A flash of inspiration...

A few weeks ago I was on a family holiday in South Wales, on the Gower peninsula, a very nice part of the world I had hardly ever been to. One day somebody suggested we went for the day to Laugharne ( pronounced 'Larne' if you didn't know - which I didn't. I also didn't know it was where Dylan Thomas wrote much of his work, and - well, see what you think...


LAUGHARNE

The other day I went to Laugharne;
a town I’d never seen
or heard of; but when I got there
was captured by the scene.

Laugharne had it all: sea, shore and castle,
portrayed like painted pictures.
The town serene, the people quaint
S’ though written in the scriptures.

A man came once, who stayed to live,
and work, as through God’s hands.
A poet, author, playwright, now
revered across our lands.

Strange to say – I was moved too;
I understood his calling.
He missed his bus, and stayed on there
Into Laugharne’s spell was falling.

So who knows how this way will go?
My strange but moving day.
Will I come back? And pick up pen?
Laugharne’s magic call? I may...

John McGregor

bus ride from hell

Hi everyone!
In the spirit of us all actually posting on the blog, here's a piece which might entertain you (or not, as the case may be). I did it for the 'story in dialogue' theme and as usual, it's based on real events. It's a reworking of an article I read out ages ago...and is a rarity: it doesn't include any references to toilets.......

How long did it take, then?

Twenty two and a half hours to be exact – nightmare. Music blaring, bones rattling, body smells that made you retch. Probably the worst journey I’ve ever done.

What the hell were you doing, going to – what’s it called? - Amhedabad anyway?

No idea. This woman came up to me on the platform,. Shoved her face up to my chin and started babbling about tickets. Couldn’t understand a word…

So how come you ended up on a bus then?

Good question. She kept pointing at the word Amdawotsit on the ticket, smiling, pointing at me and shoving me towards the bus shelter…it dawned on me after a few minutes that she was giving me her ticket…must’ve overheard me complaining that there was no train to Pushkar, I s’pose. She probably thought she was doing me a favour

And was she?

Hmm..well, I figured out that if I got as far as whatever its called, the fare from there to Pushkar wouldn’t be much, so I thought, what the hell? Why not? And that was it. Decision made

So what did she do? Start screaming for money?

Nah - just gave me the ticket then pushed off. I grabbed a seat and sat back to sleep. But that’s when I found out the bus I was on was a shitty old rustbucket . Plastic seats your bum stick to ‘cause you’re so sweaty…crammed in with dozens of people, all pushing and shouting….

Sounds lervely…

Hah! I was by the window so I forced it open – that was a mission I can tell you - and closed my eyes…then when I woke up I thought I felt water on my cheek..but when I opened my eyes it wasn’t raining outside, so I wiped my cheek with my hand and… shit…nearly threw up. The old woman in the seat in front of me had gobbed out of her window and it had come back in through mine to land on my face

Bloody hell- that’s gross! What did you do?

I was so furious I belted her round the back of her head. She shrieked and turned round and glared—but I just made a retching sound and pointed at my face. She turned round and shut up

Yuk…oh god it sounds horrendous

It was…. nearly 24 hours of being thrown from side to side, hot and sticky and smelly – god the stink of fetid armpits, dog breath and farts…someone must have had a dead rat up their arse, it was so gross..

Too much information! What happened when you got there? To Wotsitabad…?

Got off, knees nearly buckling from exhaustion, and trudged along a road till I found a ‘rooms’ sign: ‘Shanti pissful sleeping shop 500 rupees very nice and chip’

I crashed on the rock hard bed, zonked out for a few hours then staggered along to the train station and here I am – ready to go and look at camels!

You smell like you spent the night with some of them. Anyway the camel fair started this morning so shall we grab a lassi then get going?

Yeah, sounds like a plan. I’m gonna have a bang lassi – the one with some dope in it…I need to chill and get over my 22 and a half hour overnight bus ride from hell…

Maureen

Wednesday9/11/11

Ian opened the meeting today with a thankyou to Jenny for co-ordinating Saturdays outing to Alcala del Jucar. I think that those who went on the trip thoroughly enjoyed it in spite of the shock to the systems with the reduced temperature. He then went on to canvass opinions as to whether we should continue with thhe blog in its current form as there seemed to be few comments posted and not many hits. Should we let individuals contribute their own works to illustrate what the writers circle is about? It was then proposed to continue in the same vein, as members who are not always present at the meetings can keep abreast of the matters raised, especially when they are not resident in Spain. Ian then rreminded those present that anyone can contribute to the blog, as posting details are available, in order to showcase their work.

We then discussed whether the group could absorb more members or whether membership should be restricted. Last week there were so many would be contributors that not everyone could read their pieces. It was agreed that we would leave well alone because the purpose is to encourage people to write and the weekly themes are only suggestions. We did however suggest the any critiques received should not involve justification by the author of a piece, involving lengthy discussions but the comments are made to assist and if the writer does not agree, that is their choice. .

Ian also called for quiet during readings and allow one voice at a time for the feedbacks. We know it makes sense.

Lisa then told the group thhat she had received an Email from an ex member, John Major, to say that he should have his book, A Recipe For Disaster go to press in America next year. We all agreed it woulld be well deserved as he had amused us with his extracts.

John M then gave us an update on the aftermath of his book being published. Apparently he referred to two ladies as Laurel annd Hardy because of their physiques, and he had recieved an Email from the Hardy, who had recognised herself in the book. Alls well that ends well though,she has a sense of humour

We then took the opportunity to welcome two potential new members,Darren who is new to writing fiction and Janet who has had some short stories published in magazines.She is keen on writing a biography of her mother but so far has had no success with agents

Avril began todays readings with a poem Silence, when following a brief encounter at her back gaate with a neighbour, she went indoors and wrote a piece about the silence of being alone after her husband left and she had put the children to bed. It was beautifully written and I'm sure struck a chord with some.

Jane gave us another instance of her memories of life in France. The piece was entitled A Night at the Opera and described travelling by coach and donkey to an amphitheatre in the mountains to see the locals rendition of The Magic Flute. It really must have been a wonderful experience, and typical of Jane's writing very evocative

Maureen read piece entitled Brainwaves which described how 'research' has found that the majority of our thoughts are about sex. (they obviously didn't ask me). She had been prompted to write following being on a trip with a guide who never stopped talking banal nonsense and she wondered when he had time to think of anything.

Brenda read the first chapter of Ivy' s journal to explain why she was against naming her character in the prologue to the book which she read two weeks ago. It tells the story of the adult Ivy looking back on her miserable time in the orphanage and the sadistic housemother, Miss Parker, who made her life hell. We agreed that taking the first chapter in conjunction with the prologue, it made sense.

Janet then read part of a story she has written about a disturbed person who,on discovering that there are traces of blood about his clothes and a book. realises that he has committed some horrific crime and rushes round his home closing curtains and trying to hide from the world. There was some discussion about the opening descibing schizophrenia as the first impression was that it was a thesis on the illness.

Darren closed the readings by beginning his story of a man surveying 7 small bodies on the kitchen floor, and wondering if he were turning into some sort of homicidal maniac. The brilliant twist came when he explained his method of attack----with a fly swat costing 1euro at the Chinese Bazaar. His description of the martial arts method was priceless.

As Jane attended her first Open Mike last night it has been requested that her poem be included in the blog.


HAPPINESS.


Happiness is the sound of you voice . .
That lifts me when I come in the door.
That special smile that makes me rejoice
In our love, and makes me love you more.

It's the smell of a new born baby's skin,
The surprising strength of his tiny hand.
The soft nape of his neck and under his chin,
H is searching eyes when on you they land

It's the warm sand oozing between your toes
The spray of the surf pounding on a beach.
It's sitting down with a piece of prose,
That juicy moment you eat a peach.

It's the feel of a soft embracing hug.
Which says I understand you and care
A listening friend and a hot tea mug
When problems seem beyond repair.

It's the golden glow of a harvest moon
Shining bright in a clear starry sky
It's the lunchtime bell that rings at noon
It's the sight of a hovering hawk on high.

It's meeting with loved ones after a time
It's a tender message left on a phone
It's the cool fresh taste of a chilled white wine
Sipped with a lover, friends or alone.

It's the magical moment when seedlings grow
And you feel protective of fragile stems.
It's giving a gift to someone you know
Will treasure it as though it were gems.

It's the flesh of Reubens, light of Vermeer
The music of Mozart,Vivaldi or Bach.
It' s the books we read and hold so dear,
The singing of choirs or a soaring lark.

It can be seen shining so bright in our eyes.
It can make us jump for joy as a child.
It can make our feel-good factors rise,
It can even make our behaviour wild

Happiness is a state of mind
Idealy felt by all mankind.
It is a very fragile thing
But oh what feelings it does bring.

It comes not on a special date
It's best not searched for, learn to wait.
It will arriive, don't know when or where
But open your heart and feel it there.



MARVELLOUS SAY I, SEE YOU NEXT WEEK. .

Anne Grierson



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Meeting 2/11/2011

The meeting was opened by Ian and attended by 31 members. We welcomed Terry Bradshaw, a Canadian author who is based at Campoverde part time. He is a published author who favours writing adventure fiction, and is a member of a writers group at home. We hope you found our group interesting and look forward to seeing you again.

Ian gave a list of times and pick up points for our proposed trip this coming Saturday and also gave us the news that one of Jenny's poems has been short listed for publicatiion. Good luck Jen. John Edwards then reminded the group of the open mike night on 9/11/2011.

Todays theme was -I was alone and afraid. Because of the number attending, not all got to read but here's a brief summary of those who did

Douglas reprised his story of a chance meeting with "The Odd Couple" whilst on holiday in Portugal. It was very descriptive and I think I could have nightmares if I met warty face and his droopy wife.

Kathy wrote on the theme, describing how she awoke to the sound of an intruder and tentatively went downstairs after arming herself with a revolver. BIG MISTAKE, she shot her husband. Very good sign off as she was then alone and afraid off the police.

Heather then read a marvellous piece about the time she spent in Venice as part of a history course, she described the different routes she took to the mansion where the lectures were given. I could almost smell the canals and see the green slime deposits.

Geoff entertained as usual with a marvellous description of what I thought was set in a school for contortionists, with people taking up odd positions the twist being they were being posed for a wedding photograph.

Phil read a poem from the point of view of an unemployed person who had to find ways of keeping warm when the heating went off at 9.0am. It was a really thought provoking and in non contrived rhyme. A sort of voice for the less fortunate.

Glyn read a further extract from his book about the ex serviceman suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. This detailed his venture into intimacy with a blonde who in actual fact bleached her hair and brought back his feelings of hatred towards brunettes. The piece was read in order to obtain the ladies reaction following advice from a literary agent and brought mixed responses from the group.

John's article was an amusing tale on being aurally challenged, and advised on the best way to mask impending deafness.

Betty then read her proposed book aimed at small children. It was written from the point of view of Baz, a cat who is confronted with the family moving to Spaiin. She intends to illustrate the book herself as her other interests include painting.

Anne Flynn gave us another of her Dear Mother letters with a twist. Instead of writing of ancient events, this one was entitled Dear Mummy, the writer being Prince Charles who had been galvanised into writing on seeing the Australian Prime Minister refusing to curtsey or wear a hat when greeting Her Majesty.There were also numerous references to Fag Ash Lil aka Camilla.

Chris J wound up the readings with her first attempt at blank verse.. It was based on the theme and described the different times in ones life when one is alone and afraid, being shunned by ones peers and, ending on a very cheerful note, the eventual lonely experience of dying. I actually liked this and as you know I dont always get the idea of blank verse. PS to me. Find out more about it.

Well thats it for now. Next weeks theme is. Aren't our police wonderful? Well of course they were in my day. .

Wednesday 26th October 2011..




25 people attended todays meeting. Before todays Hot Pen began we had a couple of announcements. Glen began by informing us that he had received very valuable feed back from a London publisher/agent concerning his novel about the mental torment of an ex serviceman who had been brutalised by the war in Afghanistan. It seemed to bear out the groups comments when he had read extracts-don't kill the hero and remember to temper the content so as not to alienate possible female clientele.
Brenda had also been in touch with a London agent who had requested 3 more chapters of her book so that sounded very promising. Nik then cautioned that it was not wise to assume success until the deal was finally agreed, as it could lead to disappointment , but not to lose heart.
Nik attended this week with Stuart Quay, who told us that he started writing at 7 years old and caught the bug, although he has not been writing continuously. His speciality is crime thrillers having been published in North America, before coming to Spain.

Jenny had an update on our proposed day trip on 5th November. She read a list of pick up points and by the end of the meeting it was announnced that 19 members had put their names forward with a possible 10 guests. Now it will depend on the availability of seats, which wil be decided at next weeks meeting.

The buzz word for this weeks hot pen was "Before"
Ian began with a confrontation between husband and wife about the break up of the marriage when the husband falls for Jackie/Jack. Always a twist Ian.

Lisa wrote about a person watching an awards cermony wandering when the papparazzi will began to uncover the star's past life.

Jenny's poem was about a closed store, sorry Jen if I missed the rest of it but as usual it was all too short for me to write more. [I'm a bit deaf you know]

Maureen wrote a piece about unreasonable behaviour while Margarets subject was contemplating two bottles, one alcoholic the other medicinal, which one to choose.

Georgia's blank verse very cleverly reflected on past life experiences.

Jane wrote about Tony and Wayne standing before the Registrar to take their vows when Wayne's wife turns up.Poor Tony seemed a loser all round.

Anne G wrote of a conversation between husband and wife undergoing a differnce of opinion.

Douglas was very amusing, striking a cord with me at least, when he tries to address a meeting of deaf people before realising he was at the wrong venue.

Avril took the opportunity to attempt to write on the theme in Haiku form, and this was followed by three limericks from Mary.

Our new Grandma Ann B wrote a lovely poem about her new grandson Tobias. There really is something special about the first don't you think.?

Chris J had a clever piece about regrets following a wife withdrawing money, buyng a car, crashing the car, and having no money left Before her husband knew anything about it. Oops!

Anne F had a journal entry by the Minister of Foreign affairs reflecting on the corruption and famine in Africa and wishing he were in a less demanding position.

Brenda's piece looked back to times before the world went mad while Betty had a story about a maidservant who "borrows" m'ladys brooch to attend a function.

Stuart admitted to not being a short story writer but gave an account of his movements before coming to Spain. Nik confessed he is averse to the word before when he reads submissions, he advised to use with care.

Phil wrote of a Polish immigrant fruit picker who thought of how simple his life had been before leaving his home country and ended with a cliff haanger=
did he kill the woman,Phil/

Glyn spoke of a cancelled Rosas day trip and his wait for a refund while Jim resolved to wait until the last minute of one year in order to write his Lastfirst poem of the year.

Cynthia struck a cord with the ladies when she began by saying "Before marriage I was a person" prior to becoming wife,mother,grandmaa etc.

Mary wrote about a little girl who was late accompanying her family to church and so went walkabout on her own. It ended with her hearing someone addressing her by name. I hope it wasn't the bogey man Mary.

Kathy told of waking to find her living room trashed, but instead of iit being a tale of a burglary, it turned out to be her cat who had chased and murdered a budgie Not such a pretty boy then.

Gerry was the last to read. on the theme. His tale involved a bar room gunfight.

So- isn't it a wonder that one little six letter word Before- sorry Nik- can mean so many different things to so many people. .

As we had about half an hour left before the meeting closed Jane re read an account of the postman catching her unawares as she had a strip wash in a bowl of water whilst her house in France was under construction and Brenda reprised her account of the testament left by a suicide welcoming her impending death. Both invited comments from the group on adjustments needed before submission.

Next weeks theme is " I was alone and afraid". Hope to see you then. Anne Grierson(name in print at last).

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19/10/11.

There were 21 attending the meeting today.; Ian opened the meeting by repeating that he had not had a lot of feedback about the proposed day out and the consensus was we ought to make a decision asap. It was suggested that we took a day trip to Alcala de Jucar on Satruday 5th November and Ian said he would send emails to all members for those wishing to attend. We also discussed the Christmas lunch which provisionally would be held at the; Olympia on 21st December.

John Edwards suggested that our next weeks meeting should; follow the lines of a poetry regime set out in the writers magazine but the feeling was we would stick to the scheduled subject of hot pen as Ian pointed out that we do have a poetry challenge coming up. Henke brought a Guardian supplement for the members which gave hints on fiction writing. We then began the readings.

Ian wrote a piece called The Move which was very topical in the light of recent news events. It concerned the feeling of a family of travellers who were in the process of accepting the keys to a council property and forsaking the life style of their clan. It focussed on the feelings of the eldest boy as he looked around the campsite regretting his parents decision to separate from their traditional way of life. It really was a beautifully written piece.

Iarla read a thought provoking blank verse entitled Men I Know. Although blank verse doesn't float my boat Iarla, I actually thought it rather splendid. Margaret wrote on the theme Roller Coaster about three old Polish gentlemen visiting an amusement park for the first tiime and going on the black hole ride. The dialogue between the three was priceless. Great stuff.

Kath also wrote on the theme describing in great detail her memories of an amusement park on Barry Island which she visited with her brother as a child. You could almost smell the popcorn and candy floss.

Mary wrote part 1 of a proposed short story about Siobhan who sets off from Milton Keyes bus station on a tour of Ireland. She finds she is the only single passenger and notices the manly charms of the driver In the last line of todays reading Mr Wonderful has just approached her. Watch this space.

Cynthia wrote a poem describing a feeling of mayhem with mothers coping with crying children and then in the last line revealed that it was all happening whilst a vicar/priest delivered his sermon. That rang some bellls, I always lost the plot during some long boring sermons.

Maureen read a few short pieces on border crossings as she is compiling some accounts of her experiences durring her many travels. I particularly like the description of willies place on the Brazil/Bolivian border.

Douglas read a terrific piece called A Pirate Saved My Son. It was written from the point of view of an army wife cauught up in inter denominational riots in Singapore when one of her children has an accident and splits his tongue and the only good samaritan to offer to break the curfew and drive to the hospital is an
Indian unlicensed taxi driver when help is refused by her fellow counrtymen. There was no payment sought either, it made you think.

Mary K wrote a small poem entitled Life and it wasn't a limerick. What can I say.

Avril wrote a poem about the ride Space Mountain in Disneyland which drew similarities between the actual reach for the skies of the ride and ones inspiration to do better in life.

Anne G wrote about her roller coaster of feelings the day she misplaced her handbag, which ended when she heard her mobile pleading for a recharge and discovered she had left it outside all night. Who's a lucky girl then. I may add that I'm preparing for the funny farm.

Jenny read another of her telling poems on last weeks theme of conversation piece, entitled Chat Up with a short and sweet sign off advising the would be Romeo
where to go. Priceless.
. ttfn all,see you next week Anne G .

12^th October 2011

Ian was underwhelmed by responses from members regarding how to spend the spoils.  Why not overwhelm him with several suggestions?  I’ll do it after this Ian.

Ian had also listed some features in this month’s writer’s magazine.

1)    Beware vanity publishers

2)    Beware writing without payment (should we?)

3)    November is ‘write a novel’ month 50,000 words

4)    Humorous writing

5)    Character writing

6)    Haiku

This week’s challenge ‘A Conversation Piece’

Margaret (that’s me) started off and I have clearly lost the plot.  The comments 'you said' about the conversation were helpful.  ‘I said’.   I have got it really.  Too much description.  Thanks for your comments.

Jane’s attempt was much better.  Reminded me of ‘Ladies of Letter’s another radio submission perhaps Jane?

Ann gave us another successful story.  Comments were; possibly two changes to sharpen the dialogue.

Avril gave us a fishy conversation. Nothing caught.  Everyone thought that the piece was interesting with good use of technical information about fishing and indigenous wildlife.

Mary read her conversation challenge. Guess what job I’ve got?  where one character didn’t have a clue.  A good concise story was revealed to us all.

Chris wrote about, was it ‘Trench Warfare’ or Marital Warfare?  Comments were that there would be more interruption between husband and wife, but it sounded real enough to me.

Nick asked members who attended the workshop to collect sheets of information he had brought for those who attended the workshop.  He also informed us of a flyer he had giving information about a short story competition of 2,000 words on the theme of Identity.

John’s Conversation piece had lots of detail and was thought to be well rounded.  Comments were;.  A bit more identification of which character was speaking.  John agreed that he had cut some dialogue out to shorten the piece and would have another look at it.

Brenda Read her conversation story about misunderstanding information.  Everyone agreed it was an amusing piece.  Suggestions were; names were not needed, before each person speaks. Agreed that it fitted the brief well.

Douglas suggested that when dialogue was read out using two people, which had been the case on several occasions at this group’s meeting, it worked much better.  A thought for the future.

Alan Gave his own take on a conversation about a conversation piece.  It worked very ‘well’.  Suggested that some ‘wells’ could be taken out.

Betty Read her conversation tale about a ‘red’ or a ‘blonde’ moment.  A conversation heard during a bus ride.  We all want to go on a manhunt to Benidorm now.  Agreed that it worked quite well.

Cathy gave us her slice of life called ‘Forbidden Fruit’ definitely a cake moment.  Suggested that some words used could be revised. And a more definite point of view could be shown.  Worked well.

Iarla Didn’t write on the theme, but gave us a poem called ‘Lighten up’ a very short piece but everyone wanted to hear it again to get the full impact of such a pithy piece.

Jerry ‘A home for mother’ an interesting account of a conversation between mother and son.   ‘mother’ is too astute for her son.  Fits the challenge well  Suggestions were; explanations not necessary as it is clear what the piece is about and who’s speaking.  Perhaps no preamble is necessary either.

John Reminded us about the open Mic session on Tuesday 8^th November 7.30 in Chadwicks Bar at Villamartin that’s run in conjunction with Wordplay.

Ian We had a good feeling for his first conversation piece!  This was about the possibility of making a foursome.  Very entertaining.

The second piece was a dating problem ‘will she or wont she’

The third was the Petting Cemetery and group sex ending with a kick, not a kiss.

Jerry Read another conversation piece this time in the car.  You’re sure you’re not shouting Jerry.  Everyone thought that this was very familiar and a bit too real for me Jerry!

Douglas didn’t tell us a story using conversation, but did write a commentary on last week’s meeting where the voices of the people in the group brought the stories to life and he pointed out how helpful and interesting that made the stories and how accomplished some readers were in this group of getting their point across when they read their stories out loud.

That’s it folks, sorry no fancy pictures, but a bit pushed for time.

Margaret