Writing Buddies in the Daily Echo!

We made it to the Daily Echo! 

2 June 2014

Pan Whittington; The Right Worshipful The Mayor of Southampton, Cllr Ivan White; Penny Legg cut the cake

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

The Writing Buddies in April 2014

21 Writing Buddies came together at the Mercure Dolphin Hotel this month.

Good News

James, reminded us about his new publishing company, Aloejimmy Publishing, which has just published its first two book:  Jayden The Naughty Goldfish, and Davie Collins and The Sundance Gang, The Great Kon-Tiki Challenge, copies of which were passed around. Two more books are expected soon.

Eileen, who is also a member of the Bevois Mount History Group, has had pictures of her grandmother (from Victorian times), entered on to their website and Facebook Page.

Jacqueline won a prize in a Writer's News Competition and gave a reading at Portswood Library. She has been invited to be a judge at the Southampton Writers' Circle Competition, and she has also won a seat at a literary Lunch in London.

Penny has been finishing her book on military wives. She has also been giving talks: at Portswood Library, Southampton Sight, and Rownham and Nursling History Society. She also introduced us to Calvin Smith, attending his first Writing Buddies meeting, of the Friends of Portswood Library Group (more later). 

 

Emma and Sue have an Arts Exhibition at Harbour Lights cinema, Ocean Village, Southampton from 1^st to 28^th  May, all invited to attend. Emma also has stands at Hobbycraft, the last one was on Tuesday 8^th April.

Josephine reminded us of her publication The Voice. Issues one and two are already out, with the third issue out shortly. She is involved with the Wessex Writers' Newsletter, where she has interviews and book reviews. The editors Robin and Barbara Dynes, who are working hard on promoting this to both writers and readers.

It was suggested that Writing Buddies should do a podcast, which is being looked into, after having 63 'likes' on the Facebook page.

Introductions

Calvin (Friends of Portswood Library) created the group to promote education through writing. Penny, James and Jacqueline all voiced their support, especially for talks and arts exhibitions. 

Tom, a former postman, was at the meeting to make contacts, in order to make a proper attempt at getting published. His genre is sci-fi and fantasy.

Sherrie is a retired university lecturer. She is right at the beginning of her writing journey, specialising in novels and short stories.

Sue said she had lots of false starts, but the others re-assured her that they had also been in the same situation, and gave her some encouragement.

5^th Anniversary Exhibition

Consultation with library manager Richard Ashman has resulted in exhibition space at the Central Library being secured and advertising the event has begun. The exhibition will be opened by The Right Worshipful The Mayor, Councillor Ivan White and Mrs Mary White at 2 o'clock on 12^th May 2014. Copies of the Writing Buddies' anthology Wordfall, produced for the first anniversary will also be sourced. The flyer competition resulted in Jacqueline winning and a number the winning entry have been produced and are ready for distribution. Eleven members have selected pieces to be included in the exhibition. 

Other discussion points

Tessa is still looking for an illustrator, and she exchanged e-mail addresses with Emma.

Jane asked if any having experience of pod-casting could talk to her.

Calvin advised the group of  World Book Night on 23^rd April. The aim was to facilitate the donation of books  via a stall in Portswood library and to raise money for local good causes. He said he also wanted to promote reading and writing and the local libraries.

The London Book Fayre was discussed. Jimmy said chaos and confusion reigned when he visited.  Tessa found it too exhausting and Penny added that there was a lot going on, with frenetic book activity and there was a lot of useful information to be picked up.  Publishers and agents were present,  companies gave instructive talks and merchandise was available. The event runs from Tuesday 8^th April through to the 10^th April at Earls Court.

The Winchester Writer's Festival was highlighted, on 20^th June 2014, and described as being more author based and local. They are now accepting registrations for their 12 different competitions, and it could be a useful experience. 

Jacqueline mentioned that it is useful to join the ALCS (Authors Licensing and Collecting Society) which is free to join (just fill in a form) and they will collect royalties for anything of yours which was published, copied, used etc,  - they take a fee and send you the rest.

PLR (Public Lending Rights) was also highlighted as being a source to collect royalties for anything that went into a public library. 

Guest speaker -  Writing articles for magazines – by Jacqueline Pye

Her advice was:

• Pick a subject you have knowledge of (hobby or interest), and it should take less than a day (a few hours) to produce, but don't do it for nothing (unless you need the experience, for your writing CV). 
• You can use bullet points, but do so sparingly.
• 'Beef up' your experience, Eg. “I've been keeping cats for years”, “I have had numerous articles published in newspapers” or “I am an experienced writer on this subject”.
• Be cagey about asking for a fee, use phases like “offered at your usual rates”.
• Once completed have it analytically proofread      

Jacqueline gave out a handout of more information.

It was noted that Richard Ashman (Library Manager) has recently completed training as a proofreader and is now looking for clients.  Please contact Writing Buddies for contact details.

The next meeting will be the Writing Buddies' fifth anniversary.  At that meeting there will be a collection for the Mayor's charity, Southampton Women's Aid.

The next meeting will be at 2 p.m on Friday 2^nd May 2014, at the Mercure Dolphin Hotel.  Everyone is welcome.  

The Writing Buddies' March 2014 Meeting

The regular monthly meeting of the group was held at the usual venue, The Mercure Dolphin Hotel in Southampton, on Friday 7^th March 2014, 21 were in attendance.

A ‘get well soon’ card for James (Jimmy) Marsh was passed around for signing.

Good News

Ray, James and Penny hosted a stand at the Arts and Crafts Market, in West Quay on 1^st March. They reported good footfall and a lot of interest. The next of these will be on 7^th June.

Margot mentioned that the Hampshire Poet is allocated every two years. It has a good pedigree with Sean Aquilina and Brian Evans-Jones serving in the past. This year it has been awarded to Joan McGavin who has a very good writing C.V. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hampshire-poet-2014  It was noted as a shame though that Southampton-based writers are not eligible to apply for the position, as Southampton is a unitary authority.

Josephine has submitted another story 'My Little Brother' to This England,  which they are holding for further consideration.  It may appear in the future.

Jacqueline has been selected to do a short reading of her work, Millie the Detective, at Portswood Library on 15^th April, in recognition of National Book Day. They will also display her photo and a narrative of about a hundred words. She is donating one of her books as a prize in a competition she is judging for the Southampton Writers Circle.

Janet has had a poem selected for an anthology by Forward Poetry.  www.forwardpoetry.co.uk

Lisa explained that Mills and Boon had asked her to re-submit a full revised manuscript of her previously sent work. This she had already done so the request did not give her confidence in them.  However, tired of waiting for them, she has now self published the book, One Stolen Kiss, under the pen name of Lauren Boutain and made it available on Kindle. She has sold 2,500 copies (1,700 in the UK) in the first fortnight.

New Attendees

Richard is a writer published by Crooked Cat and  has been nominated for a Peoples Book Prize (instigated by Sir Frederick Forsyth), which is open to books for children, that have sold less than 2,000 copies and the winner is voted for by the readers. The winner will be invited to do a television interview. 

Michaela has published two women’s fiction books through Crooked Cat publishing.

Sarah is trying to write a book based on her grandmother and her sister (who were born in 1911 and 1913 respectively), who have related some  faith strengthening experiences.   

Stuart curtailed his writing of The Angel Was Betrayed due to an injury but is resuming work on it now.

Rachel raised a discussion point. She intends to write (magazine) articles and a blog, before graduating to writing a book about Romsey, but she does know how to go about it. Any tips?

Answers included:

• ·      Read anything that’s been written on the subject
• ·      Trace sources of knowledge such as local history societies, the Romsey News, archives, old copies of the Advertiser, The National Archives, The Churchill Archives Centre.
• ·      Try to locate a copy of A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts and Cheats of both sexes, Wherein their Most Secret and Barbarous Murders, Unparalleled Robberies, Notorious Thefts, and Unheard-of Cheats are set in a true Light and exposed to Public View, for the Common Benefit of Mankind (Routledge, 1926) by Captain A. Smith.  Romsey was known for its highwaymen and this book notes most of them.
• ·      The History Press and Amberley Publishing are both local history publishing specialists, along with Amazon for online publishing, would be worth a submitting the manuscript to for consideration or to self publish.

Tessa, is looking for an illustrator for a book on wild flowers. She is looking for someone who can draw them as a cartoon, so they can be used in a humorous way, but still get a point across. Writing Buddy Karen was suggested as was looking at the work of up and coming cartoonists who illustrate work on Twitter.

Writing Buddies Fifth Anniversary Celebration

Writing Buddies started on the 9^th May 2009, at the old Borders Bookshop on West Quay.  The historic Dolphin Hotel is the fourth venue for the group, following one meeting at the Central Library and a lengthy stint at The Art House Cafe.

The Fifth Anniversary Exhibition will be between 12^th – 17^th May 2014, at the Central Library, Southampton.

All Writing Buddies were urged to submit exhibits.   The Right Worshipful, the Mayor and Mayoress of Southampton (Councillor Ivan White and Mrs. Mary White) are to conduct the grand opening at 2.00 pm on 12^th May 2014, with a toast to Writing Buddies’ success and the exhibition.

Penny is running a competition (prize – a bottle of wine + the prestige), for someone to produce an eye-catching poster, to adorn one side of the triangular pillar outside the Civic Centre. She is trying to get some media coverage, but prior to that we need to think about designing and producing flyers, bills or anything else to advertise the event.

Patricia Soares has volunteered to help sort out the exhibits and set up on the launch day, with help from other Writing Buddies.  All Writing Buddies and the general public are, of course, invited to attend the exhibition.  Writing Buddy friend, Simon Whaley, will also come down for the opening from his home in Shropshire.

The Writing Buddies were reminded about the group on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/writing buddies

www.facebook.com/groups/411858396724662/info

A flyer about the 34^th Winchester Writers' Festival was made available.

Guest Speaker

Margot Tilbury then took centre stage to do a short presentation with readings about something that is very close to her heart, Southampton Sight, which is a registered charity for the visually impaired.

Margot grew up on a farm in the West Country during the 1960s and her father started writing poetry. From this he published a book of poetry, Reflections, and followed that up in 1977 with Further Reflections, which he dedicated to Margot's older sister (Jackie) who was suffering from MS. After this came a book of quotes, One Hundred Aphorisms.

Margot spent most of her working life as a librarian in Hampshire libraries. Her favourite genre was children’s books, with particular favourites being A Very Hungry Caterpillar and Peace At Last.  She read poetry in primary schools, and it was through this that she met authors Mike Roden, Katie Ford and Jill Murphy who later helped her in forming Southampton Sight.  She read the group a piece, which began, 'I led a blind man across the street', which she said made her think more about setting up a support group.

Her own creeping hearing loss made her realize what it was like to lose a sense and she decided to raise the profile of those experiencing dual sensory loss. She enlisted the help of Mr. John Beer, who re-branded the logo of Southampton Sight. Dual sensory loss could be likened to bereavement, where you suffer a loss and grieve it, she stated.

The group set up a writing saloon, working with sight loss. They call themselves 'The Saloonisters.’ They read and critique their work and produce a quarterly newsletter in a variety of formats, which is also recorded by the Southampton Talking Echo.  

Next month Jacqueline Pye will present an item on Writing Magazine Articles.

The next meeting will be Friday 4^th April, 2 pm, at the Mercure Dolphin Hotel. Everyone is welcome!

Writing Buddies in 2014!

Twenty-two Writing Buddies joined the first meeting of 2014, on Friday 7 February, at the Dolphin Hotel.  It was great to see so many and good to welcome new writers to the group.

Good News

James started the session by telling us that he had three books ready for submission through his own publishing company, Aloe Jimmy. The first will be a volume of the David Collins and the Sundance Gang series and then a children's book with the central character, Jayden the goldfish.  After this will be the first of the Far End of the Tunnel trilogy. 

Patricia was sending work to several websites, but was reticent to add further at this stage.

Jacqueline now has both her books on Good Reads.  Bottles And Pots has been described as 'a story of murder, rivalry and jealousy', which she likes. She did a book signing event for her 'Milly' detective novel at October Books, in Southampton. The Friends of Portswood Library group have selected her to judge a cake competition on National Libraries Day. The event has a children's books theme.

Brian signed books at Waterstones in Milton Keynes in January, as they were supporting local authors. However, Waterstones seemed to have different rules for different stores (Manager's Discretion), which they seem to change at will and it is hit and miss if an author is offered a signing or not. However, he was persistent and he was invited to the book shop.  He sold five copies of each of the books he was promoting. He commented that his persistence was really necessary and warned that writers, particularly self-published authors, must be prepared to stand their ground.
   Brian is also editing a work based on private letters from First World War serviceman, describing trench life. 

Josephine reviewed four books for Good Reads, and she was offered two new books to review. This was considered to be a good way of keeping in touch with what was new to the market. 

Mo was invited to do an interview at BBC Radio London, in conjunction with their reviewing her book, Blues for Shindig. However, when she got there, they hadn’t read the book, so she had to do a more general interview, about writing. She managed to ‘plug’ Writing Buddies, and later tweeted about the event.

Pat brought some samples of her Silverfinger Press books, which were shown to the group.

Tessa had previously had work on knitting published some time ago by Victor Books, all of which she had sold. She had made the decision not to do any more due to the typesetting problems associated with knitting patterns. However, it was a coincidence that she was contacted by the Bishop of Leicester (aka The Knitting Bishop), from Melton Mowbray, asking if there were any more of her knitting books  available, as he wanted to use them in a knitting group he was running.

Six new members introduced themselves.

Jane is interested in producing some historical work and has attended Cavendish College courses. A  teacher and radio journalist, she has also been heard on BBC Solent as a radio player (reader) for a full range of writers.

Steven has been in the book world for forty years. He has just started competition writing and is looking to share experiences, get tips and help. He also mentioned Cosmo Funnel as useful.

Margot said she has had ‘a book in her head’ for about three years. She went on an Open Study writing course by Diana Cambridge, but wants to learn more about the routine of writing. 

Andy is interested in paranormal type magazines and has written some articles and interviewed personalities for these. He is in the early stages of producing a version of a paranormal book, as he has ‘spotted a hole on the market.’ However, he has heard that someone else is doing something similar and wants to wait for this to come out and then analyse it so that his work does not clash with theirs. He wants his to be fresh and different.

Margaret is interested in writing short stories and is looking for inspiration.

Beryl has done some family history research and been involved in a local history competition. She is a member of the Eastleigh Local History Society but prefers to write her own work, with a short story bias, with a view to them being published privately.

Discussions

Waterstones

The position of Waterstone and their changing attitudes to author signing was the first topic of discussion.  Waterstones had approached Penny's publisher to ask if she would join other authors in a day of  book signing, but then cancelled at the last moment, despite ordering in huge stocks of her books for the event. She agreed with Brian that the company did not seem to have a clear set of guidelines on author book signings.

Independent Book Shops

Local book shops, or the lack of them, was discussed.  October Books in Southampton is still open, as are other independent shops in Lee On Solent and Petersfield, but the one in Hythe has closed and one in Salisbury is about to close. This makes life very difficult for authors as outlets diminish. It was also mentioned that Hampshire County Council might be a little interested in promoting children’s books at Readers Days.  Writing Buddies will keep an eye open for book promotion events and report them back to the group.

Public Libraries

Public libraries and their fate were a cause for concern. These can be immensely helpful to writers as their staff are knowledgeable and can sometimes answer questions that authors might have.  Massive cuts to libraries have happened, and further library cuts are to be announced in many areas. Calvin Smith has started a Portswood, Southampton, library support group to keep that local library open. Lymington library is being re-furbished – Margot is going to find out about it’s future.

Festivals

Literary and other festivals were discussed.  These can very useful to writers and readers alike.  Brian pointed out that authors should act like a medieval troubadour, touting their work around, as it is a very competitive market place. Authors need to target their market, know where to sell and even organise events. He mentioned the recent Lantern Festival in Milton Keynes, where he sold forty-three copies of his books, but even that was down on the seventy-eight he sold the previous year.  Mo mentioned the Winchester Writers' Festival, where she had won three prizes and sold some books and Christine mentioned how badly run the The West Cork Literary Festival, Ireland, had been.  Margot said the Sherbourne festival was small, but friendly enough, with lots of big names. The North London Literary Festival has a useful speed pitching event.  

Reviews

Some Writing Buddies had written book reviews but others had not.  In writing a review the author needs to be honest as reviews help to sell good material, but also identify what to avoid. Penny is about to review Jane Riddell's, Words'Worth: A Fiction Writer's Guide to Serious Editing, which covers the ‘nuts and bolts’ that perhaps many are not aware of. General consensus was that people DO READ reviews.

Local History Writer Needed
The Bevois Mount history group is looking for a local history writer.

The Writing Buddies Email Information Loop
One of the benefits of membership of Writing Buddies is the behind the scenes email information loop, run via the Writing Buddies Yahoo Group.  All Writing Buddies are encouraged to join the loop as it is a valuable resource between meetings. The loop can be reached via: https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/writingbuddies/info 

Fifth Anniversary Exhibition
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Writing Buddies group in May 2009, there will be an exhibition of work at the Central Library, Southampton, between 12 - 17 May 2014.  All Writing Buddies, past and present, are encouraged to submit work for the display.

Guest Speaker

Josephine Shaw gave the first of the new series of writing-related talks. Her topic was Presentations.

At the March meeting, Margot will be speaking about her work teaching creative writing to the blind at Southampton Sight.

The next meeting is at 2pm on 7th March 2014.  Everyone is welcome.

  

National Libraries Day

For National Libraries Day in January, Buddies member Jacqueline Pye was invited to help judge a cake-making competition for children in Portswood Library. The cakes had to be decorated to reflect a children's book, and the other two judges were local councillors. Jacqueline presented the winner of each age category with a signed copy of her book Millie the Detective and the Diamond Ring together with a certificate signed by each judge. Sadly she didn't get to taste the cakes, but the competition was great fun!

Christmas at Writing Buddies - 6 December 2013

The regular monthly meeting of the sprightly group took place on Friday 6^th December 2013 at The Mercure Dolphin Hotel, High Street, Southampton between 14.00 and 16.00 hrs.

Fourteen Writing Buddies attended the Christmas meeting.

Karl Chapman was introduced to take minutes/notes. It was agreed that a fee of £2.00 per member in attendance, per week, would be sought to finance a note taker, with any residue kept in a fund held by the group to build up a slight reserve for future necessary expenditure.

During the meeting a new member was introduced as Brian Dunleavy, an author of some six books.    Southampton's local history. He has been approached by Amberley Publishing, but is not keen on their Then and Now format, and would prefer a narrative. He is currently working on a history of the Earls of Southampton.

There was lots of good news this month, which was great to hear.

Tessa has been approached to have her Dohlen Inheritance trilogy  published in German. She is presently having the translations checked and awaiting contracts.

Mo has been reading excerpts from her novel Blues for Shindig in London. She was also involved in a project on Black Culture in Southampton, with some involvement from Robert Elms.  

Lisa has been promoting Sophie Neville's latest book Funnily Enough, which is No. 2 in the Amazon newcomers list. Three newspapers (Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and the Saturday Times) have shown interest in serialising it. It is also now on Kindle, with a video, clicking back to the book.  

   Lisa is still waiting to hear from Mills and Boon, who asked for the full manuscript of her novel.  Lisa has started writing her next one, a modern day romance, which she described as a nice Christmas present.

Jimmy, celebrating his birthday, entered a 500 word story, (which he adapted from a previously produced 3,500 project) to a competition. He has finished his 1940s childhood book.  His publishing company is now set up, and ready to go. He is also re-reading one of his previous works, which he thinks he might resurrect.  

Ann, a keen photographer, sent in some work to a competition. They have selected one for the front cover of a calendar, and a further one for a month’s photograph (along with 10 published words), she is extremely happy.

Jill has been sorting through her late father’s material. She has inherited the copyright of some published work, including some textbooks, comics and 20^th century history material. The most astonishing find is some diaries and letters. She was reading through these letters between friends, and found they were conscientious objectors. Her grandfather was an objector during the WW1 and her father during the Second World War. She is going to see if she can track down some photos to add weight to the story. It would make a good drama/documentary, but it needs a little more research. She has sent outlines to two publishers.     

Jacqueline told us about www.Goodreads.com (owned by Amazon). She put forward two children’s books to selected countries through the company.  The promotion was run as a competition with signed copies as prizes. Of the two copies she selected for the American (USA) market, 200 tried to buy. She put forward a further ten for the English (UK) market, 100 registered to buy, and hundreds more wanted to read. She has the 12 e-mail addresses to contact in the future.

         

Penny apologised for her absence from the last meeting, but explained that she was at an intensive 3 day ‘Millionaire Authors’ Bootcamp’, attended by over 500 delegates.  12 speakers, fiction/non-fiction, each spoke for 90 minutes. The aim was to look at writing from a different perspective. The speakers were all self-made millionaires, made from either writing or writing related areas. They advocated ‘thinking outside the box’, and all had a successful formula to share.  She signed up for two workshops: with John Leah, a motivational public speaker for authors and with Mark Donnan, a marketing guru.

   Penny is currently finishing three writing projects, which will be completed in the early new year.

Discussion turned to the three-month experiment the group has been conducting to sell books and to raise the group's profile. The group have had events and market stands in Winchester, Hedge End, Weston, the Marlands' Shopping Centre in Southampton, Lymington and Titchfield.  Not all of these had been successful and it was decided that some of these venues would not be repeated. Jacqueline had attended four events and these were not entirely successful. She found she had lots of ‘chats’, but not many take-ups - a lot depends on the audience.  Several of the group were looking forward to the week-long stand they had at Marlands in the run up to Christmas and hoped that sales would be good.  Generally, Marlands was thought to be a good venue and this would be continued in 2014.  The opportunity to take up a stand at the huge West Quay shopping centre on Saturday 1 March would be taken up.

Writing Buddies Jacqueline Pye, Eileen Long and James Marsh at Lyndhurst Art and Craft Market

The thorny issue of copyright was discussed.  Lisa had looked into this in depth. With characters, one had to determine whether the character had a copyright placed upon it, and whether it was in or out of the public domain. Examples cited; John Connor (the boy in the Terminator films) and a Young Gandalf (The Rings Trilogy) would they have been minor characters, or would they invoke derivative works? It was agreed that these two probably were covered by copyright, which would cover his future in the first instance, and his past in the latter.   Unless special copyright terms had been obtained, work would be out of copyright 70 – 100 years after the authors death, but it was not automatic, as it can be passed into the estate of the author, so be very careful.  Discussion then ensued about historical characters (e.g. General Custer), care would be made not to offend living relatives. Would you re-imagine the character?, it would be your prose, a work of fiction, but who would own the copyright?  Lisa said that her book’s character was always referred to the terrible Wizard of Oz. A title such as ‘The Housesitter’ may be available to use if it was clear that it was an entirely different entity to any other. Useful website, The Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/index.html

   The issue of photograph copyright came up. Lisa mentioned www.morphfile.com, where you can search free images and can morph a bland face into the image to use as your own work, but ‘unmorphed’ images cannot stand alone as own work. Francis Frith photographs are under copyright, and permission is required to use, although the postcards are out of copyright.

    It was asked if lyrics of songs could be, and it was advised that the copyright file should be consulted.

   All effort should be made to find the copyright holder, and this should be stated. All care should be taken to avoid legal infringement. It was also deemed to be wise to try to protect your own work.

Penny mentioned the facebook page, and needs someone to help run it. (https://www.facebook.com/writingbuddies)

Writing Buddies will be five years old in 2014 and it has grown from 10 at the first meeting on 2nd May 2009, to over 50 members today. Penny has decided it needs to add more content to each meeting. The last half hour of each meeting would be devoted to a writing related topic, to tap into the experts amongst the group. Different aspects such as publishing trials and tribulations, marketing, punctuation, self publishing and support for independent bookshops were all put forward as possible subjects for these sessions.  Penny will take this forward.

Mention was made about the blog: http://pennyleggswritingbuddies.blogspot.co.uk; which will also contain more useful content in 2014.

The Writing Buddies were looking forward to the Christmas break and to catching up again at the next meeting, on Friday 7 February 2014.