Formed over forty years ago, our Writers Circle is based in Felixstowe, Suffolk. Meetings are held in The Room at the Top in Felixstowe Library, normally on the first and third Tuesday of each month commencing at 7.30pm and finishing by 10.00pm. Check this weblog for details of meetings.

There is an annual November to November fee of £30, April to November is £20 and June to November £15. For members preferring to pay at each meeting the charge is £5 per meeting. To contact Felixstowe Scribblers simply email scribblers.1@btinternet.com or the Secretary, catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com

Thursday 6 July 2017

Report of meeting

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 04 July 2017

Present:  Cathy, Dick, Beryl, Anne, Mairead, Di, Liliane, Gerry, Jim, Tony, Kay, Bridget and Dave. A warm welcome to Peter and Ross who attended for the first time.

Apologies:   Steve.

Business: 

Where to begin?

To welcome both Peter and Ross to the Scribblers. Peter purchased a copy of anthology at the Book Festival and then contacted us to ask to attend the meeting. I believe he has self-published work in the past. Ross has just moved from Woodbridge to Felixstowe and discovered us via the Library. He wrote and produced a magazine whilst in the Caribbean. 

Wishing Steve a speedy recovery from his cycling accident.

Then the Felixstowe Book Festival. Most Scribblers attended at least one session or workshop and, overall, this year’s event seemed even better than earlier ones. The Furneaux Suite location on the Sunday was really great value for money with all sessions being either full or very well attended. The Orwell Writer’s League opened up with ‘Creating a word bank,’ which was hosted by our good friend Suzy Griffith followed up by the Microfiction Workshop which I facilitated. Both these sessions had just the right number of participants and we certainly received some excellent feedback. In our Hon. President Ruth Dugdall we had the perfect organiser and hostess of the day’s events.

Thanks to the kindness of Mairead a novel by Phil Rickman, ‘All of a Winter’s Night,’ was given as a prize in a draw for the writers in the Microfiction workshop. It was won by Ray Trzaska.

Our friend Morag a member for so long, attended on the Saturday whilst it was good to meet up with Jane who was attending to the Lighthouse stall. Ironically I had the offer of a free novel from Amazon by Jane Bailey and I thought she’d kept that one quiet! Checking the author details it turned out to be another Jane. Martin Ward attended the short story prize giving with his son who was short-listed as one of the top entrants. Both Martin and Jane hope to resume with Scribblers in the not too distant future.    

Next, our Anthology ‘Words.’ – Thanks to Cathy for collecting and organising both the Orwell Writer’s Leagues and our own anthologies at the Festival. Thanks also to Stillwater Books who kindly accepted them on the bookstall and will also sell them in their shop.  We still have to establish how many copies were sold over the two days but just seeing our anthologies intermingled with novels by some very famous authors and participants was quite pleasing. Cathy brought 30 along to our meeting tonight to cover a large order of 20 whilst another eight were sold individually. Currently our remaining stock is 35 plus however many Will has at Stillwater.

If you would like a copy of ‘Words’ then please email me at scribblers.1@btinternet.com Reasonably priced at a fiver, we would need to add postage and packaging to any postal orders. Details on request.

Thanks as ever to Mairead for her treats, to Liliane for collecting the key and to Kay for setting up the air conditioning again.

Now for the homework, ‘The third house along …” With so many people in attendance it was always going to be difficult fitting everyone in despite both Cathy and Gerry leaving early but we made it!

The stories were:
Di:               Three houses along.
Beryl:           The house.
Peter:           Three doors along.
Jim:              The man with no nose.
Kay:             Third house along.
Dick:             Felixstowe and the Royal Marines.
Tony:            A walk in the green forest.
Bridget:         Mothers and daughters.
Mairead:        The castle walls.
Ross:             The hurricane.
Dave:            On the run.
Anne:            The third house along.
Liliane:          Don’t displease your personal saint.

Next meeting: This will be on Tuesday 18 July, when Kay will read out an extract from her work for feedback and then the rest of us, having drawn out a specific genre to write about, are asked to provide a story in 750-1,000 words.

The meeting will start promptly at 7.30pm.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Tuesday 4 July 2017

4th July meeting...

Fifteen of us happy souls arrived this evening - the largest gathering for some time. It was nice to see two new faces at the meeting - Peter and Ross. 

Briefly the Book Festival was mentioned and certainly the day in the Furneaux Suite at the Orwell Hotel was well worth the outlay. Our own workshop, under the title microfiction, was a great success with many participants making an effort to thank us for organising the event. They felt it had been a valuable exercise. 

Our anthology has been printed and was on sale at the festival. Copies will soon be available at Stillwater Books - and also we should have our stock at the next meeting. Suffice to say we have sold quite a number so far.

The meeting was quite a packed one with thirteen stories being read out from comedy, to fantasy and murder. Our two new members both provided excellent stories in what was a really entertaining meeting.

Next time Kay will read an extract from her work for feedback and then the rest of us will write a genre story - everyone present having drawn out their genre. 750 - 1,000 words are requested. The meeting is on 18 July and will start promptly at 7.30

Saturday 1 July 2017

Our Next Meeting, the Book Festival and our anthology.

I can't believe it's here... where did June disappear to?

Today sees the start of the Felixstowe Book Festival and what an exciting line-up there is! I managed to be interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk during the week to advertise our event at the Orwell Hotel. Daunting - that's both the interview and facilitating the workshop tomorrow (Sunday). If you haven't booked tickets and would like to come to the Microfiction workshop which encompasses a flash fiction session, then please do. It is in the Furneaux Suite and runs from 10.45 until 12 noon. I am sure that tickets will be available on the door. 

I wonder if anyone takes the Ipswich Star and whether our event was mentioned. I haven't been able to get hold of copies this week so, if you did see something I'd appreciate you letting me know. Many thanks.

Our anthology "Words" is available for sale at the Festival and later will be on sale at Stillwater Books. Believe it or not I haven't yet seen a copy as Cathy kindly collected our anthology along with the Orwell Writer's League anthology. Priced at £5 each I am sure both anthologies will be excellent reads and worth every penny. I hope you will buy at least one copy to help us recover the cost of printing.

Our forthcoming meeting is this coming Tuesday, 4th July, with the homework assignment asking for up to 1,000 words on "The third house along..." Sounds a very interesting topic! Hope to see you there for the 7.30 start. We should also have our anthologies available for sale too!

Keep Scribbling!!! 

Dave.