A Full House

There were 30 members in attendance this week and the themes were "My Hero" or "The Last Chance".

Before starting, Nik announced that he had been appointed a chief editor for Solstice Publishing and that he would step down as chairman of the circle at the end of February with Ian taking over then. He also notified the group that he had two handouts, "How ToW rite A Synopsis" and "Solstice Style Sheet" which he would email to those members who wanted them. He also advised that the market for ebooks had doubled in the last year.

Maureen started off by reading "Lunch In Luca" which was about a journey in Paraguay. this was a good descriptive piece and was to be used on Maureen's business website.

Rosemary stated that she was writing 2 books  and when they were published she would be glad if members reviewed them. She read a very evocative poem entitled "Troubled Waters".

Cynthia's poem "Divorce" was extremely comedic with lots of good rhyme.

John Major read a reworked version of his story about Joe and the football match concentrating on the motoring aspect of the tale. This was well written but John was again told of change of viewpoint.

Jenny took this week's theme for her short but sweet poem about her Dad. Everyone thought this to be very poignant.

Mary K used previous week's themes of "The Gift/Sam's Legacy" for her poem about an unwanted child being abandoned after a bitter divorce. This was a different outlook and the members were of the opinion that some more work on it could make it better.

Ann F's offering was another letter to a mother. The subject this time was overcrowding in heaven and the author's trials and tribulations about trying to resolve the housing crisis.

Brenda read her short story entitled "The Gift" about a lawyer who becomes a millionaire by making a pact with the devil to collect souls. Comments were favourable with some suggestions being made to make the story more credible.

John McGregor's item "Eau de CP" was a story about Marion, a friend of his future wife, who lived in a house which was filthy and smelled of Cat's piss, hence the title. This was well told in John's inimitable style.

Geoff took the theme "The Last Chance" to detail a journey into space on "A Postcard from Afar". This highlighted Geoff's sense of humour and off- the-wall thinking.

Glyn explained his piece was an experiment in trying to write a sex scene without being too explicit or graphic. It seemed to go very well especially when the punchline revealed the story was about sheep.

Last, but by no means least, Gerry's offering took the theme and told the story of a night in a monastery by two travellers who are entertained by the monks with music and song. The following day, on their return journey, they become aware of a landslip and the monastery crashing down the mountainside totally destroyed. They become aware that they heard "the last chants". This was a good idea with the play on words.

Ian C