The Maryland Writers’ Association created the Writers’ Round Table Program to encourage writers, poets, playwrights and authors through monthly articles and activities.
The Notable Maryland Author articles and associated Fun With Words writers’ prompts are the centerpiece of the program. Each month, Southern Maryland Newspapers featured a Maryland Writer’s Association article about an author.
Readers are encouraged to read the articles and try their hand at the writing prompts each month.
Author: Amy L. Kaplan
Genre: Fantasy. A speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often without any locations, events, or people referencing the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magical creatures are common in many of these worlds.
Sample reading list: “Mark of the Goddess,” “Star Touched,” “Wolf Dawn” and “Hummingbird.”
“Sometimes a blessing can be a curse.” — Amy L. Kaplan
Born in New Jersey, A.L. Kaplan’s love of books started as a child and sparked her creative imagination. She was hooked on writing when she won a prize for illustrating a story in first grade. Then in middle school, an art teacher saw her aluminum foil sculptures and convinced Kaplan to take art. Her creative path was chosen.
“For as long as I can remember” Kaplan said in a news release, “I’ve created stories, pictures, and sculptures. Through all of this, stories continued to spin through my mind and keep me up at night as I rewrote scenes multiple times.”
She found out that translating to the written word was entirely different, and often felt frustrated and stifled as speeches in her head wouldn’t transfer to the written word. Her ‘artistic’ handwriting and ‘creative’ spelling got in the way and her teachers didn’t appreciate that kind of creativity. Instead, the stories in her head came out in her paintings and sculptures. At college, she gained the confidence — and an introduction to computers — to write creatively and the images in her mind finally gained a literary narrative and eventually dialogue.
Her stories and poems have been published in several anthologies and magazines.
She is the most recent president of the Maryland Writers’ Association, a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association and holds an MFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She also served as the MWA president for four years and during that time increased its professionalism.
When not writing or indulging in her fascination with wolves, the mother of two lives in Maryland with her husband and dog.
For more information on Kaplan, go to www.alkaplanauthor.com.
Notable Author series ends
With this July article comes the end of the Notable Maryland Author program, which was the MWA’s most successful outreach program.
Initiated in March 2018 as part of the MWA’s 30th Anniversary with a profile on author Nora Roberts, it continued each month or more than six years and highlighted 77 Maryland authors in the process.
Designed to encourage readers to practice writing, more than 150 different readers responded to the monthly writers prompt, with Jon Ketzner of Cumberland responding to all 77 prompts. Lawrence McGuire of Waldorf was a close second and Steve Baker, who is serving time in federal prison, has had perfect participation since a friend emailed him an article. As a result of the program, several writers decided to write and publish books; Ketzner released his responses as short stories, Baker released his responses as humorous reminiscences and Linda Dutrow penned a children’s book.
The program relied on the county arts councils and 10 newspapers which published the monthly Notable Author articles each month.
Southern Maryland News published all 77 articles while The Cumberland Times News and the Frederick News Post were a close second.
Fun With Words
The MWA invites writers to have fun rewriting the classic opening line “It was a dark and stormy night.” In 100 words, identify a main character and convey the type of night without saying “It was a dark and stormy night” and without the words “dark,” “stormy” or “night.” Title the work and send to https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month to receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published online.
Last month writers were asked to have fun writing children’s books about first responders like Jim Brewster.
Here are some regional selections
Cheesy Rider
Agents M.A. and P.A. are alerted by screams of terror. Young Timmy’s been claimed by a mass of mangled metal and cockeyed tires. Arriving on scene, Agent P.A. observes: “This crash would have killed ten ordinary men!” Meanwhile, Agent M.A. treats Timmy’s knee wound with a sterilized anti-hemorrhaging pad as she yells: “I need 50 C.C.s of lemonade ... STAT!”
Afterward, noting that “all boo-boos have been stabilized,” Agent P.A. says to Timmy: “Your in-line, bi-wheeled transportational unit has been up-righted!”
Upon remounting, Timmy notices an anterior lower torso abrasion. Agent P.A. advises Timmy to: “Rub some dirt on it” before divulging “We’re having your favorite for dinner tonight: macaroni and cheese.
- Steve Baker, Waldorf
Strangest in the Night
I. Before the Call
“Another November night patrol outside a nothing-nothing town in our nothing-nothing county.”
“One-Six-Nine, silence that noise.”
“Ten-Four, Sergeant.”
“You awake, Zero-Eight-Two?”
“Sarge, awake but not woke.”
“Attention, all units. Hairy biped seen lurking near Bel Alton.”
“Sarge, that’s just One-Six-Nine’s Uncle Gus.”
II. The Call
“Units on scene.”
“One-Six-Nine in foot pursuit.”
“Zero-Eight-Two locking patrol car doors from inside.”
“Request animal control!”
“Sarge, they’ll need cargo nets.”
III. After the Call
“You see that orange-eyed thing?”
“Shared hallucination.”
“Sarge, stop sharing.”
“Gorilla suit.”
“Saw no zipper.”
“The Beast of Bel Alton then.”
“One-Six-Nine, town’s already got your Uncle Gus.”
- Lawrence McGuire,
Waldorf
Medivac Request — Mile 19 Marble Canyon
“Ranger Station, say again your emergency.”
“Canyon Watch One — Emergency medivac assistance needed for river trip passenger. Rafting accident reported, female patient, broken leg. Immediate transport to rim side ER requested. Do you copy?”
“Ahhh, we copy, Ranger Station, but need details about helo landing site. What canyon section again? Repeat your last.”
“Canyon Watch, say again, accident site is Marble Canyon 19 miles south of Lee’s Ferry. Patient triage is on east side of river. No details about helo landing site or surface conditions. Can you make extract? Please advise.”
“Ahhh, we’ll try, Ranger, but that’s rock-heavy terrain down there. Without safe landing data, landing will be questionable. We’ll proceed Marble Canyon Mile 19 and attempt extraction . . . we’ll keep you posted on airlift status. Advise rim side ER . . . passenger extraction and flight enroute their direction underway. Canyon Watch One out.”
- David Gardner,
Newburg
Rescue Surprise
“Rescue 12, how copy?”
Ann responded, “Dispatch, this is Rescue 12, what you got?”
“Multi-car accident on Highway 1. Sending you the location now. Call if you need more help.”
“Thanks. On our way.”
When Rescue 12 pulled up at the accident sight, their headlights illuminated the tangled mass of metal that had been three, or maybe four, cars. It was hard to tell.
Ann approached the fire chief. “Chief, what have we got here?”
“A real mess! It’ll be a miracle if anybody survived this.”
Ann turned to look again at the tangled cars, and gasped, “Mom?”
- Karen McIntyre,
La Plata
Doc
”We’ve been training for this, Doc,” said Mickey. “Dispatch says a little girl’s lost up in the hills. Autistic, scared, probably hiding. But you’re good with kids, Doc. She’ll come to you.”
Mickey kept talking, loading gear in the trailer. Doc enjoyed Mickey’s chatter, but wanted to get to the task. Finally, “Let’s find ‘er, Doc!”
The big horse ambled up the ramp into the trailer. A new type of mounted search and rescue team, Doc was trained to track, and could follow an airborne scent as well as a dog could follow one on the ground, and faster. They’d find her; he and Mickey.
- Jim Coleman, Ridgely
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