Our first meeting in our new venue at the Central Library was well attended, with 24 Writing Buddies coming along at the new 2.30 start time. We have met here before in our six-year history and it felt good to be back.
The list of events for the year:
06/03/15 Ann Victoria Roberts, author, guest speaker.
10/04/15 Pam Fudge, author, guest speaker.
01/05/15 Brittany Poulin, IPR Licence, guest speaker.
12/06/15 Claire Fuller, author, guest speaker. Note change of date.
03/07/15 Tracey Gorman, author, guest speaker.
07/08/15 Janine Pullford, novelist/journalist/publisher, guest speaker.
04/09/15 Ian Bayley, Publisher, Sabrestorm Publishing, guest speaker.
02/10/15 To be decided
06/11/15 Elizabeth Burnett, Editor, Hampshire Life, guest speaker.
04/12/15 Merry Christmas!
New Year, New Start
The Writing Buddies will now be a membership group. The membership fee is £15 per year. There will be a £2 attendance fee. For those who cannot commit to attending regularly throughout the year, there will be the option of attending up to three meetings a year at £5 per meeting. The first meeting will be free to all newbies. The fees will finance events, guest speakers, community events and personal liability insurance, which now means all members will have insurance to cover them at market stalls, launches and community events. This resolves a problem which persisted throughout last year.
Jacqueline remains as Treasurer, Patricia becomes Membership Secretary and Christine will act as Assistant Treasurer. Penny gave personal thanks to all those for agreeing to these roles.
Good News
Margot attended workshops in New Milton on writing and selling features and short stories.
Josephine writes for The Voice, which is a free monthly newsletter from Wessex Writers. Robin Dynes is the editor. To join the mailing list for this magazine, email: Robin Dynes
Richard continues to struggle to get any movement from the 'powers that be' on his attempts to resolve issues over his comic/horror crossover work.
Penny showed a draft front cover of her new book, Military Wives, from World War One to Afghanistan.
Several Writing Buddies were featured in Writers' Forum magazine this month: Simon Whaley, Barbara Dynes and Pam Whittington.
Exercise: Press Release
As part of the changes to the meetings for this year, there is now a 15 minute exercise each month. This month, the group was challenged to write a Press Release on their latest book.
The aim was to produce an eye catching title, and to give information on, i) who (the author is, and his credentials), ii) what (the subject specifically is), iii) where (locality of the subject), iv) when (a brief history of the subject or the time period covered e.g. from WWI to Afghanistan), v) why (reasons for the book), vi) how (it was achieved), and highlight who the book would appeal to (target audience). The words 'Press Release' should be used!
New Writing Buddies Magazine
The Writing Buddies will launch a new online magazine this year.
Name: The Scribblers' Script
Frequency: three editions per year.
Themes: Spring (1 May), Summer (7 August) and Winter (6 November).
Content: Diary; Top Tips for Writers; New Writers Corner; Editor's Column; competitions,Poets Corner, Reviews, Quiz (with prizes), journalism features, profiles of group members; fiction, community tie-in.
The next meeting will be on Friday 6 March.
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