Formed over forty years ago, our Writers Circle is based in Felixstowe, Suffolk. Meetings are held in The Room at the Top in Felixstowe Library, normally on the first and third Tuesday of each month commencing at 7.30pm and finishing by 10.00pm. Check this weblog for details of meetings.

There is an annual November to November fee of £30, April to November is £20 and June to November £15. For members preferring to pay at each meeting the charge is £5 per meeting. To contact Felixstowe Scribblers simply email scribblers.1@btinternet.com or the Secretary, catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com

Friday 24 June 2016

It's here...

It is the Felixstowe Book Festival this weekend, starting tomorrow, Saturday 25th June and finishing on Sunday.

Don't forget the two Scribblers events: Start the day with a story in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell Hotel on Sunday from 10.00 until 10.30 and the Flash Fiction event same day, same location, from 4.30 until 6.00.

There are plenty of other events too... the Orwell Writers from 3.00 until 4.00 in the Furneaux Suite on Sunday whilst our Ruth Dugdall and Jeanette Hewitt are involved in proceedings over the weekend. Details are on the Festival Website.

Please support the Festival and our own events as well.

Enjoy!

Keep Scribbling!!!

Wednesday 22 June 2016

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 21st June 2016.

Apologies: Cathy.  
Present: Jane, Richard, Mel, Mairead, Gerry, Liliane, Steve, Beryl, Jim, Dave and new members Anne and John. 

Business items:
There was a welcome to Anne and John who have just moved to Felixstowe from Woodbridge. They were members of the Woodbridge writing group that was attached to the library there but hopefully the Scribblers will provide them with a fresh alternative. Anne likes writing for children whilst John enjoys short story writing.

Prior to the meeting, Cathy collected the display boards from Dave together with various items for the Flash Fiction event at the Book Festival, like prompts and pencils to write with! There were also some handouts with details of our group. Because of a very early start tomorrow (Wednesday) Cathy had to leave. She missed a pretty good evening.

Don’t forget to come along to the Orwell on the weekend of 25th and 26th June and support the Festival and especially to come to our events, both on the Sunday in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell Hotel. The first is at 10.00 on Sunday 26th June when we ‘Start the day with a story’, then, at 4.30 we hold our flash fiction event. Squeezed in between, at 3.00 pm our good friends the Orwell Writers will read a selection of short stories inspired by William Shakespeare. These events are all free but if possible you should try and get tickets in advance. There is a full programme over the two days with various events including Ruth and Jeanette.

Talking of the Book Festival, congratulations must go to our Jane who has won third prize in the Short Story Competition with her work ‘The Lucky Ones’. We look forward to hearing the story in due course.

The Photographic Flash Fiction session:
It was very pleasing to see so many people attend this meeting – in fact this was our largest attendance for some time.

There was a plethora of postcards and photographs to select from and writers were even allowed to change photographs if need be. There were some grimaces, some twinkling eyes and some disbelief at knowing that the picture in front of them would prompt them to a story.

Thirty minutes were allowed with the writing done in silence. There always seems to be pressure to come up with a believable (in most cases!!!) story. Sometimes pressure makes better writers of us although not everyone enjoys this kind of challenge.

The stories that were read out were extremely good even though some work was not fully completed. Well done everyone for your efforts. It made a good night even better!

Thanks:
Our thanks must go to everyone for bringing along some excellent pictures and entered into the spirit of the evening.

Thanks to Liliane for collecting the key, to Mairead for bringing along her naughty confectionary and to everyone who helped with setting up and tidying the room.

Our Next Meeting:
Tuesday 5th July at 7.30 pm. The homework assignment is to write up to 1,000 words on any subject that includes the phrase “It makes a change”.

Don’t forget that we’ll be at the Orwell for the Book Festival on Sunday 26th June.

Until next time:

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave


Tuesday 21 June 2016

Photographic meeting success.

A very good turnout tonight that included two new members who were thrown in at the deep end with our photo, postcard or picture flash fiction event. With the choice of many photos etc., everyone chose one and thought there was some changing of pictures it all turned out fine in the end!

There were some amazing stories all written within the 30 minute allotted time, followed by readings of each story. A really worthwhile and enjoyable exercise.

Pre meeting Cathy collected the display boards and various items to help with our involvement at the Felixstowe Book Festival. Our two slots, as a reminder are at 10.00 on Sunday 26th June when we start the day with a story then, at 4.30 we hold our flash fiction event. Squeezed in between, at 3.00 pm our good friends the Orwell Writers will read a selection of short stories inspired by William Shakespeare.These events are all in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell Hotel. There is a full programme over the two days with various events including Ruth and Jeanette. I hope you will all support our events and the Festival in general.

Talking of the Book Festival, Jane came third in the short story competition so very well done!

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 5th July with a 1,000 word homework assignment to include the phrase 'It makes a change'.

Hope to see you at the Festival and then at Scribblers.

Keep Scribbling!!!

Sunday 19 June 2016

Short Story Competition

At the outset, we must express our sincere gratitude for your help in spreading the word for the Nivalis 2016 Short Story Competition. When we had reached out to the various writing groups/workshops, we had not anticipated that our submission count will almost treble - most certainly it would not have been possible without your support. We therefore take great pleasure in announcing that at least two of the winning / longlisted entries (by Peter Higgins and Robin Bailes) and one Special Mention story (by Ken Morlich) were sent in by members of writing groups.

There were fifteen stories selected for the anthology, and another sixteen were awarded a ‘Special Mention’ on our website. Standard of submissions was very high, and our judges (Literary agents Clare Wallace and Sandra Sawicka and authors Brett Sanders and Anisha Bhaduri) had a difficult time coming up with the top three names.

Full results are available at www.fabulapress.com.

Nivalis 2016 is now officially concluded, with winners individually contacted and payments made. We are now working on the anthology which should be launched by July 2016. If your members hold physical meetings / reading sessions and you are interested to obtain a copy for such sessions please let us know; whilst sending out paperback editions will be logistically and financially challenging, we can send out a pdf copy absolutely free of cost.

Work has also commenced on our summer short story competition Aestas 2016, and once again we seek your help to spread the word. The contest will open on 01Jul2016 and we will be accepting submissions for three months. Should authors from your circle choose to participate, kindly also request them to duly fill in the "where did you hear about us" section in the submissions page - we try to give due credit to the various writing groups/workshops when their authors are featured in our anthology or where there are many entries from a group.

Contest details are as below:

Dates: Contest opens on 01Jul16, and submissions will be accepted till 30Sep16. Tentatively, the results will be declared in early Dec16.

Prizes: The contest carries the following prizes:

  • First Prize      :   US$250

  • Second Prize:   US$150

  • Third Prize     :   US$100

 All longlisted entries (top 15-20) will be published in an anthology, and the non-prize winning published entries will be paid US$50each. Also, at the sponsors' discretion additional prizes may be declared for ‘Editors’ Pick' category (in the last edition of the contest two such prizes of US$100 each were declared).

Theme: None. There is no restriction on genre either, and we are happy to read literary fiction, historical fiction, mystery/suspense, horror, etc. However, for consistency of presentation we cannot accept children’s stories, fantasy, young adult or chick lit; likewise hardcore science fiction is not something we are looking for, but are open to science based / alternative history based literary works. In case of doubt, it is best to query the editorial team.

Word count: Minimum 1500, maximum 7000. At editors’ discretion some latitude may be allowed on both minimum and maximum word counts for stories of exceptional merit.

Entry fee: US$10.

Judges: The panel of judges includes literary agents, authors and essayists.

Detailed guidelines are available on our website, but do let us know should you need more information.

Hoping to receive your support,

Kind regards,

Anirban Ray Choudhury
Fabula Press

www.fabulapress.com 

Want help......?


Saturday 18 June 2016

Our Next Meeting

Our final meeting before the Felixstowe Book Festival is almost upon us. It takes place on Tuesday evening (21st) at the Room at the Top and this time the meeting is our 'photographic' one. This is a flash fiction type of event where we bring a photo or postcard to be added to the pile, shuffled around before everyone picks one as a writing prompt. Depending on the attendance will dictate the time allotted for writing. It's always fun and the resulting stories are always excellent. 

The Book Festival takes place next weekend and if you haven't already got tickets for the events taking place then I suggest you do so as quickly as possible. Details of the ticket outlets are on the Festival website.

As you know we have two events programmed whilst the Orwell Writers to whom a number of Scribblers are attached have one event. These events will all be in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell on Sunday.

I hope those who are reading will have their stories primed and ready to read out. In case there is time other members may bring along any piece of work on Tuesday to hand to Cathy or the other readers.

See you all Tuesday,

Until then, 

Keep Scribbling!

Dave.

You are invited to join us on  Sunday 26th June at the Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe
10.00-10.30am - The Furneaux Suite. Start the day with a story with Felixstowe Scribblers.
3.00-4.00pm - The Furneaux Suite.Readings and discussions on the life and times of William Shakespeare with the Orwell Writers’ League.
4.30-6.00pm - The Furneaux Suite.Experience Flash Fiction with Felixstowe Scribblers.

These events are ticketed but free.

Sunday 12 June 2016

Next meeting - 21st June...

Following the discovery by one of our  eagle eyed members, (thanks Jim!),   I must confirm that our next meeting will be held on Tuesday  21st June when we hold our photographic flash fiction event. This replaces the incorrect date that appeared in our programme of meetings. Hopefully the message will have been received by everyone of the correct date - 21st June. 

For this meeting you are asked to simply bring along a photograph, picture or postcard which will be placed face down on the table, then shuffled before selecting one picture. This will provide the prompt for your writing exercise.  It's fun!

We hear that popular author Rosy Thornton will be in Woodbridge Library for a book launch on Thursday evening 21st July. Details can be found on her website:  http://rosythornton.com  

Hope to see you on Tuesday 21st June armed with your photograph, picture, or postcard.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling !!!

Friday 10 June 2016

Forthcoming event at Woodbridge.

   
Rosy Thornton

 
If any fellow Suffolk writers are within spitting distance of Woodbridge and at a loose end on the evening of Thursday 21 July, I'd love to see you at the launch of my book 'Sandlands' - a collection of short stories all set in and around my village of Blaxhall. The event is free, and you'll even get a glass of wine! No need for a ticket, but if you'd like to attend, please email the Suffolk Book League, who are organising the event, just for numbers (tickets@sbl.org.uk). My good friend Louise Fryer of BBC Radio 3 fame is going to read one of the stories, and I'll be speaking briefly about the book. Do come - I'd love to meet some of you lovely people!

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 07 June 2016

Present:  Dave, Mairead, Beryl, Jim, Dick, Steve, Mel, Jane, Richard, Cathy,
Apologies: Liliane, Carolyn, Gerry.

Business:  
Felixstowe Book Festival – readers will be Beryl, Mairead, Liliane and Cathy. Cathy to notify Meg Reid, who requires this information to produce name badges for readers.
Readers will bring along work of their own choice; if anyone has done a piece with a Felixstowe theme that would be ideal, but not essential.
Display boards – Dave and Cathy had met for a short while before the meeting to discuss content. Established that we now have all we need. Beryl to send Dave a poem to add to the board as we need a short piece of work to display.

Meeting:
The excessive heat seemed to subdue everyone rather, but we still had an excellent meeting. It was good to welcome back all those who’d been away on holiday. Also good to see Mel again – clearly we didn’t’ put her off on her first visit!
Our best wishes go to Liliane, who wasn’t well enough to attend, but hopes to be with us next time.
Thanks as ever to Mairead for the delicious biscuits.
Reading out of work on the theme ‘Trains’. Not all of us had managed to do any new work, but everyone (apart from Cathy) had brought something relevant for us to listen to.

Dick: All because of a migraine

Steve: Trains to arrest

Jane: The love train

Richard: Telling the truth, telling lies on a train

Dave: Daily routines.
Remembering the days in the District Publicity Representative’s organisation on good old BR. Fixing literature racks, inspecting poster boards even at the end of Southend Pier! The arrest of the total staff at Leigh-on-Sea for theft. Nearly bumping into the Royal Family at Liverpool Street Station. Great memories, great job!
This wasn’t Dave’s homework piece – that was found once he got home, so he’s added it to the weblog for us all to read!

Mel: Nine trains – a very clever piece of work, which had us all laughing

Jim: Revenue protection
Revenue Protection was a record of an imaginary team meeting of the Abellio Greater Anglia Revenue Protection team. They used to be called ticket Inspectors.
At the meeting, a cow on the line, a possible Billy No Mates travelcard, and a sniffer dog looking for cheese and pickle sandwiches were discussed!

Mairead: The right train

Cathy: April 1807

Beryl: A visit to Birmingham

Next meeting:    Our next meeting is on Tuesday 21 June, when we all need to bring in a single photo or postcard to use for a ‘flash fiction’ exercise on the night. For those of you who haven’t done this before, we place our cards face down in the middle of the table, shuffle them around, then each select one, and write a story in about 30 minutes, prompted by the image we have chosen. Always fun, even if it sounds a bit daunting!


Cathy

Tuesday 7 June 2016

Train of thought...

Another very interesting evening with the subject on trains. The resultant work was terrific and held everyone's attention. All except for Dave. Guess who left his homework at home? Fortunately he had a back-up piece of work to  read. The 'forgotten' work will be added to the Short Stories tab above.

Jim noted that the date of the next meeting was incorrect on this weblog so, thanks Jim, its duly been amended. Apologies for the error.

Our next meeting will be held in two weeks time on 21st June. This will be the photographic meeting so everyone is absolved of homework -simply bring a photograph, picture or postcard along and add it to the pile. The object of the exercise is to select one of the items then use that to formulate a short story in flash fiction style. Its always a good meeting...

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!





Monday 6 June 2016

Our next meeting

Tomorrow (Tuesday 7th) is our next meeting. The homework theme was to write up to 1,000 words on Trains. Hope to see you there.

Meantime Jeanette has sent the following:

"  I'm in New York, about to head out for a ferry ride to Liberty and Ellis Island. So far we've been in Long Beach and Hollywood and Las Vegas. I'm doing a 'literary picture' tour for the TripFiction website if you check them out on Facebook, it's been great fun!
Before the ferry ride today I'm going to the Mysterious Bookshop in the TriBeCa area too!
Hope to be at Scribblers soon and send big waves to everyone, although next weekend it's off to Majorca!
All the best... Jeanette."

Great to hear from her!

We've also received this worthy cause from Jane:

"My nephew Stephen has kindly agreed to walk 25 miles as part of the Orwell Walk to raise funds for Lighthouse Women's Aid which is the charity I'm a trustee of.   (I would have done it - though maybe not the full 25 miles!!  But I'll be away that weekend).
They do an amazing job providing a refuge in Suffolk where women often turn up with nothing but the clothes they're standing in, bruised and beaten both physically and emotionally.  They also provide a centre where women can get advice and attend courses to raise their self esteem and awareness of bullying behaviour, and also provide women with support during court proceeedings, together with a range of other help.  Though it's largely Suffolk based they do also provide out of area refuge for women who need to be relocated in a different geographical location.
The walk takes place on 25 June and if you were able to consider making a donation I can assure you it will be very gratefully received.  If you would more information about the work Lighthouse does please go to: http://lighthousewa.org.uk
You can donate on the following web site: 

If you have any query on this just e-mail or text me (07729556740). 

Thanks for your support.  Jane."

Back to the Scribblers, If you would like to bring along a story that can be considered for reading out at the Book Festival please do so. Time is running out and the readers will need a little time to 'rehearse'.

Until tomorrow,

Keep Scribbling,

Dave 

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Back to reality...!

I hope you've all had a good break and enjoyed some of the nice weather we've had (not today's though).

It's been a hectic time personally but at least we managed a break up in Lincolnshire to try and recharge the batteries. We visited a number of places including Isaac Newton's birthplace at Woolsthorpe. There's a second hand book shop there and staring us right in the face was a copy of Ruth's 'Sacrificial Man' for a mere £1. I've already got my copy so its still there if anyone wants to visit.

It seems ages since I was at Scribblers and now must wait until next Tuesday for our meeting - that's on Tuesday 7th June when the homework assignment is for up to 1,000 words on 'Trains.' (And no! I didn't choose the subject!).

We'll also need to finalise our plans for the Felixstowe Book Festival at the meeting and hopefully Cathy and I will have a get together on the same day to discuss what needs doing.

Hope to see you at the meeting NEXT week...  

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave