(Written by Annie posted by Rob.)
We met at Rob’s
house. Tony had sent his apologies but we were still five because Chris had
been able to join us.
News
Izzy: has been
working on a blog commission with More Than car insurance and what it is like
to teach teenagers to drive. One teenager must be bad enough but to have to
teach twins to drive must have been nightmarish. Well done Izzy on the blog and
on the driving tests!
Annie: I talked to
the group about my recent visit to Crufts and also on how I have decided to
loosen the structure of my picture book.
Linda: is starting
her second novel and although much is undecided Linda feels that she has
decided upon a setting, Winchelsea Beach.
Chris: gave a talk
to the U3A and proved to be very popular. He sold 19 books but then ran out of
stock. Chris has also been invited to speak during Bewdley Bike Week and event
being run by Bewdley Outdoors. It is scheduled during June at St George’s Hall.
I for one am very much looking forward to it as I have never had the
opportunity to see Chris speak about his journey to Beijing.
Chris’s Reading
Chris’s reading was
an extract from’ Karl Marx and Careful Driving.’ Chris’s sharp prose sparkled
as ever and all members of the group had found the piece enjoyable and
entertaining. Izzy commented several times on Chris’s subtle use of humour.
The piece started
with a reference to ‘the British wanting their garden sheds’ which we found
amusing. Soon after, the piece contained 4 asterisks to blank out an expletive,
there was much discussion as to whether some of the letters should have been
left in as there were two possible choices as to the insult being used. Another
area that caused amusement was Chris’s reference to shaving between pimples
during adolescence.
I was concerned
about the lack of a hyphen in nosedived but as you can see it doesn’t have one
although Izzy had also felt it looked strange and had also had to check. Rob
was excited to be introduced to a new word: Integument.
 |
| A tortoise showing off its integument. |
In biology, integument is the natural covering of an
organism or an organ, such as its skin, husk, shell, or rind. It derives from
integumentum, which means "a covering" in Latin. Wikepedia
I had to
confess to Chris that I did not always read the footnotes as I found the
Marxist theory quite heavy going but despite this I had managed to spot an
errant number three which had found its way into one of them. My confessions
didn’t stop there I also admitted that I found the chapter length long. This
led to a discussion on chapter length and what is expected. Chris has
structured his work around each chapter being a day in length and so each
chapter lasts as long as is needed to cover the ground. The others felt happier
to slip a bookmark in at whichever point they had reached rather than searching
for a natural break.
It was
fantastic to see Chris again and to hear news that he is still pushing forward
with his non-fiction work ‘Karl Marx and Careful Driving.’ We look forward to
the next instalment and only hope that he is there to read it to us.
Next
meeting is 24 March at Annie’s house and Rob is reading.
Our 14 April 14
meeting is at Izzy’s house and Linda is reading.
