Tuesday 10 April 2018

Cleckheaton Writers Group minutes 9 April 2018

Cleckheaton Writers Group took place last night at Cleckheaton Library where myself, Pauline, Kathy and potential new member Cassie were in attendance, Sarah, Mandy, Neil and Alice having passed on their apologies.

We welcomed Cassie to the group explaining how the group works and the members who attend. Each of us took turns to talk about the types of writing we do and the usual agenda of the meetings. Cassie is new to writing and wants to learn how to go about writing creatively.

The minutes from the last meeting were passed and then we discussed our WIP updates: Kathy has been working on her Tobias story as part of CampNaNoWriMo and has written 6k words, I have been further editing my novel 1/2, writing new sections on novel 3/4 as part of CampNaNoWriMo, poems for NaNoWriPon and have submitted to an agent following pitching, and Pauline has been looking into her writing projects, a short story she is turning into a novel, a supernatural romance and a thriller and has just started work on a novel inspired by true events during the war, which she brought along to share at the feedback session.

Pauline shared the first three chapters of her new WIP Escape. The writing was evocative and drew you in. A few suggestions were made and Pauline outlined the plans for the novel going forward. We look forward to hearing more.

I told the members that Leeds Big Bookend have a Meet the Literary Agent event with Jamie Cowen of Ampersand Agency and writer Ali Harper at Leeds Library on 17 May. The event starts at 7pm and tickets are available now.

Kathy had brought along details of competitions, including a free to enter short story one:

Costa Short Story, deadline 18 July, FREE entry, 4k words, no theme, £3k prize
Bristol Short Story, deadline 31 May, £8 entry, 4k words, no theme, £1k prize
Bath Flash Fiction, deadline 10 June, £7.50 entry (£12 for 2), 400 words, no theme, £1k prize
Dorset Fiction Award, 9 June, £7 entry, 1k words, no theme, £500 prize
The Brighton Prize, 1 July, £8 entry, 1-2k words, no theme Short Story, £1k prize
The Brighton Prize, 1 July, £6 entry, 350 words, no theme Flash Fiction, £500 prize
Michael Terence Pub. Short, 30 June, £5 entry, 3k words, no theme Novellas, £300 prize
Stroud Writing Competition, 31 July, £5 entry, 40 lines, no theme Poetry, £500 prize
Stroud Writing Competition, 31 July, £5 entry, 500 words, no theme Flash, £500 prize

There was no time for the writing challenge and the next meeting will take place on Monday 23 April at 5.30-7pm and both feedback slots are available.

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