The latest from The Writing Buddies

The Latest From Writing Buddies - thanks to Jacqueline Pye for writing this in Penny's absence.

On February 12th, ten members met at the Art House, and once again the meeting was lively, interesting and enjoyable. Founder Penny was unable to join the group this time, and was greatly missed.

Christine had sent a short story in for the regular Writers’ Forum competition; she received a critique which was very favourable, and which said the story should find a market. A story has also been submitted to Write Space, and she had read at the short story slam held at the Discovery Centre in Winchester. She continues to look for a market for her book on bringing up teenagers, and wonders if it is too long; possible markets were discussed with several ideas suggested. Christine also mentioned that Writers’ Forum magazine is welcoming its new fiction editor currently by offering free entry to their short story competition and a free critique – well worth a try for anyone working on short stories.

Elizabeth continues to write short stories, and is concentrating on competitions and also – for now – smaller circulation magazines. It was generally agreed that the national magazines provide only very limited markets for short fiction these days. Elizabeth has also been writing poetry of late.

John has written many poems over the past year, and has recently been to a number of open mic poetry evenings. He has been meeting with artists who are producing work inspired by his poetry; an exhibition of both is planned to open on March 16th at Goblets, which is just a few doors away from the Art House.

Richard has been asked to edit the newsletter for the Totton branch of the University of the Third Age. He is confident with this, as he has previously edited similar publications, and he plans to contribute the odd poem or short piece of his own. He talked a little about his poetry and how he presents and frames individual poems.

New member Sharon was warmly welcomed to the group. She is keen to write and be published. She works in complementary therapy, and already produces information on this in written form for interested groups, so this is an area she would like to develop more widely. She also feels drawn towards writing children’s fiction.

Glen has now set up her blog and is keeping it up. She has read one of her poems at a recent meeting, and this was well received.

Jimmy still awaits payment for his feature in January’s Best of British magazine. He sent his autobiography, to the History Press; they recommended reducing its length and resubmitting, and he is working on adjusting it to the required word count. Meanwhile he is working on a short story with a paranormal theme. Nicola from the History Press discussed with him the possibility of a book on the history of Eastleigh; the group noted that this had been done a number of times by other publishers, but the History Press still seem interested.

Marsha was another new member, and again the group were very pleased to welcome her. She is currently working on a book which was outlined to the group, and possible approaches, markets, and sources of information on agents were discussed.

Pam distributed leaflets about the Ashtara pamper day for writers on Saturday June 26th, 9.30am-4pm. Any writers interested can e-mailpam.whittington@btinternet.com Pam attended the central library talk by Gordon Griffin and his publisher about his work recording audio books. Gordon has a long and distinguished CV as an actor and has recorded around 500 books – the full unabridged texts. Pam has learned that two of her poems were read out in Coventry cathedral just before Christmas, and one of these she knows has been sent from person to person all around the world. She is thinking of having more copies of her booklet of poems printed as she has sold almost all of the first print run.

Jacqueline had also been at the talk by Gordon Griffin, and found it interesting and enjoyable. Gordon works often in Hamburg, where audio books in English are popular, and he agreed to provide contact details for another member of the group who attended his talk, and whose work is proving popular there. Jacqueline has had her feature on comic teddy bear postcards “accepted for possible publication” by Best of British magazine. They will not commit to what payment might be if the piece were used, as apparently “the editor decides on publication”.

The group discussed areas such as the legal implications of using slightly altered but possibly recognisable names of friends in books, even with written consent, and the desirable length of novels, as well as possible markets for individual members’ work. Unhelpful website hosts were given the ‘thumbs down’, and other hosts mentioned, and the difference between blogs and websites was again of general interest. The meeting was lively and very positive – with hopefully more of the same next time – Friday February 26th, 2pm.

Twelve Writers at Writing Buddies

The Writing Buddies meeting at The Art House on Friday 29th January was an interesting one. Twelve Writing Buddies turned up, including three new writers who were welcomed into the fold.

Fiona had been enjoying the Creative Writing course run by Kate and Greg Mosse at West Dean, near Chichester, Sussex. The first of three, this one was on plot and characterisation and was, Fiona said, a 'huge revelation'. She said that the course had taught her some hard lessons and she was now going to undertake a massive revision of her novel's 30,000 word skeleton.

Jacqueline has set up her own blog and has been busy practising. She has also started working on setting up a website, but has had trouble with the host and is in the process of trying to sort this out. In the meantime, she has been busy and has sent off an article idea to Best of British magazine, about her collection of teddybear postcards. She has also submitted two poems for critiquing by Writers' Forum magazine, receiving mostly positive feedback. She has also written a memoir and submitted it to a publisher for possible publication.

Tessa was pleased about a very enthusiastic review of her book,

The Dohlen Inheritance, in a German newspaper. German readers, she said, love the book. Legend Press want to see it and she is currently working on the second book, soon to be published in the UK.

John was welcomed into the group. He has recently started to write poetry and is 160,000 words into a trilogy. He has a column writing drama reviews for a local newspaper.

Elizabeth has submitted short stories to Write-Space and to Hampshire View.

Bethyn, another new Writing Buddy, writes short stories, poetry and novels. She commented that when she recently reviewed her work over the last five years, she noticed that her style of writing has changed.

The Writing Buddies welcomed Wendy Hughes as a guest. Wendy has been writing since 1989 and has had over 1700 articles published. She is currently working on her next book, Haunted Worthing. She has recently set up her own website and blog, following her move to Sussex from Walton on Thames, where she founded the Walton Wordsmiths.

Jimmy has sent his autobiography to The History Press, at the request of commissioning editor, Nicola Guy, who was a recent Writing Buddies guest. He has also now finished his sci-fi story, which has twenty chapters and 92,000 words.

The Writing Buddies welcomed Carina, an IT teacher in Southampton. Carina has been writing about British history for a Russian language magazine published in London. Her first book, Legends of World History will be published in Russia in March/April. She has also been commissioned to produce a novella on Boudicca's story, the Queen who revolted against Roman occupation. Carina noted that there was keen interest in history and historical fiction in Russia and the New States.

Penny is busy working on her next book, which has been renamed Southampton Then and Now. She asked the Writing Buddies if any of them had archive photographs of any aspect of life in Southampton, or if they knew of any groups which might be able to help. Several suggestions were forthcoming, which she was grateful for.

The Writing Buddies discussed the local newspaper and its limitations. It was felt generally that it was not sympathetic to writers. It was noted though, that times are hard in the publishing world and advertising revenue is vital to the continued survival of many local papers. Other local publications were also discussed and it was felt generally there there was a shortage of arts coverage in the area.

It was suggested that the Writing Buddies might like to put together an anthology of its work, as a vehicle for publicity, with a local launch. This was discussed but will need much further discussion to make a decision as to whether or not it is viable. Wendy said that this was what Walton Wordsmiths had done and it was very successful. This led to a discussion on self-publishing, copyright issues on the internet and the value of Google alerts.

The subject of website publishing was discussed again. Fiona mentioning that she was very happy with the fact that she had entrusted her site to a professional, which meant that she did not have to worry if there was a problem. It would be taken care of for her.

In all, it was a lively meeting. The Writing Buddies would like to thank our guest, Wendy Hughes, for coming to join us and for the staff at The Art House for having us.

The next meeting is on Friday 12th February at 2pm at The Art House, Southampton. Everyone is welcome.

Writing Buddies at The Art House, Southampton

The first meeting of Writing Buddies in our new home, The Art House, in Southampton, was a complete success! Phew!

Ten writers turned up and all agreed that the new venue was a good one. The fact that the coffee is particularly good and it is brought to the table thoughtfully reserved for us, was a huge bonus!

Christine has been a busy girl! She is busy updating her book, and is working on the WriteSpace short story competition for a 1500 word story on the subject of 'Lost Love'. The closing date is 31 January and the Writing Buddies wish her well.

Mo has been to Berlin reading poetry. She loves the city and has found outlets there for her books, which has pleased her. The fact too that she has just been accepted by the Society of Women Writers and Journalists is cause for celebration too.

It was good to see Elizabeth back again. She has started writing short stories once more and is now also writing a novel.

Glen is waiting to hear if her play will be put on at the Romsey Plaza or if it will be used as a workshop there. She is working on a newsletter, which she has enjoyed interviewing for and editing. She has an agent interested in her novel.

Tessa is still busy editing her second novel. She has been to Germany to promote the first and has received an 'ecstatic' response there. The Dohlen Inheritance was reviewed in a German newspaper and she is now looking for a German publisher. She is seriously considering setting up a website in addition to the blog she has already established. In the meantime, she is wondering what to do with the huge amount of information on knitting she has collected, including garments that she made to illustrate her work. She has published thirteen books on the subject. The University of Southampton, the only academic institution in this country which views knitting as an academic subject - an aspect of topology, the study of knots, are thinking about it.

Jacqueline wrote a ghost story for her grandchildren and told it to them on Christmas Eve. She says the best way to keep on track is to tell someone else you are going to write something and then you have to do it! Jacqueline is also going to send poems to Writers' Forum magazine and is working on her children's detective novel. She badly needs a new chair, as the one she balances her cushions on when she writes is giving her a bad back. Several other Writing Buddies empathised.

Jimmy announced that he was sending the manuscript of his autobiography to Nicola Guy, our guest from The History Press just before Christmas. He and his son are busy editing it now. Jimmy has also been talking about a book on the history of Eastleigh with Nicola and is awaiting news on this. He has sent in entries to the Riptide Competition he read about in The Woman Writer magazine. He was rejected by Legend Press but was very pleased with his article, on his time as a Vindi Boy, which appeared in the January edition of Best of British magazine.

Peter is very happy with his blog and website, which he recently had set up for him. He is now going to have some business cards printed. He is off to Portsmouth and Petersfield, to open mic sessions at the end of January. He is looking at self publishing some of his work and has been to see a printer about this. Peter won first and second prizes at an internal poetry competition at the Poole Poetry Group, which he says was both 'a boost and chastening' at the same time.

The Writing Buddies welcomed Silma to the meeting. She lives in New Milton and is working on a fantasy story for 7 - 9 year olds. She has written several unpublished short stories. She has had an article accepted by Woman and Home but, as yet, has not seen it published. She asked the group's advice about this and there was a discussion on kill fees.

Penny had finished her Folklore of Hampshire book and delivered it to the publisher. She was busy working on The Woman Writer magazine for the SWWJ and had started working on her next books.

As usual the chat over the excellent coffee was of a varied nature. Tessa had been given a Kindle for Christmas and reported that it was difficult to load it with new material as the formatting was lost. Books have to be specifically aimed at the Kindle for it to accept them properly. It was, she said, easy to read from. She can makes notes on it but could not edit her own work.

In the wake of the closure of Borders, it was noted that Waterstones is reported to be struggling.

Christine was off to the Short Story Slam in Winchester and those who had taken part in this kind of event offered advice. All seemed to think they were good fun.

Marketing, its difficulties and how those authors about the table went about it took up a large part of the discussion. The traditional publishing versus self-publication debate continued, with Print on Demand generally felt to be the way publishing was heading. The importance of the web in marketing was discussed and there will be a workshop on setting up a blog at a Writing Buddies meeting soon.

Carole Ann Duffy, it was felt, had raised the profile of poetry generally by bringing it into the public eye more. Elizabeth noted that there was a poetry competition coming up at the Southampton Writers' Circle in March.

In all, it was a lively meeting, in a good venue and all the Writing Buddies enjoyed it.

The next meeting is at 2pm on Friday 29th January at The Art House, 178 Above Bar Street, Southampton. Everyone is welcome.

The Writing Buddies have a new home!

It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Writing Buddies are about to move into their new home.

As readers of this blog will know, Writing Buddies were happily meeting at Borders in Southampton. This arrangement came to an abrupt end when the chain collapsed at the end of 2009. Since then we have been homeless. The central library stepped in and offered us a temporary home, which we gratefully accepted for our last meeting of the year, when Nicola Guy, Commissioning Editor from The History Press, joined us. Now though, it is time to sort out a more permanent arrangement.

We had offers of a home from several venues and it is with real gratitude that I thank all those who offered their premises to host our meetings. The final choice was difficult but I am pleased to say that, at last, Writing Buddies has a new home.

The next meeting will be tomorrow, Friday 15th January 2010, at 2 pm at The Art House Cafe, 178 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7DW. Telephone number 023 80 238582. This venue offers vegetarian refreshments (please note that it does not take cards, only cash), is close to public transport links, is free and can accommodate us at the time that we wish to meet.

The next meeting will be on Friday 29th January at 2 pm at The Art House Cafe as above, when we will be welcoming prolific author, Wendy Hughes.

If you fancy joining in the chat over a refreshing cuppa, please do come along to Writing Buddies. You will be very welcome.

Writing Buddies at the library!

Following our enforced move from our home at Borders bookshop, we held a meeting at the central library in Southampton. The room was great but very chilly and so we are thinking about our options for the future. Watch this space...

In the meantime, it was a small band of Writing Buddies who turned out to welcome our guest, Nicola Guy, the Local History Commissioning Editor for The History Press. Nicola came armed with some great advice for all writers, 'Make sure you have a web presence in this day and age.' Several of the Buddies have either webs or blogs, some both, and several others are in the process of setting up one or the other. All agree that it is an invaluable marketing tool.

Poet Peter joined an open mic session in Swindon recently, which is now on YouTube. You can listen to two of his poems here. He is currently working on a proposal through a poets literary agency and will be at both Poole and Wimborne poetry groups in the near future.

Tessa distributed Writers in Southampton bookmarks to all the Writing Buddies. These she has been involved in designing. She is still working on the second book in her trilogy, to follow The Dohlen Inheritance published earlier this year.

Jacqueline P has started a voluntary job in Eastleigh working for Talking News, which brings the news to those with sight problems.

Chris has written a short story and now has to decide on her market. She is also undecided as to what to do with the manuscript of a book on bringing up teenagers which she has taken four years to write, in conjunction with a co-writer. The script is too long as it stands and she is wondering how to take this forward. Various options were discussed.

Philippa has been to the Second Light Network for older women poets. She had previously met a Rumanian poet there and this led to her poems being translated into Rumanian. Philippa has just finished work on bringing Rumanian poetry into a readable English format, which she admitted was difficult. She has just judged the Christmas Poetry Competition at the Society of Women Writers and Journalists and she also discussed letters she has which she may offer to the Imperial War Museum or the British Legion as they were written during the Second World War by a friend.

Jimmy is busy waging war in a parallel universe in his sci-fi novel. He has sent in an entry for the Biscuit Publications International Fiction Competition and looks forward to the feedback he will receive from this. He is about to launch a Davy Collins and the Sundance Gang blog to publicise his ten novel series on the adventures of a group of boys growing up in the 1950s. He has also put part of one of the novels on Authonomy and is keeping his fingers crossed.

The Writing Buddies welcomed Nicola, who said that The History Press were looking for authors to take on various projects, including writing the history of Eastleigh, writing on the Second World War and in particular, on its effects on Southampton, crime history and genealogy. She said too that the 'Voices of ' series is popular.

Penny is just coming to the end of her work on folklore and will be forwarding the manuscript to The History Press soon. She has been tutoring for The Writers Bureau on both their non-fiction and their proofreading and copyediting courses and has just completed a PTLLS teaching certificate.

In all the meeting was short but packed with interesting information. The Writing Buddies are a busy group of diverse talents.

The Writing Buddies would like to thank the staff at the Central Library for stepping in to provide us with a home at short notice. It is appreciated.

Watch this space for details of the next meeting, in January 2010.

The photo shows Jimmy Marsh, Nicola Guy and Peter Farr.

Writing Buddies is Moving!

Following on from the announcement that Borders is closing down, I have looked for a new venue for the meeting scheduled for Friday 4th December.

I am pleased to announce that the meeting will take place at 2.30 at the central library, behind Southampton town hall (look for the clock tower if you are coming from out of town).

There is a coffee shop, so please pick up your cuppa and then go into the library and look for the help point (on the right as you walk through the main entrance doors. The word HELP is printed on the wall). Let the staff know you are there for the Writing Buddies meeting and they will direct you to the conference room.

Our guest will be Nicola Guy, commissioning editor for The History Press.

The Writing Buddies would like to thank publicly the staff at the Southampton branch of Borders for their hospitality over the months since we started meeting there. It is such a shame that the shop is closing. We hope that everyone will find new jobs soon.

If you have any queries about the arrangements for Friday 4th December, please email Penny on penny@pennylegg.com The meetings are free and are open to anyone with an interest in writing.

Peter Lovesey at Writing Buddies

The Writing Buddies meeting on Friday 20th November was a well attended affair, when the Buddies welcomed crime writer Peter Lovesey to share coffee and chat at Borders bookshop. We also said 'Hello' to several writers who joined us for the first time.

Fiona had sent off a manuscript for the Harry Bowling Prize, had enrolled on three courses at West Dean College in Chichester and had been approached about speaking at school on her writing experiences.

Glen has seen her script rejected by the BBC and is currently working on amateur dramatics in the community.

New Writing Buddy Diana turned to writing after ill health forced her into early retirement. She has had numerous letters, articles and a biography published and is working on her first novel, which is currently under consideration with an agent. She is a graduate of the London School of Journalism.

Mo is busy writing articles for magazines and newspapers.

Dee had come straight from Waterstones, where she had been stock signing.

Tessa is looking for an editor for her second book. She is busy designing a bookmark for Writers In Southampton, who are holding their next meeting on 3rd December in Portswood.

Ex-teacher, Peter Lovesey, took up writing in 1975 and, as he put it, 'does enough to keep going and make a living.' Peter's overseas sales help considerably to making writing a worth while proposition for him. He is currently writing book number 32.

Jimmy is busy writing a sci-fi novel and has just started a war in the future!

Patsy reported that her proofs have come through from the publisher and she really must check them. Life is hectic though and finding time is difficult.

Pam has been involved recently with the Poetry Trust.

Poet Peter is looking to publish a series of poems he wrote some years ago. He has been going to open mic events and will be in Swindon at the White Hart soon.

There was a discussion of various open mic sessions and their value. Mo revealed she is also a performance poet. The sessions run by Rob Richardson at Rosie's Wine Bar in Portsmouth were mentioned.

Barbara is still writing her diary, into its 40th year. She has been busy preparing a workshop for the Southampton Writer's Circle, and writing her pages for the Church magazine.

Chris, another new member, writes short stories and has an idea for a novel, which she is working on. She has previously published a book on child and adolescent mental health, which is in its second edition. She was a social worker and family therapist.

Penny had been interviewed on Express FM and the interview would be broadcast on 1st December. She is coming to the end of writing her book, Folklore of Hampshire.

Peter Lovesey outlined his approach to writing. He said he takes about six weeks to produce a detailed synopsis and then writes the book. There are no drafts although he acknowledged that sometimes the characters get larger as they evolve. 'It's exciting when it happens,' he said. For Peter the synopsis is the most creative part of the whole writing process.

Dee said that her synopsis is usually a paragraph long. She commented that she is expected to produce a book set within the period 1900 - 1960, which encompasses 2 World Wars and a depression, so she has lots of scope. She writes in chapters, and prints off each with the date as she goes. She stressed the importance of getting the period right.

The group discussed the importance or otherwise of character names. Peter L said that he looked at the surnames of a cricket team 100 years ago and chose names from that. It was pointed out that a common name was a good thing, as readers could identify with the character.

The question of celebrity writers was discussed at length, particularly in light of Lynda La Plante's comments at the Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards Ceremony a short time ago. She urged publishers and agents to turn back towards the ordinary everyday writers and to ditch the 'celebrity writer' who did not write their own book. It was generally acknowledged that Katie Price's book was dumbed down. Ghost writing gigs can often be lucrative though it was commented.

The question of whether Carole Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage were blanked by the BBC was discussed. They had been billed to appear on Late Night Review and at the last moment it was announced that they would not appear. Several of the Writing Buddies felt that there was some kind of conspiracy going on behind the scenes and speculation was rife as to what this could be.

It was commented that rhyming poetry was on its way back and it was cool for boys to write poetry again, particularly if was then used as a rap, to music. It was noted that the Birmingham Poetry Slam evolved out of rapping.

Both Fiona and Peter F were congratulated on their recent success as they had been elected to membership of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists.

In all it was a lively meeting. The next meeting will take place on Friday 4th December. In light of the problems Borders are currently experiencing, the venue will be announced shortly. Nicola Guy, commissioning editor at The History Press will be our guest at this meeting.

If you are interested in joining us at the next meeting, please email Penny on penny@pennylegg.com for the latest information.