Annual General Meeting - 18th January, 2016

At our Annual General Meeting, the group's Chair, Eileen Masters, gave a summary of the year, covering such topics as stabilising the membership, reviewing the constitution and continuing to publish an annual anthology. Then Sam Davey, the Treasurer, presented her financial report, which showed the group to be in good shape and showing a small surplus. There will be changes to the committee this year: Marica Woolf will become Membership Officer while Amanda Giles will take on the role of Programme Officer. We then moved on to choosing a cover for this year's anthology, which will raise funds for Hastings Pier Charity and will have Hastings as its theme. Finally, Marcia Woolf read her winning 3000-word Catherine Cookson Cup story, which received a rave review from the judge, a talent scout from a literary agency.

First Meeting - 4th January, 2016

At our first meeting of the year, 24 keen members staggered through the torrents and gales to share their submissions for this year's anthology. As always, there was a wide  variety of genres, styles and voices, all on the loose theme of Hastings, as all proceeds will be donated to the Hastings Pier Charity. We had Grey Owl and magical mermaids, stories set on the sea shore, a library and an art gallery, two tales of thwarted love and one about a man whose main love was drinking. We had poems celebrating, the pier, rain, beach and everything we have on offer in our quirky town. We finished off with a light writing “splurge”, extrapolating paragraphs from prompts inspired by words connected to Hastings. Watch this space for the further adventures of Arthur, the East End seagull, who could well turn out to be our most celebrated 'Down from London'-er ever. Huge congratulations to Marcia Woolf, who has secured a publishing contract for her dark crime novel, Road Kill, on her first attempt.

Presentation Evening - 4th December, 2015

On 4th December, we had our annual Presentation Evening. Sarah O'Halloran, talent scout from the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency gave a very entertaining talk and useful Q and A session on how to prepare work for a literary agent or publisher, clarifying the differences between a synopsis, a pitch and a blurb. She advocated approaching it like a job application by making sure it was complete and polished to give the work its best possible chance. She then gave brief feedback on all the entries in our annual 3000-word short story competition before announcing the winner of the coveted Catherine Cookson Cup. Marcia Woolf was first with her beautifully executed dark comedy, 'All Saints'; Anne Hooker's 'Moving On' was second; Elizabeth Allen was third with 'Dereliction of Duty', and Roz Balp's 'Ducking and Diving' was fourth. Then, Vice-Chair, Kate O'Hearn presented the certificates to the winners of the five varied competitions of 2015 before handing the Writer of the Year Award to deserving winner, Sally-Ann Clark. The rest of the evening was spent eating, drinking and socialising. We look forward to embarking on another year of writing on 4th January 2016.

Manuscript Evening - 16th November, 2015

At our last Manuscript Evening of the year, on 16^th November, two brave souls provided extracts from their work to be critiqued by other members of the group. Bill Petsing read a section from his memoirs, entitled 'Dad in the 1930s', which painted a vivid portrait of family life in London between the wars. As a first-hand account, it provided a valuable record and a fascinating slice of social history. New member, Anne Hansen, then read her short story, 'The Lost Weekend', an experimental piece, based on a personal ad. It told the story of elderly love in a clear and charming voice. It had a beautiful flow and some intriguing sexual tension. In the second half, members divided into small groups to discuss various writing issues, including how to portray an angel and how to find imagery to convey emotion between two people.

Catherine Cookson Cup Entries - 2nd November, 2015

On 2^nd November, we read out our entries for the annual Catherine Cookson Cup. This year, our judge is Sarah O'Halloran, talent scout with the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, and everyone had really pulled out the stops. There was a dazzling array of genres, styles and characters. There was a granny who had left the narrator a mysterious heirloom, an old dear who'd decided gambling might be a solution to her money problems, an Italian contessa, whose survival depended on the efforts of a faithful retainer and another woman who had discovered a talent for teleporting. There was an 8-year-old boy street whose family lived in a factory doorway and an 18-year-old with a secret. There was a tunnel under an apocalyptic world, another in which a husband was busy burrowing under his own street and strange goings on in a hollowed out yew tree. There was a 19th century priest awaiting execution, a young woman who'd escaped her past and a wife who'd got away with murder.

Romantic Fiction Results - 19th October, 2015

On 19^th October, we met for to hear the results of our final competition of the year: Romantic Fiction. Judge, Hilary Mackelden, first gave an account of her long and varied career as a writer of stories, novels and plays before going on to define what she expected from a short story in this particular genre, which remains her 'first love' in her own writing.  Her regency romance,'The Bankrupt Viscount',  written under the name of Caitlyn Callery, was shortlisted for the 2015 Joan Hessayon Award. Unfortunately, many of our own entries were discounted on the grounds of not really fitting within the genre because they didn't focus on a developing relationship between the hero and heroine, which – according to Hilary – is a necessary component of romantic fiction. However, in general, she had praise for our efforts, especially some of some of the more likeable characters, the realistic dialogue and the interesting plots. The winner, which was refreshing, original and a feast of the senses, was Amanda Giles' 'Hector's Tale'. Maddie Blake was second with 'Top Secret', which had all the elements of a love story and a sympathetic heroine. Third was 'Out with the Geek' by Emma Boyde, praised for its economy, detail and strong voice. Fourth was Marcus Towner's 'Indian Summer, Later Spring' in which the feelings were beautifully conveyed. Hilary also gave 'honourable mentions' to Sam Davey's 'Stupid QPID' and Godfrey Forder's 'Lost and Found'.

Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication Workshop - 5th October, 2015

On 5^th October, our Vice-Chair, the best-selling children's author, Kate O'Hearn, took time out of her extremely busy writing schedule to help members to prepare their manuscripts for a literary agent. This was particularly useful and timely as this year our 3000-word stories for the annual Catherine Cookson Cup Competition will be judged by talent scout, Sarah O'Halloran, from the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Kate gave us tips on selling our work by capturing an agent's attention in one minute, writing clear outlines and tantalising synopses and scouring the 'Artists' and Writers' Yearbook' to find the right agent. She also gave a fascinating and entertaining account of her own experiences with publishers and editors as well as useful, practical answers to our questions. We ended the evening on a creative note as we attempted to write a first paragraph that would ensure our manuscripts didn't end up on a bored editor's spike. Kate was positive and encouraging throughout, so we all left inspired to write and have our work published.

Again, we congratulate Marcia Woolf on having another of her stories shortlisted and were pleased to hear that Rachel Marsh has another article on the 'Daily News Service'.