Minutes of Cleckheaton Writers Group meeting 18 September 2017

Last Monday, the latest meeting of the Cleckheaton Writers Group took place, here are the minutes:

Welcome and Attendance

·         Attendance – Arline, Sarah, Alice, Irene (new member), Kathy and Pauline

·         Apologies – Karen

Minutes of Last Meeting

Taken as read.

Work in Progress

Arline: has been on holiday so not done much writing, but she has had some ideas.

Kathy: has also been away. Her visit to the site of World War One graves has sparked some ideas and she would like to write a piece based on a local lad with parallels to present day, possibly in letter form.

Alice: has sent off her work to a creative writing course and received some useful feedback. They said her story was good but pointed out how she could vary her sentence structure. Alice mentioned that there were some creative writing classes coming to Brighouse on Fridays, starting 20 October.

Irene’s writing is mostly in her journal and very personal. She may use some of her experiences in her writing.

Pauline: has finished her biography for the anthology. Pauline read it out and everyone thought it was excellent. She has also found some old stories on her computer and the start of some novels, so she is looking through them. Professionally, she is working on a book for a history professor.

Sarah has been editing her novel. She and Karen attended a Think! Forensic workshop in Huddersfield recently and recommended it. It was excellent value for money and very helpful for crime writers.

Feedback Sessions

Alice shared a poem she has written aimed at children with Asperger syndrome. She intends to write 12 poems in total, illustrating different aspects of the condition. It was very well received.

Pauline shared a short story that she has found on her computer. It became increasingly sinister and the child’s voice came through very strongly. Suggestion that she may make it more explicit who the narrator is talking to.

CW Competitions/Workshops/Events

This month’s Writing Magazine lists all the writing competitions for the next six months and is well worth a read. Sarah and Karen have taken part in a pitching contest on Twitter called #TellAMH.

Writing Challenge Session – Everyone decided to spend some time working on their own writing for the remaining 20 minutes. Some people used prompts from this month’s Writers Forum.

Next meeting: Monday, 2 October 2017