Hidden Gems results - 30 September 2013

Autumn was in the air when we met on Monday 30 September, for the results of our ‘Hidden Gems’ competition. This, new in our programme for 2013, is specifically for new writers, and people who for whatever reason, have not been placed in a HWG competition during the last two years. As ever, a good variety of stories were entered.  Our judge, former English Literature lecturer Dr. Elizabeth Allen, is a long-standing favourite with the group. She is very knowledgeable, very well-read, and has a real love of the English language.  After talking us through the entries, she announced the results. In fourth place was Alex Willis, with ‘George’, which he told us was the first chapter of his forthcoming novel.  Third was Janet Kates, with her story, ‘The Class’, about murder and mayhem in a creative writing class. Second was Mike Rayner, with the introspective, beautifully written  ‘Happy Birthday’. The winner was Marcia Woolf, a relatively new member. Her story, ‘Like Father, Like Son’ was picked out by our judge for its excellent use of language, combined with a tightly-structured plot about a death and a family funeral.

     As well as the competition results, the group had its first sight of our new anthology, Animal Writes, which will be available for sale at the Books Born in Hastings event in the Town Hall on 12 October. The book features a new Pegasus story by Kate O’Hearn. We also looked at, and enjoyed the new book smell of another new publication – ‘The Alphabet King’, by Kate Errington. Well done Kate!

Flash Fiction Results: 23 September 2013

We had an extra meeting on Monday 23 September for the results of our Flash Fiction competition.  One of our star members, best-selling children’s author Kate O’Hearn had pulled some strings in the publishing world to get us two special judges. Paul Stark, from Orion publishers, and Nicola Crossley from Random House gave us the benefit of their expertise as well as judging a record number of entries to the competition. Needless to say, the room in the White Rock Hotel was absolutely packed with enthusiastic HWG members.

     The results of the competition were as follows. Highly Commended were Anne Hooker with ‘The Diet’, and Roz Balp with ‘Sea Washed’. Stephen Martin was in fourth place with ‘Love Expired’. Third was Diana Lock with ‘Delacroix and Dumas’, and second, Emma Boyd with a moving and poignant piece, ‘Baby Items for Sale’.  The popular winner was long-standing member John Vallender with the shortest piece entered for the competition, ‘Don’t Look Down’, about steeplejack Fred Dibnah.

     The judges commented on the difficulty of producing a high-quality flash fiction piece, where a story has to be produced in 250 words or less. They felt that many of the entries were of a high quality, but left the reader wanting more, whereas the winning pieces were complete in themselves.

     In addition to the competition results we were treated to cakes from Anne Hooker, who was celebrating a milestone birthday the next day!

Stage Struck.... 16 September 2013

Our meeting began with announcements from the Chair. The Love Cafe poetry event had been a great success and generated interest from several potential new members who had come along to meet us.

HWG will be at the Books Born in Hastings event on Saturday 12^thOctober. Our new anthology ‘Animal Writes’ will be available, along with previous publications including ‘Strandline’. Books written by members will also be available on the day and Anne Hooker will be there with her recently published anthology ‘Inspiration’.

The remainder of the evening was devoted to the entries of our Mini-Play competition. As always with HWG the scope of the plays was broad. We had comedy, tragedy, drama and science fiction: tales of engineering apprentices in the 1970s; small scary, hairy creatures using writers to escape their dying planet; a young man searching for his Comanche roots; dodgy dealings and a robbery in London; the unexpected result of a meditation and sequins; a thoughtful before, during and after life experience and a nineteenth century who-done-it.

David Buchan journalism entries - 2 September 2013

Having missed a meeting during August, it felt distinctly like the start of the new ‘term’ as we met on Monday 2 September. This time, we presented our entries for the David Buchan journalism competition. This is annually in memory of one of our most popular members, the late David Buchan, well-respected Fleet Street journalist.  As ever, there were entries on a wide variety of topics – starting with the Hastings to Bexhill Link Road, greeted by groans of despair by all present, via the ‘squeezed middle’ – aged, via cooking, privatizing the Post Office, nuclear tests in Australia, waiting rooms, complaints to the Bedroom Tax.  As ever, our judge will have a hard time!

We welcomed another three prospective members of the group – we have been delighted with current levels of interest in joining the group, particularly from younger people.

Congratulations to our Chair, Jill Fricker, who has just won a National Association of Writers’ Groups short story competition

'Hidden Gems' Competition entries - for new and under-valued writers, 29 July 2013

For the last of our July meetings, on Monday 29^th, we listened to some of the entries for yet another competition ‘Hidden Gems’. This is a new addition for our calendar, a competition specifically intended for members who have never won, or been placed, in a HWG competition since January 2012. The idea was to encourage some of our new members and less experienced writers, and also to give a ‘boost’ to some of our more experienced writers where, for whatever reason, their work had not caught the attention of the judges in recent months. Entrants read the first two hundred words of their story to the group, who then commented and made suggestions, if appropriate, as to how the piece might be yet further improved. As ever, we had a good range of entries and a wide range of topics – from the macabre, via the domestic, to comedy.

Once again we welcomed a new member – the fourth this month, which is pleasing, and a prospective member.

Finally, we also had a look at some artwork for the cover of our forthcoming ‘Animal Writes’ anthology

Flash Fiction Entries on a hot night: 15 July 2013

Hastings was basking in the heat on Monday 15 July as a large group of members gathered to present their entries for our latest Flash Fiction competition. The task was to create a complete story in 250 words, and the challenge was clearly popular.  As the stories were short, we had the unaccustomed pleasure of hearing everyone read their complete pieces, and as ever, there were an enormous variety of styles, themes and topics.  Our members are quite fond of dark deeds, disaster and general mayhem – the total body count for the stories was alarmingly high…. We finished the evening with an informal discussion about where we liked to write – locations varied from on the sofa in front of the telly via the utility room in the company of the boiler to a purpose-built log cabin.

     We were glad to welcome two new members to the group, and another prospective member attended the meeting as a ‘taster’.  We also heard that one of our members, Kate Giles, has finally clinched a big publishing deal for her childrens’ books – in Norway.  Her work is to be issued as hard copy, e-book and audio-book in August.

Poetry Competition Results, 1 July 2013

The room was packed for the results of the Poetry Competition on Monday 1 July, with our guest judge, Hastings-born poet Richard Evans. One of the most well-respected young poets working today, Richard has published two collections of poems, and is working on his third. It was a very poetic evening - the group heard that that our Chair, Jill Fricker, has just been awarded a prestigious Bare Hands International Poetry Prize for 2013, and we also welcomed Yvonne Rees, from Arts Forum Poets, as a guest to our meeting.

Richard read us a selection of his poems before reviewing the entries. He said that the standard of entries was high, and main criteria he had used to judge the poems was how easy he had found it to experience the world of the writer. In fourth place was Marcus Towner, with his vivid ‘Obadiah’s Observations. Marcus told us that he now has an up-comiing ‘gig’ to perform as Obadiah. One of our newest members, Rachel Marsh, was third, with ‘Lanterns in the Cottage’, about smugglers in Hastings. In second place was our star poet, Jill Fricker. Her haunting piece, ‘On Meeting’, was about the birth of a child. In first place, much to her surprise, was Steph Gaunt, with ‘Writers’ Block’. Richard felt that this poem had painted a particularly accessible picture of the writer’s world, and the place of poetry within that world.

Following the judging, Richard shared some thoughts with us about the place of rhyme in poetry.

At the meeting, we welcomed one new member and one prospective member. We heard about the new website, and the Amazon success of Mike Walsh's 'The Music of Melancholy'.