Meeting report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 12 February 2019

Present:  Dave, Tony, Beryl, Liz, Kay, Georgina, Liliane, David, Carole, Derek, Justin, Jim, Gerry, Cathy

Apologies:  Steve, Anne, Hazel.

Business: 

Steve has notified Dave that he will unfortunately have to take some time out from the group over the next few months, but hopes to be back with us in the summer. Let’s hope it will be early summer rather than late – he’ll be missed!

Great to see such a good turnout for our competition in memory of young Jack Wilkinson. Jack’s mother Caz (an ex-Scribbler) has recently been executor to an estate in which a very substantial amount of money was to be donated to a charity/charities of her choice. She has chosen the ward at Ipswich Hospital in which Jack was cared for.

Anthology – not many items for inclusion have yet been sent to Dave. He asked that we all send our offerings sooner rather than later – easier for him, Beryl and Georgina to manage the workload of editing if there’s a steady flow of work rather than a massive influx at the last minute.

Competition:

For this competition, the remit was to write a story about children. Of the fourteen members present, a fantastic twelve had submitted entries. As usual, Beryl and Cathy read the entries out for assessment and judging – and what a pleasure it was for them to have such a mix of excellent writings to share with the group. Dave always comments that as writers we continue to grow in talent and expertise, and the standard of entries proved him right again.

Marking was difficult – with so many high calibre stories on a wide variety of themes, it really challenged us. Tony kindly collated the final results of our marking, (needing to ask for a fourth placed entry as a tie breaker), and the winners were as follows:

Justin in first place with ‘The things that disappear’. In second place was Georgina, with

‘Thursday’s child’. Kay and Jim tied for third place with ‘Birds’ and ‘Madonna’ respectively.

The remaining stories were:

Beryl – Coming home

Carole – The swing

Liz – A moment and magic

Gerry – The nightlight

Derek – John and Peter

Dave – The little truant

Tony – The gang

Liliane – History lesson

A tremendously enjoyable evening, and congratulations to our newest member for going home with the coveted trophy!

Next meeting: 

5 March. The topic is ‘On the beach’, a story of up to 1000 words.

What a night!

Tonight we celebrated the memory of young Jack Wilkinson with a really good attendance and a dozen fantastic entries for the trophy.

It was a poignant evening as his mother Caz had been one of six executors of Eric Vanlint's will. Eric, a good friend of Jack and his parents, left an amazing £150,000 for charity. Caz presented this to the Ipswich Hospital Children's Ward to help with improvements. Such a wonderful gift left to the ward that treated Jack for his cancer.

Jack may not be with us in body, but his spirit lives on through the competition we held this evening.

There were so many excellent stories that it was difficult to pick a winner, in fact our voting criteria is to name our top three stories. So close were the votes that we had to name a fourth story.

In joint 3rd place were Kay with her story, "Birds," and Jim with his "Madonna."

Can you believe that in second place yet again, was Georgina with "Thursday's Child." That's three runner-up spots on the trot!

The winner with his story "The Things that Disappear," was our newest member, Justin in only his second meeting! Well done Justin! In fact well done to everyone who entered and especially to Cathy and Beryl for reading the stories so professionally.

Justin's story will appear in the anthology once it is finalised and printed.

Talking anthology, please remember to send in a story as soon as possible. Many thanks.

Our next meeting is on 5th March when the homework assignment is "On the Beach."

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!!!

  

The Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy.

Just the usual reminder of our next meeting. It is this coming Tuesday in The Room at the Top in the Library. Start time is 7.30pm when the door will be locked - there is a bell push on the wall for any latecomers.

The meeting? It is one of our special ones when we have a trophy up for grabs. It is The Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy which the last holder, our Jim, has promised to bring back! To win the trophy please create a story of no more than 1,000 words about  children. Your entry should be typed please but should bear no indication of your name. When arriving at the meeting please place your entry face down on the table. Two readers will alternate in reading the entries out. Full details can be found at the top of our weblog page.

The anthology... If you haven't submitted your story/stories yet then it will be very helpful if you can please send them to this email address in the next two weeks. If the deadline is difficult for you, then please let me know. 

Many thanks,

Until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave.

ps... May the best story win!

Ipswich Writers' Cafe

Ahoy all,

Hope you're all OK out there. If anyone would like to help run another Writers' Cafe or suggest possible changes to the format, please let me know. Meanwhile, here's a round-up of talks by authors, creative writing courses and literary competitions.

Get out:

Feb 13 -- Elly Griffiths at Woodbridge library:

https://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/events/woodbridge-2019-02-13-elly-griffiths/

Feb 21 -- Zoe Gilbert at Suffolk Book League, Ipswich:

http://www.sbl.org.uk/

Mar 13 -- Linda Davies at Suffolk Book League, Ipswich:

http://www.sbl.org.uk/

Mar 28 -- Barbara Erskine at Woodbridge Emporium:

https://www.facebook.com/WoodbridgeEmporium/

Apr 5 -- Joanne Harris at Woodbridge library:

https://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/events/woodbridge-2019-04-05-joanne-harris/

Get better:

March, Tuesday evenings -- creative writing course with Mai Black:

https://suffolkwritersgroup.com/

Get published:

Round-up of writing comps for February 2019:

https://writershq.co.uk/writing-competitions-opportunities-february-2018/

Be seeing you,

Ed

Tuscany Workshops...

It is with great pleasure that I write to inform you about exciting writers’ workshops in Tuscany, In Vino Veritas. Our 2019 offering is rich: the first session is led by acclaimed author/teacher Alison MacLeod (her novel Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize), and the second session is a team-taught workshop featuring Jonathan Levi, author of Septimania and Colombian journalist Marta Orrantia, author of Mañana no te presentes.

Get ready to mark your calendar, here are the dates:

Session I with Alison MacLeod:  September 1 – 7, 2019

Session II with Jonathan Levi and Marta Orrantia: September 15 – 21, 2019

Details may be found at: invinoveritaswriting.com

In Vino Veritas brings together a small group (limited to a maximum of 15 participants) of international writers who work on memoirs, fiction, and poetry, learning about writing in the morning and wine in the evenings. All is accompanied by exquisite food and conversation.

The backdrop to this exciting week is the Donatella Cinelli Colombini wine estate in Trequanda, south of Florence, not far from Siena and near Montalcino (home to the prize-winning Brunello wine, of which Donatella is also a producer!).

Please do not hesitate to contact me for an electronic brochure or more information. And do spread the word to your friends and all those you think might be interested.

I look forward to welcoming you to a session of In Vino Veritas!

Cin-cin! Cheers!
Suzanne Branciforte

--

Suzanne Branciforte
Director
Grapevine Experience
+39 338 6814378
www.grapevineexperience.com

Inspirational guidance...

The Write Inspiration Retreat




Join bestselling Author LEE WEEKS and renowned Clarity Coach MANDY SPRAY 

for four   days of inspirational guidance in beautiful surroundings to bring out the best in you, and your writing. 

Look forward to a mind-expanding four days with great company and plenty of inspiration.

Learn how to tap into your inner creativity and express yourself through writing.

Open your eyes, CLEAR YOUR MIND and free your imagination to release the writer inside you.

Learn to tap into your emotions to become a better writer and combine it with the skills of story writing to make a winning combination whether you want to write a novel or a short story.

THIS RETREAT IS FOR EVERYONE  - from beginners to experienced writers

www.writeinstinct.com

many thanks

Lee Weeks

Skulduggery in Stowmarket.

Stowmarket Library presents

Skulduggery in

 Stowmarket

26th - 29th April 2019

Here is one session you will not want to miss!

Suffolk Libraries are hosting Gipping Press's next Self Publishing Workshop on Monday 29 April at Stowmarket Library. This is part of their Skulduggery in Stowmarket weekend long event. (details of all events available from the Library.)

'Gipping Press, self-publishing.' is a FREE morning session from 10:00 - 12.30. Introduction by Gipping Press to self-publishing with discussions and advice on everything from just getting your thoughts, memories and stories down on paper, to discovering how these first steps can be turned into a printed book with help, guidance or even under your own steam. 

Gipping Press say on their website - "Self Publishing a book is a great way to test the water before a larger print-run but can also be a great means of sharing your story with your friends and family. We have found that a large number of our customers produce their life-stories, historical account of a village, or a work of fiction with only a handful of copies the main aim. However, as people they know read and spread the word they find themselves back at our door talking about a larger re-print."

All enquiries contact enquiries@gippingpress.co.uk

Meeting report by the Secretary

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 5 February 2019

Present:  Dave, Tony, Beryl, Liz, Kay, Georgina, Liliane, Anne, Hazel, David, Carole, Derek, Justin, Cathy

Apologies:  Steve, Jim, Bridget

Business: 

We all welcomed new member Justin, and briefly introduced ourselves.

Anthology: Dave asked that we get our chosen work to him by the end of this month at the latest.

FBF: Meg has confirmed that Scribblers and OWL will share a two hour slot, 2 – 4 on Sunday 30 June, in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell, offering flash fiction and other creative writing exercises. Cost for the session is £5, but five complimentary tickets are available to members of Scribblers. Please let Dave or Cathy know if you would like a ticket.

Readings of homework:

With twelve people to read their work on the theme ‘My best friend’, there wasn’t much time for small talk, so we moved swiftly on from the brief business elements of the meeting.

As always, a tremendous range of stories was enjoyed. The theme inspired such different ideas in all the writers – tremendous stuff.

Tony – The great treacle mining disaster, an excerpt from his book

Dave - Stupidity

Kay – My best friend

Anne – My best friend

David – My best friend

Derek – The albatross and the yachtsman

Georgina – A friend in need (poem)

Beryl – Sheila

Carole – Julie

Liliane – The day after Christmas

Liz – Serbia

Hazel – My best friend

Next meeting: 

19 February, when it is the Jack Wilkinson trophy night. The competition this time is for stories about (not for) children – up to 1000 words. Remember not to have any identifying details on your printed copy.