Gamlingay & District Writers’ Group

A quick re-cap of our recent meeting... The meeting was postponed from 3rd February due to the diabolical weather conditions.

1. Introductions
We had three new members this month – Jackie, Amanda and Valerie, who are all very keen to get started on their writing. Welcome to all of you, and very sincere apologies to Valerie for the hiccup with the directions.

2. Review of Targets
It didn’t take long to run through the targets set in January – because we didn’t set any! However, Emma has set herself the target of doing a certain number of words per month with her fledgling novel. Well done Emma for getting started.

3. Competition News
Details were distributed of several forthcoming fiction competitions. Members should really feel confident about submitting their work – the talent is definitely there.

The main rule to remember with respect to competitions is...you can’t win it if you’re not in it, so let’s all get entering!

4. Other News
The Chair has affiliated the group with the National Association of Writers’ Groups. This gives members access to their in-house competitions as well as getting us a mention in their directory of writers’ groups. We also get several complimentary copies of their monthly booklet which is full of tips, stories, competitions and writing news.

If you’ve finished with your booklet, why not bring it back to the next meeting in case someone else wants to borrow it?

The NAWG’s website is http://www.nawg.co.uk, and it’s well worth a look as it’s full of interesting bits and pieces. Our website is still tucked away under the Letchworth Writers’ name as they are currently training a new web master, but it should all be straightened out shortly.

Details were also circulated of Vanda Inman’s organisation, which runs competitions and writing courses as well as providing a very cost effective critique service. The website address is http://www.writespace.co.uk.

5. Discussion of Work
Members put forward various items for discussion. We had some extremely promising work to comment on. Emrys has got off to a flying start with his novel, as has Emma. Will had a very innovative perspective on the travel theme, and Stanley produced an extremely accomplished and polished piece of work. Well done, everyone!

It is very pleasing to see how positive and encouraging members are towards each other. Writing can be a lonely and frustrating business, and it’s great to go home feeling full of enthusiasm and bursting to write.

6. Break
We didn’t have a break this month, as we had a lot to talk about and also the Chair had to go and rescue poor Valerie, who was very lost through no fault of her own. Well done Valerie for not giving up and for not being annoyed.

7. Aims for the coming month
Everyone is aiming to produce something for the next meeting on March 3rd. The theme is ‘Newspaper Story’ – write a story on an article you’ve found – try choosing one tucked away from the front page.

However, if anyone is working on something not connected with the theme, as ever, they are welcome to submit that instead. It would be helpful if we could circulate our work a week in advance of the meeting to allow for reading time.

As we’ve lost a week due to the meeting being postponed, if anyone is struggling for time, perhaps they could try their hand at ‘flash fiction’? This means a story of between 50 and 200 words, and believe it or not, there are actually plenty of competitions for this type of story!

It would also be fantastic if everyone could aim to register on the website, http://www.gamlingaywriters.org.uk/forum, and make a post of some description. Write a post, reply to a post, whatever you want – anything to stop the site looking lonely and unloved! Now that we’ve got it, we might as well use it!

8. Any Other Business?
As the group is expanding, we are looking ahead and thinking about other premises. It has been suggested that we could use a room above the library in Potton, at no cost to the group.

The feasibility of this is currently being investigated, and in the meantime we are very grateful to Emrys for continuing to host the meetings.

See you all next month! Happy writing!!

Tracey