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| Image from acctsheffield.org.uk |
Well, what a depleted little band we are. Tony is in Novia
Scotia, Annie is suffering with a chest infection and Chris is sleeping after a
13 hour truck-driving shift. Aware of their ghosts in the room we three encourage
each other in our various efforts to make a dent in the literary scene: Linda
and Rob both submitting their latest projects to agents, Linda entering the
Bridport Prize and Izzie blogging for England and a prize in a humorous blog
competition.
Judging from the humour in
Izzie's critiqued work she will do well. Her short story A Normal Family describes a
day-trip to the seaside by four generations of one family whose main concern is
the matriarchal figure of 'Grandma' who is prone to wandering off. Inevitably she 'slips through the net' of
relatives set out in a cordon around her. Both Linda and Rob feel that with some tightening up it would make a promising entry to a competition with a 'family' theme or one of the magazines that uses warm-hearted, life-affirming short-stories. As far as constructive criticism is concerned, the main focus is on injecting more emotion in terms of the relatives' reactions to the mini-crisis and taking a more leisurely approach to the back-half of the story which feels a little rushed.
The sun is still high in the sky as we break up following an abbreviated meeting. We're all looking forward to all being together at the next one. We miss you guys.
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