Author: cormoransrobin

What this means is we agreed a task and, unless you noted it, you have around 24 hours to sort it out. There are no consequences for being unprepared!

Rebirth, or what

Well, did you ever seriously doubt it? Of course, you didn’t. Sooner rather than later – I think we were ready. The question is, “Are you?” Ready or not …

Picking up where we left off.

A warm welcome back – how fantastic to see everyone, after nearly a year and a half of Covid restrictions. This time we are Zooming in from far and wide, quite literally. As you would expect, we started by having a good old catchup; the good, the bad and the oh, so nearly.

Mac

Mac completed the first draft of his new novel and sent it off to his editor. As is her way, she was ruthless but that’s what editors are for; it’s their job. He has also been busy in his role as Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland. Wow, that sounds interesting.

Andy

In the words of Bonnie Tyler, Andy has been “Lost in France”. Being a productive sort of guy, he has broadcast a weekly podcast on his beloved agriculture, in addition to a brand-new brood of lambs. Bravely, he gave NaNoWriMo a try. Rather him than me.

Joy

Joy has continued writing and amongst other things has finished the novel she started prior to lockdown. We look forward to a sneak preview. She has also continued with her Glasgow writing group, online.

Paul

Paul has completed his first full-length novel and is well into his second. He has continued writing academic books and producing his blog.

Catherine

Catherine has turned to reading and particularly recommends “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg, an American author and speaker who teaches all things writing, with a leaning towards Zen.

Jenny

Jenny has enjoyed returning to classics like Jane Eyre, favourites like Joanne Harris and Elizabeth Sprout, as well as new reads like Where the Crawdads Sing and The Midnight Library.

Humble Reward

What was truly humbling and rewarding, was that the craic was as if we had never been away. We literally did pick up where we left off.

Where next?

Looking towards the future, it was generally agreed that we should explore new ways of communicating and developing ideas through different kinds of online media. As you can see, the website https://writersneuk.com/ is up and running. Our Zoom meeting is working well. After a discussion about the merits of different social media, it was suggested that we start a Facebook site, which is perhaps more user friendly. Paul uses Twitter for information gathering and the monthly Byline Times. Andy was off his mark and set the Writers’ Neuk Facebook private group up straight away. Mac will investigate if there are any alternative forums, that might be suitable for all.

Moving forward

Looking at the format of our meetings, we discussed optimum numbers for Zoom and a possible upper limit to numbers on the private FB group. We agreed that whilst it could be beneficial to grow, we should take care to protect the existing dynamics of the group.

Previously, at meetings, we set a limit on writing of 200-300 words. Paul pointed out that this can be restrictive, so we considered ways of presenting and critiquing longer pieces. Joy suggested that we could email a copy of our writing, to all members in advance, thus allowing people to read them at their leisure and give more time for feedback during meetings. We also discussed the possibility of screen sharing, of which Andy showed an example and the use of Audacity for audio recording and editing.

Our writing

Our suggested theme was “Reflections” The exciting thing is that you can also share these, by visiting our newly created FB site, Writers’ Neuk.
Andy shared his poem, “Reflections”. It has the honour of being the first piece on the FB site, both audio and visual.
Joy read and then later went on to record her piece, “The Politics of a Pandemic”
Catherine related her poem “Reflections” which took us back to a time of innocence, when everything seemed possible.
Mac will get sorted soon.

For next time

How do you show anger in your writing? For our next meeting, prepare a piece showing just that. Any scenario you choose. We can then discuss how this has been achieved and what makes approaches effective.

Jenny

Our monthly get together 24 February

Here we are on the last Monday of the month, 7pm in Colinsburgh Library, for our regular get together. It has taken a while but that date and time slot is now so easy to remember that it is embedded in my internal calendar. No longer do I need to ask, “What date is our next meeting?” More like, “We’re halfway through the month – time to think about getting that piece of writing ready.” Crunch time; I always work better to a deadline. Does that work for you?

We are growing

Well, hopefully not in kilograms but another new member. This evening we were delighted to welcome a lady who moved to the area last Autumn. As often happens, she and her family have been visiting the East Neuk for many years and upon retiring, she decided to relocate here permanently. Luckily she has found her way to our local group and happily she has brought her writing interest and skills with her. A warm welcome!

Catching up

After apologies from members who could not make it this evening, we had a catch up on news, helped along with hot cuppas and biscuits. We do like our home comforts and a relaxed ambience!

Tonight’s agenda

1. Developing the website
2. Preparing a theme bank
3. Writing a blog
4. Sharing our work

Our website

Our website has been up and running for over a year now and we are looking to develop it further. It is visited by people from near and far, which is the great thing about the internet. Our writing group does not have physical boundaries and we can reach out to like-minded people who can’t always attend but still want to share our interest in the written word.

Next steps

Mac outlined the points laid out in last month’s blog and a discussion ensued.

Main points:

1. All shared writing should be published under a nom-de-plume. Rationale is that protecting ID assists genre change, practise and the invitation of feedback and critique (accepting some of it might not always be ego massaging). Also, people well established in a field can avoid exposure before they want it (if ever).
2. Provide an image to link with the NDP.
3. Agree a way so a visitor to our site will readily find a chosen writer’s work
4. Writers can invite critiques.
5. We agree *not* to reveal anyone else’s ID.

Yes but…

Agreement was reached in principle but an important point was raised.

This was, that it might be advisable for critiques to be given directly to the author concerned, privately, rather than publicly, online. Apart from fledgeling egos being irreparably damaged, once criticisms are made in print, they cannot be taken back. Point taken!

Preparing a theme bank

We started brainstorming themes that the group might consider for future meetings. Whilst we did compile an initial list, we would like to open this up to to other members, to add to, before confirming. The aim is to have a bank, so that themes can be confirmed well in advance, in readiness for future meetings.

Blog training

This is ongoing but we hope gradually to be able to have more members who feel confident to add blogs to the website and also to start having different interest categories.

Sharing our work

There was an “anything goes” theme for tonight.

Firstly we had “The Farewell” – a poignant piece telling the story behind a photo. It was set in Germany in the late 1930’s and showed a father kissing his young child goodbye before dropping him off at kindergarten. On this day he would not be picking him up in the afternoon, as he was on his way to the front.

New Member Reads

Next we encouraged our new member to read an extract from her novel, a very daunting prospect, on your first visit. We were delighted that she felt able to share her work. It is a central part of our group’s ethos to provide support and encouragement for anyone starting out. In fact she has a a full first draft and is looking for a fairly rigorous edit. We were happy to be part of that journey.

Next we heard a poem called “Heartfelt”. This is a work in progress, which often happens when you air a poem. At the end of the day, you can listen to suggestions and you whether or not to take them on board. Whose poem is it after all?

Reading Rhythm 

To finish off we heard a performance poem called “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” What a fabulous way to end our evening. It was fun, quirky and the kind of presentation that stays in your memory. I hope we can hear it again sometime soon and perhaps open it up to a wider audience.

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

Next meeting… will be remote thanks to COVID-19

Feels like we’re getting the hang of this! At our first meeting everything seemed strange and new. A bit stressful if I’m honest.

Getting organised, opening the building, getting the heating right, where to sit, what to speak about, meeting new people, making them welcome. It was early days for a new group.

Winter weather, Christmas holidays and the dark days of January all took their toll. Burn’s Night gave those with a poetic leaning, a glimmer of inspiration. Our first meeting of 2019 brought new faces, different experiences and new ideas for discussion and exploration.

Meeting

March was our second of 2019. I feel we are beginning to tune into peoples’ needs and move ideas forward.

I’m relatively new to all of this and I was fascinated to discover that there are all kinds of things out there to help budding writers:

• software
• apps
• helpful blogs
• websites

Sure, there are many aspiring new writers, scarily many, but help is there and accessible.

I thought I was doing well ordering my shopping online but words like Scrivener and AutoCrit have now entered my vocabulary, alongside Creative Writing Ink and WordPress. All have been stored away for further investigation.

The other thing that became immediately apparent is that people are happy to share, to listen and be supportive. I for one had used storyboards to teach young children but it had not crossed my mind that I could use them to develop my own writing.

For instance, at the February meeting Andy Frazier showed us an example of how he uses a story board for script writing. Check out Andy’s blog, which gives a basic introduction.

In the beginning

At the beginning of our early group meetings we quickly gave a brief history of what we were interested in and, perhaps, current projects. This helped us get to know each other and our aspirations.

Finding old masterpieces

One group member brought along a folder containing her old writing notes. I’m not even sure if she’d had time to look through them. But it’s surprising how looking back can refresh your ideas.

By the end of the evening she had shared a piece of work that mattered to her. We were glad she found the confidence to do that because it was a wee hidden gem, which we found, mattered to us too. It was a powerful piece, well considered, thought provoking and relevant.

Another member, who had not shared her work at this group before, shared a poem she had penned a while back. She is interested in imagery and it became strongly apparent that she has the ability to convey her ideas through this medium. Thank you both!

Getting published

One of our returning members explained that a friend of hers, from another writing group, has recently had her first novel published. Whilst this is not necessarily the immediate aim for everyone, in the first instance, it did make our ears prick up.

I for one was subsequently well impressed to find it, with ease, on the Internet. What’s more, with very favourable reviews! Anne Pettigrew, Not the life Imagined.

Using a song

The same member had been interested in taking Andy Frazier’s idea from our last meeting, of using song lyrics for the basis of a short story. Her chosen song was Every Breath You Take by The Police.

Now, like me, you may think of the lyrics as coming from the mouth of a broken-hearted lover. Many couples choose it to play at their wedding. Sting had just separated from his first wife to start a relationship with the person who would subsequently become his second wife, when he wrote it.

However, what if you put a different slant on the words? As our member pointed out, they can have a totally different meaning; the words of a stalker, controlling and menacing. Try listening to them again. She used this to great effect in her resulting short story.

If you come along …

Why not drop in and find out what our group is like. You don’t have to do or bring anything, but you can if you like. You can read a short extract from some on-going writing … anything really … and, of course, you can always try our preparation suggestions, below.

At our March meeting we heard:

• two brief short stories
• a poem
• a chunk of non-fiction
• an extract of Scottish Historic fantasy-fiction
• a personal reflection

People responded in helpful and interested ways.

As one of the short story writers, when preparing, I was stumped for a new idea and, for the first time, Googled “creative writing prompts“.

I can recommend it because there are lots, and I found something that ‘clicked’ with me straight away. Job done!

Mac tells me he wrote a blog on writers-block a while back.

Next meeting

From the first, we have been keen to steer the group in the direction members need and want. To that end we had a discussion and agreed on two things for next time.

• Choose any book and create a logline for it

A logline is a sentence which summarises a TV programme, film or book that states the central conflict of the story. It often provides both a  synopsis of the plot and an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest. And …

• write up to 200 words on the theme “jealousy” – whatever it means to you – fiction, non-fiction, a poem, a song … you choose.

Why not come along and share your ideas? Hope to see you soon!

© Jenny Hoggan