Cleckheaton Writers Group (CWG) met last night 5.30-7pm at Cleckheaton Library with Barbara, Cassie, Alice, Karen, Neil and new member Ria in attendance, Kathy, Gemma and Sarah having passed on their apologies.
CWG welcomed new member Ria to the group and each member explained their writing journey, then Ria explained her writing background.
The minutes from the last meeting were passed.
WIP updates: Since the last meeting Karen has been editing her rom com which is due to be released in December 2021, has submitted work for her SCBWI 1-2-1 with Penny Thomas, attended a Becky Bagnall meet the agent Zoom event, attended a What is Commercial Fiction Arvon Masterclass with Darcy Nicholson, submitted her YA MS to Art House Literary Agency, submitted her RS novels to S J Hendricks, Gold Dust Literary and CBG following #pitmad, entered the Myslexia novel competition and the Open Coop. Alice has been working on her new MS, planning her characters more than the story. She is editing her picture book after feedback and debated entering the Open Coop. She has started her Concept Creation course (series age 6-9) and has a workshop tomorrow. Alice has also been working for Write Magic a fantastic writer motivation group on Facebook. Neil has started a Costa Short Story and is half-way through (4k word limit) and has been working on The Cubbyhole which he shared for feedback. Barbara has been making good progress on her new MS which Cassie likened to stories within a story. Cassie set herself a challenge of writing one short story a week for 12 weeks and has achieved her goal. Well done Cassie. She has also started work on a novel during lockdown.
This led to a discussion about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month in November), Write Magic, Scrivener and the Brandon Sanderson lectures on You Tube. He writes fantasy but has had a guest lecturer Mary Robinette, who has a puppetry background, about short stories (250 words). Alice will send the link to those CWG members who wish to see it.
We also discussed writing tips as beginner writers can easily fall into writing to a certain point, then either start editing this and not moving on to finish the MS, or being seduced by the shiny new idea and again, not move on to finish the MS. All CWG members have been through this in their writing journey and a few writing quotes such as 'You can't edit a blank page,' 'Writing is re-writing/editing' and 'I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles' were shared to help with this. Plus we expanded with tips to get around these pitfalls.
CW comps/workshops/events: Karen told members about the London Writers Club FREE Time to Write Event online on Thursday 23 September at 6pm (see my blog from yesterday for full details). Alice informed members that the Maz Evans, childrens writer, workshop on dialogue has been rescheduled to October and tickets are still available. Neil told members that the Writing Magazine (October issue on sale now) has a competition guide in it.
Feedback: Neil shared the first chapter of his short story The Cubbyhole ahead of the meeting, but for those members who had not seen the email, he read out the story as well. It was very well received, Cassie and Barbara thought it was very descriptive and evocative of houses with cubbyholes that they knew. Ria liked the red Ivy on the house which reminded her of descending into hell and Karen liked the butterfly/leaf analogy. There was some discussion about the age of the MC, Sally, and Alice felt that Sally could be brought more to life if we as the reader could see how she felt about her parents arguing following her father's affair and whether she was happy or not with the house move. Well done Neil for reading out for the first time, we are all looking forward to hearing more on this story.
Writing Plans: Karen will be continuing to edit for her October deadline and will be having her SCBWI agent 1-2-1 with Penny Thomas on Friday 1 October. Alice will be planning her new concept book about robots. Neil plans to finish The Cubbyhole. Ria hopes to write a Halloween short story for submitting to competitions and to work on her first chapter of her MS. She will also be looking into NaNoWriMo. Barbara will continue work on her story without re-reading it, just using a couple of her last paragraphs as a jump off point. Cassie will continue working on her novel also without re-reading it, just using a couple of her last paragraphs as a jump off point. Good luck everyone.
Karen brought her editing workbook notes to show CWG members to give them ideas of the process and tips for when they are writing (e.g. cutting down on filler words such as That, So and And) which led to a discussion about US/UK English and word choices such as blond for male hair and blonde for female hair.
There wasn't time for a writing challenge/session but those who wish to take part in one, we will set the theme Halloween for both October CWG meetings.
The next meeting will take place on Monday 4 October at 5.30-7pm at Cleckheaton Library. Feel free to share work via email ahead of the meeting or bring work along on the day.
New members are always welcome.
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