The Writing Buddies at The Art House

Thanks to Jacquline Pye for these notes:

The Writing Buddies met once again at the Art House, on March 12th; it continues to be a good venue for us.

Richard attended an open mic event at the Art House recently and read some of his work; he was happy with the audience reaction.

Mo is currently writing publicity material for a group of artists in London. Her book “A Blues for Shindig”, about Soho in the 50s, is being brought out again by Exceptionally Independent Publishers. (N.B. Amazon’s UK website stocks this; at the time of writing they had just one copy in stock but were expecting more – the book had top rating by all reviewers.)

Glen continues to write the newsletter for Hamwic Speakers. She recently read one of her poems at a party, and found it was well-received.

Elizabeth received the critique for her story from WriteSpace. It has been very helpful, and as a result she is rewriting the story with a new slant.

Jacqueline has pitched a feature idea to a newspaper’s weekend magazine, and has just finished her latest script for the Eastleigh Talking Echo. She received the critique for her story from Writers’ Forum, which pointed out some details of the plot that needed explaining. She plans to rework the story and submit elsewhere.

Jimmy has sent off his autobiography and awaits a response. Legend Press has invited him to send the first instalment of his novel. He is also working on a short story to be entered in a competition, and the group discussed some of the detail he had included. He is currently struggling with computer problems which he hopes to resolve very soon.

Penny has been taking more photographs for her forthcoming book “Southampton Then and Now” - the publisher’s deadline is close. She has a contract on the way for another book for the History Press; this means she expects to have three books published next year – the group chided her for slacking! She has just been appointed as the official photographer at the Swanage Armed Forces Weekend in June.

Lewis joined the group for the first time. He has been writing for some years, including both poetry and short stories.

In the general discussion, Peter Lovesey’s recent talk at Southampton Writers’ Circle was discussed as being very enjoyable and informative. Many of the group had heard him speak at various venues. The issue of choosing names for characters in fiction threw up a number of ideas, though Jimmy would take the prize for the most inventive names.

Jimmy had thought of a feature idea on his way to the meeting; the group had some fun with this, and possible markets were debated.

A new bimonthly literary magazine was mentioned, Platinum Page, available only on subscription. It does not currently pay authors, but hopes to in the future. Poems and stories may be submitted. It has a mention in the April issue of Writers’ News, and there’s a blog - platinum-page.blogspot.com

The next meeting of Writing Buddies is on Friday 26th March at the Art House. Everyone is welcome.

Our latest meeting

When the Writing Buddies met on 26th February we were a merry bunch. All of us had a lot to say, which is great, and we had been working hard, which is even better.

Pam has been working on her research in Marchwood for Waterside Heritage.

Jacqueline has had an article on postcards accepted for 'possible publication' by Best of British magazine, has pitched to Saga on how to get to sleep at night - ways that work, and is busy working on the Eastleigh Talking Echo.

Christine is working on a story possibly destined for The Lady and a book on why marriages don't work. Her book Child and Adolescent Mental Health has sold out of its second edition.

John is involved in an exhibition of art based on his poetry between 17th and 30th March (see previous post) and has spent a lot of time working to get everything sorted out for a smooth running exhibition. He is actively looking at marketing, which takes up a lot of time.

Silma is revamping stories she wrote for Writers' Magazine competitions and is also working on a children's book. The article accepted by Woman and Home some time ago has still not been published and so she is considering looking at it from a different angle to make it more publishable.

Tom was welcomed to the group. He is currently working on the Writers' Bureau Comprehensive Course and has been writing for most of his life. He has lots of ideas and is very enthusiastic. It was good to see him at the meeting.

Peter is happy with his website and blog and now has 2 followers. He has been doing open mic sessions in Petersfield, Portsmouth and Swindon but would like to find venues for his longer poems. He is producing a booklet of his poetry, The Nails of My Grave and brought along a draft copy for the Writing Buddies to look at.

Glen has been writing short stories and attended a blogging workshop. She has lots of projects to get on with but needs motivation.

Penny had given a talk, on how much fun you can have writing articles, to the Southampton Writers Circle; had run a blogging workshop; was working on her book, Southampton Then and Now and had been kept busy by the Writers' Bureau with a flurry of new students who were eager to pursue New Year Resolutions to write.

The discussion around the table touched on the Winchester Writers Conference and how difficult it was to gain appointments with the experts of your choice. It was commented how long it took to get refunds if you were unable to see who you wanted to see. The 'cliquey' nature of the event was also mentioned and the general consensus of opinion was that the organisers should look at their speakers carefully. The lack of parking and the fact that it was considered to be too big and had outgrown its format were also discussed.

Swanwick and Earnley both won praise for their services to writers, in particular the fact that top named writers attended and it was possible to talk to them.

Different ways to market or publicise work were discussed. Various options were offered around the table, including local radio, small community publications and printing poems and selling them as gifts (as one of the Writing Buddies has done successfully in the past).

Peter marked National Poetry Day by attending an open mic session where Simon Armitage read his work.

In all it was a lively meeting at The Art House, whose staff, as usual, welcomed the Writing Buddies warmly.

The next meeting is Friday 12th March at 2pm. Everyone is welcome.

JPF Goodman at Goblets Gallery

Writing Buddy, John Goodman, is proud to announce the exhibition of work inspired by his poetry. With eight artists involved, John is looking forward to welcoming friends old and new to the exhibition, where works will be on sale.