The Cleckheaton Writers Group took place last night with Alice, Gemma, Pauline, myself, Sarah and Cassie in attendance, Kathy having passed on her apologies.
The minutes from the last meeting were passed.
WIP updates: I finished my WIP which is now at a first draft of just over 75k words. I brought the final scenes to share for feedback and have the hard work of editing ahead of me. Some CWG members kindly offered to be beta readers for feedback.
Cassie attended the U3A creative writing workshop and edited the 'who would you kill' CWG writing challenge piece into a ghost story to share with the U3A group.
Sarah has finished her psychological thriller and is in the process of sending it off. She has written most of another psychological thriller which is now on hold as she feels it is not working, a 30k NaNoWriMo historical fiction WIP that needs research set in WWI in Keighley, is 35k into a new psychological thriller and is working on a non-fiction book about her travels too. She asked if Pauline would like to be a beta reader for the travel book for feedback when it is ready.
Gemma has been accepted on the RNA New Writers Scheme and received a bursary. Well done Gemma. She now has until the end of August to edit her novel to get a critique on the whole thing, so will also need beta readers.
Alice has made structural changes to her WIP and finished part 2 of 5 (completed 1 and 4 already, part 5 is short and she has that and part 3 to do).
Pauline wrote 10 pages on her Bickerman WIP.
Feedback sessions: I shared my crime novel ending and received positive feedback. It was felt that the characters were well-rounded and the story compelling, as some members wanted to know what had come before, and a few editing suggestions were made.
CW comps/workshops/events: There are a series of workshops/writing days being run at The Leeds Library and at Leeds Trinity University, the full details are available on their websites, but fees are £15, £25 a workshop or £50 for all three.
The Northern Writers Awards are still open for entries up until the deadline of 7 February.
Writing Magazine has a character-driven short story competition (hero or anti-hero, 1500-1700 words, deadline 15 March) and the January competition for stories told entirely in dialogue has a deadline of 15 February.
A free flash fiction competition with Writers HQ (quarterly) for 500 words or less, no theme or fee, with a deadline of 31 March (see website for details).
Jericho Writers have a bursary available for one of their writing courses (deadline March).
It was suggested that the write-ins at the Clifton church hall continue and Alice has agreed to look into booking it on Sunday the 3rd of February for those CWG members that can attend. Please can you get in touch with Alice or myself if you would like to come along as we need at least 3 attendees to secure the event.
Having had a writing session at The Ribbon Tree in Cleckheaton from 1pm on Monday 21st January, it was agreed that from now on all CWG members will be emailed to ask if they wish to attend (not just the ones that wouldn't be working - sorry my fault). If writers wish to attend a date, please can they let either Alice or myself know if they are coming so we can reserve the right size table. Thanks.
Members felt it was a good idea to run a number of workshops among the CWG meetings as it was felt the Scrivener tutorial that Kathy suggested running would be welcome, as would a short story workshop from Mandy, an editing/copywriting workshop by Pauline and possibly other workshops from visiting writers. Please can you let me know if you would like to do this ladies and we will get it booked into our diaries (to be confirmed at an upcoming CWG meeting)? And if any members have any ideas for workshops they would like, please let us know at a CWG meeting or by email. Thanks.
Having spoken to the Library, it is confirmed that CWG meetings cannot be chanaged to a Thursday evening as there is a Poetry or Book Group every alternate Thursday.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday 4 February 5.30-7pm. New members always welcome.
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