At our meeting on 8 June David will lead a workshop on the subject of telling true stories as fact or as fiction, using the example of Sarah Woodbine, a black nurse who trained and worked in Victorian Croydon. It promises to be very interesting.
The meeting starts at 7.30 at St Mildred’s – details here.
After the unexpected and unseasonal heatwave last week, it’s nice to get back to more comfortable temperatures and enjoy writing without melting. The newsletter includes three pieces on the weather, as well as updates about our activities.
Here’s a thought which may spark an idea for your writing:
“Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?”.
Dodie Smith
My updated list.
Our first Saturday morning meeting was judged a great success, so we hope to make it a regular thing.
The second one was on 30 May. We met for a coffee and chat in the Clocktower Café in Katharine Street 10.30. Look out for news of the next Saturday meeting.
We enjoyed another lunchtime trip to the historic pub near London Bridge.
The George, owned by the National Trust, is London’s only surviving galleried pub, last rebuilt after the Great Fire. Dickens visited and mentioned it in his books.
Thanks to Stella for organising.
On 11 May the award-winning writer Emma Darwin, author of The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy gave us an interesting talk about writing historical fiction. As well as publishing novels and well-received non-fiction, Emma teaches creative writing, in which she has a PhD. Read more about her and her work here. Her latest novel The Bruegel Boy was published in November, when it was the Times book of the month. The novel is a profound exploration of humanity, love, brotherhood, vocation, loss and reconciliation: she talks about the challenge of writing it here.
Members might also be interested in her longstanding blog This Itch of Writing, on Substack: https://emmadarwin.substack.com/. It’s a real treasure trove of discussion and advice.
We enjoyed our first Saturday morning meeting in the Clocktower café, which featured a lot of interesting discussion. We shared a review, poetry, and plans for future projects, and Peter read part of his attempt at writing in the style of P.G. Wodehouse.
It must have looked like an interesting session, because two people stopped by to ask if they could scan the QR code on our notice!
I have updated my list of current writing competitions…
There has been a muted response to Writer of the Month this time round, and the committee has decided that a different format may fit more easily with our aims.
So we are working to set up a replacement for it – Writers’ Forum – which will provide members with an opportunity to submit a piece of writing for peer review. This will replace the competitive emphasis of Writer of the Month with a collegiate, developmental and productive one.
Look out for further news!
