I'm a retired civil servant in Surrey, UK and long-time blogger. These days I'm spending more time writing stories and doing other creative stuff
My latest list of current writing competitions is here. Rather slim pickings in April, but there are quite a few coming up in May. Surprisingly, there are no competitions for writing a good April Fool story. Someone should organise that!
At our 13 April meeting, Manny Gaskin will talk to us about his writing journey. Manny is an award winning Architect as well as a Community Artist and Poet from Wallington, and currently the dynamic new Chair of Sutton Writers. Among other creative works he has published a number of books of his poetry and drawings, most recently Cloud Sofa: A poem for our inner dreamer which is a playfully speculative set of reflections on the destiny of sofas abandoned in the street.
This meeting will be our first in a new venue which we hope will be more appealing than the URC – St. Mildred’s Centre.
At our AGM on 9 March we reviewed the year and agreed a number of proposals. We:
Minutes are here…
Dr Moss presented us with a signed copy of his latest book and spoke about his writing, paying generous tribute to both the late Michael Round and Mike Jackson.
The latest Writer of the Month contest was won by Ashwin Dave with his amusing piece To Be Or Not To Be Smart(ies)
You can read all the entries here…
An explanation by Harry Bingham of Jericho Writers.
I have updated my list of current competitions.
Croydon Writer David Gleave has an interesting book out. It tells the story of black soldiers from the Caribbean who served their King and country in World War One. Nineteen died at the training camp in Seaford, Sussex, and are commemorated at a cemetery in the town. Others served with distinction in Egypt, Palestine, East Africa, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and in a few cases, in Flanders.
The story of their service has never been told and, until now, has been a forgotten chapter in history. David’s book aims to rectify that, and offers a fascinating insight into a neglected aspect of the war.
Lots of non-members have expressed an interest in our Writer of the Month competition – so for February we are opening it to all comers. Only members who enter will get to vote on the winner, though! There is no prize, but entries will be published here.
The theme for the February contest is “Love”. Unrequited love, forbidden love, love against all odds, love over the airwaves… let your imagination decide. There are no limits other than a word count of 750 words for prose, 7 or 8 verses for a poem. Non-fiction, memoir, or part of a screenplay etc are all welcome too.
The deadline for entries will be Friday 21st February: send them to Stella at:
January’s Writer of the Month competition was won by Martin Domleo with his poem “Sparkie”! Congratulations to him.
Read all the entries here:
The theme for the February contest is ,of course, “Love”. Unrequited love, forbidden love, love against all odds, love over the airwaves… let your imagination decide. There are no limits other than a word count of 750 words for prose or 7 or 8 paragraphs for a poem. Non – fiction or part of a screenplay are welcome too.
The deadline for entries will be Friday 21st February: send them to Stella at:
Croydon Writers 