Scottish Association of Writers

Erskine Writers had a very interesting visit recently from a couple of committee members of the SAW: Marc Sherland, President and Jen Butler, Secretary. Many changes are afoot for the annual weekend conference in March 2014, not least the new venue at the Westerwood Hotel near Cumbernauld. To reflect the change of venue and committee, some alterations have been made to the schedule and it all looks very exciting. If anyone is interested in attending the weekend, you can find details on the SAW website. You must be a member of an affiliated writing group in Scotland, and some groups offer a postal membership of their club.

On Saturday, the SAW tried another new venture by having a Writers' Day up in Inverness. I was honoured to be a speaker at the event (on e-publishing) and can testify to the success of the day. It gave many writers from the north of the country a chance to take part in a couple of competitions and to attend workshops and talks. The committee members are to be commended for organising such a great event, including a delicious hot buffet lunch. The added bonus was the amazing Gothic style Town House where the event was held and the Lord Provost took some of us on a tour of parts of the building at the close. Winston Churchill even sat at the horseshoe-shaped table for a cabinet meeting in the past!

Thank you to the SAW for providing a very good organisation for writing clubs across Scotland. Remember the rules for booking your hotel room have changed slightly, so be sure to read the instructions carefully and remember to get your novel entries in by the end of November.

Rosemary

Scottish Association of Writers Weekend Conference

Well, once again members of Erskine Writers are home from another SAW weekend conference with a host of awards. What a great weekend from start to finish: competition adjudications; entertaining speakers; informative workshops and seminars; evening of drama sketches from that particular competition; disco and poetry penthouse.

Not to mention the eating, chatting with friends old and new, and fun! Most of us came home inspired and raring to get on with writing, once we recover from the blinding tiredness.

We are especially delighted that one of our newer members, Morag, did so well at her first SAW conference. And that postal member, Bill, was also mentioned. Awards were presented by Crime Novelist and Honorary President, Alana Knight.

Photos by Joan Fleming

Here are the results for Erskine Writers:

Bill Daly:              2nd in Pitlochry Crime Novel

Myra Duffy:         Winner of Book Review

                            3rd in Sci-fi/Fantasy

                            Commended in Under 7s

Wilma Ferguson:   Commended in Drama

Morag Moffat:      Winner of General Article

                            3rd in General Short Story

                            3rd in Drama

Very well done to all!

Rosemary

(who was adjudicating the Castles in the Air Story!)