Meeting 11th April 2018

Attending...Elizabeth, Jo, Trevor, Terry        Apology from Helene

Words of day.
Confound...to confuse, mix up
Diffident... shy, bashful, lacking self confidence
Breach........break a promise
Breeches....mens trousers
Foment......to promote or foster discord

Again a range of thought processes produced wide ranging stories using these words

Homework reading.
This was to be based loosely on chapter six of our "Writing a novel" book.
This wasn't necessarily the way it was done by all but some interesting writing resulted.

Exercises.
1) We had to write a story about a phone call at 3 in the morning.
2) Again a story incorporating the words "...three days passed before they found the body..."

Some interesting stories.

Homework.
Write a story based on the contents of Week 7 of our book "A novel in a year"

Record of meeting 4 April 2018

The writers

Terry, Jo, Trevor, Helene

The words of the day

Disdain- contempt

Purport – to claim

Satiate – to satisfy

Floozie – girl of loose morals

Crapulous - ill after eating too much

Dysania – hard to get out of bed in the morning

Ball tampering - unlawful alteration of the surface or seam

Poultice – applied to relieve soreness and inflammation

Trumpery – deceit or fraud, things that look good but are useless

Writing from words of the day

The writers contributed multiple words to satiate our need for writing. We created the stories - Reading on my day bed, Dad was going red, The annual ball and In a strip club.

Reading of homework

The writers read out their homework on the topics - The lisp, Just a little accident, Maintenance matters and The visitor.

Exercise – use the word me 33 times in a story

The writers had fun and some thought outside the square to write interesting stories about - The baton, She and the letter, An only child and At the white house.

Exercise - Three memories of a banana and a story from that

The writers were inspired by the banana and wrote about - Homage to the banana, When I was six and In Coffs Harbour.

Homework

Read week 6 from “A novel in a year” by Louise Doughty and write something inspired by the chapter.

Meeting for 28 March 2018 cancelled

As only two members attended the Vincentia Golf club at 1 pm on Wednesday 28 March 2018, the meeting was cancelled.

Homework

Continue working on homework from 21 March 2018.

Record of meeting 21 March 2018

The writers  - Jo, Helene, Pauline, Terry, Trevor E

Shoalhaven Writers Festival 

Terry reported that our group will present a workshop at the festival on Saturday 4 August 2018. The workshop will cover how we conduct our group meetings. It is expected that Frank Moorhouse AM, the writer who was born in Nowra will attend the festival. More details in later blogs.

The words of the day

Ergophobia – fear of work

Lupine- pertaining to a wolf

Focus – the centre of interest or activity

Immediate – without delay, instant, nearest

Memoir – based on personal experience of the writer

Indian summer – warm weather occurring in autumn, a period of happiness late in life

Writing from words of the day

Without ergophobia the five writers focused on the words to create the immediate stories of - Happy hours, These members, Coin collecting, Far too much rest and Wall Street.

Reading of homework

Four writers read out their homework on the subjects - Unsatisfactory darling (in a Russian Accent), From my childhood, Freedom and secrets & Walking down the street.

Exercise – From out of the blue

The writers chose an action, a person, item, texture, emotion and a piece of furniture to write a story starting "From out of the blue". The stories were about - The euphoric feeling of falling asleep, Watch and cry, Terry’s ear has turned blue, A chair on a knee and tree branches.

Exercise – write a story using words of one syllable

The writers wrote stories about a bull using words of one syllable, the stories were about - Foam in his mouth, Too much Guinness, Mad as hell, Dip at the beach and Pain.

Exercise – she adjusted his bow tie

The writers created stories on the topics - That was too good, After the burglary, You are a vamp and Of course I want to go.

Homework

Exercise 3 from “A novel in a year”.

Write a simple and straight forward account of an

accident in your life without embellishments or analysis.

Record of meeting 14 March 2018

The writers

Helene, Elizabeth, Pauline, Jo, Terry, Trevor E, Fran, and welcome to Trevor H

The words of the day

Deviate – to turn aside

Copious – abundant

Ostentation – a pretentious show

Implacable – not to be appeased

Crèche – nursery where children are cared for

Myself – used as an intensive of me or I

Hydrant – upright pipe with a nozzle

Callous – insensitive and cruel disregard for others

Writing from words of the day

The writers wrote copiously about - I myself, If he didn’t get his way, Arranging a meeting, Wayward children, Plastic flowers, Minding grandchildren, Flushing children, Let it burn and In my swimming pool.

Reading of homework

Four writers read and brought in books and shared hooks they found in the opening words.

Exercise – loaned your car to a friend

We wrote about a secret item left in a car lent to a friend.  The stories covered - She wouldn’t look, Whiskey, Truffles in a cloud of dust, Jim Bob, Blow up the house, Everything happens for a reason, Smelly cheese and In our daughter’s car.

Exercise - Progressive write

We started a progressive write with "Life has no early warning system". Some funny stories emerged from our combined creativity.

Homework

Week 4 from A novel in a year by Louise Doughty – write freely, enthusiastically, anything you like. Scribble down odd ideas. Begin short stories that may go nowhere. Write up an autobiographical incident that may or may not be worth fictionalising. Do not censor yourself write anything. Keep everything you write. Read widely.

Meeting 7th March 2018

Attending: Pat, Terry, Elizabeth, Jo, Trevor, Fran

Terry and Pat spoke briefly of the meeting they attended relating to the proposed Shoalhaven Writers and Readers Festival in August 2018.
We indicated to them that we were prepared to run a workshop on the running of a writers group based on our model. Not sure that it will be taken up. More to come I guess but we are not proposing to attend future organisation meetings.

Words of the Day.
Frenetic...frantic, all over the place      Immortal...eternal     cathartic...psychological relief through open expression of emotion     tonga...light two wheeled vehicle   malign...speak ill of someone
proscribe...to prohibit, ostracise, condemn

Quickwrite from words...as usual a wide array of stories/poems...amazing again

Homework

The homework was "...the day after my eighth birthday my father told me..." This was the first exercise in our writing of a novel in a year project. There is certainly potential for some of these stories to develop.

Homework
The homework for next week is to choose say six books from your own collection or the library.
They will be chosen because of the 'hook' that occurred in the first sentence/paragraph/page and which essentially demanded that you read on.
Write those six pieces of wordage and bring along next week for discussion.

Record of meeting 28 February 2018

The writers

Helene, Elizabeth, Pauline, Pat, Terry, Juan, and welcome to Fran

Shoalhaven Writers Festival
Juan told us about The Shoalhaven writers Festival to be held Saturday 4 August – Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre

Terry and Pat will attend a meeting 6 March at 6.30 pm to discuss the festival to present our suggestion for a workshop for the festival.

The words of the day
Misprize – under value

Inevitable – will happen, unavoidable

Ephemeral – transient, lasting a short time

Kowtow – act in a slave like manner, bow to the ground

Minx – an impudent, cunning or boldly flirtation girl

Plangent – a word that adds power to an expression

Protagonist – the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, novel etc

Writing from words of the day

Shameful hussy, literary minx, What will be, Always a minx, No doubt, Do not expect me to and Several murders.

Reading of homework

Three animal lovers wrote noisy stories for our enjoyment on the topics - Some talk back, Taranga Zoo and Animal sounds in the UK.

Long term project for 2018

Each member to plan to each write a novella over 2018 using as a guide - A novel in a year by Louisa Doughty – members have been provided with a copy.

Exercise - trapped in an elevator with Donald Trump

The writers embraced the topic and wrote about - Hair and guns, Climate change, New dentures, Don’t start a war, Twitter, At The Dorchester and Lets pray.

Homework

Read Week 1 and complete Exercise 1 from “A novel in a year” by Louisa Doughty – members have been provided with a copy.

“The day after my eight birthday, my father told me’