Gamlingay & District Writers’ Group

We were a very select group this month – but that didn’t stop us from having a fantastic meeting!! The quality of our work also seems to be improving every time.

Nigel from The Villager joined us for the first part of the meeting and explained what we need to do to get our work into print. Basically, we need to send our stuff to him! It really is as easy as that, so if anyone would like to submit their work, please forward to me for onward transmission.

1. Introductions
No need for introductions this month as we all know each other by now.

2. Review of Targets
Our two novelists are doing their best with their word targets, and one is even plotting a graph of her progress! How organised is that?

3. Competition News
Sarah has submitted one of her novels to a publisher and is still awaiting their verdict.

There is a fantastic competition for novelists – the winner gets to work with a publisher for up to 2 years to ensure that their novel is totally polished and ready to hit the shelves! Best of all, entries don’t close until February 2010, so we all have plenty of time to make an entry. Details to be circulated.

4. Other News
Teresa Benison – the Chair has contacted her twice regarding the possibility of doing a talk at one of our meetings. The Chair will have another go before giving up – Teresa is a very inspiring speaker so it would be well worth us getting hold of her if at all possible.

Gamlingay Readers’ Group has contacted the Chair to see if we would be interested in submitting our work to the Readers’ group for their comments. All agreed that this would be a good idea so the Chair will reply and sort out the details.

Letchworth Writers’ Group – a member has finally got his first novel ‘published’ using a ‘joint venture’ contract. Details to be circulated so that we can all have a better idea of what this entails.

The New Writer – has asked the Chair to submit details of the group and also a photo for inclusion in a later issue. This was deferred to the August meeting because some of the regular members were absent...as was the photographer!

Writers’ Forum – Jackie has found this magazine very useful and will be making back issues available to other members. Thank you Jackie!

5. Discussion of Work
Stories inspired by a song – it seems that all eras and genres were covered, and we had everything from full-on horror to a nostalgic trip down Memory Lane. Aren’t we lucky to have such diverse talent? And the main thing is... we’re all writing! As we all know, writing gets harder the less frequently we do it, so it’s fantastic that we’re all using our writing muscles on a regular basis.

A reminder – there are two members who submitted their work but who could not be with us. The first is Emrys, who is having a great time at his holiday house in France. He submitted the first chapter of what could easily be a bigger project. The second is Valerie who now lives in Scotland and who submitted a piece on the nature of love.

Can we all take a moment to send Emrys and Valerie our comments so that they can continue to feel included in the group?

6. Break
No break this month as there was a lot to talk about. It’s great that so many of us are really excited about our projects.

7. Aims for the coming month
Everyone is aiming to produce something for the next meeting on August 4th. The theme is, “Argument in a Restaurant. There’s a bit of a row going on – but who’s involved and what are they cross about? Are you involved or just watching?”

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.

We are also reminded by one member to put our names and page numbers on our work. However, if anyone forgets, it’s easy enough to save the offending story to your documents folder, and then play about with it to your heart’s content – add names, page numbers, change the spacing...the joys of technology! The Chair is still the chief offender, sad to say.

8. Any Other Business?
Meeting venue – Will has kindly offered to host the meeting again so we will be meeting at 7 o’clock at his house.

See you all next month! Happy writing!!

Tracey