Society of Authors

In my desire to find organisations that don’t want to have me as a member, I have joined the Society of Authors (and thereby fell at the first hurdle on this occasion).

Last week I went to a local meetup of the East Midlands branch. There were 9 of us which was a good number of people for me to forget the names of. I succeeded.

What was really interesting was the diverse nature of the writers. I was especially taken by a couple of the subjects even though they’re ‘not my bag’ as the kids of yesteryear would have said.

I felt a got a lot from the meeting; it was good to find new people and hear about their writing work. I am looking forward to the next session.

Fosseway Writers

Yesterday evening I toddled along to Newark -Notts – to meet/sit in on a session of the Fosseway Writers. This wasn’t completely out of the blue (I met Nick of the Fosseway Writers at last year’s Newark Book Festival and learned a little about the group there) but, because of commitments in my world, I haven’t been able to make their meetings… until last night.

The evening’s conversation was largely about a multi-handed project where a number of the group are writing an ensemble piece. Does this make it an ensemble-ensemble piece?

Anyway.

I liked the group and I enjoyed the way the participants considered such things as relationships and characters/character development, as well as considering how characters look/might look through the eyes of other characters in the ensemble, as well as through the eyes of other writers/contributors.

I’m making this sound much more complicated than the conversation was (the sign of a good meeting: the conversation wasn’t ever stilted and flowed around topics) and that’s largely to the credit of those present, and also attributable to me being a rubbish explaining device.

I was slightly disappointed to learn that Nick is in the middle of moving to France which, obviously, will mean his attendance will wind up at some point. Que sera sera. However I liked the group as a collective, and enjoyed the detailed thinking and the level of enthusiasm for the WIP.

If you’re in the area and you have a leaning towards writing prose or poetry (or both!), I strongly recommend you find a space in your weekly diary for the Fosseway Writers.

By the way, if you haven’t experienced the “Let’s xcape Café” (and I hadn’t previously), please go along and have a look. It’s a wonderful table-top gaming café that sells cakes and books!

Happy New Year!

After what seems like a decade or two, 2024 is finally behind us. I’m not wishing time away, but there was a spell back there when I thought 2025 would never arrive!

And now it’s here in all its glory, what shall we do with it? Well, I can only speak for me, obviously, but if you want to let me know what you’ve got in mind for 2025, feel free to drop me a lime line or comment below. In the meantime I’ll give you a little look at what I’ve got in the 2025 plan:

  • Two new audiobooks
  • Publication of book 4 in the Tempest series (title to be revealed shortly)
  • I got a new jumper – and a cardigan – for Christmas
  • And a big box of Sports Mix, and finally
  • Excerpts of the new book I’m working on will be released

That’s a few things to be going on with, eh?