How to Avoid a Hot Pen .

Rob was in the chair as Sub Chairman (SC) on a bright, sunny pre-New Year`s day. As per the previous week, we were a happy band but few. This did not deter us, however, and armed with generous slices of stollen, donated graciously by Mary K, we assembled to hear the glad news that one of our lottery tickets had come up! The general whoops of delight were somewhat dampened when the SC informed us that after subtracting the cost of all three tickets from the winnings, we were only about 30 euros better off. A suggestion was put forward that the SC should consult the C about a possible purchase of an El Niño ticket. Don´t know what has happened about that. Watch this space.

We agreed that, in order to avoid a dreaded HOT PEN, all work written should be read slowly and discussed to death.

Brenda continued with her novel- a short but interesting extract.

Douglas had a new laptop with him and was experiencing the odd technical difficulty ( the damned thing wouldn´t work to begin with). However, once under way, he read a slightly blue piece called French Letter.

Mary M wrote a factual piece about a cruise, which made us all a bit envious.

Chris came up with a poem about a meeting at the Benidorm Palace. Anyone wishing to read it should look on her blog where it will appear once she gets her bum in gear.

The SC, Rob, saved us from a hot pen with a nifty little exercise he´d picked up from a creative writing course he´s doing. You had to write down the 26 letters of the alphabet in an order decided by the SC and then write the first word which you thought of, beginning with that letter. Some clever clogs managed to write words which joined on, half sensibly, into a series of events. Others managed two or three interesting combinations. Whether it was the lingering effect of Douglas´French Letters piece I don´t know but quite a few were a touch frisky (bedknobs, French underwear, Fun under bed, George´s quiet pyjamas to mention one or two).

There was still 20 minutes to go when Heather came to our rescue with a brilliant short story which she´d been inspired to write based on her experience working for a while with the British Federation of Handtool Manufacturers....... It was very good indeed and had a lovely twist at the end. Gotta publish it kid!

See you all next week.

Happy New Year!!!!

Chris J