Thursday 24 September 2015

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Masterclass!

Barbara Dynes, Writers' Forum columnist and Writing Buddy, will be giving a Masterclass as part of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words (www.facebook.com/SOToSpeaksoton @sofospeak15), on Sunday 1 November.  Learn how to write engaging dialogue and create compelling characters with Barbara, one of the country's top creative writing tutors. 

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Writers' Day

The Writers' Day on Friday 30 October is a must for anyone who writes or aspires to do so and is part of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words ( @sofospeak15  www.facebook.com/SOToSpeaksoton). 

A full day of speakers offering advice on all aspects of the writing craft, book signings and a trade show will combine to offer delegates a useful, action-packed day aimed squarely at those who write.

Carole Blake, literary agent with Blake Friedmann and Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Authors (SoA) will be just two of the speakers.  Writing Buddies taking part include: Penny Legg (@PennyLegg), who organised the day and who will open proceedings; non-fiction author Robin Dynes; Writers' Forum columnist Barbara Dynes; Catherine Miller, Southampton's Writer in Residence at Central Library and novelist Lisa Scullard.

Trade Show organisations taking part include the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ); The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) and many more. 

The full programme can be read here.

Writing Buddies at SO:to Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: 'My Southampton' Competition Awards

Writing Buddies are running the 'My Southampton' writing competition in partnership with So:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words.  The awards ceremony will be held at The Stage Door, Southampton on Wednesday 28 October. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Haunted Southampton

Writing Buddy Penny Legg will be telling ghost stories on Tuesday 27 October as part of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words.  The author of Haunted Southampton and Folklore of Hampshire will be at the haunted Red Lion Pub, High Street, between 7 and 8.30pm.

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Mo Foster at the Art House

Writing Buddy Mo Foster will be at the Art House Café on Tuesday 27 October between 3pm and 4.30pm, reading from and talking about her novel, A Blues for Shindig

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Authors on the Water

Authors will be on the water as they join Red Funnel Ferries' ships as they cross between Southampton and the Isle of Wight on Monday 26 October.  Writing Buddies Jacqueline Pye, James Marsh, Eileen Long, Christine Donovan, Richard Hardie and Geoff Parkes will join authors Carole Burns, Ann Victoria Roberts and Tracy Gorman on selected crossings.  Passengers will be able to join the authors as they read from their work, answer questions and sign copies of their books during the crossings.  A fun event!

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Book Launch

On Sunday 25 October, Writing Buddy Penny Legg (@PennyLegg) will be hosting the official launch of her new book, Military Wives From The First World War to Afghanistan as part of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words.  This book raises funds for SSAFA, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association. The launch will take place at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, at 6pm.

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: CSI Southampton

On Saturday 24 October, Writing Buddy Penny Legg (@PennyLegg) will be chairing a panel discussion at the CSI Southampton Event, part of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words, at the Civic Centre.  Later, after a talk from Dagger Award winning author Peter Lovesey, who will be talking about how a decent, law-abiding man can think up more than 200 ways to murder people (!), Penny will chair a second event as part of Crime Day, a discussion with crime novelists Jessie Keane and Sue Wilkins

Writing Buddies at SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words: Southampton Sight

On Friday 23 October, the first day of SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words, Southampton Sight's Writing Salon, run by Writing Buddy Margot Tilbury, (@MargotTilbury) will be open between 10am and noon. 

Catching Up!

Life at Writing Buddies has been a bit busy recently, and consequently, we are a little late in updating this blog.  So, what has been going on? 

We welcomed Brittany Poulin from IPR License to our May meeting.  Brittany gave an enlightening talk about the many and varied rights authors have and how they can be sold for best advantage to the author.  Needless to say, this was a popular talk!

In June, Claire Fuller came to visit us.  Claire's first novel, Our Endless Numbered Days, won the 2015 Desmond Elliot Prize.  She told us about her writing journey and answered questions about her life and work.

July saw the Writing Buddies meeting crime novelist Tracy Gorman.  Tracy also told us about her writing journey, first as a child author, then an adult journalist and finally as a novelist. 

In August, Janine Pulford came to Writing Buddies and talked about the two magazines she edits and her inspiration as a novelist.

September saw publisher, Ian Bayley, of Sabrestorm Publishing come to give a different perspective on the writing world.  In an eye-opening talk, he described how he got into publishing and the rewards and pitfalls of the business. 

Discussion around the table has centred on the new Southampton literary festival: SO:To Speak, Southampton's Festival of Words, which takes place 23 October - 1 November at a number of venues across the city.  Writing Buddies and SO:To Speak have partnered to run the first writing competition and WB members are braced for a hoped-for rush of competition entries.  The awards ceremony will be on Wednesday 28 October at which we are looking forward to hearing some of the work of the writing talent in the SO postcode region. 

Various Writing Buddies are involved in SO:To Speak and there is much excitement building as we inch nearer to the date.  See later posts for more details.

Our next meeting will be on Friday 2 October at the Central Library at 2.30.  Barbara and Robin Dynes will be running a short workshop on plotting the short story at this meeting.  Everyone is welcome.

The Scribblers' Script

Read the first edition of The Scribblers' Script on ISSUU.