Published: November 13, 2009 01:37 pm      

Central City man pens second chapter

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

Dale Worcester of Central City was surprised to learn he had submitted the winning entry for the second chapter of “Your Story,” an ongoing five-part serial story written by Tribune-Democrat readers.

“For goodness sake,” Worcester said. “I thought there would be more competition.

“I don’t consider myself that great. I’m gratified. I hit a home run this time.”

Worcester, who is 87, has been writing for 20 years, but got serious about his craft several years ago after winning a contest sponsored by the Works in Progress Writers’ Workshop in Somerset.

He is now a member of the writers’ critique group that meets twice a month to assess members’ writing skills.

“Short stories are my specialty, so I guess that helped me to write this,” Worcester said. “What struck me was that she didn’t have a name. I consider that vital. I figured in the second chapter, you would need to leave it open for others to expand on the story.”

Editor Chip Minemyer said this was one of the reasons Worcester’s entry was chosen.

“You can go in a lot of different directions with it,” Minemyer said. “There are a lot of possibilities.”

Although the character came home to bury her problems in Worcester’s story, he believes the magic of the Christmas village in Johnstown’s Central Park will bring about a solution.

Worcester is familiar with the downtown area and the miniature village that is created every Christmas even though he doesn’t live in Johnstown.

When he retired from the marketing department of Alcoa in 1983, Worcester moved into the cottage he had kept for 30 years at Indian Lake.

Worcester’s wife, Ann, died in 1993, and he has tried singing with a community chorale and took up woodcarving to occupy his time, but has found that writing is what he enjoys most.

He has three daughters and three grandchildren.

Worcester has had his work published in writing magazines and has won honorable mentions.

“I self-published a book containing 16 of my short stories titled ‘Potpourri,’ ” Worcester said. “I also have two unpublished novels.”