Meeting report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 20 September 2016

Present:  Dave, Mairead, Beryl, Liliane, Jim, Cathy
Apologies: Steve, Caz, Carolyn, Jane, Dick, Tony

Business:  
Our best wishes go to Dick, who is currently unwell.

We wish Barry good luck with his BA degree in History and English. Good luck also to Richard, who has begun his studies at UCS.

Dave raised the need to advertise for more members, as numbers generally are decreasing, due in part to some of our members starting university courses. He will arrange a press release to go to local papers.

An ex-Scribbler had sent details of a short story competition, details to be found athttp://www.commonwealthwriters.org/our-projects/the-short-story/ 

Ed at the Ipswich Writer's Cafe says their next meeting will be on Monday 17th October at La Tour Cycle Cafe in Tower Street Ipswich. He has also given a list of some forthcoming events which will be posted on our weblog.

Despite being very low on numbers, the evening went well, (aided as ever by Mairead’s chocolatey treats!), and we had time to enjoy an impromptu flash fiction session as well as listening to readings of last time’s homework.

Readings:

Beryl: A resourceful woman – the story of Charlotte Badger

Dave: The Battle of Little Big Horn, Montana, 1876. (Custer’s Last Stand)  Fast rising George Armstrong Custer was a killer and apparent hater of Indians. He’d achieved acclaim in the Civil War but was given command of the 7^thCavalry. He slaughtered 140 Cheyenne at Washita, but mistakes against the Sioux at Little Big Horn cost him and his troops their lives. 

Mairead: The winter dig

Jim: The Great British HedgehogTelevision cameras have been following a young hedgehog called Spike for a week and he is now severely constipated.

Liliane: Stay near Tanjavur

Flash fiction: we had fifteen minutes to create a story with the words ghost, murder and minister in it. Unsurprisingly there were some rather grisly tales! We all agreed, though, that the challenge was enjoyable. Liliane in particular was inspired – two entire sides of A4 writing achieved, and she could have done more if we hadn’t reached the time limit – if only we could all match her output!

Next meeting: 4 October. Theme for 1000 word homework – choose between the topic ‘Election’, or the phrase ‘Where’s the fire extinguisher’, which is to be included somewhere in the work.

Commonwealth Writers Competition.

Our good ol' cobber from Down Under has emailed me the following:

"A writer mate of mine sent this to me in the off-chance it may interest me. I pass it on to you with the same sentiment. He added, ‘It’s free’. So maybe your scribblers will feel a challenge, and write a small masterpiece for the occasion, and walk off with some money. Good luck, and regards to all. Details of the competition can be found at the following link:

http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/our-projects/the-short-story/ 

Chris. "

Now there's a golden opportunity not to be missed.!

Thanks Chris,

Dave and the Scribblers.

Ipswich Writers' Cafe and events

Up and coming events that people mentioned at the last Writers' Cafe. Maybe some of them will be of interest to the Scribblers.

September 28 -- Soapbox Poetry Club presents Jess Green at John Peel Centre, Stowmarket 

http://www.getonthesoapbox.co.uk/Events/View/5153 

October 1 -- Great Glemham afternoon poetry workshop and evening readings:

http://www.aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk/index.htm?ac=NYADG-O 

October 1 -- Suffolk Feminist Fundraiser at Pump & Grind, Ipswich with spoken word & music

https://www.facebook.com/events/866002846834468/ 

October 6 -- National Poetry Day on Aldeburgh beach at The South Lookout

* email ian@green-lantern.co.uk

October 6 -- National Poetry Day at Pump & Grind, Ipswich

October 13 -- poems from The Singing Stone anthology by SPS members, plus music, 1pm at Museum St Methodist Church, Ipswich

http://suffolkpoetrysociety.org.uk/content/singing-stone 

October 18 -- Storytelling with Bards Aloud at the Thomas Wolsey, St Peters St, Ipswich

* email bardsaloud@yahoo.co.uk

October 26 -- Soapbox Poetry Club presents Dean Atta at John Peel Centre, Stowmarket

http://www.getonthesoapbox.co.uk/Event/5156 

October 29 -- A Tale of Two Roses by Michael Storey at St Peters, Ipswich

https://www.stpetersbythewaterfront.com/whats-on/a-tale-of-two-roses/ 

Next writers' cafe is on Monday 17th October at La Tour Cycle Cafe in Tower Street Ipswich. See you there! 

Ed.

Short in numbers, big on content,

Not the best meeting attendance-wise but content-wise it was terrific. With fewer numbers than usual we were also able to hold a flash fiction event using three words selected by Cathy and Dave... Murder, Ghost and Minister. Allowing fifteen minutes writing time it was absolutely stunning to hear the resultant work. A great big thankyou and well done to those who attended and participated.

Next time, 4th October we have an either, or homework assignment. Still a 1,000 word maximum for 'Election' or 'Where's the fire extinguisher' or, for those really creative writers amongst us - and that's everybody!!! - combine both subjects together... Should be great fun or a great big headache!

Remember, if you don't like the subjects you are quite at liberty to bring along something on any subject of your choice as long as the 1,000 word count is maintained.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Our next gathering.

This Tuesday sees our geographical homework assignment come to fruition. It's 1,000 words on any place in, or even beyond this world of ours. That should give everybody one extremely wide range of places to choose from. If you haven't written anything yet, then there's still time but, as we have no onus on doing the set homework, if you don't like the subject then you can write on anything you wish.

So that's 7.30, this Tuesday, 20th September in The Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library.

Hope to see you all there so, until then remember...

Keep Scribbling!!!

Meeting report.

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 6 September 2016

Present:  Dave, Mairead, Beryl, Liliane, Jim, Tony, Steve, Cathy
Apologies: Dick, Carolyn, Jane, Barry, Caz, Di, Gerry, Mel.

Business: 
We were all delighted to welcome Tony on one of his rare visits – such a busy man these days!
Thanks as ever to Mairead for cakes etc – she does spoil us.
Jeanette, our one time Scribbler, has had her book ‘Exclusion Zone’ mentioned in the Suffolk and Norfolk Magazine. Her previous two novels (ebooks) are now to be produced by the publisher of Exclusion Zone – our congratulations to her on this success.
All agreed that Richard will be much missed at meetings, but wished him all the best for the course he has undertaken at UCS.
Mel can’t be with us for a few weeks, as she has a great deal of work to do for her Phd – again, we all wish her well in this.

Readings of homework:

The theme chosen by Gerry last time was ‘Autumn’. Not all of us had followed the topic, but there were some excellent stories to listen to.

Cathy: Sinner beware – a two person dialogue
Liliane: Autumn Days
Mairead: The garden in Autumn
Tony: The Autumn life of a the retired hero
Beryl: A question of balance
Dave: From beneath the shadow of the trees: A resumé from ‘Pauline’ now in for a re-write. It tells of Pauline’s new life with Billy, the policeman, who found her close to death, of the accident she cannot remember, of his struggle with an unfaithful partner before fate, affection and love brought them together. Autumn time bliss.
Steve: The challenge of Autumn
Jim: Bingo, Bingo, I’m in love

After the readings we had time to do a short exercise, in which we had ten minutes to jot down a short description of a character of our imagination, after which we shared our notes with the rest of the group. This proved interesting and fun – if we get time at other meetings we agreed that it would be good to do something similar.

Next meeting
This will be on 20 September, when the homework is to write up to 1000 words on a geographical theme. So choose a location, and see what you can come up with!

The 'Autumn' meeting

Despite a number of absentees including work and holiday commitments, we still had a healthy turnout and saw the welcome return for the meeting of Tony who has been missing for a number of meetings.

Most found the subject difficult to write about but, ironically, there was some superb work read out. Following the interval we did a very short exercise to build a character, perhaps for a forthcoming story. Seven minutes to create the character of choice before sharing the results with the rest of the group. A simple exercise that took around twenty minutes overall, provided a valuable learning curve and some amazing and believable characters.

Next meeting is on 20th September when we stage our geographical meeting. A maximum of 1,000 words on a story set in, or about, any place at all. The more exotic the better!

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!  

Three items of interest...

http://www.visitfelixstowe.co.uk/what-s-on/

http://www.discoverlandguard.org.uk/landguard-photography-competition-2016-vote-now

News from Ed at the Writer's Cafe...

First, a big thanks to all who came along to La Tour in August. Great mix of familiar faces and first time readers. Well done, the lot of you.

Let's try something new. Drum roll, maestro. For the rest of the year, the Ipswich writers' cafe is going monthly. Confirmed dates are:

* Monday 19th September -- in only two weeks!

* Monday 17th October

* Monday 21st November

Venue for all of these is the warmly welcoming La Tour Cycle Cafe on 17 Tower Street, Ipswich, postcode IP1 3BE. Start time is 7:30pm for those who do that whole clock thing.

Current format seems to work well, I think, though please send any suggestions my way. As ever, no booking required / free entry / spectators more than welcome and tell your friends!

Be seeing you, 

Ed

@ipswriterscafe

That's all for now, Hope to see you tonight at Scribblers,

Tomorrow's meeting

A quite late reminder about our meeting tomorrow evening. It's all about Autumn so I expect there'll be some lovely stories shining through.

One piece of news, a little bitter sweet really but great for Richard who tells us :

I  have been given a place in the English Department at the University starting on the 19th of September. I have so much to catch up with that I have to stop coming to Scribblers until the end of the term.  My experience at Scribblers has led me to do the course at the University - is it not odd how one thing leads to another and how chance has so much influence upon us?

We all wish him every success on his course and I am certain he will enjoy every minute of it. So we'll have to wait a while before Richard returns to the fold. It seems our members are moving on towards better things - there's Barry with his own studies of course, and our two successful authors Ruth and Jeanette. Jeanette's book  Exclusion Zone hit number 1 in the History Warfare category on Amazon USA. She's been dying for a 'best seller' badge and now she's got one!  

Former secretary of our one time on line group, Jan McGeachie, has an article published in this month's Suffolk and Norfolk Life.

Word from Tony is that he remains very busy but promises to return when things ease off and he has time to write again.

So until tomorrow at the Library,

Keep Scribbling,