Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 1 August 2017
Present: Liliane, Thalia, Beryl, Dave, Tony, Kay, Bridget, Tom, Anne, Cathy
Apologies: Jim, Ross, Dick, Mairead, Steve
Business:
There was no business to discuss, so after a slightly late start we moved straight on to the reading of homework. Commendably, six of the group had actually braved the topic ‘virtual reality’ – though they all agreed that it hadn’t been the easiest writing experience!
Notes from Dave after the meeting:
I am glad to say I have managed to access our weblog after nearly a month of frustration. Hopefully it will behave itself now and I don’t have to tear any more hair out as I haven’t got a lot left!
I will be emailing the library about the disappearance of the bell from the rear door which has caused some concern about getting into the building for our meetings. Hopefully there can be a quick fix.
It was good to see Tom at the meeting for a short while. We send him good wishes and hope he makes it back on a more regular basis soon.
We also welcomed Liliane’s granddaughter Thalia for the first time. As the evening developed, it became clear that she has the same talent for vivid description as the other writers in her family!
Author Caroline Foster and one time member of the Scribblers has offered to come along and give a talk and possibly combine this with an author’s question time when she would be happy to answer our questions on all aspects of writing and being published. This is something I hope we can arrange in the not too distant future.
Readings of homework:
Beryl – The dome society
Liliane – Is this real?
Bridget – Girls
Thalia – Untitled
Kay – A brush with virtual reality
Dave – Befuddled musings of a nightmare
Tony – The Watari affair
The variety in the stories above was tremendous – so much thought had gone into interpreting the theme. Beryl deserves special mention for her tale ‘The dome society’ – it had us enthralled from the very first word, and we all felt that it would be a worthy competition entry – let’s hope she agrees with us!
Since there was plenty of time remaining after the readings, we indulged in a spot of flash fiction, using the theme ‘telephone kiosk’. What a trip down memory lane that inspired! It was clear that all of the group (except Thalia, who had to endure our ‘do you remember?’ moments!), had affectionate memories of red phone boxes for many reasons – and those memories made for some really good stories.
Next meeting: This will be on 15 August, when it is the Jack Wilkinson Memorial trophy night. Same competition rules as always – a piece of work up to 1000 words long – printed with nothing on it to identify the writer – placed face down on the table, ready for two group members to read out for the rest of the group to judge. Jim won this trophy last time – let’s see who can have it for the next few months! The story is to be either about or for children. Advance apologies for this meeting were given by Kay and Tony.
