Good news!

Tonight is our meal at the White Horse which I am really savouring. Hope to see you all there fit and ready to eat at 7.30.

I had a message from Justin:

"I submitted a slightly shorter version of The Things that Disappear in a Writing Magazine competition in March and came runner-up! 

Here’s the link:-

https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/showcase/winner/writers-competitions-wro-wro-mar19-750/justin-keogh

See you at the meal."

Well done Justin! That is really good news and a confidence booster.

Dave 

From Way Down Under

The Imposter: 
A Norfolk Romance
Chris Shaw
Historical Romance.

Available at Amazon.

Paperback: ISBN 9780980588255     

Based on a true story

Two Lovers

A violent war

One ravaged mind and body

Will fate intervene and allow them to live and love again?

It is the year 1914 in central Norfolk, England, when young farmer Frank Matthews meets his all-time love, Gwen Bell, just before volunteering as a sniper in WW1. This captivating novel follows his journey as a lover, husband, father, killer and identity thief as he seeks to survive the horrors of war and the atrocities, he both witnessed and committed.

And just who is the mysterious discharged soldier Ken Bullen, appearing in Norfolk in 1917, intent on reclaiming his lost life and love? What happened to these two men fighting for their country in a bygone era of romance, violence, shell-shock and fragile new beginnings? The Imposter: A Norfolk Romance will reveal all…

Our Genre Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 16 July 2019

Present: Georgina, Liz, Kay, Justin, Tony, Beryl, Tom, Steven, Liliane, Carole, David, Jim, Steve, Jane, Barry and Dave.

Apologies: Cathy, Anne, Derek

Business: It was nice to see Barry at our meeting again. It has been a long time since his last visit and hopefully it will not be too long before his next!

Also nice to see Jane again. She can’t believe that her son Jack has just celebrated his 24^th birthday. Happy birthday Jack – another former Scribbler.

The summer social meal. Liz has done another fine job in organising a meal at The White Horse in Felixstowe on Tuesday 30 July. Tonight she gathered in the meal orders which will be passed to the venue to help them order sufficient stocks to meet our needs. Although it wasn’t stated at the meeting, it would seem reasonable to set a time of 7pm for 7.30pm. Confirmation will follow in due course.

The anthology is selling well, another 26 tonight. We have sold just over two thirds of our stock already so have more than broken even. There is a copy and details for purchasing a copy in the window at Poor Richards in Felixstowe, otherwise it is down to us to sell the remaining copies.         

Locking up. After our last meeting Cathy and I had a problem locking the library and needed to call an emergency number. Cathy suggested that there should always be two Scribblers locking up after meetings. Dave asked and Steve, amongst others agreed to stay behind.

Reading of homework: The homework was to choose and write in a personal genre. It is hoped the genres below are correctly recorded, if not, then apologies! This was a very popular theme and one that produced some tremendous tales!

Liz                    Fantasy                       Untitled.

Tom                 Biography                    Untitled

Justin               Adventure                   Another Brick in the Wall

Jim                  Murder                        Murder on the Felixstowe Express

Carole             Poetic Humour            The Trials of Bill and Sue

Liliane              Family                         The Exile

Jane                Historical                     The Speak Easy

Beryl                Science Fiction           Surveillance

Tony                Writer’s Block             Blank Screen…

                        Fantasy                       A Tale of Strange Parts

Dave               Ghost                          The Spook

Steve               Horror                          The Inheritance

Kay                  Autobiography             Fragment

David               Murder                        The Two Black Cats

Steven             Travel                          Around the World

Georgina         Mystery                       Cold Case.

Next meeting: The next meeting will be in THREE weeks time on Tuesday 6 August. The 1,000 word homework theme is: “Over the Hill.”  

Just a reminder that our meal is at the White Horse (7pm for 7.30) on Tuesday 30 July.

Genres evening.

A tremendous attendance for the 'genre' meeting. Sixteen brave souls... and good to see Barry T with us this evening!

Another 26 copies of the anthology sold tonight which is excellent news,  meaning that three quarters of the stock has been sold. Thanks everyone.

Our summer meal which takes place on 30th July at the White Horse, has been arranged by Liz who was busy collecting meal orders. By all accounts we will have a terrific group. Thanks Liz.

In the unfortunate absence of Cathy, Georgina stepped in and helped with the reading sequence. With fifteen of the sixteen reading, we just had enough numbered cubes to go round! Thanks Georgina.

After a system failure locking up last meeting, Steve kindly stayed behind to ensure all was well this time. Thanks Steve.

And thanks to everyone for their stories and even a poem or two.

A very enjoyable evening.

With our meal on 30th July our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 6th August when the 1,000 word homework theme will be "Over the Hill."

Hope to see you at the meal and also at our next meeting. 

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Our Genre Meeting...

Our genre meeting is on Tuesday next, 16 July, so that is fast approaching. Selecting a genre can be a difficult choice to make but, at least, it opens up the opportunities for so many different kinds of stories. I'm sure you will have selected some interesting genres and will have come up with some riveting tales.

I must remind you about our anthology. I will have a supply with me again at the meeting so I will be able to honour the outstanding orders. These will keep sales moving in the right direction. We have done pretty well so far! Don't forget that Christmas is coming and they will make a nice little present - and cheap too!

Also, the meal is rapidly approaching and Liz will want final numbers and menu choices to help the White Horse with their food management. I hope you are looking forward to it as much as me!

Until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling!!!

The meeting report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 2 July 2019

Present:

Dave, Tony, Liliane, Beryl, David, Carole, Anne, Georgina, Steve, Liz, Kay, Derek, Jim, Tom, Steven, Cathy

Apologies: 

Hazel, Justin, Rani

Business:                 

We welcomed Tom, returning after a long absence. Also pleased to welcome Steven, who joined us for the first time

Anthology – Dave brought along copies of our super new anthology, and reported that twenty seven copies were sold at the FBF. Congratulations to Dave, Beryl and Georgina for such an excellently crafted book.

FBF – Dave thanked everyone who’d attended to support the flash fiction workshop – it had been well received.

Anthology to be sold as an ebook? Ex-Scribbler Debbie had suggested to Dave that this might be a good thing to do – in principle the group agreed – Dave to contact Debbie again to see if she’s willing to help create the ebook with/for us.

Debbie (writing as Abigail Summer) has donated four copies of her first book, ‘Collette – You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me’ to Scribblers. We agreed that we will share the copies – read and return for others to enjoy. Debbie would appreciate feedback on her work.

Reading of homework

The topic was ‘Lazy old river’, and there were some superb stories to listen to. Also a poem (Georgina) and a limerick (Steven). A fabulous variety of serious, funny, topical, and thought provoking work.

Carole – Penny for’em

Dave – Lazy old river

Steven – Limerick

Liliane – By the river

Steve – Time passes

Derek – Gently chugging along

David – The rear gunner

Jim – Spike 2

Liz – Lazy old river

Anne – Lazy old river .. or is it?

Kay – Riven

Next meeting:

16 July. Homework is to write in a specific genre of our individual choice. Chosen genre to be declared by each of us when we read work out.

A fabulous meeting once again

Yes tonight produced work from twelve of the sixteen writers present. Included in the sixteen was a first time guest, Steve (another one!) and Tom who was a regular two or three years ago.

The subject was "Lazy Old River," and produced so many excellent stories and accounts that it left one overwhelmed by the standard of work the Scribblers created. Well done everyone!

A supply of anthologies ran out quickly meaning that one or two people were disappointed on the night. We have managed to go through half the stock already and still have outstanding orders for another twenty or so. Some orders will be completed at the next Orwell Writers meeting and the rest at our next meeting. If any are urgently needed then please contact scribblers.1@btinternet.com and we will see what we can do to help.

It is good to know that the cheque for the anthology has been signed and will be posted to Gipping Press tomorrow.

Talking of books, our friend Debbie in France kindly sent four copies of her 'Colette' to us and these were snapped up quite quickly. I am certain there will be some positive feedback for Debbie.

Liz has suggested a summer meal at the White Horse once again, probably towards the end of July although no date has yet been fixed. Watch for details.

Our next meeting is the Genre one that will be held on 16 July. A slip up was made whereupon we had no actual genres to select so, a consensus of opinion means that we can select our own genre, the only stipulations are that your selected genre must be clearly stated and that there must be the usual maximum of 1,000 words.

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!

Dave 

This week's meeting...

Sorry for the late reminder about tomorrow, Tuesday's meeting (2nd July). The weekend sort of overshadowed things. 

So to the meeting. The homework theme is for up to a thousand words on 'Lazy Old River.'  We will start at 7.30 when the door will be locked.

Copies of our new anthology 'Characters' will be on sale at £5 a time. Look forward to selling a few!

I will also have four copies of Debbie's book 'Colette' with me. These are compliments of Debbie and will be available free. It's good of her to think of us.

Hope those who attended the Book Festival have recovered now. 

See you tomorrow.

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave

Yesterday...

… just might remind you of a song or film title. Yesterday was our appearance at the Felixstowe Book Festival. 

Overall the Festival was vibrant and very well supported with many very interesting authors and speakers. As far as our shared workshop with the Orwell Writers was concerned, we both had a few reservations about a likely attendance.

We needn't have worried! We had a lovely turn-out that included some former Scribblers including Morag who won the Short Story competition for the second consecutive year! Well done Morag.

The fun OWL presentation was based on characters - how ironic our new anthology has the same title! It was a very useful and helpful exercise that could easily pave the way for personal character libraries. 

I should mention here the wonderful display of stories about queuing to pay respects to the Unnamed Soldier and the fantastic sketch created by Lara. Terrific!

Our own Flash Fiction session went very well - it seemed to need little explanation whilst very few attendees actually changed their story prompts. Everyone participated and produced lovely little stories in the allotted time. Because of the numbers we limited the writing to just fifteen minutes and then shared our work with everyone.

The downside really was the time element in both sessions. The number of  people attending was far beyond our wildest dreams and took us a little aback. As a consequence some of the character feedback in the Orwell Writers' session had to be reduced, whilst our own session meant that Liliane, bless her, volunteered not to read thus allowing us to finish spot on time!

I would like to thank Liz for selling the dozen copies of our anthologies we had in the room, and for Jim collecting his big order from the boot of my car after the meeting! A great day all round!

Thank you all!

Now, please remember,

Keep Scribbling!!!