Deep and Crisp and Even

The Intrepid Six also known as the Severn Valley Authors ventured out to an almost deserted Bewdley. It had been snowing for most of the day so we were pleased to find ourselves in the snug little alcove in the Arches. The Arches is Bewdley’s newest bar and bistro.

Tony then read ‘The Softness of Heads’. His mellifluous voice was the perfect vehicle for this gentle piece of 1970’s nostalgia. There was much discussion about the main character. Some members of the group thinking that there was a ‘Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ feel; while other group members did not make that connection at all. There was plenty of discussion about the use of apostrophes in trade-marks, split infinitives and whether mint creams needed a hyphen or not.

The dropping of letters in dialect also raised an interesting discussion point. Tony’s piece read as follows.
‘’id in the cupboard every time’.
At first there was the suggestion that the ‘i’ should be capitalised. It was then decided that the capital H was missing due to the character’s dialect and that the capitalisation did not need to be transferred to the ‘i’.

To finish the evening there was a short discussion about each member’s literary ambitions for 2010. The items were recorded and we will return to them quarterly to discuss progress. A brief synopsis is given below.

By the end of 2010 Chris wants to be ready to approach a publisher with the first part of Karl Marx and Careful Driving.

Rob hopes to have a publisher for the ‘Spaniard’s Wife’ and is also beginning to plan his next book – a three strand novel. The group was very interested and excited by Rob’s brief synopsis.
During 2010 Linda wants the first draft of ‘A Head full of Budgerigars’ completed. She also wishes to develop her business.

Tony would like to concentrate on polishing some short stories and marketing his book ‘A Passenger in Time’.

Attending university to study English and Drama was Charlotte’s burning ambition.

Annie would like to start a novel if only she could decide what to write about.

The venue worked well and it was agreed to use it again for the next meeting.