Thursday 7 March 2019

Cleckheaton Writers Group minutes, meeting 4 March 2019 5.30-7pm

Cleckheaton Writers Group (CWG) met on Monday at Cleckheaton Library where Gemma, Cassie, myself, Pauline and Kathy were in attendance, Alice, Sarah and Mandy having passed on their apologies.

The minutes from the previous meeting were passed and there were no new members to welcome.

WIP updates: Pauline has written a poem and the beginning and end of a new short shory that she had brought along for feedback. She has also been working on her Bickerman and ghost story WIPs. I have written five new scenes for my WIP Digital Heroin. Gemma has been editing her WIP. Cassie has written another short story (1k words) when she was at her U3A group. Kathy has not written anything since the last meeting but hopes to be able to as she is giving up TV for lent (starts Sunday) and hopes this will free up time to do so.

CW comps/workshops/events: I brought information on the Leeds Lit Fest which I passed around to the CWG members, telling them about the Urbi-Write session that I attended on Saturday and giving them the date of the next one in April (see www.leedslitfest.co.uk for further details). Pauline passed around the latest issue of Writers Magazine which has the competitions guide in. Also, last months Writers Forum had an article on the A-Z of writing romance which she kindly offered to copy and send along to Karen and an article on poetry she found inspiring. The Bridport Prize International Creative Writing Competition is now open for poetry, short story, flash fiction or novel award entries. The deadline is 31 May 2019 and leaflets detailing postal entry can be found at Cleckheaton Library.

Feedback sessions: Pauline shared her short story entitled 'In flight', which contained what she felt was the beginning and end to the story. The group felt it was evocative, one member suggesting it could easily be turned into a poem. We all enjoyed it and look forward to Pauline sharing more. I shared the first few chapters of my current WIP which led to a discussion about my plans for the rest of the story. Gemma suggested that I raise the jeopardy of one of the main characters addiction and about how much the other main character thinks she is going to lose him. Cassie felt that the story was strong and it left her thinking about it long after the meeting had finished.

I have since spoken to CWG member John and he told me of plans to repair the library and a two-year long-term plan to make the library more of a venue which is excellent news.

The next meeting of the CWG will take place on Monday 18 March 5.30-7pm at Cleckheaton Library. Meetings are fortnightly thereafter and new members are always welcome.

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