New for 2019 we’re combining our annual Verse of the Year and Manuscript of the Year Competitions into one evening.
Whether its poetry or prose (or both) our members have the opportunity to compete for the individual trophies for either or both of these competitions.
Only full members can enter, but anyone attending the meeting may vote for the winning poem and prose.
In both categories members will be given a theme prior to the competition night. Entrants have up to 250 words for the prose and a maximum of 16 lines (in any form) for the poetry.
All entries are submitted under a pseudonym and the audience only discover the winner and runners-up after the votes are counted and the winning titles announced.
Join us for our February meeting where it’s all about what’s your writing problem?
Whatever your writing issue the aim is to help you find a solution or a methods to assist, using the combined knowledge and experience of the writers attending.
We’re keeping the format of the session flexible so we can work with the topics raised in the time available; this may range from small discussion groups to feedback to the whole room.
We know that you may have more than one writing issue, but please choose one that is the most important to you. Sometimes solving one issue unlocks others…
To get everyone back into writing mode for the coming year, we’re doing a basic editing mini-workshop.
Editing is a big topic and as we only have a set amount of time we’re going to focus on raising your awareness, a few common errors and then a practical session.
Whether you enter competitions or send your work out to magazines you need to improve your manuscripts by editing. Your first draft is the foundation and you can build upon that by improving your editing skills.
In part one of the evening we’ll be looking at book excepts before moving on to the more common issues. While in part two attendees can spend some time editing their own work to see if they can improve their text and make it stronger.
Please bring some of your own writing along with you for part two of the evening.
For our October Read & Write night we’re going to use a selection of postcards to inspire your creativity.
Whether you want to write fact or fiction the aim of this session is to get you mining your memories; creating associations and enjoying creating ideas.
There will be people, places, street scenes, and colourful settings to choose from…
With time for reading out for feedback and discussion.
For our last summer Read and Write night of this year we have a couple of simple writing exercises, with time to listen to what results from your pens and keyboards.
When you have a writing problem it’s good to share with other writers who can not only sympathise but provide helpful suggestions, so we’ll be setting aside some time for this.
We can’t guarantee it will solve your writing problems but sometimes just talking about the issue helps…
Our regular meetings schedule resumes in September…
As the June Read & Write night date also happens to be #National Writing Day we’ll be joining in at Wednesday’s session.
We have a dialogue exercise, as we’ve had a number of requests to revisit the topic- so our aim is to write the first draft of a ‘dialogue only’ story.
Writing Magazine also run a dialogue only story in the early part of the year, so come along to this week’s Read & Write night and try this style out. If it works for you, you’ll have the start of an entry for next year…
The members in-depth group is taking a short break until the autumn…
Our guest speaker this month is Sam Maxfield, author of six novels including her latest,Must be Mapton, the third in her humorous Mapton-on-Sea series.
Taking a comical view of life as a writer, Sam will talk about her Mapton series; and then provide tips on how to cope with the ups and downs of a writer’s life- for aspiring dreamers to full-time writers.
Sam holds a BA in English and History and an MA in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University, and has lectured in English Literature; as well as the role of Education Officer at the Broadway Cinema, before becoming a full-time writer four years ago.
Sam will have copies of her books to sell and sign on the night, including her latest release Must be Mapton.
Find out more about our guest speaker on her website.
