Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 17 May 2016
Present: Liliane, Mairead, Beryl, Jim, Tony, Dick, Steve, Gerry, Cathy,
Apologies: Jane, Richard, Carolyn, Dave.
Business: As Dave was away on holiday, Cathy chaired the meeting.
We began the meeting by each introducing ourselves to Mel, who had joined us for the first time, sharing with her a little of our backgrounds, writing interests etc.
Following this, we spoke briefly about the FBF, and the progress of our contributions towards the readings. Dave will finalise details at the next meeting on 7 June.
Meeting:
With nine stories to read out, we wasted no time in getting started! The homework was to write a story based on/starting with the phrase ‘I remember that week in November only too well ……..’. As ever, there was a tremendous mixture of work, with each and every tale being gripping and interesting.
Jim: Armageddon
Steve: Retribution
Gerry: Remember, remember : Driving home late down a country lane on Guy Fawkes' Night, a police detective sees a group of children pushing what looks like a guy towards a bonfire on private land. What seems at first like a simple matter of trespassing and possible fire-raising then takes a more sinister turn ...
Liliane: We will never forget that day and the week that followed
Beryl: Rubbing along
Dick: The great London smog
Mairead: The lacemaker
Tony: Thursday
Cathy: Musings of a Romano-British maid (unread homework from the previous meeting’s historical theme). A village maid muses on escaping village life, and enjoying the delights of the town of Camulodunon, as described by her brothers when they return from visits there. Her brief dawn sighting of a uniformed man near her homestead leads her to wonder if nearby soldiers might be about to disrupt village life.
With time to spare after the readings, we were able to chat about various technical issues around writing. How to bring characters to life for the reader; the comparative merits of writing in the first or third person; using a two way dialogue to get information across; evoking atmosphere; portraying setting effectively. It was an enjoyable way to round off the meeting, and I think all of us went away feeling that the evening had been a good one, though of course it would have been even better if Dave had been there!
Next meeting: Our next meeting is on Tuesday 7 June, when the homework theme is simply ‘trains’. Wedding trains, trains of thought, steam or diesel trains – how many more can we can up with?
Saturday, 21 May 2016
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Our Next Meeting...
This will be the last Scribblers post for a few days so I must take the opportunity to remind you about next weeks meeting. It will take place on Tuesday 17th May in the usual place, The Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library. Start time will be 7.30 pm and the meeting will be led by Cathy.
The homework assignment is to write up to 1,000 words in a short story beginning with the phrase:
"I REMEMBER THAT WEEK IN NOVEMBER ONLY TOO WELL....."
What do you remember? Is it something that generates a feeling of love... or maybe the exact opposite...? Your choice of course and good luck with your writing!
Meanwhile the Felixstowe Book Festival is approaching quite rapidly now and I would ask that those who have volunteered to read on the Sunday morning at the Orwell Hotel decide on the stories they will read out from their own writing collection or to ask for stories or poems from other members - especially those who read their wonderful words at our last meeting providing they agree. Please tell Cathy or, alternatively, email me if you would like to read other members work.
Until Tuesday,
Keep Scribbling!!!
Dave
Poetry competitions ...
... can be found at:
www.welshpoetry.co.uk
From the Wirral:-
http://festivaloffirsts.com/poetry-competition/
www.welshpoetry.co.uk
From the Wirral:-
http://festivaloffirsts.com/poetry-competition/
V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize 2016 £1000 for the best unpublished short story of the year
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Suffolk Libraries May 2016 newsletter
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Thursday, 5 May 2016
The Felixstowe Book Festival
Extraordinary East Anglia
This week we are looking ahead to events that have a distinctly ‘local’ flavour, both in terms of the speakers and the subjects. And what a smorgasbord we have! Fiction, poetry, non- fiction and a chance to get involved yourself. It’s all here!
We start in East Anglia itself. Tom Blass will be telling us about his travels around the edges of the North Sea, piecing together its histories from those who know it best, in his book The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea. Whilst our eventSet in Suffolk sees authors Rosy Thornton, Pauline Mandersand Mary Powles come together to talk about how Suffolk has influenced their writing. Rosy will also be running a workshop on using landscape and the natural world when writing fiction.
Suffolk based author J.M Hewitt will be talking about her debut crime novelExclusion
Zone, set in the modern day and exploring the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as well as discussing the process of getting published. In a twist on the traditional methods of publication, Lucy Popescu turned to a crowd funding campaign to publish her new anthology A Country of Refuge. In what will no doubt be a very thought provoking and timely event, human rights activist Lucy will be discussing her new book.
Zone, set in the modern day and exploring the fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as well as discussing the process of getting published. In a twist on the traditional methods of publication, Lucy Popescu turned to a crowd funding campaign to publish her new anthology A Country of Refuge. In what will no doubt be a very thought provoking and timely event, human rights activist Lucy will be discussing her new book. |
| Ruth Dugdall |
For poetry lovers, Essex poet- musician- columnist Martin Newell will be reading two of his long poems, accompanied by original music composed by The Hosepipe Band. AndFelixstowe Cafe Poets will be joining us for Pimms in His Lordship’s Library, with a range of poetry, music and possibly a little audience participation!If you are a fan of ‘Domestic Noir,’ look no further than Home is where the hurt is in which Felixstowe born Ruth Dugdallwill be joining Julia Crouch and Elizabeth Haynes to discuss its popularity and effect.
This year has seen the 400th Anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. The Orwell Writers’ League will be reading a selection of their own short stories, inspired by the Bard himself.
Meanwhile Felixstowe Scribblers join us for not one, but two events! Start the Day with a Story by listening to the Scribblers read a selection of their work, then try it for yourself with their Flash Fiction event.
If you enjoy writing, have you entered our adult short story competition yet? The closing date is 13th May, so there is still time! And you can hear the finalists reading their entries in Bedtime Story, our final event of the festival.
If you enjoy writing, have you entered our adult short story competition yet? The closing date is 13th May, so there is still time! And you can hear the finalists reading their entries in Bedtime Story, our final event of the festival.
And don’t forget our fabulous Book Trail which is fun for all the family! The trail will take you around Felixstowe where you must solve our bookish clues. Successful trails will be entered into a prize draw.
There certainly is a lot going on! We hope you’ve found something that has piqued your interest. You can find details of our programme in full here.
Until next time!
Kelly and the Festival Team
Tuesday, 3 May 2016
Meeting Report
Apologies: Carolyn, Cathy and Gerry
Present: Richard, Jane, Mairead, Liliane,
Steve, Jim, Beryl, Ruth, Dick and Dave.
Business items:
Business items:
After the low
attendance last time it was nice to have a healthy turn out that included one
new member and an old friend.
It was
welcome to Steve for his first meeting at Scribblers. Steve has been on a UEA
Creative Writing Course and is currently re-editing his novel. He did attend one
of our meetings around two years ago but has now decided to join our group.
Another warm
welcome goes to Ruth who is now back in Felixstowe and aims to attend
Scribblers whenever she can. She is an excellent and experienced writer who can
help with her words of wisdom. Ruth mentioned the Luke Bitmead Bursary which
has now opened for entries of completed novels. The fee is £10 and details can
be found on the Legend Press website at http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press/365-luke-bitmead-bursary
Ruth won in 2009 and is quoted thus: ‘Winning the bursary
was my absolute breakthrough moment, but even knowing that my novel would be
published I could never have been prepared for what happened next. Readers told
me how moved they were, how the story lingered long after they closed the cover;
such feedback is a gift for any writer. And other gifts followed with foreign
rights being sold, and the championing of the novel by Amazon. I have also had
two other books, The James Version & The Sacrificial Man, published by
Legend Press.’
Cathy was
unable to attend because of a prior family commitment whilst Caroline is
preparing for another trip to Paris and Gerry is under the weather.
Tonight’s
work was generally in preparation for the Felixstowe Book Festival and there certainly
was a good collection to choose from. Writers will be contacted shortly about sharing
their work at the Festival.
Tonight’s offerings:
Dick:
Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, Suffolk. (blank verse) and Retired Landguard Fort
(rhyming poetry).
Liliane:
Felixstowe and Me.
Richard: I’m
Thinking of Felixstowe.
Dave: Lost
Daughter.
Steve: The
Encounter (an extract from his novel).
Beryl: Winter
Dawn in Felixstowe. (blank verse).
Jane:
Postcard to Dad and Postcard from the Front Line (two examples of flash
fiction).
Jim: A
Wonderful New Friend.
Ruth: Under
(an extract from her next novel).
Mairead: The
Edge of Sanity.
This was a
thoroughly enjoyable meeting with some tremendous work from new and established
writers alike. Next comes the task of selecting and practising reading the work
available. Time is getting shorter!
Our next meeting is on 17th May when the
homework assignment is to write up to 1,000 words with the first line beginning,
“I remember that week in November”.
Until then,
Keep
Scribbling!
Dave
Monday, 2 May 2016
Our meeting
Hope you've had a nice Bank Holiday away from work and free from chores etc.,
Our meeting this week (tomorrow Tuesday 3rd May) is centred round the subject of... Felixstowe. Where else? It is a homework theme in preparation for the forthcoming Felixstowe Book Festival and, hopefully, we'll be able to have some of the stories to read out at the Festival and possibly included on our display boards too.
Looking forward to the meeting so hopefully we'll see you there,
Dave
Competition...
Essex Book Festival'sCrime Writing Short Story Competition 2016To celebrate the life and work of Essex literary legend, crime writer Margery Allingham who lived in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex Book Festival is launching its first Crime Writing Short Story Competition in collaboration with BBC Essex. We are inviting entries from published and unpublished writers based in the UK.Essex has a long tradition of nurturing some of the UK’s best-loved crime writers, including renowned Witham-resident Dorothy L Sayers, and more recently, No. 1 bestselling author Martina Cole, born in Aveley, Essex.Are you next in line?PRIZES: 1st £250, 2nd £100, 3rd £50DEADLINE: Monday 23 May 2016For more informationcall 07913 061948
or email hello@essexbookfestival.org.uk
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