Just in case the images are not clear, the items are as follows: a perpetual calendar, a torch, a sleeping mask, an incense burner, a box of sewing pins and a packet of Senna tablets.
All six objects are to be included in a story, not exceeding 600 words, to be read out at the next meeting (22nd May). Good luck!
Morag has received a grant from the Arvon Foundation to attend a workshop on writing for teenagers.
It will take place in August and we shall look forward to hearing all about it on her return.
Billy, we were led through a variety of exercises designed to dispel negative thoughts about our own capabilities as writers and then to explore previously uncharted parts of our brains for inspiration. We tried to avert our eyes from the coffin propped up in the archway!
Elizabeth B., Jan, Morag and Maggie travelled across to York for Defence against the Dark Arts, Nick David’s interpretation of how to overcome the dreaded writer’s block.
The well attended workshop in the upstairs room of the Brigantes Bar and Brasserie in Micklegate focussed on four main strategies to combat the block:
1. Past performance. You’ve done it before, so you can do it again.
2. Desire. What are you prepared to give up in order to concentrate on your writing?
3. Self belief. William Golding, one of only two British Nobel Prize winners for literature since WW2 – Winston Churchill was the other one – thought his writing not good enough!
4. Focus. Distractions are all around us.
It was a very enjoyable and useful session and we hope to see some of York Writers at one of our events in Ripon before too long.
Everyone is welcome to attend this event. Dr Xanthe Wells intends to cover ‘a variety of traditional and slightly more unusual ways of tapping into our creativity’.
Date: Saturday, 14th April
10.00 – 10.30 Arrival and coffee/tea.
10.30 – 12.30 Morning session
12.30 – 1-30 Break for lunch. Bring your own or take a five minute walk into town for a bite.
1.30 – 3.30 Afternoon session
Venue: Ripon Amateur Operatic Society’s hall on Water Skellgate.
Cost: £10
We celebrated the 700th meeting of the Group with sparkling wine and a very special cake commissioned from Sue Williamson.
Founder member Daphne Peters cut the cake and gave us a lively account of the Group’s origins and its different ‘homes’over the years before it settled into the comfortable YMCA Lounge.
The evening was rounded off by a satirical poem composed for the occasion by Cathy Grimmer and a gentler one by Eileen Walters.
Nick David from York Writers kindly offered to judge our Short Story Competition.
The adjudication provided plenty of food for thought. Nick explained his criteria for choosing the winning stories and then commented in detail on each of the twelve. His constructive criticism and the individual written critiques received by each entrant were very much appreciated.
Nick presented the Members’ Trophy to Maggie Cobbett for A Deal’s a Deal. In second place was Cathy Grimmer’s Without a Trace and Ella Benigno came third with Wartime Memories.
