Afterwards

First things first.

Thanks to everyone who helped and volunteered to do the readings at the Book Festival. I really do mean everyone. From Caz who helped set up and take down the display, Cathy for being the cool head amongst us and for providing plenty of tea and coffee throughout the two days, to Beryl, Liliane, Dick and Mairéad and the others for being prepared to read their stories. Jane, busy with her coaching one to ones still managed to read on one of her many visits to our table.  Good to see Carolyn and Clive in attendance too.

The event seemed to have been a huge success with masses of people attending the talks and flooding the bookstall afterwards. Even Terry Waite found time to chat to Cathy in the reception area.

Maybe the downside of the event was the noise which meant that we abandoned reading out our stories. I don’t think this detracted from our presence at all. We had a number of enquiries about what we do and took heart when a new but small ‘Scribblers’ group from Eye in Suffolk made themselves known to us, and also a group from Woodbridge library. Many years ago the Scribblers went over to the former library when the group was being formed. We took a display of work and stories and had a discussion which included a question and answer session.

We also learned of the East Anglian Story Telling Festival at the Blaxhall Ship from 24^th to 27^th July inclusive. Details can be found on their website at https://m.facebook.com/eastanglianstorytellingfestival.

It was so nice to see some former members of our group, especially Morag who tells me that she has now finished her novel ‘The Coach Trip’ after something like seven years in the making. Ally came along as well, explaining her little boy is now nearly two years old and keeps her occupied. Tremendous that she showed her talent in the flash fiction event. Wendy who was married to another former member Arnie Rainbow also came over. They used to have a small group, Arnie on guitar and Wendy with her superb singing voice. It was also nice to see Maureen Budner there as well. She is surprised that Bills competition is still so popular.

We mustn’t forget Ruth either. She is looking forward to her evening on the 7^th July at Scribblers. (So are we!)

I really must mention the fantastic contribution Ed Broom made in both organising and running the Flash Fiction event. It was a really successful session despite the numbers being low. Next time we will try and get a little more advertising that should help boost the number of participants.

So there we are, our third year of exposure at the Book Festival. So now we have to plan what we will do next year.

Dave

Felixstowe Book Festival

Don't forget this weekend, Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June, Felixstowe Scribblers are in the Elizabeth Room at the Orwell Hotel. We have a display mounted - hope you like it - copies of our (old) anthology for sale whilst we will be giving hourly readings of homework subjects starting on Saturday at 10 am until 1pm after which we will have the flash fiction event organised by Ed Broom. Cathy will finish the day off with another reading at 4pm.

On Sunday we will have readings on every hour from 10 am until 4pm.

We hope you will be able to call in and see us. If you want to see other events then tickets will also be on sale on both days, subject to availability.

Hope to see you there! 

SUFFOLK READING FESTIVAL BROADCASTS THIS WEEK

Weds 23 June 1900-1930
FXR Felixstowe Radio 107.5fm or via the internet
Program 72
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearman 
Marbles Lost Again by Tony Shearman
Imaginative Ride by Jack Wilkinson
The Sunday Funfair by Jack Wilkinson
Too Clever for our own Good by Beryl Sabel

Performers: Richard Bradshaw, Ryan Guilder, Brian England, Peter Guilder,
Debbie CoveneySheila Martin, Su Stedman, Angela Silburn, David Miller,
Robin Saunders, Beryl Sabel, Alison Miller, Debbie Wargate

and

Friday1230-1300
Ipswich Community Radio (ICR) 105.7 FM or via the internet
Program 66
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearman
Floating in the Wind by Tony Shearman
Invaders by Richard Bradshaw
The Blues in New Orleans by Les Smith

Performers: Beryl Sabel, Ryan Guilder, Robin Saunders, Tony Shearman
Debbie Coveney, David Miller, Sheila Martin, Andy Sindle, Brian England
Angela Silburn, Richard Bradshaw, Les Smith

Hope you enjoy them.

Tony

Words Magazine competition

There is still time to enter our Short Story Competition that closes on June 30^th 2015; details of which you will find on our website at: www.wordsmag.com

Details of our next competition (closing on December 31^st) are also there.

Entry is free and all entries are re-read after return from our judges with a view to publication either in our quarterly magazine, in any anthologies produced by us, or in the library pages of our website; all of which are sold in aid of the RNLI – the charity that saves lives at sea!

Shaun Peare – Editor

Words Magazine

Website: www.wordsmag.com

Email: admin@wordsmag.com

You can order a free PDF copy at http://www.wordsmag.com/freecopy.htm
For help with your writing see: http://www.wordsmag.com/guides.htm
To buy our magazine on Amazon Kindle go to: http://www.wordsmag.com/amazon.htm

Felixstowe Scribblers at Book Festival.

Listen to members of Felixstowe Scribblers reading their short stories, written as part of our varied 1,000 word homework assignments only at The Felixstowe Book Festival. We will be located in the Elizabeth Suite in the Orwell Hotel, with the following programme:

Saturday 27th June:

10am  Dave
11am  Beryl
Noon   Beryl
  1pm  Jane
  4pm  Cathy   

Please note that the Flash Fiction event will take place from 2pm-3pm (or later) and so there will be no Scribblers readings at these times.

Sunday 28th June:

10am   Dave
11am   Liliane
Noon   Beryl
   1pm  Cathy
   2pm  Caz
   3pm  Dick
   4pm  Mairéad

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 16 June 2015

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 16 June 2015

Present: Dave, Dick, Richard, Liliane, Beryl, Jane, Gerry, Mairead, Tony, Cathy.

                

Apologies: Caz and Tom

General business:

Display board information – Dave circulated this for comment and approval, prior to it being laminated in readiness for the Felixstowe Book Festival.

Cathy compiled list of those willing to help by reading out at the festival, i.e. Dick, Liliane, Jane, Mairead, Beryl, Dave, Caz, Cathy. Slots have now been filled, and the volunteers in question will be emailed with confirmation of their slots. Tony offered to do some readings too, should he be needed.

Price at which our most recent anthology is to be sold at the festival. Agreed full price of £5 until 2pm on Sunday, then reduce it to £3.

Scribblers meeting on 7^th July. This is to be Ruth Dugdall’s night, and will be open to the public as well as to Scribblers. Free admission but donations from non-members is encouraged.

Dick mentioned that he had bumped into two former members of Scribblers, Christine Hughes and Trish Barnard. Trish moved away from the area and now lives near Ipswich. Christine attended many years ago but has been unable to attend for a long time now. Although few of the current Scribblers group may remember them, for those who do it’s nice to know that they still remember us!

Issues raised at the end of the meeting:

Discussion about minor changes to this year’s programme of meetings.

Agreed that the October four word exercise is to be replaced by another photo/picture exercise.

There is a need to reduce the number of competitions. To that end, there will be two Bill Budner comps instead of three, with two Jack Wilkinson to be retained. The four competitions to be spaced evenly across the year. This will apply next year.

Written exercise

Everyone had brought in a postcard or photo. These were placed face down on the table, and each Scribbler selected one. Half an hour was allowed for members to write something prompted by the image they had each chosen.

After several audible groans when the chosen images were viewed, all those present buckled down to write; and what interesting writings emerged!

Jane – image of an angry cat  – title (after group discussion!) – Honeymoon with Cat

Mairead – image of a Native Indian in full regalia, title – The Chief’s Stance

Liliane – image of person on wet city street, title – The Deluge

Beryl – image of a seal in snowy surroundings – no title

Richard – image of a large house in beautiful hilly surroundings – no title

Dave – image of African children in their native home, title – Help

Cathy – image of a painting from the Tate Gallery, title – Artist at work

Tony – image of Restormel Castle in Cornwall, title – Escape

Dick – image of advertising ‘statue’, title - FBI

Gerry – image of mountainside with windmill and goat, title – The Windmill

Everyone agreed that this exercise was really hard work, but very enjoyable, and that is what triggered the suggestion that we repeat it later in the year, in place of one of the four word exercises.

Next meeting: 7 July, when we welcome ‘our Ruth’ for the evening. A session to look forward to!

Tonight's meeting...

... was one of the best meetings we have had. Using a selection of photographs and choosing one at random caused a few worried looks to begin with. Half an hour later the results of our labours were revealed. How professional the results with plenty of fact as well as fiction... It made this one of the most enjoyable two and a half hours of the year.  Well done Scribblers!

Our next 'gathering' will be at the Felixstowe Book Festival on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June in the Elizabeth Suite of the Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe. We'll be there on both days. A programme has been drawn up for short readings by our Scribblers of examples of their homework - one every hour on the hour except for Saturday when we will host a Flash Fiction Event along with Ed Broom. This will start at 2pm and will run for just over the hour. Writers will be invited to take part in writing for a specific period of time. Those wishing to read their stories out will be drawn from a hat. All entries will be eligible for publication on the Book Festival website.

Book prizes will be awarded for the best - we think - six entries.

Our next meeting at the Library will be on 7th July at the usual time. This will be a very interesting meeting  as our friend and one time Scribbler Ruth Dugdall will spend the evening with us.

Enjoyable times ahead!

Keep Scribbling!!!

Tuesday 16th June

Don't forget to bring along a photograph or postcard to our creative writing meeting. The reason? To select one of the pictures and write a story based on your choice. These meetings are always very interesting and the writing that is produced in a short period of time is always awe-inspiring.

7.30pm, The Room at the Top. Felixstowe Library.

New members always welcome.

Keep Scribbling!!!  

Less than one week left

There is one week left to apply for our competition  for unpublished short stories, the  V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize. We would be very  grateful if you could forward this message on via  any mailing lists that you have, as well as to anyone  you think might be interested.  A suggested tweet: Final call for @RSLiterature V.S. Pritchett Prize deadline  Monday 22 June. £1000 for the best unpublished short  story bit.ly/RSL-vsp All best wishes.

The annual V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize of£1,000 goes to the best unpublished short story of the year. The winning entry is also published in Prospect online and the RSL Review and we have just confirmed that the winning writer will have the opportunity to read at the Word Factory salon at Waterstone’s Piccadilly on Saturday 29 November.  Entries should be written in English, and be 2000-4000 words in length. Entrants must be citizens of the UK, the Republic of Ireland or Commonwealth countries or have been resident in one of the aforementioned countries for the past three years. There will be an awards ceremony in London in autumn 2015. The closing date for entries is 22 June 2015, and there is an entry fee of £5. Entries can be made by Submittable or post (with a cheque made payable to the Royal Society of Literature). More details can be found on our website.

Submit Now

'something glimpsed from the corner  of the eye, in passing' - V.S. Pritchett on short stories

Felixstowe Book Festival

Calling all writers to Felixstowe Book Festival 
Saturday 27June 1.00 - 2.00pm His Lordship’s Library, The Orwell Hotel 
£7 (£5) 
Alexandra Pringle & Patricia Borlenghi: Meet the Publishers Alexandra Pringle, Group Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury and Patricia Borlenghi, of Patrician Press take you inside the world of publishing. 

How do publishers choose their authors? What happens next? Is the publishing world glamorous or just hard work? Fascinating stuff for both writers and readers. Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house established in 1986. Its adult fiction list includes Esther Freud, John Irving, Donna Tartt. Their children’s list includes J.K.Rowling and Benjamin Zephaniah and their academic division includes Methuen Drama and The Arden Shakespeare. 

The Patrician Press, set up in 2012, promotes high-quality fiction and poetry by authors not acknowledged by commercial mainstream publishers and agents. Its mission is to uphold the quality of contemporary literature in today’s challenging, competitive and ever-changing technological world. Chaired by Felixstowe writer Jeanette Hewitt. 

Saturday 27June 5.30 - 6.30pm His Lordship’s Library, The Orwell Hotel £7 (£5) Meet the Indies: Jeanette Hewitt, Susi Holliday and Jane Isaac As the world of publishing continues to evolve, writers Jeanette Hewitt, Susi Holliday and Jane Isaac join Andrew Whittaker to talk about their writing, their inspirations and their personal publishing journeys. These writers are all published by independent presses and Andrew moderate a lively and varied panel on how they landed their first contract, the highs and lows of working with an indie house and the inspirations for their work. So, if you are a new or aspiring writer looking to clinch that all-important book deal, or interested in novels that focus on real people and some of the darker elements of the human psyche, then this is the event for you. 
Sunday 28 June 9.30am - 10.30am Elizabeth Suite, The Orwell Hotel £7 (£5) Sara Sheridan: 

Calling all Writers Want to professionalise your writing life? Interested in publication? This in camera seminar is for you. Sara Sheridan has sat on the Society of Authors committee and on the board of writers’ collective, ‘26’. She has written for the UK’s largest publishing houses as well as small 
independent publishers, and is an advocate for writers’ rights, covering issues from publication to inspiration in The Guardian and The Huffington Post. In this session she will answer your questions to give you an inside track on the publication industry. Bring your hopes and fears! Places strictly limited. Book early. 

Sunday 28 June 5.00 - 6.00pm Elizabeth Suite, The Orwell Hotel £7 (£5) Barbara Nadel: Mad or Bad? 
How do British law, the health service and, most importantly, crime novelists know whether a murderer is ‘mad’ or just simply bad? Crime writer, psychology graduate and former secure hospital advocate Barbara Nadel uses case studies of the famous and the notorious to cast light on this dilemma. Wrangle with fascinating ethical dilemmas and learn what it takes to write about complex psychological problems in this thought provoking interactive workshop. You will be able to discuss and evaluate case studies and ask questions. This event will offer an increased understanding of crime fiction for both readers and prospective writers. 


Saturday 11.00am - 1.00pm Felixstowe Library £8 (£6) Tony Kirwood: Get Started in Comedy Writing 
You don’t need an Oxbridge degree to write comedy: all you need is a sense of the absurd and the willingness to get to grips with a few techniques. The basic building block of comedy is the short sketch. In this workshop with Tony Kirwood you will brainstorm raw material, practise ways of transmuting it into comedy ideas and then be given the tools to write pithy, funny dialogue, memorable characters and a 
satisfying storyline. You will also be given advice on markets for your comedy material. 

Saturday 2.00 - 3.30pm Felixstowe Library £8 (£6) Emma Kittle-Pey: In the Margins This workshop will look at an introduction to short fiction writing for all levels of writers. There will be a discussion of the theme ‘in the margins’, readings of examples of relevant short fiction and a writing activity, where you will get a chance to create a story of your own. Finally there will be a chance to read aloud for those who wish to share their work. All welcome! 

Sunday 10.00 - 11.30am Felixstowe Library £8 (£6) Mark Brayley: Performance and the Page Striking the balance between a poem that works for performance and a poem that works for the page has been a cornerstone to the practice of poet, Mark Brayley. In this workshop you will be able to explore 
techniques for both performance and writing, and see how the two can combine. Suitable for all, engaging and with real outcomes, this workshop is designed to develop your style with technical knowhow, performance and insights gained from many years of experience. 
-- 
Meg Reid 
Director Felixstowe Book Festival 
www.felixstowebookfestival.co.uk 
meg@megreid.co.uk 

"The Felixstowe Book Festival is the sort of inspirational event 
that reminds authors why they write."_ Nicola Upson 

Our Next Meeting

Our next meeting is fast approaching... it's on Tuesday 16th June in the usual place, The Room at the Top, with a 7.30pm start time. What a relief (for some of us) that there is no homework assignment to write up this time because it is our 'photographic' creative writing session. Simply bring along a photograph or postcard that can be used as a theme for our writing. These meetings can be fun... the pictures or postcards can throw up an amazing number of fact or fiction possibilities.

Looking forward to it!

This meeting will be our last before the Felixstowe Book Festival so hopefully you'll be able to attend.

Until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave

Competitions...

Don't forget to check out the Mash Website... it's always very interesting...

http://mashstories.com/

And there's a new poetry competition :-

I’m thrilled to tell you that the National Literacy Trust has just launched our first Poetry Prize in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing.  We are asking people to write a poem of up to 16 lines, on the themes of reading and/or literature. Poems will be aimed at children/young people.

As we have seen from our recent fantastic research, poetry is particularly popular among more disadvantaged young people who are more likely to read poems outside class than their peers (21.0% vs. 15.4%) – and this has been true for the past five years. The poem that wins this competition will ultimately be used to inspire children through a poster campaign across the country. This prestigious prize also includes an iPad and £250 worth of Bloomsbury books.

It would be fantastic to get your support for this competition and if you could promote it to your writing group.  I have taken the liberty of including some tweets below, and some info that you could use on Facebook or in any newsletters you send out. If you have any other ideas then I would love to hear about them. I will also have some leaflets printed shortly, so please let me know if you can make use of them.

Twitter

·         New #poetryprize from @bloomsburybooks and @literacy_trust - you could win an iPad and have your poem feature in a poster campaign www.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize

·         Pen a poem on why you love reading, and it could be used to inspire children across the countrywww.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize

·         Poets @tbradman and @sarahcrossan are joining the panel for @literacy_trust’s new #poetryprize with @bloomsburybooks www.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize

Facebook/newsletters

The National Literacy Trust has  just launched an exciting new Poetry Prize with Bloomsbury Publishing! Enter your poems and one of them could feature in a poster campaign across the country. There’s also an iPad and £250 of books up for grabs. All proceeds go to the work of the National Literacy Trust. Open now, closes 31 August 2015 with an announcement of the shortlist on 2 October, National Poetry Day.

www.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize

I look forward to hearing from you

Anna Jones   Development Manager   020 7820 6254 anna.jones@literacytrust.org.uk www.literacytrust.org.uk

Midsummer Night’s Dream Workshops

Midsummer Night’s Dream

- Creative Writing Workshops -

  

This summer there’ll be a series of three writing workshops based on Midsummer Night’s Dream. We’ll read an abridged version of the play, use objects and pictures to stimulate creativity, then write short pieces based on extracts and ideas from the play.

All comers welcome no matter what experience you have with Shakespeare.

Wednesday evening sessions will be held in The Darwin Room at Arlington’s Brasserie 7-9pm, Thursday sessions are7-9pm on Damselfly Road, Ipswich, IP3 9TS

Read the play.  Write creatively.  Have fun

The cost of each session is £10.

The workshops begin on 17th June.

For more information contact

maielizabethblack@gmail.com

 www.suffolkwritersgroup.com