Cleckheaton Writers Group met tonight at Cleckheaton Library where Kathy, Pauline, Mandy, Cassie, Sarah, Gemma, Alice and myself were in attendance, Neil having given his apologies.
Pauline informed the group about the Library consultation results and showed them proofs from the Cleckheaton Literature Festival anthology. She also showed the group the new issue of Writing Magazine (out to buy in shops Wednesday/Thursday) which has a supplement listing upcoming writing competitions for October to June.
WIP updates: Mandy has begun writing a novella, she is 10k words in and it is based on the first story out of Separated from the Sea. She is aiming at 30k words and her publisher is interested in seeing it when it is complete. Cassie has finished the writers group short story challenge and feels it is more of a prologue, which she brought to share. Sarah is preparing for York Festival of Writing where there will be workshops, pitching etc. and she is halfway through her second novel. Her first is out with agents but she is also considering looking into Bookouture in October. Gemma is also preparing for York Festival of Writing and she has got her timetable, including two 1-2-1s. She has had a breakthrough with her novel in that she is going to introduce the main protagonists' love interest earlier in the book. Alice has had a break from writing but is now getting back into it. She has had a feedback session from her agent at Golden Egg and is beginning to implement the changes to her novel. Kathy is rising to the challenge of writing every Monday and she has written the writers group challenge and it is dialogue only. She has also written more on her Tobias WIP, two or three more chapters. Pauline has downloaded Scrivener for the planned tutor session by Kathy. She has had an idea for another story, a murder in the publishing world. She has completed notes on it and written a few bits on her other books. I have written and submitted a poem to the Alzheimers poetry competition, applied for the SCBWI Conference scholarship, entered my second novel into the Retreat West novel competition and sent an entry into the Writers & Artists free Children's fiction competition, as well as finishing my third novel to first draft and submitting it to the RNA New Writers Scheme for feedback.
Competitions: Prima magazine (latest issue) has a Christmas short story competition. There is a poetry competition from the Alzheimers Society with the theme of 'hope.' Poems should be 20/40 lines and readings should 250/500 words and the deadline is midnight 19 October. Entries should be sent to: competition@alzheimersresearchuk.org. The Bath, Myslexia and Caledonians novel competitions have deadlines coming up.
Feedback sessions: I shared my poem 'Faded' that I have entered into the Alzheimers competition which was well received. Sarah shared an alternative chapter to her novel (the tattoo chapter) which was well received. The group thought the parachute jump scene was realistic and Sarah informed us it was based on real-life experience. Cassie shared her writing challenge short story entitled Angels in the Architecture which was well received. The group felt it would be a great beginning to a longer story, perhaps a novella
Good luck to Gemma and Sarah for their pitching at York Festival of Writing.
The next meeting will take place on Monday 17 September 5.30-7pm at Cleckheaton Library.
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