Cleckheaton Writers Group met last night at Cleckheaton Library from 5.30-7pm with Karen, new member Katherine and Reuben in attendance, Barbara and Saba having passed on their apologies.
Members welcomed Katherine to her first meeting and introduced themselves, outlining their writing history. Katherine then shared her writing background explaining she has had a blog on Substack since August consisting of posts with her dark sense of humour. She has 32 subscribers and hopes to start a short story collection for adults.
There were no minutes from the last meeting as Karen was the only one in attendance.
WIP updates: Karen has been working on promoting her current CSY clients novel and she has just found out she has been accepted into the Daggers, congratulations Stephanie. Karen has also written more on her WIP, sports romance Touchdown, and been promoting the two new Amazon five star reviews she has recently received for her debut rom com Christmas Evie. Reuben has been working on his PhD and characters for DnD. Katherine has been posting for her blog and thinking about writing a life memoir.
CW comps/workshops/events : EdgeLit, YALC, Morley Literature Festival, Whitby Literature Festival, #questpit and Anna Chilvers workshops, details here:
Come with me into the woods and see what you find. In this six week online course we will look at the history and mythology of woods, their place in our cultural imagination, and why they are where we go to find our inmost selves. We will look at the ecology of woods, from the tree canopy down to the Wood Wide Web of mycellium beneath the forest floor, and all the life between, including our own. How do trees communicate with each other? How can we communicate with the world of the forest. How can our writing enter and reflect the world of the wild woods? This class is suitable for writers of poetry and prose, for beginners and more experienced writers. At the end of the course you will have an opportunity to submit a piece of work for feedback
Begins Monday 2 November, Ends Monday 7 December
£135 (£94.50 low income) - book here or contact me directly.
The Short Story: Reading and Writing, Hebden Bridge Town Hall, Tuesdays 10am-12noon
In this six-week course, we will read a short story each week and look at different ways the short story form can be used – sometimes bent, stretched and subverted. The sessions will be playful, allowing a freedom to try new ways of writing.
The short story is a really exciting form. There are conventions to story writing, and you might be familiar with various patterns and shapes which give recognisable shapes to novels and films. Short stories often follow these patterns as well, but because they are short, the form also allows for experimentation - your reader is much more likely to accept strangeness and to revel in the unexpected for ten pages rather than three hundred.
Part of the session each week will be along the lines of a reading group – we will discuss the themes that come up in the story as well as looking at the techniques the writer has employed. In the second half of the session we will examine the techniques more closely and have a go at using them in some writing exercises. There will be an optional homework exercise each week, and you will have the opportunity to share your work with other members of the group.
Begins Tuesday 3 November, Ends Tuesday 8 December
£90 (£63 low income) - book here or contact me directly.
Also a call out for an exciting day of readings and workshops at The Brontë Parsonage on Saturday 24 October, Poetry at the Parsonage: Voices from a Yorkshire Moor. This will be a really fun and inspiring day. You can book directly through the Brontë Parsonage website.
Writing plans: Karen hopes to write more on Touchdown and do more editing of the sequel to Christmas Evie, Seducing the One. Katherine will write more on her blog plus look at the framework for her short story collection and work out what the story link is. Reuben will continue his thesis and DnD work.
Writing challenge: October theme Halloween
Feedback sessions: Karen shared a couple of chapters of her current WIP which were well received. Members picked up on the subtle plot points contained within and there was a discussion on whether the confusion of the panic attack scene worked. Katherine shared one of her blog posts 'My good pal' which was well received. It was darkly humorous and relatable, plus it was an inspired touch to name the characters after animals as it gives reader expectation in a subtle way.
Next meeting; The next meeting will take place on Monday 2 November 2026 at 5.30pm. New members always welcome.
