Gamlingay & District Writers’ Group

We were a small but select group this month, and had a great meeting. There were some brilliant stories too – practise really does make perfect.

1. Introductions
No need for introductions on this occasion as all present knew each other.

2. Review of Targets
One of our novelists has set herself a very ambitious word count target of 30,000 words in 2 months – good luck with that! The Chair is still plodding away rewriting her first novel, while trying to fit in some work on novel number five.

3. Competition News
The Chair’s Back into Hell short story won first place in the Spinetinglers competition, meaning a reward of £100 and being printed in their publication. The Chair has also been invited to submit a novel to another Spinetinglers competition, so watch this space!

4. Other News
Teresa Benison – we are still trying to arrange a date as we would very much like Teresa to join us one evening. If we can’t do so, then we will try to find an alternative.

Writers’ News – all that remains is for the Chair to forward our details to Writers’ News, and we will be in a future edition of the magazine. Great publicity for the group.

Will’s novel – is now out, and is already receiving rave reviews on Amazon. It looks absolutely fantastic – great cover and intriguing synopsis. Very well done.

5. Discussion of Work
This month, we had to incorporate either the line, ‘Is that it? Or the line ‘Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it looked’ into our work. We had some really intriguing stories. It’s fascinating to see how different the work is when we’ve all started with the same brief.

A reminder – there are two members who submitted their work but who could not be with us. The first is Mike and the second Gillian.

Can we all take a moment to send them our comments to ensure that they still feel part of the group?

6. Aims for the coming month
For the December meeting, which the program says will be on 2nd December but will actually be on 1 December as the 2nd is a Wednesday we are all hoping to produce a piece of work inspired by a picture. This could be a picture, or a painting, or something found in a newspaper – anything that inspires us to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

However, if anyone is working on something not connected with the theme, as ever, they are welcome to submit that instead. That’s what we’re here for – to give support and encouragement at all stages of the creative process, from the first germination of an idea to the polishing of the finished article.

It would be helpful if we could circulate our work a week in advance of the meeting to allow for reading time. When circulating work, please use the distribution list on the e-mail which sends the monthly newsletter – the Chair reviews it every month before sending the newsletter, removing dormant members and adding new one, so it will be the most up to date list.

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.

Next Year’s Program – at the start of December’s meeting, we need to take a few minutes to plan our writing topics for 2010, otherwise we will be having a very quiet year! Please come armed with ideas and suggestions so that we can quickly set the program. Also, please take the opportunity to review the leaflet text – now would be a great time to revise it if necessary.

Christmas Social Event – we have decided that we would like an informal Christmas meet-up. Emrys has kindly offered to investigate the local hostelries so that something can be arranged. The Royal Oak in Potton has been mentioned as a possibility...full details to follow.

The Villager – the new editor Claire has been in contact and is very interested in publishing some of our work. The criteria for publication will be forwarded separately so that we can all see what she’s looking for. It would be great to see some of our work in print!

Website – it’s a bit quiet on there and it would be fantastic if we could try to post a bit more. Maybe we could all try to visit it once a week so that it looks fresh & vibrant?

See you all next month! Happy writing!!

Tracey