Since time immemorial
- or at least as long as I can recall - SVA meetings have been held on a Tuesday. But, as Take That so memorably rendered it, everything
changes, and so we have switched the meeting to Monday nights. The change is to accommodate Chris's new work
pattern, facilitated by Annie who has sportingly agreed to combine writing with
running by doing both activities on a Monday evening. And so it was that Annie arrived, almost literally
hotfoot (and hardly late at all.) A quick
change and a Golden Vegetable Cup-a-Soup later, she was able to join us in critiquing
Izzie's submission.
Linda has just
got back from Portugal where she perfected the art of writing while her friends
enjoyed a lie-in. Chris was welcomed
back into the fold to tell us about his talk at Bewdley Bike Week and the fact
that his book was now being stocked (alongside titles by fellow SVA members) at
Bewdley's newest and quirkiest shop - Bewdley Emporium.
Rob had been spending
more time gardening than writing but had paused between horticultural tasks long
enough to note that Amazon sales of Out
of Such Darkness were gratifyingly high.
Annie, now suitably victualled, told us of her plans to submit her
recent work directly to publishers and Izzie had been busy posting pieces on
her blog about Eurovision and Judy Tzuke (of Stay With Me Till Dawn fame) (number 16 on the UK Singles Chart back in 1979, if you're
struggling.)
Izzie read her piece with the intriguing title Life in an (almost) empty nest. Linda
felt she would like to have heard a bit more about how it feels to live in an (almost) empty nest. Everyone seemed to like the William Morris
quote: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful,
or believe to be beautiful."
Chris said he might have been inclined
to put this quote upfront. Rob and Tony both detected a certain transatlantic
tinge to some of Izzie's writing and Rob found the tone occasionally a little bossy
while Annie focussed more on the ideas Izzie had dreamt up, rather than the style
or tone. Izzie is certainly enjoying success in the world of blogging and
that's an encouragement to us all, whether we're writing blogs, children books,
short stories, articles, non-fiction or novels.
But what would the great William Morris have had to say about our
little gathering? Well, he once
observed, "It took me years to understand that words are often as
important as experience, because words make experience last." Or, as Judy
Tzuke put it: "It's the same old
situation/Every word so finely placed
..."Next meeting: Monday 22nd June at Izzie's, Rob to submit.
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