Good company, mental stimulation and shortbread, the perfect combination

Apologies were received from Jenny and Heather.
Nik started off proceedings by reading Somerset Maughan’s intro to his collected short stories volume 2 giving good tips about writing in the first person.
Rob’s tale was about a famous Spanish duo Donkey Hote and Sancho Pansy. They weren’t so much tilting at windmills as tilting at wind turbines. They decided to go on an adventure on a motorbike instead of a horse, with a saddle bag filled with pungent, green herby substance, and ended up at a ‘night club’. The girl at the door said ‘do you see anything you like?’ and Sancho Pansy said ‘Yes I like your shoes.’ They eventually get arrested by the Guardia Civil for several misdemeanours. Rob received useful comments. It was thought there was scope for a few stories on the same vein.
Glyn soldiered on with his tale of Army apprentices. One apprentice was on his way from the sailing club back to barracks when he was knocked to his knees and threatened by some recruits from the senior group because he had got out of performing skivvying duties for them, which was a common practice. Glyn is always glad to get comments. It was thought he needed to convey the feeling of violence coming from the group (not the members of TWC but the senior group!)
Brenda continued Minerva’s tale. She had left home and went to a pub where Maud had offered her a room, which was like a cupboard with a big bed in it. Minerva asked the girl in the next room where the bathroom was and she said to her “Have you been on the game long love?” Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire! The story will continue ….. Harry, last week’s speaker, had suggested dividing the story of Minerva into 3 books rather than one long novel, but Nik thought that would be difficult for a non-published author.
Nik informed the circle that Leanne Carter charges 20 Euros an hour for editing a manuscript (carternlp@yahoo.com) but aspiring writers should aim to pay for editing a couple of chapters at the most and learn from that, otherwise the cost would outweigh the profit.
Mary recited a poem she wrote following a nightmare she had last night where she was in the dark. It told of her fears of being unable to see or speak.
Chris had written her poem in a panic at 9 o’clock this morning on the theme ‘the boys in blue’ aptly called Panic. “What shall we do, what shall we do?” A murder had taken place and the perpetrators were panicking. The use of repetition created a feeling of panic well.
Rosemary read out a passage from her book “Out of a Learner’s Mouth, the trials and tribulations of learning Spanish.” It tells of the difficulties that can be encountered when you don’t understand the language well.
Gerry had written more of his story about an Indian and a white girl. Joe regained consciousness; he had been shot, was losing blood and would be dead soon if he didn’t move. His horse wouldn’t come to him. He saw a shadow and then a small group of Red Indians who showed concern. To be continued ….. He received constructive advice from the circle members, particularly about bullets travelling faster than sound and the origin of the stetson (Nik being an expert in such subjects through research for his Western novels).
John read his tale of marital strife and regret brought back to him by the visit of his daughter and grandson. It told of the inner truth of happenings long ago and was lightened with flashes of humour.
Another illuminating and helpful meeting.
Everyone is supposed to have a book in them but I would rather have a G & T inside me.
Next week’s themes are “seasons/seasoning” or “He had such sad eyes.”
Cynthia