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 Meeting on 25th March.

Eleven members attended the session on 25th March and were dismayed on hearing that Donnie had suffered a heart attack. They send their thoughts,  prayers and love at this time but were heartened to hear that he was now home. Other apologies were received from Lorna, Brian and Jackie. 

Joan and John gave us a fairly in-depth account of the annual SAW Conference which they had attended over the weekend with Joan praising the food especially! Joan attended three workshops - at only one of which she was actually asked to produce a piece of writing and whereas she enjoyed the other two they came across more as lectures than practical sessions. John was enthused by the successful author Valerie Masters and her insight into self-publication. She had whittled it down to the fact it could be done with the use of three apps - Word for the actual creative writing, Velum for typography and formatting and Tanvar for illustrations, cover and spine. He was encouraged by the group to do a presentation of self-publication in the new session, once he had successfully completed his own work. It was agreed that it had been a successful conference and feedback from our group will be given by Sandra at a meeting in early April.

The rest of the meeting was given over to double decker writing where a noun and adjective blindly chosen were prefaced with the definite article and a short story be written on the resulting title. Sandra began with “The Horrible Brother” , an account of a young novice’s first impression of the monastery he had joined and the monk who met him at the door. John H’s account of an online dating profile was, as we would have expected, humerous and ended up with the subject dating his sister! Morag’s title “The Uninvited Murderer” was enigmatic and she related the dark tale of a family reunion held in a highland castle. It was very atmospheric and Christie-like and had an unexpected ending. Hilary’s offering “The Dangerous Corpse” told a dark tale of two feeding brothers who ran an undertaking business and benefitted (?) from a rather grisly conclusion. Irene had “The Myopic Mistress” based in a laundromat, Sandra R “The Bountiful Child” , a character study of a rather wonderful, kind young girl and Marilyn delved deep into her nursing experiences to produce “The Comforting Experiment”. John M wrote a very deep and moving piece on “The Deaf Sister” which had the potential to be taken further. Rob’s piece on “The Wierd Writer” told how Ben Gunn had used a dodo’s claw to write a recipe book based on cheese whilst marooned on Treasure Island and Ryan gave us the tale of Puff, a missing feline in his offering “The Strange Cat” and Joan ended proceedings with here piece based “The Jealous Couple” which had a tinge of reality about it.

A further selection of titles was made and used as a flash fiction exercise - the results  of which will be heard next week. All agreed it had been a fun and fulfilling afternoon.

Erskine Writers Meeting 18th March 2025

There were nine members attending today's meeting with the group bringing their homework 'My Happy Place'. This was to be in the form of pamphlet, tourist flier or just a prose piece, poetry was also accepted. Some of the group had issues with their printers and delivered their piece from thier notebooks.

Hilary started proceedings with her trip to Fife and The East Coast Walkway and East Neuk Village,

John H delivered a short poem entitled 'Paradise Found' based on the stunning Hyams Beach in NSW.

Marilyn gave a very descriptive reading of her happy place of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, recommending the botanical gardens opened in 1972 and The Donkey Sanctuary. Due to technical  difficulties Joan read a short paragraph of her yet to be completed piece. John M presented the group with his very own flyer for The Carnevale Venezia 2025, the carnival has been celebrated since 1296! Irene gave another descriptive piece this one closer to home which was St, Andrew's in Fife. We headed next to the USA where Sandra R had visited St. Pete Beach in Florida, renowned for its beautiful white beach.

Brian took us back to Italy to Poggio D'Ora `(land of gold)  located in the heart of Chianti, the most pleasant and appealing area of Tuscany, immersed in a landscape of oak woodlands, vineyards and olive groves. We returned to Scotland with Morag who took us over to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, with its Victorian heritage including a splendid Victorian frontage cradling the romantic Rothesay Bay. The final contribution came from Joyce who took us down the M74, M6 and M55 to sunny Blackpool. 

A whirlwind trip around the world in 80 minutes!

Erskine Writers Meeting 11th March 2025

 There were apologies from Rob, Lorna, Morag, Jeannie and Sandra M who unfortunately broke a finger removing mail from her letterbox. The group send her best wishes. Hilary chaired today's meeting which wad open manuscripts. John H read Ailsa's entry for the children's competition called 'Sally Jane: Sundays are not for Me' which was highly commended. Donnie returned to group after a long spell away due to an injury to his knee and delivered another gem 'Kicking sand in your Eyes' drawn from his insolvency days...MI6 may be watching. Joan read a children's story entitled 'The Mercat' based on a a half cat fish. Brian revisited his one way conversation with John Logie Baird trying to patent his new invention the television. Another brilliant delivery. John H also delivered another oldie 'wrong Number'. John M provided us with the hilarious 'Chef Marco' which he is going to present at SAW Conference...definitely got the thumbs up from the group. Hilary gave us a chapter from her piece "The Strangers Rebuke'. Joyce read the opening chapter of a murder mystery, from the draft of something she started 20 years ago!  Brian had a second reading 'And so said the Wind' pulling  together a great piece base on songs that had wind in the lyrics. Joan finished with a very touching piece that she read at her late husband Miller's funeral. 

Hilary reminded us that the deadline for our final competition 'Article' is next Tuesday 18th of March.

 Tuesday 4th March and we had a welcome turn out of fourteen members which was amplified by the possibility of a new member - Ryan McGrenaghan - who came to us following a recommendation from a third party. Welcome Ryan! The main business was given over to the results of competition number three from our annual syllabus. This was generally devoted to writing for children and was judged by Alan Dapre who commended the club on their entries demoing them energetic and full of fun. He followed that with highlighting the three cardinal points of writing for young readers - keep it short and strong, simple one syllable names and clarify the problem to bring it to a satisfactory solution. The winner was Brian with his entry “Chariot of the Sun” , a modern take on classical myth where Peter meets his father Apollo and the adventure which ensues. Rob came second with “The Woodpecker who wanted to sing” telling the story of  Wilf, a lesser spotted woodpecker who wanted to join the dawn chorus and how he went about his quest. Hilary came in third with her tale of Bass the basset hound and how he was instrumental in helping to avert an agricultural tragedy for Sam and his puppy, the title a clever “It’s a dogs life.”  Highly commended were Morag’s  with “The Telling Spelling Bee” relating how a bee helped a young boy with learning how to spell, Ailsa with “Sally Jane,Sundays not for me. and Jackie with What Made the Mouse go Eeeek! Irene’s commended “Hetty Hedgehog meets the bully” delay with a problem often tackled in children’s books, the bully in this case being Sammy the stoat and his command over the woodland animals. Cleverly, Irene had numbered her pages so that artwork could be added at a later date. John Hughes made his comeback with a commended piece entitled “Patrick Penguin and the mysterious goggles” detailing the adventures of a short sighted penguin, his reluctance to swim and hie eventual ability to fly. 

John MacDonald informed the group that he had taken the decision to self publish his quartet of novels based around his Italian detective Moretti - each one based on a season in Italy. He gave us a piece of his novella introducing his character which he intends to out on his website - his Hobbit prior to his Lord of the Rings if you will. John H then gave us his story based on a nine word Wordle problem and Sandra and Joan read out poems based around similar themes - the birth of the first grandchild. A busy, productive and entertaining afternoon. Members are reminded of Sandra’s book launch in Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street at 7.00 pm on 20th March and that entries for the seeions final competition - 500-1500 words on an article suitable for a newspaper or magazine are to be with Morag’s by 18th March.

 The meeting was held on 25th February and apologies were received from Donnie, John Mac, Brian, Joan and Sandra R. The club was disappointed in that Ailsa has had to leave us after  such a short stay but, nevertheless, wish her well , especially as she she publishes her book of poetry this we. Members are reminded that they are invited to the book launch of Sandra’s new Lorimer novel “Acts of Malice which is to take place at Waterstones, Sauciehall Street at 19.00 on 20th March. This will be followed by a celebration at the Art House Hotel. In a similar vein, members have also been invited to the launch of Russel McLean’s new book, also at Waterstones and also at 19.00. This is to take place on 11th March at £5 per head. Russel is a true friend to the group having judged our crime story competition earlier in the session. We were delighted to welcome John H back following his sojourn to Australia and celebrated his return, wetted his new grand-daughters head and cheered the publication of Lorna’s book “Sam, the superstar puppy” with a glass of non-alcoholic wine and the obligatory cake. The main business of the day was given over to our interpretation of hermit crab writing which was done in-house. Irene began with an impassioned advocates’s speech defending Dr Jeckyll and this was followed by Sandra’s balanced letter from a publisher rejecting a manuscript but also giving some encouragement. Hilary’ poignant offering was of a witness who had seen the late queen’s cortège pass through Braemar and John H announced his return to form by writing a recipe for an ideal holiday - ingredients and all. Morag wrote a job reference for Honor Bright, the heroine of the  book “The Last Runaway” , a Quaker who emigrated to Wisconsin and used her skills as a quilt maker. Rob wrote a medal citation for Kipling’s hero Gunga Din and Jackie’s letter of rejection from a publisher was humerous not to say saucy! Lorna played to her strengths with a satirical school report on Nicola Sturgeons and Marilyn weighed in with the Who’s Who entry for a modern Scottish hero, lifeboatman Ben Thompson. Sandra completed the exercise with a second offering - a entry from Jane Austen’s diary. I’m not sure wether we followed the exact disciplines for hermit crab writing but our jury-rigged adaptation provided a good exercise and a lot of entertainment. John H then played catch up and read through his crime story which had been awarded third place and also his entry into the poetry competition - along with the accompanying adjudicator’s observations. Finally, members are reminded that the last competition of the session - an article suitable for publication in a magazine or newspaper - is to be with Morag by 18th March with results announced on 22nd April. Any subject of our choosing gives us free range and for a piece of work, between 500 - 1500 words long. 

 Apologies were received from Morag, Donnie and Sandra R. A total of eleven members attended and, as anticipated, in was a busy afternoon. Sandra gave an update on the current syllabus changes and Rob tried to give some guidance on hermit crab writing! Everyone seemed on board with the idea and we’ll see what develops next week. Topic for the day was Blind Date in recognition of Valentines Day and we were entertained to a variety of different approaches to the subject. Hilary began by writing about the problems arising for applying eye make-up before an appointment with a very attractive optician and was followed by Lorna’s story “Dream Girl” which concerned a successful date with a phlebotomist who turned out to be a vampire. Aisla wrote a very clever piece entitled “Oh No!” which was her fictional take on the break up of the Beatles surrounding, as it did John’s fling with Yoko. The clue was in the title! John M’ s “Love in the Time of Covid” was a very intimate story with ups and downs - the fork went up and the tomato ran down - but after a disastrous meal it did have a happy ending and allowed John to display his mastery of an Italian menu! Marilyn’s “Pippa’s Story” related how a broken down train and the resulting bus journey to Waterstones to meet her blind date gave her an alternative option and Sandra’s tale of being stood up, also in an Italian restaurant, had a happy ending thanks to a flirtatious barman who eventually became a welcome spouse. Joan, as ever, gave us her take whereby a somewhat dishevelled gentleman who obviously lacked confidence totally mis-read the situation and didn’t listen as he didn’t quite fit Melissa’s bill , Joan’s twist being that he was of the wrong gender! I didn’t get until the final sentences. Clever! Rob’s “A Cloud with a Silver Lining?”  related the blind date between librarian Jen and the overbearing Rick which ended abruptly, again, thanks to an attractive barman. In OMs Joyce recalled of Glasgow last tram which inspired Brian to list his education in nine schools no less including one in Croesyceiliog! Joan then gave us Westbourne Memories and we ended with Hilary giving us Chapter One of her second sci fi book with the mysterious Brooker. A busy, pleasant afternoon. Here’s hoping that next week goes as well!!!