Cleckheaton Writer's Group met last night with Alice, Gemma, Karen and Sarah in attendance, Daniel and Neil having passed on their apologies.
The minutes from the last meeting were passed and the members congratulated Gemma on being shortlisted for the Retreat West novel writing competition. We also spoke about imposter syndrome and Sarah recommended the Honest Authors Podcast.
WIP updates: Karen has negotiated the terms of her publishing contract and is awaiting the redrafted contract in order to sign. She has submitted her MG novel into the Guppy competition, a short story into Northern Gravy, two partials for her 1-2-1 agent/editor sessions for the upcoming virtual RNA conference, taken part in #PitMad and written over 1700 words on her current WIP, the sequel to the novel which should be published in November. Gemma had misplaced her muse for editing, but now has a plan for tackling the issues going forward. Alice has also entered the Guppy competition, has started new words and been editing. Sarah is at the 30k stage of book three, the stage she seems to halt at, so has researched and had an interview with a former search expert as the first thing that happens in book four needed to work and she has been assured it will. This led to a discussion about the point in a WIP that writers hit where we stall, for Karen it is around 35k, Gemma 20k, and Sarah recommended the following books to help with this: George Saunders Swimming the Pond in the Rain which breaks down short stories and The Snowflake Method and The Snowflake Method Scene by Scene: www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method.
Feedback sessions: As the meeting was running long, it was agreed that Alice would send along her entry for the Madeleine Milburn opportunity to the members for review.
CW comps/workshops/events: As well as the Madeleine Milburn opportunity (deadline 1 July) there is an upcoming Hachette Northern Open Day on picture books: www.hachette.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HCGNORTH-OPEN-DAY-2021.pdf
Bradford Literature Festival runs 25 June - 4 July (for full details, see yesterday's blog post) and both Gemma and Karen have secured writing workshop sessions with Simon and Schuster through this.
There is a Northern Authors Pitch Day on 1st of July on Twitter and it is #PitchDis today on Twitter.
The Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award deadline is 1 July, free entry: https://www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/writers-award and the Myslexia novel competition deadline is 20 September with a £25 entry fee.
Sangam Festival: A Celebration of South Asian Heritage, a series of online, indoor and outdoor events and activities taking place during South Asian Heritage Month (18 July - 17 August) - from workshops, music and dance to family events and heritage trails. You can find out more at: https://sangamfestival.co.uk/ - all events will be added to the What’s On calendar over the next few weeks and you can visit the Festival Hub in the Piazza, Huddersfield (the former Dorothy Perkins site opposite Huddersfield Library).
Writing plans: Karen hopes to continue editing and keep going on her WIP, planning a particular scene she hopes to inject more comedy into the MS. Alice plans to write 9.5k words by 30 June. Gemma to continue editing now she has a plan (plus bullying Alice into writing more words), and Sarah will be carrying on with book three, hoping for 2.5k words a week with the aim of completing it by October. Only Karen now thinks she might take part in CampNaNoWrimo but Alice, Gemma and Karen will continue on the Word Warriors and Write Magic Facebook groups that are invaluable writing communities.
The next meeting will take place on Monday 5 July 5.45pm on Zoom.
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