Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 06 March 2018
Present: Liliane, Dave, Bridget, Mairead, Cathy, Derek, Beryl, Di C, Tony, Anne, Steve
Apologies: Liz
Business:
Weblog – Dave has put information about some new books on the weblog, written by current Scribblers Anne and Steve, ex Scribbler Morag, and our honorary president, Ruth Dugdall.
Annual meal – nine of us will be attending this at The Orwell Hotel, 7 for 7.30, on Tuesday 13 March.
Ex-scribbler Belinda sent her best wishes, via Dave, to anyone who remembers her.
Refreshments – as ever, our thanks to Mairead for the pastries she bought for us to share.
Readings of homework:
Not only did we have a good turn out for this meeting, but everybody had something to read as well – plenty to listen to and enjoy.
The homework theme was ‘It was just one of those days’ – and almost everyone had written to it; not just fictional pieces, but memory ones too.
Tony – he read an excerpt from a chapter of his soon to be published book. The chapter was entitled ‘A long night’s journey into day’. Unanimous agreement that Tony’s style of writing is unique!
Dave – ‘Consequences’, the tale of a young lady’s traumatic and frustrating rail journey during inclement weather. Writing from a woman’s point of view was well done, and Dave’s experiences working on the railway served him well for putting this story together.
Cathy – ‘Never too old’, a piece that had been rejected by People’s Friend four years ago; some helpful feedback offered by group members
Di – ‘Nanny and Elsie’, a true tale about Di’s Nan. Delightfully written, and beautifully read. Our thanks to Di for sharing it with us – we all know how hard it can be to do that first public reading of work – now we look forward to hearing more from her!
Bridget – ‘Mum’s birthday treat’, another true story – highly entertaining, and much enjoyed by us all. The frustrations and tensions of a day with assorted relatives, and the stress of not being able to travel as planned, were well conveyed.
Anne – a pleasurable continuation of her current tales about an elderly couple, this time involving a birthday treat that didn’t go to plan. We were absolutely with them on their chaotic journey and the subsequent challenges that they faced.
Liliane ‘ Spring fever’, part of Liliane’s fictional family saga that had us all laughing, as we ‘listened in’ on family dissent and undercurrents, all effectively portrayed.
Beryl – ‘Just one of those days’, the tale of one woman and her dog, snowy weather, snooty neighbours, and a friendly face. We all agreed that this was a very crisply written piece, with highly visual imagery, and tight character portrayal. The snooty neighbour was especially recognisable as the type of person each of us had met!
Steve – ‘The birthday’, in which the character is enjoying the perfect birthday in idyllic domestic surroundings, then wakes from what is only a dream to face the reality of his lonely birthday and bleak existence. Steve conveyed the difference between the dream and reality with some compelling descriptive writing.
Mairead – ‘Shooting Frankenstein’. This was a very cleverly worked poem, and was full of Mairead’s usual beautiful imagery
Derek – ‘Last Monday week’. Who would have thought that the description of one man’s day at the office, and his travel both to and from work, could be so entertaining? The use of short sentences and an almost spartan style of writing really worked for this piece, and kept all the listeners totally absorbed.
With so much to listen to, and the discussion that several pieces engendered, the meeting ran until 9.40. At this point Dave clarified that the next meeting will be a flash fiction session using a selected prompt, therefore no homework theme.
Next meeting: This will be on 20 March. For anyone not familiar with flash fiction sessions, they are simply an opportunity to write for half an hour during the meeting on a topic selected from our ‘themes’ collection. We then share our work, and it’s surprising how often complete stories, or the beginnings of good tales, emerge from that frantic half hour’s labour.
