Strandline, our 2012 Anthology, now on sale!

Our 2012 Group Anthology, Strandline, has just gone on sale in Waterstones in Hastings. 220 pages of great reading, giving an excellent idea of what a writers' group can do. Priced at £8.50.
If you live outside Hastings, please send us your contact details via the website, and we will arrange for you to buy a copy.

Manuscript Evening with Kate O'Hearn: 11 February 2013

It was another busy evening for the Group on Monday 11 February, with again, very good attendance.  We started with a treat. Marcus Towner read us his winning entry for the 2012 Catherine Cookson Cup, our major annual short story competition. ‘Perhaps an Indian Summer’ is a gentle and evocative love story – an ideal topic with Valentine’s Day so close.  Following that relaxing interlude, it was down to work – a session on how to get the best from our Manuscript Evenings, led by Kate O’Hearn with help from Stephanie Gaunt. Firstly, we talked about how best to express our comments to our colleagues, to enable them to take on board what we say. Next, we looked at the presentation, style and content of people’s writing, and the areas we could usefully address. Kate reminded us that everyone’s view was both valid and valuable. We are all readers as well as writers, and all have a feel for what works for us as individuals.

     Next, two people courageously presented extracts from their work in progress, so we could practice our new skills. Maurice Haken took us through a new short story ‘A rewarding Co-incidence’, and new member Kate Giles presented an extract from a historical novel she is currently working on. Both pieces generated much lively discussion.

Meeting Report - Monday 28 January 2013

We had an exceptionally busy evening on Monday 28 January

    Well over twenty members braved the lashing rain to present their entries for our first internal competition of the year – Memoir Writing. Everyone had a chance to read out a sample of their work, and it was fascinating to gain insights into such an astonishing variety of lives. The extracts were in turn inspiring, funny, poignant, intriguing – and raunchy. Amongst other things, we heard about a love for music, an irrational fear of bandages, a trip in a runaway car, being a VIP cab driver, house moves, ‘Bob a Job’, schooldays, fostering adolescents, boxing, being an army child, fraught holidays, working in a casino, and many strange family secrets… The entries now go off to our judge, former group member and creative writing tutor Andrea Samuelson. We hope she enjoys reading them as much as we obviously enjoyed writing them.

Meeting Report - Monday 14 January 2013

On Monday 14 January we met for our first meeting of 2013. Attendance was excellent – clearly members were anxious to beat the January blues and get their creative writing brains into gear.  

     One of our resident star authors, Kate O’Hearn, author of a number of best-selling novels for young people including the ‘Pegasus’ series, led a workshop on how to present our work to a publisher.

     Kate used her own latest book, ‘Valkyrie’ as an example, showing us the different stages from submission of initial synopsis to readying the work for publication. Most important, she highlighted key success factors and warned us of potential pitfalls.

     We very much appreciated Kate’s efforts, and her honesty in sharing the ups and downs of a writer’s life with us. Hopefully, we all gained some valuable insights.

     In addition to the workshop, the group heard a short presentation on progress towards our new website, from our Publicity Officer, Stephanie Gaunt, and also discussed a possible reciprocal arrangement with another Writers’ Group, initiated by member Richard Holdsworth.      

Annual Presentation Evening - 7 December 2012

Hastings Writers celebrate success

‘This has been an excellent year’ said Chair Jill Fricker as she welcomed members and friends to the White Rock Hotel and introduced the Group’s Patron, well-known author Tamara McKinley. Tamara has written psychological thrillers, a series of best-selling novels set in the Australian outback, and a further series of novels under the name Ellie Dean. Her books have been highly successful and translated into at least 15 languages.

‘I love working with this group because you all don’t just sit about talking about writing, you all have a go and actually write,’ said Tamara. ‘In addition to the published authors in the group, so many of you are so nearly at the stage where you could be published – I would like to be able to help more of you take that next step.’

Helped by the Vice-Chair, popular children’s author Kate O’Hearn, Tamara gave out certificates to all the members who had won, or been placed, in the Group’s internal competitions throughout 2012. Points for winning entries are added together, and the person with the most points receives the coveted ‘Writer of the Year’ Award.  This year, the winner was the talented Mike Walsh. Long-standing member Mike, from Bexhill, has won the award before – in 2010. His work deserves a much wider audience.

The big event of the night was the award of the Catherine Cookson Cup, awarded annually for an open-theme short story, in honour of the Group’s first Patron. Tamara McKinley, who had judged the competition, commented on the high quality of the entries. Forthright as ever, she urged less experienced writers to edit their work rigorously.

‘In a successful short story,’ she said, ‘every word must count.’ She singled out six entries where sufficient words had counted to impress her. Highly commended were Charlie Menzinger with ‘Dominic Gets a Second Chance’, and Maurice Haken, with ‘Foxed by a Phantom’. In fourth place was newcomer to Hastings, Stephanie Gaunt, with ‘How Time Flies’. Established member Amanda Giles, also from Hastings, was third with ‘Dear Aunt Lulu’.  Second was the consistently excellent Mike Walsh, with ‘Pagan Sunset’.  The winner was Marcus Towner, from Hawkhurst, with the beautifully composed and evocative ‘Perhaps an Indian Summer.’

In addition to the awards, a final cheque from sales of the group’s anthology ‘Ghost Writers’, was presented to Sara Young from local charity The Association of Carers. Sara explained how the money had benefited projects to support young carers.

In a slightly more sombre mood, those present sent their best wishes to Monica Percy, local author and former Chair of the group, who was unfortunately not well enough to attend.

Finally, on behalf of the group, Jill expressed gratitude and thanks to Rosemary Bartholomew, who is standing down from the Committee after many years invaluable service. After so long supporting others with their writing, not surprisingly Rosemary now feels she would like to spend more time concentrating on her own work. However, she has been persuaded to help with production of the group’s annual anthologies – the 2012 ‘Strandline’ has just gone on sale.

Further thanks went to member Anne Hooker, for organizing fund-raising raffles on this and other occasions, and to Richard Holdsworth for organizing the bookstall.

With over thirty contributing members, the Hastings Writers’ Group is one of the largest and most active groups of its type in the country. Newcomers continue to join, and the membership includes a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and levels of writing experience. A number of members have had work published this year, and have entered – and won - prestigious external competitions. For 2013, the Group wants to do yet more to increase the standard of its writing, to get more involved with the local community, and to take a bigger part in cultural festivals and events.

Meeting Report: Monday 26 November 2012

Our last proper meeting of 2012, on Monday 26 November, was very busy, and very well attended.  Firstly, Julie Brett, Fundraiser from Demelza, one of the charities we support, gave us a short presentation of the work of the charity, and collected the final cheque for sales of our 2007 publication ‘Diamonds’. The total raised is now a pleasing £3,150.

Next, we heard the results of our recent journalism competition, held in memory of long-standing member and award-winning Fleet Street journalist David Buchan, who sadly died last year.  We were pleased to welcome David’s widow Anne to the meeting.  To start the proceedings, a friend and former colleague of David, Richard Holdsworth, read out a short piece celebrating his life. Our judge, group member and journalist Angela Everitt, then took us through the results.  She said all entries had been of a high standard, and it had been hard to choose the winners. Highly commended was John Cole, with ‘Barack Obama versus the Flip-Flop Man’, and in fourth place, Ron (Nick) Nicola, with ‘Memories of the Second Parachute Regiment’. Third was Rosemary Bartholomew, with a lively piece with a local slant, ‘The Uniform Debate’. In second place, Steph Gaunt, with another topical piece about a local issue, ‘Hastings Recycling falls short’, and the winner was Jill Fricker with the excellent ‘Paved with Gold? The Olympic Legacy in Tower Hamlets’.  Jill received a bottle of wine from Anne Buchan as her prize. 

For the last part of our evening, Angela, our judge, delivered a brief workshop on how to write a good article.  All thanks to Angela for her efforts.

Meeting Reports 1 October to 12 November 2012

     Monday 12 November

     Time goes so quickly! When we met on Monday 12 November, it was hard to believe it was our final Manuscript Evening of the year.  Four members took the opportunity to present their work for us to discuss.  First off was new member Diana Lock, with an extract from her new work ‘White Footsteps’.  This was a spooky piece, much appreciated by the group.  Second, another new member, Peter Stachini, presented a radio play, ‘The Body’. We always enjoy plays, because it gives us a chance to read the parts aloud.  Finally, two well-established members, Richard Holdsworth and Pauline Piper, took us through their pieces, ‘The One and Only Viv the Spiv’, and ‘Driven to Kill’.

All four pieces were very different, and all four presenters received valuable feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions from the group.  Richard told us that ‘Old Soldier’, a piece he had presented at a previous Manuscript Evening, had subsequently been accepted for publication by ‘This England’ magazine.

Members were reminded to get tickets for our gala Presentation Evening, which takes place on 7 December this year, with our Patron, Tamara McKinley.  We were also issued with our programmes of activity for the first half of 2013 – a writer’s work never stops!

Monday 29 October

At our last meeting on 29th October, extracts from entries for our annual Catherine Cookson Cup short story competition were read out. An open theme and maximum 3000 word limit gave the 12 entrants the opportunity to choose what they wanted to write about and most made full use of the word allowance to develop their stories. As usual these covered a wide range of topics and made enjoyable listening. They will be judged by our patron, novelist Tamara McKinley, who will deliver the results and award the Cup at our Annual Presentation Evening in December.
      A warm welcome was extended to four  potential new members who had come along by arrangement to see what our meetings (and members!) are like.
      We held our successful yearly Charity Quiz at the comfortable Café des Arts on 26th October, which stimulated some of our brains into action and was hugely enjoyed by all. The prize money always goes to the charity of the winning team's choice and this year the nominated beneficiaries were the local Association of Carers, with CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) receiving a share of the profits.

     Monday 15 October
On Monday 15 October, it was time for us to get the results of our ‘Writing for Children’ competition. Our judge this time was our own Kate O’Hearn.  As Vice-Chair of the Group, Kate is one of our most loyal supporters.  She is the author of seven (nearly eight) published children’s novels, including the highly successful ‘Pegasus’ series.

Kate had plenty of hard-hitting advice for would-be authors, and valuable insights about what publishers look for. This included making sure our dialogue was age-appropriate, and the importance of ‘hitting the ground running’ with our stories, to engage children’s attention.

As ever, the standard of entries was high, and Kate had a hard job to choose the eventual winners. Highly commended were Charlie Menzinger with ‘Making Mischief’ and Stephen Martin with ‘Zombiana Bones’.  In third place was Mark Towner with a science fiction story, ‘Callie’. Rosemary Bartholomew was second with ‘Changes’, her story of contemporary marriage breakdown.  In first place was Mike Walsh, with an absolutely terrifying tale, ‘Dick Ears and the String Bean Creeper’.  When we all emerged from our hiding places under the table, Kate assured us that children enjoyed being scared.

On a different theme, we heard about two competition successes. Ron (Nick) Nicola had won second place in the HRVAB annual Memories writing competition for his story ‘Wayward Memories’, and Steph Gaunt had won the Daily Telegraph ‘Just Back’ travel writing competition with a piece about buffalo mozzarella, melons and ancient architecture.

 Monday 1st October 

We held our 2012 Annual General Meeting and our Programme Planning Meeting for next year on Monday 1 October. The Chairperson, Jill Fricker, reported on a lively and successful year for the group, which continues to thrive and grow. Some changes to the Committee were agreed. Our Programme Secretary, Rosemary Bartholomew, has decided to step down after many years' stalwart service. We fear she will be irreplaceable, but fortunately she will be staying on until the end of the year to pass on her vast fund of experience and knowledge. We welcomed one newcomer, Steph Gaunt, who will take on the post of Publicity Officer.

     The second half of the meeting was devoted to a lively discussion about what we wanted to see in our programme of meetings for next year.  The views of members were noted by the Committee, and we hope all the ideas and wishes will be reflected in the programme we produce - acknowledging we cannot please everyone all of the time!