Cleckheaton Writers Group meeting 28/10/13

Another good meeting of the CWG last night where P, D, N and I were in attendance, C, L & J having given their apologies.

P showed the group that this issue of Writers Forum (#145) has a pull-out poster to help with sticking to the daily word counts of NaNoWriMo - I will be purchasing my copy today.

D informed us about a Workshop being run in February by Alison Taft with the theme of 'Love.'  D and I had wanted to attend Alison's Workshop scheduled for April, but it had been oversubscribed so I was pleased to hear that another one had been put in place (and earlier too).  Households of incomes under £15k can apply for a discount and it is being held near Barnsley.  It will be a small group, so you should get close feedback and there is also the chance to get your work published in an anthology.

D wondered whether it was the right time of year for the Leeds Writing Festival workshop day that she, P and myself attended and when we looked it up, we were surprised to learn that it will be in March 2014. 

We then discussed what we each had been working on:

P has various ideas for novels, two of which she read out.  One was a very creepy tale about a body in the ground, the hand grasping outwards (gulp, I thought Halloween was a few days away yet) and the other is written as a perfect synopsis.  D and I were very impressed as a synopsis is a hard thing to get right and we suggested she used this as a starting point for her next writing project or the NaNoWriMo challenge if she wishes to do that this year. 

D informed the group that she has yet to hear back from the second agent who asked to see her full manuscript (sadly the first agent passed) and that it has been five weeks now (fingers crossed).  She has started working on her sequel to her children's novel TSC with a working title of TBS and this is what she intends to work on for the NaNoWriMo challenge.

N has been working on his fan fiction writing challenge and TWE, the novel he intends to enter into the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition and also the manuscript he will be working on for his NaNoWriMo challenge.

I revealed that I had now finished my final edit of Thorde and that I had also sent in my entry to the Richard and Judy search for Bestseller 2014 competition, with my crime novel TPB.  Like L, D and N, I will also be joining the NaNoWriMo challenge this year, with a mainstream comedy entitled SC, and I shared the prologue and opening chapters that I have started early and it was well received (the laughs came in all the right places, phew).

N had to leave the meeting early due to Arriva changing the bus timetable and it has been agreed that a rota system will be put in place for lifts home for N, so that he can attend the meetings without worrying about the time.

The next meeting will take place on Monday 11 November 6-8pm at Cleckheaton Library.  New members always welcome.