Saunders and Jerry Chesnut have been busy writing novels; Dan Sladich, poetry; Valerie Shimoyama, autobiographical reflections; Kerry Pobanz, a second book on the spiritual world; John Lombaerde, commercial internet blogging; and Robert Beebe, more short stories and the beginnings of a novel.
With the help of John Lombaerde, the group launched its own blog on the Internet with the domain name njwritersgroup/blogspot.com. Summaries of our meetings are uploaded regularly and we invite you to come take a look there at what we are doing. In addition, you can find out more about both issues of The Spirited Goldfinch by going to www.lulu.com and writing the title in the search box. We hope you will find each of these issues interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring, and illuminating.
We wish to invite all interested writers to join with us as we work to create a more heavenly culture. The Spirited Goldfinch is pleased to consider submissions of fiction, poetry and nonfiction for publication. Works may be submitted to one of the following addresses: The Spirited Goldfinch, 26 Amity St., Little Falls, NJ 07424, or rbeebe52 [at] yahoo.com.
We have come together as writers to form a group for the purpose of creating literature appropriate to God's Kingdom. In whatever form, our writing shall be for the purpose of inspiring children and adults to celebrate God's love and truth, ourselves as His sons and daughters, our families as schools of love, nature as God's gift to us, and the world as one family under God, our Heavenly Parent.