Present: Dave, Beryl, Liliane, Richard, Suzy, Tony, Mairéad, Cathy
Apologies: Barry, Tom, Gerry, Dick, Jane, Caz
Notes from Dave:
It was really nice to welcome Mairéad back to Scribblers after what seems a long time. She called in to see Les, along with Dick, on his first afternoon in Felixstowe Hospital after his transfer from Ipswich. Les apparently has a 22” pin in his leg which must be very uncomfortable for him.
We have had an email from our very talented writer Hattie who says she has returned from her job in Austria, after having a skiing accident that resulted in her being unable to continue in her work. It was soft tissue damage to the elbow (luckily not the arm that she writes with!), but after a few weeks at home she’s fortunately on the mend and says she would love to return to Scribblers! We hope to see her with us very soon and wish her a full recovery.
Richard volunteered to go along to BBC Radio Suffolk one Sunday to review the papers. Jon Wright of the radio station is aware and will liaise with Richard to arrange a date.
Regarding the Felixstowe Book Festival, Dave met Ed Broom – winner of last year’s short story competition – to work out a plan for the Flash Fiction event that Ed and the Scribblers will organise. We have an agreed slot of 2-3pm on Saturday 27th June which, incidentally, is National Flash Fiction Day. Although we have pooled our ideas we may need to do some fine tuning. Ed has been very helpful and will also be there on the day to help with the organisation. This will take place in the Big Room at the Orwell, and this is where we will be situated too. Watch this space for further news of the event.
Don’t forget that Ruth’s book launch will be in the Library on Saturday 11th April at 7pm. Her new book, Humber Boy B is likely to be another top seller. Please let Debra at the Library know if you are going to attend – this is to ensure there is sufficient wine available.
Here's a website that might interest you... The writers hub which can be found herehttp://www.writershub.co.uk/news.php
New writing group in Felixstowe:
The new group, Orwell Writers, is going to be held twice monthly at the Orwell Hotel, between 2 and 4 on Thursday afternoons. Currently the hotel is allowing free use of a room, so the only cost to anyone attending is the purchase of tea/coffee to be enjoyed during the session. The main thrust of this new group is in getting together to focus on enjoying stimulating and thought provoking writing exercises and activities during each meeting. For any members who wish it, there will also be the opportunity at the beginning of each meeting for a group review of individual work that has been brought in to share.
Cathy, Suzy and Richard, along with another writer who cannot attend evening sessions, had a trial run on 12th March, and now that they are confident that the above format works, are keen to invite new members to join them. In the first instance, anyone interested needs to contact Cathy to check session dates. Either by phone (01394 275542) or email (catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com). Regular attendance isn’t essential. We hope to keep attendances to an average of ten/twelve at a time, so that those there can get the most from the meetings, but if anyone wants to just drop in to give it a try, or come along occasionally when they happen to be free, then that would be great! Feel free, too, to get in contact if you’d just like to know a bit more in general.
Creative writing - four word exercise:
This is always a challenge, and this time was no exception! Everyone set to, and spent thirty minutes writing a piece that contained all four of their selected words. There was a fair bit of muttering and groaning at the start, (which was understandable, given some of the word combinations below!), but the end result was eight very different, well rounded pieces of work, all of them interesting, and some of them funny enough to have all of us laughing from start to finish.
Several members freely admitted to not enjoying this particular writing challenge, but agreed that they always find it useful, if only for the fact that having to complete a piece of work in thirty minutes is good for focussing the mind!
Words:
Suzy: glazing, detected, skimpy, nice
Tony: braked, spirits, fun, darkest
Dave: container, love, resplendent, fall (Titled ‘And the wind blew’)
Cathy: amaze, corner, earth, inconclusive
Richard: sunset, celebrity, window, horrific
Liliane: installation, parachute, escalate, horticulture
Beryl: evolution, archaic, service, pickle
Mairéad: precedent, affluent, pasture, awesome (Titled ‘The morning the President died’)
Next meeting: Tuesday 7th April, when the topic for the 1000 word homework is ‘Horticulture’,
