Events round up for 2011
There
was no meeting in January
2011, but N.E.W. Members received an informative
newsletter with the announcement of an In-house Mystery Short
Story competition, details of upcoming events for the
year, which included local authors coming along to the
meetings as Guest Speakers and a Lit-Wit competition where
a £10 gift token was up for grabs. N.E.W members entry fee to
all events is free, non members are charged just £3.50. Please see
Members page for more details.
At
our first meeting of the year in February
2011, we were thrilled and privileged to have
talented author Vanessa Gebbie as our
Guest Speaker. We also heard that N.E.W. member David had
embarked on a writing challenge. The competition 'A Tale of Two
Halves' (mentioned in the November N.E.W. Newsletter). called for
David to complete the novel of the above title - the first part
having already been written and published by Legend Press. Stephanie
had some good news to tell us. She had been selected by Hastings
Short Fuse to read a short story on the theme of 'Love' at their
recent event.
We were delighted to
welcome renowned
crime author David
Harrison
as our guest speaker
to our March
meeting.
David
– aka Tom
Bale.
News of
Members successes came fast and furious
at the March
meeting.
Stephanie's
novel
shortlisted for the prestigious Sussex Writers' Awards; David
made it
onto Legends' shortlist after he entered the Legend Press 'A Tale of
Two Halves' competition; Michelle
was commissioned by a Writing magazine to write some "How to"
articles and a February Femme Fatales feature she ran on her blog
received over 28,000 hits!; Marylyn
wrote
a complete story in 75 words, which was published on ParagraphPlanet
an a
review of a
talk given by Member Tony
appeared
in the Friends of The Devonshire Park Theatre magazine.
The April meeting saw
the announcement winners of the Mystery Short Story Competition with first place going to Jeff with his story Keepsake.
Second place was Hair in the plughole by Marylyn and third
place was Rita'a Black Widow. Two entries were given and
Honourable Mention - And I never win the lottery by Jill and
Go with God by David. A total of eleven entries were received
and judged by authors Kate O’Hearn and Mike Walsh, both of
whom are members of the Hastings Writers. Also at the April meeting we learnt that Michelle had entered a short story entitled
Carpaccio into a online magazine – Spinetinglers mag - where
voting took place on-line. April too was the month of the launch of member Jill's
book Cherry Blossoms, Sushi and Takarazuka – Seven Years in
Japan.
The Dialogue Workshop
held at the June meeting was
great fun. The aim was to give tips and advice on how to write
realistic dialogue. The evening started with the ‘Big Lie’;
everyone introducing the person on their right with a whopping big
lie. The evening produced some hilarious examples. We then we moved
on to look at how to bring a character to life, using dialogue and
finishing with an interesting exercise looking at characteristics of
male v. female speech. David was heralded as a hero at the
June meeting for completing and
submitting a whole new novel in just six months. The task had been
set by Legend Press after he was short-listed for their Tale of
Two Halves competition.
The
July meeting
focused on member reading their work in progress. News from members
included Michele’s urban fantasy,
short-story series 'Magenta Shaman' was made available
to download Amazon and her taking on the role of Guest Editor for
the webzine Thrillers, Killers ‛n’ Chillers. And exciting
news that N.E.W members, Husband and wife Tony and Heather
Flood had landed new publishing deals for their children's'
booksThe Secret Potion and Mousey Mousey and The Witches' Spells
As
well as thrilling members with her news
that one of her stories had been
shortlisted in the 5
Annual Ted Walters International Short Story Competition,
Stephanie invoked
much interest when she read The Man from
Heyl. - at the August
meeting. Members were
enthralled with her character - Cassandra Latham a self-styled white
witch - saying they wanted to know more about her.
We were lucky to have the
Celebrity Author Nigel Goodall as our Guest Speaker at
the September meeting.
Nigel amused us with his life story of how
he began his writing career. During the second half of the
September meeting the winners of the N.E.W. ghost/Horror
In-House Competition were announced. The entries were judged by
Alison Cairns and Greta Tanton, from Eastbourne Library. The winners
were - 1: Stephanie with her story Jessica’s Baby,
2: Jeff second with Sitting Tenant and 3:
Juliette with her horror story Bill. David
announced that his novel,Loose Morals and Tight Rhythm which
he completed in six months (see June blog) and submitted to Legend
Press had been taken up by a publisher in Spain - well done David.
There was a bumper
crop of success announced at the October
meeting. Jeff's short story, Lonely Hearts, was
published on the Thrillers, Killers ‘n Chillers website; Lynne has
had a manual published. Titled 'Action Learning for Change' a
comprehensive guide for business managers; Bridgitte's book 'Teenage
Relationship – a Breakthrough Guide to Untangling your
Heartstrings' was made available on Kindle. Michelle's article on
how to publish your e-book on Kindle (see March blog) was published
in the December issue of Writing Magazine and John has finished the
first draft of his book Hailing Chiefs and he will be self publishing
this on Lulu.
Congratulations to
all of you – keep those success stories coming!!!!!!!!
November
was
our last meeting of the year and we were joined by Guest
Speaker/Member Jill Ruthford who gave us a very interesting and
enlightening talk on the pitfalls and eventual joys she encountered
when she took the self-publishing route to get her memoir Cherry
Blossoms, Sushi and Takarazuka published. We also announced our
latest in-house short story competition on the theme Love.
December
– We announce the Winners of Second National Short Story
Competition. They were - First
place: Sue Hoffmann with Smoke
& Mirrors who won a cheque for £100. Second:
Veronica Bright with Rainbow
Laughter - and third:David Hill
One Breath On The Interstate.Two
were commended by our Judge, Vanessa Gebbie, and they were Gwenda
Mitchell with Big Dream
and Jeff Jewson-Fleming with The
Fine Print.
Details of dates of upcoming meetings and
events for 2012 will be updated regularly or you can also contact us
via our 'Contact page' or by emailing direct to
Members who miss a
meeting can catch up with what went on through the regular
Newsletter, which is circulated to every member around the second
half of each month. The informative Newsletter reports on the
successes members have shared at the meeting along with news
of any in-house competitions, details of national competitions, links
to website and gives dates and reminders of upcoming
meetings/events/workshops.
