Writing Buddies, June 2014

The regular monthly meeting for Writing Buddies was held at the usual venue,the Mercure Dolphin Hotel in Southampton on Friday 6 June 2014, at 2.00 pm, and was attended by 30 persons.  It is great to see that so many writers find the meetings useful!

Good News

James' latest book, published by The History Press, A 1940s Childhood, From Bomb Sites to Children’s Hour, which tells the 1940s story from the child's point of view, is selling fast. He is book signing copies at Watersone's in West Quay, Southampton, on Saturday 7 June.

   James was also at Portswood library reading his children’s book, Jayden the Naughty Goldfish to a group of small children, which he described as a ‘new, exciting and amazing experience.’

Calvin is organising an Armed Forces Exhibition, to be held as part of a larger event at Portswood Library starting 10.00 am on 28 June. Penny will be opening the event and giving a talk on her military history book Under the Queen’s Colours and James will be book signing copies of his history books.

Lisa advised the group that Harlequin are looking for romance writers to submit material for a clean romance book, from week commencing 9 June. you need to submit a completed first chapter (although you do not need to have a completed book), as a first round submission after which they will contact you if they are interested. Details from Harlequin.  

Janet T has had two more poems accepted to be included in an anthology, Forward Poetry published by United Press. 

Michaela is book signing at Petersfield Book Shop on 7 June and will be joining Richard at October Books in Portswood, Southampton on Saturday 21 June.

Richard's book Leap of Faith made the final twelve in the People's Book Prize 2014. He was also featured in an interview in the Daily Echo.  He was the guest speaker at the Romantic Novelists Association lunch on 3 June.

Welcome Newcomers!

Rob, who is multi-disciplined mainly in fiction and songwriting, with his genre being crime-books, scripts and short novels. The fact that there is a large amount of talent in the room was expanded on by Penny who emphasised the fact that we support not only writers, but also artists, photographers, illustrators and others.

Melanie is a romance writer who has had material accepted by Harlequin.

Charles, a novelist/memoirs writer, who has had his book A Life In Bits published by Mereo Books. 

Penny thanked everyone for their help and support of the Writing Buddies Fifth Anniversary event which was very successful. We appeared in the Daily Echo on 2 June and Penny promoted the exhibition at the library on Radio Solent’s Katie Martin show.

The possibilities of 'meet the author' events, to enhance the profile of the group were discussed, as was an anthology proposition from JMD Publishing, which was turned down.

Podcasting was discussed.  This has come up regularly recently at the meetings.  Bill and Lisa have experience of the technicalities of setting it up and Penny, Bill and Lisa will be meeting to explore the way forward with this.

James mentioned that his blog has reached the 1,000 hits mark. He advised having one and putting everything you do on it. It pays off as his books have sold through his.  

Josephine recommended a couple of reference works to explain 'foggy' words and phrases, by Simon Heffer called Simply English  and Strictly English.

Lisa was our guest speaker on the subject of copyright. Notes on this talk will follow.

The next meeting will be on Friday 4^th July at 2 pm at the Mercure Dolphin Hotel. The guest speaker will be Tessa Warburg, the owner of The Thorn Press, on publishing.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WRITING BUDDIES!

It was party time for us at our May 2nd meeting. We celebrated our fifth birthday, with more than thirty members at our regular venue, The Dolphin Mercure Hotel in Southampton. As we were a larger group than usual, the hotel very kindly allocated a delightful upstairs meeting room, one in which Jane Austen once danced the night away!

Penny, who with Pam founded the flourishing group in 2009, treated us all to wine and luscious cake, so it was quite an event. Even Catherine’s young twin girls were able to join us!

Group News

Former policeman Jim Brown’s talk on Murder in Southampton was to take place on May 7^th at Portswood Library.

Jimmy’s latest book for The History Press, A 1940s Childhood, From Bomb Sites to Children’s Hour, had just been launched, with a foreword by famous crime writer Peter Livesey.

Mo had given a reading from A Blues for Shindig  at the Cockpit Theatre in London, and her next reading will be from her forthcoming new novel.

Jim Brown has a new book out, Southampton's Lucky Jim: A County Borough Copper in the 50s and 60s. 

Catherine has a story in The Romaniac’s collection of stories and flash fiction, Romaniac Shorts. The Romaniacs are members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA). Catherine recently won a place on a very enjoyable writing course through the RNA.

Gerry, who now lives in Alicante, belongs to a writing group there - Wordplay Writers’ Forum. Not long ago the group won Writing Magazine’s Writers’ Group Award. Gerry recently published his novel Farrell’s Last Case, and offered members a free download. He is currently writing the sequel, Witches’ Mountain.

Lisa informed the group that http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom was accepting comedy scripts for the next few days.

Jacqueline and her husband each entered the local Union Learning Centre short story competition; results are not yet out.

Barbara Dynes has a new book out, Masterclasses in Creative Writing . Barbara writes for Writers’ Forum and for The Voice.

Robin is writing on health and social care, and education. He edits and distributes the internet newsletter The Voice, with articles on the written word from both reading and writing perspectives. Several Writing Buddies have been interviewed by Josephine for The Voice. The newsletter is free to receive by email; contact robin@robindynes.co.uk

Bill attends Southampton Sight Writing Salon; he suggested Buddies might consider individual podcasts.

New member Margaret used to write, and is back again now and keen to restart.

John has just released an ebook of his poetry: Love Poems by JPF Goodman. (http://jpfgoodman.wordpress.com and scroll down.) He read some of his work at the final day of the Ship to Shore event at the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton, and was soon to read again at Write Angle, an event in Petersfield. Podcasts of both these readings can be seen on his blog as above.

General discussions followed. These included whether we should do individual podcasts and who might help with these. Lisa mentioned she had marketed a book she’d written under a different name, promoting it in both names in social media. It was initially offered free, and entered Amazon’s top 100 free books. She recommended low pricing for better overall revenue.

Calvin runs Friends of Portswood Library. He hopes the library will become a community hub including for writers, and any members wanting to promote their books by readings or launches can contact him at calvin@calvin-smith.co.uk Several members had given talks or readings there already, and more are to come.

Our forthcoming exhibition at the Central Library was discussed. Members would jointly set up the books, articles etc on Monday 12^th May in time for the opening by the mayor Councillor Ivan White at 2pm. The exhibition would close on the 17^th. Christine planned to make a celebration cake for the event and there would be wine too.

Josephine then gave a very helpful talk on administration for writers. She reminded us of the importance of documenting every event and all income and expenditure, and suggested ways of doing so. Questions followed and the group thanked Josephine for her advice.

Writing Buddies will meet again at The Dolphin Mercure Hotel, High Street, Southampton from 2 to 4pm on Friday June 6^th. The last half hour will include a talk by Lisa on the topic of copyright.

Blog notes by Jacqueline Pye

Writing Buddies 1st March

Friday 1^st March and Writing Buddies met for the second time at the new venue the Dolphin Hotel. The meeting was held in the foyer as we had been told a wedding party was due and they needed the restaurant space.

Jimmy stood in for Penny and gave this news to the meeting.

Jimmy told the meeting about the launch of his new book Not a Guide to Southampton and showed a copy at the meeting.

Jim Brown gave a talk on his latest venture. He showed his i-pad on which all of his books are stored. Jim believes that this is the way publishing is going. He also told us about the way the police force is now being run. As a former Police Officer himself, in his day there were far more police personnel on duty at all times.

Publisher Tessa agreed with Jim about publishing as e-books.  She again pointed out that manuscripts offered in this way must be properly edited before they will be considered for publication.

Ray Dumper told us of his plans for the book he has written about his life. He intends to self publish and knows that quite a lot of his family and friends are showing an interest in this. He has enough material to write his story in two editions and the Writing Buddies wish him luck with this venture.

The meeting ended early due to the noise in the hotel foyer and the Writing Buddies will meet again, at the Dolphin Hotel, Below Bar, on Friday April 5^th.  Everyone is welcome.

Notes by James Marsh

New Year, New Venue, New Routine for Writing Buddies!

Southampton Writing Buddies met at The Art House on December 7^th. This was to be an important session to discuss which direction the group should take in the new year, and there was a good attendance. At the same time it was the last meeting before Christmas, so wine and mince pies were laid on for us all.

Penny had circulated members to ask their views, and had collated the replies as well as laying plans herself. Everyone present gave their opinions and suggestions, and these are the decisions that were made.

•  The concept of ‘creeping death’, where each member spoke briefly about their recent writing, had been felt by some to be a little intimidating. Those who had not been working on specific projects could feel awkward. It was agreed to drop the name, and instead start future meetings with ‘Introductions and News’, where people could say who they are and what type of writing interests them, adding detail only if they wish.

•  Several members had been finding the current venue noisy at times, making it hard to concentrate or to hear others. Penny has therefore arranged for us to meet in future at The Dolphin Hotel in the High Street; she has found the manager keen to host us, and there is the restaurant area and quiet rooms available at no charge. This was felt by most to be an excellent choice. The venue could also be used to host book launches, rooms would usually be on the ground floor (otherwise there is a lift and disabled access), and refreshments are available.  Writing Buddies will be sorry to leave the Art House, which has looked after us well for two years, but needs must.  Writing Buddies thank the Art House staff for their hospitality over the years.

•  At some meetings there will be a focus topic for discussion, but meetings will remain informal and monthly on the first Friday – except that there will be no January meeting.

•  It had been mentioned that while we heartily welcome new members, they may sometimes raise topics that have been previously discussed at length. We thought there might be opportunities to provide links to internet resources, or a member could volunteer to meet with the newer Buddy after the meeting to answer any queries.

•  The blog will eventually have extra pages to vary the content, for example single-topic information by an appropriate person – self-publishing was mentioned, and tips for writing for magazines. Any members who would like to offer a specific page should get in touch with Penny.

We’ll meet again on Friday February 1^st at 2pm at The Dolphin Hotel, High Street, Southampton. Going through the Bargate, it’s about 300 metres south on the left. And finally, a successful and happy new year from Writing Buddies.

Blog notes by Jacqueline Pye