Post Meeting Nosh-Up at Glyn and Judy´s.

After today´s meeting, members went to Glyn´s place where his wife Judy had put on a marvellous lunch. Those who missed the occasion - curl up and die! Thanks on behalf of all those invited for a great lunch and a lovely afternoon.

The meeting itself was, as usual very interesting and entertaining. Nice to see Ann F and Heinke back again .

The subject s for the day were Dear John, or The Postman.

Having declared her contribution as "Rubbish", Jane proceded to read out a poem which clearly was not. (How about some assertion courses, Jane?). It told the moving story of the relationship between a postie and a spinster lady which ended when he finds her dead one morning.

Chris read a poem "Dear John" about a flighty lady determined to get the best out of life and any men unwary enough to fall for her charms.

Heinke´s short story, read at her usual cracking pace (slow down, Heinke!), was a fascinating tale of postie Eddy who meets his fate in the passionate embrace of Concha, a Spanish lady newly moved into a flat on his round. Really funny.

Congratulations to Heinke on the publication of her book "Camping WithWolves."

Rob moved out of his comfort zone and yet again tried his hand at poetry in a series of short pieces with a postie theme. Well done, Rob!

Mary Wignall, a former member, obviously still writes, as Mary K , a friend of hers, read out a poem about a lady who sends off a WLTM letter to a newspaper, gets 410 replies and ends up marrying the postie who brings them!

The other members came up with a variety of subjects.

Joy read a poem she´d written for her church magazine with a moving relgious theme. Good on you Joy! Keep on writing and daring to read things out!

Mary K wrote a poem about a woman´s secret lover, whose son she meets many years after the affair is over and because of whom the man never left his wife. Unusual.

Nik read a piece about Michael Parker, whose book "Hell´s Gate" was written and rewritten numerous times, rejected over and over and finally accepted after many years. Nik´s point was to show that a writer should have a huge dollop of self-belief and perseverence in order to keep going when it seems that nobody wants the stuff you´re writing. Never give up and never get rid of things you write, he says - you may well be able to tweak it into shape and get it accepted one day.

The final three members who read today are all writing novels or long accounts.

Douglas continued his account of life in the army during the forties and fifties, which he is writing, first and foremost, for his family. The description of the dhobi wallah spraying out a starch mixture through his teeth as he ironed the men´s uniforms was priceless!Everyone thought it was fascinating but could be given even more detail to make it clearer to generations who´ve never heard of the Ivy Benson Girl Band or ENSA.

Pat read a further part of the self biography of her life as a child evacuated to Wales during the Blitz. Her descriptions of the miners returning home after their shifts and of the slag heaps surrounding the village were very evocative.

Glyn asked for the group´s opinion on a synopsis he´d written to send in with the first three chapters of his book. Nik, who´s had experience of this, thought the one and a half pages Glyn had written was too short and he needed to expand it and include more of the humour of the novel. The synopsis is there to make somebody want to read the book and Glyn wasn´t doing justice to himself. The humour of the book has to come through much more, it was felt. Back to the drawing board, Glyn!

So ended yet another enjoyable Wednesday morning.

Chris J