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

Saturday 24 March 2018

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 20 March 2018

Present: Liliane, Dave, Bridget, Mairead, Cathy, Beryl, Di C, Tony, Anne, Liz, Kay.

Apologies: Derek.

Business:
Tony told the group that his book is due to be published soon, and he hopes to have a launch and signing event at the library in May.

Sweet treats – thanks to Mairead for these.

Flash fiction exercise:

With such a good turnout, we decided to get straight on with the flash fiction, to give plenty of time for reading out of our efforts later in the meeting. The theme was ‘Heartache’, and we had thirty minutes to write. Even thirty minutes wasn’t enough for everyone – three members (who shall remain nameless!) were still scribbling away thirty five minutes in – clearly they were inspired!

All that effort required a restorative coffee or tea, and a quick chocolate fix, then it was on to the readings. There was a tremendous variety of work, and each story was complete in itself, something that isn’t always easy to achieve when working within a time limit. We heard tales of lost friendship, family tragedy, lost and thwarted love, tadpoles killed by PVA glue(?!?) – and lots more.

As Dave said after the readings, we really are a pretty talented bunch.

Overall a very enjoyable evening.

Next meeting: This will be on 3 April, when the homework theme is ‘The best laid plans.’

Wednesday 21 March 2018

Short Story Competition.

The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize for unpublished stories is now open for entries. There is a prize of £1,000, and the winning entry will be published in Prospect onlick if you enterne and in the RSL Review. Stories must be written in English and between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Entrants must be resident in the UK, Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth. This year’s judges are: Tibor Fischer, Irenosen Okojie and Leone Ross. More information and entry details can be found on the RSL’s Submittable site: https://theroyalsocietyofliterature.submittable.com/submitThe closing date for entries is Friday 29 June 2018.


Twitter
·         The @RSLiterature V.S. Pritchett Prize 2018, for unpublished short stories, is open for entries. Deadline: Friday 29 June. http://bit.ly/RSL_VSP18 

·         The @RSLiterature V. S. Pritchett Prize 2018 - for unpublished short stories is open for entries. This year’s judges are Tibor Fischer, @IrenosenOkojie and @leoneross. Deadline: Friday 29 June. http://bit.ly/RSL_VSP18  

·         #ShortStoryWriters! The @RSLiterature V.S. Pritchett Prize for unpublished short stories is open for entries. Deadline: Friday 29 June. http://bit.ly/RSL_VSP18   

·         Enter the £1000 @RSLiterature V.S. Pritchett Prize for unpublished short stories. 2000-4000 words. Deadline: Friday 29 June 2018. http://bit.ly/RSL_VSP18 



The Royal Society of Literature is a registered charity: 213962







Tuesday 20 March 2018

An excellent evening's creativity!

What a fantastic turnout for this evening's flash fiction event.

The prompt was drawn as 'Heartache' and this caused one or two headaches! Once the ideas came to mind then began the endless creativity that produced some enthralling work. Another successful evening at Scribblers!

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 3rd April when the homework assignment is to write up to 1,000 words on "The Best Laid Plans."

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Sunday 18 March 2018

Belated thanks.

Belated thanks to Mairead for organising our Dinner last Tuesday at the Orwell Hotel.

It turned into a very nice evening with good service, good food and good company!

Once again, thankyou Mairead,

from

Dave and the Scribblers.

Our next meeting etc...

What an infernal weekend of weather! Most accounts say that by Tuesday we should be okay again! Let's hope so because our next meeting is this Tuesday 20th March when we hold another of our Flash Fiction events. The rules are simple... just bring yourself along, together with pen or pencil and paper - or in some cases a laptop - and be prepared for up to half an hour's writing on a subject that will be revealed at the meeting! It is all good fun, really it is. Look forward to seeing you there. Start time 7.30.

I hear that details of the Felixstowe Short Story Competition have been released and full information can be found on their website at:
 
https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/story-comp . 

Hoping you will support this competition! If you do, then good luck!



A very late reminder from the Ipswich Writers Cafe that their next meeting is tonight:

* Monday 19th March
* starts 7:30pm
* at the Thomas Wolsey pub at 9-13 St Peters, Street, Ipswich IP1 1XF

Ed and Mai will be there for a wealth of words.

Hope to see you all at Scribblers on Tuesday... so... until then...

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave

Sunday 11 March 2018

The Meal... Tuesday 13 March.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers!

Thanks to Mairead we now have our meal just a couple of days away.

For those who are coming along, the meal is at 7.30 in the Orwell Hotel. The suggestion is that we arrive in good time, perhaps around 7pm which will give us plenty of time to settle in for the evening.

For those who haven't booked and might still wish to come along then I am sure we will be able to fit you in!

Until Tuesday!

Dave.

Wednesday 7 March 2018

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 06 March 2018

Present: Liliane, Dave, Bridget, Mairead, Cathy, Derek, Beryl, Di C, Tony, Anne, Steve
Apologies: Liz

Business:
Weblog – Dave has put information about some new books on the weblog, written by current Scribblers Anne and Steve, ex Scribbler Morag, and our honorary president, Ruth Dugdall.

Annual meal – nine of us will be attending this at The Orwell Hotel, 7 for 7.30, on Tuesday 13 March.

Ex-scribbler Belinda sent her best wishes, via Dave, to anyone who remembers her.

Refreshments – as ever, our thanks to Mairead for the pastries she bought for us to share.

Readings of homework:
Not only did we have a good turn out for this meeting, but everybody had something to read as well – plenty to listen to and enjoy.

The homework theme was ‘It was just one of those days’ – and almost everyone had written to it; not just fictional pieces, but memory ones too.

Tony – he read an excerpt from a chapter of his soon to be published book. The chapter was entitled ‘A long night’s journey into day’. Unanimous agreement that Tony’s style of writing is unique!

Dave – ‘Consequences’, the tale of a young lady’s traumatic and frustrating rail journey during inclement weather. Writing from a woman’s point of view was well done, and Dave’s experiences working on the railway served him well for putting this story together.

Cathy – ‘Never too old’, a piece that had been rejected by People’s Friend four years ago; some helpful feedback offered by group members

Di – ‘Nanny and Elsie’, a true tale about Di’s Nan. Delightfully written, and beautifully read. Our thanks to Di for sharing it with us – we all know how hard it can be to do that first public reading of work – now we look forward to hearing more from her!

Bridget – ‘Mum’s birthday treat’, another true story – highly entertaining, and much enjoyed by us all. The frustrations and tensions of a day with assorted relatives, and the stress of not being able to travel as planned, were well conveyed.

Anne – a pleasurable continuation of her current tales about an elderly couple, this time involving a birthday treat that didn’t go to plan. We were absolutely with them on their chaotic journey and the subsequent challenges that they faced.

Liliane ‘ Spring fever’, part of Liliane’s fictional family saga that had us all laughing, as we ‘listened in’ on family dissent and undercurrents, all effectively portrayed.

Beryl – ‘Just one of those days’, the tale of one woman and her dog, snowy weather, snooty neighbours, and a friendly face. We all agreed that this was a very crisply written piece, with highly visual imagery, and tight character portrayal. The snooty neighbour was especially recognisable as the type of person each of us had met!

Steve – ‘The birthday’, in which the character is enjoying the perfect birthday in idyllic domestic surroundings, then wakes from what is only a dream to face the reality of his lonely birthday and bleak existence. Steve conveyed the difference between the dream and reality with some compelling descriptive writing.

Mairead – ‘Shooting Frankenstein’. This was a very cleverly worked poem, and was full of Mairead’s usual beautiful imagery

Derek – ‘Last Monday week’. Who would have thought that the description of one man’s day at the office, and his travel both to and from work, could be so entertaining? The use of short sentences and an almost spartan style of writing really worked for this piece, and kept all the listeners totally absorbed.

With so much to listen to, and the discussion that several pieces engendered, the meeting ran until 9.40. At this point Dave clarified that the next meeting will be a flash fiction session using a selected prompt, therefore no homework theme.

Next meeting: This will be on 20 March. For anyone not familiar with flash fiction sessions, they are simply an opportunity to write for half an hour during the meeting on a topic selected from our ‘themes’ collection. We then share our work, and it’s surprising how often complete stories, or the beginnings of good tales, emerge from that frantic half hour’s labour.

Terrific evening!

A well attended meeting with memories of all the snow behind us!

The evening's homework theme was 'It's just one of those days.' That's exactly what it was... another terrific meeting with some extraordinary tales that kept our attention riveted from start to finish. It was a real pleasure listening to all the tales and admiring how well the Scribblers adapt to so many topics. They really  are fantastic writers.

We have received good wishes from our friend Belinda in Queensland and from Caz currently in Salisbury after a family wedding and snow blocked roads. Glad she's safe!

There will no longer be a Jack Wilkinson Memorial walk after certain hurtful comments were made. We, though, will continue with our own competition in memory of Jack.

Our next meeting is on 20th March when we hold another of our Flash Fiction evenings. There is no homework this time as the prompt for the evening will be drawn at the start of the meeting. Please remember  to bring pen or pencil and paper!

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!!! 

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Two new books by Scribblers members!

Here are the covers of two recent releases by members of the Felixstowe Scribblers!

The first is Harry's son goes diving written by Steve Barnes about his life's journey and the stories of the people he met and worked with on the way.





The next is a book for children, written by Annie Thompson. It has been a trial of patience to get it published and out for sale. 




















It might sound funny but there seems to be quite a roll out of novels from writers who have connections to the Scribblers.

The next one due for release will be Ruth's new book which is due out next month. It's called 'The Things You Didn't See' and should be another good one!



















Additionally Tony is in the final throes of publishing his book...

It's all happening here!

Why not join Felixstowe Scribblers and help grow our list of published authors?

Monday 5 March 2018

Our next meeting

With the Beast from the East now gone west or somewhere, there should be no problem with our meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 6 March) in the Library.
Hoping you all stayed safe and warm.

As you know the homework assignment was to produce up to 1,000 words on the subject "It's just one of those days.' As always if the subject is not to your taste then please bring something of your work providing it falls within the word limit.

Here's a special message for Anne and Steve. If you'd like to email copies of your book covers to me then I will put them onto the weblog.

For those who know him, Giles Meehan our mentor way back in The Lost Sock days, was married last weekend to Jess. Congratulations to them and here's to long and happy days ahead.

Until tomorrow,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave