Looking Good ...

Looking good for the Young Writer sessions, at the moment, everyone.  Have had an email from the Ashburton Library in Shirley Road and they have said they are happy for the sessions to start up again there. There is just a couple of forms for me to fill out and as soon as they are in place, I will let you know when the first session will be.  This is really exciting because I think being in the library, surrounded by books, will give a new lease of life to the group and it would be much easier, I would think, to then get Guest Speakers in. 

Plus I think the Young Writers themselves will be very inspired.  I know I will be.  So keep an eye on the blog for further news but when I get the dates, I will email, text or write to as many of you as I can, anyway.

One other quick thing to mention.  I am still holding on to prizes for the winners of the Mothers Day competition winners and I would like to ensure the children receive these.  I also have an awful lot of their work - assignment sheets and session sheets - which I would very much like to return to them.  Once we know the session dates, perhaps you could come along and collect all this, even if your children do not want to be regular members anymore...

Finally, please let me know dates of autumn or Christmas Fairs coming up so I can sell copies of Word Magic.  And if you would like to buy copies to give as Christmas Presents, let me know ASAP so I can get them out to you in plenty of time.  Once Steve and I have recouped our final £60.00, we can start donating to charity just as we originally planned, but I do need your help with this so any response would be very gratefully received.

Good Writing!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Hi everyone.  What a pity we have lost our lovely venue at PMT.  I feel terrible for Amanda and Clark because they put so much into that place.  It must have felt like a real kick in the teeth to just have to let it go, although I know it was stressing Amanda out quite a bit in the end.  But fear not oh mighty carriers of the pen!  Several mums texted me and suggested we approach the library next to Oasis School in Shirley Road and I did this earlier today.  I spoke to the head librarian there and told her of our dilemma and she does not think it will be a problem to switch the sessions to there.  All I have to do is send her an email which she will pass on to "the people upstairs" and I should find out fairly soon whether or not we can go ahead, and if so, when we can start.  I will do that this weekend and get back to you all.

In the meantime, please give the Young Writers my love and tell them that, all being well, we should be able to pick it all up again sooner rather than later.

Watch this space ....

See You Saturday ...

Hello everyone.  Looking forward to seeing you this Saturday (29th September) between 9.30 and 10.30 at PMT.  Be interesting to see if Saturdays work out better than Sundays.  I hope so because I so do not want to see the group fold!  Fingers crossed.

I hope the Young Writers are settling back into their school routine again.  It is always hard for the first week or so isn't it?  I have got a lot of new ideas for the group to take us into 2014 - a newsletter, a competition or two and some fresh Creative Writing areas to try and I hope they will enjoy it.  Perhaps those of you coming on Saturday could bring your Parent Questionnaires in because your feedback is so valuable.  Addiscombe Young Writers isn't my group.  It is their group - the Young Writers themselves.  And if ever I needed your support to keep it going, I need it now.

Please would you also consider purchasing some copies of Word Magic to give as Christmas gifts.  I am sure there must be some family and friends tucked away who would really appreciate a  copy. And please do let me know if there are any autumn or Christmas fairs coming up where we can sell copies from a stall.  It is really important the book is seen.  The children worked so hard on all the contributions that it would be a terrible shame for the book to go unread!

Don't forget to bring along any younger siblings on Saturday.  It would be amazing to give them the same opportunities the older children have had since the group began.

Anyway - won't give too much away now, but please do pop along - and you can enjoy one of Amanda's delicious cup cakes as the Young Writers pick up their pens again.

Good writing.  Can't wait to see you!

Onwards And Upwards

Hi everyone.  Have just spent an hour or so, texting, emailing or writing to all you mums and dads regarding the relaunch date for AYW so, just to confirm, the first session is on Saturday 28th September from 9.30 at PMT.   I know it still isn't perfect, but, hopefully, it will suit more of you than the Sunday sessions did - and don't forget, any younger siblings who might be interested that were too young last year, would be very welcome.

I have had a few ideas on how to take the group forward and one of these is to launch a bi-monthly newsletter featuring the children's work.  In the first place, I will launch a competition for the members to decide what they would like their Newsletter to be called, so hopefully, that will get us off to a good start.  I also thought it might be an idea to look at play writing, and also non-fiction, as they are both areas we haven't really touched on yet.  Plus making greetings cards.  I will be producing new Inspirational Sheets from time to time as well, where I will set some tasks for the Young Writers to tackle - nothing too strenuous - just things that will kick their Creativity into touch - something I have found that works very well with the young boy I have been privately coaching for the last six weeks or so.

If you can make it on 28th, please remember to bring your questionnaires in so I can make even more improvements.  And there is still time for the Young Writers to enter the Short Story Competition if they would like to as the closing date is not until 30th September.

I hope you have all had a great summer.  See you on 28th.
Good Writing!

OOOPS!!!!!!

Sorry everyone - the first session for the new re-launched Writing Group will be on Saturday 28th September 9.30 - 10.30 not 7th as stated in last blog (at least not if I want to avoid being ostracized by my granddaughter whose 8th  birthday party falls on that day!!!).  I will send confirmation texts, emails or letters over the next day or two (did you see the Press Release in this week's Advertiser by the way?).  On 28th I will hand out a sheet with all forthcoming session dates on - right up till end of December when I will review it to take forward into 2014.

Have a lovely August Bank Holiday!!!

MOVING ON ...

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all enjoying your summer.  Here is just one more quick update then I'll be gone for a couple of weeks at least and leave you in peace.  Firstly I have had some great ideas about how to develop the group and I will go into these next blog.  Secondly, the first two dates for the new Saturday slot for the young writers are 9.30 - 10.30 at PMT on Saturday 7th and Saturday 28th September.  I will either text, email or write to you all over the next few days just to confirm this so we can crack on.  And finally, I hope you have all received your Parent Questionnaires and Summer Competition Sheet but if you haven't let me know ASAP and I will get them out to you again.  There are also extra copies of the competition sheet at PMT and at Ashburton Library.  That's it for now.  Be happy!

UTTERLY BRILIANT NEWS .....

Hi everyone, here is the first August blog as promised.  I hope you are all enjoying the spectacular summer we have been blessed with this year!  Even as I sit here in my study, the window is open, the fresh air is wafting through, a helicopter buzzes overhead, kids are playing outside and even the music from the fair at the park can be heard drifting on the breeze. This is how summer is meant to be and I love it!

Okay - first some really good news!  The article about the Young Writers has appeared in the September issue of Writing Magazine (on sale now at W H Smith) on Pages 60 and 61.  Although the editor did not use any of the group photos I sent him, the feature still reads well - and even has a front cover lead - so I am well chuffed with it and I just hope it encourages others to set up Young Writer groups.  I will bring a copy along to the next session to show any interested parties.

Secondly - some even better news! I finally got round to seeing Amanda this morning and we had a discussion about taking the group forward.  She is experiencing some problems with being able to open up on a Sunday at the moment - not her fault, I hasten to add - so the one August session I was hoping to hold will not now take place.  Instead, what we are going to do is re-launch the group starting in September - and we are going to try 9.30 to 10.30 on Saturday mornings!  This should make it much more accessible to everyone - including any younger siblings who may now be old enough (and interested enough) to join.  I am going to print off some flyers and let the local papers know and, hopefully, we will be able to regain the momentum we had a few months back.  Also, I am going to confirm a date with our proposed Guest Speaker (all will be revealed in time) and see if I can arrange some other "Specials" to take the group successfully into its second year.  This is a very exciting (and challenging) time for Addiscombe Young Writers - I want to breathe new life into it so that youngsters with a yen for Creative Writing can get a taste of it and enjoy it.  I know things have not been what they were but I was not going to let it go without a fight and - hopefully, the new arrangement will work for most of you.  We will still be holding two sessions a month and I am still accessible by blog, mobile or email so you can always get in touch with any ideas, comments or suggestions.

Finally a couple of other things. Firstly - I am going to post out the Parent Questionnaire and Competition Sheets on Monday and will extend the closing date of the competition to 30 September to give everyone a fair chance.   

Secondly - I wanted to let you know that I have not yet been able to donate any of the takings from Word Magic to our chosen Good Cause for two reasons.  One - husband Steve and I have not fully recovered what we paid for the book's production.  I think this is partly due to the fact that some new members whose work was included, left before I was able to collect their contribution to costs.  It may also be that I just miscalculated.  Either way, we are coming up £60 short.  And two - and this is the real posterial pain - we have not between us, been able to actually sell one single copy!!!!!  So I am calling on all of you to help.  If you want to buy copies to give to relations as Christmas presents, or to friends and family, or if your child's school is interested in buying any, just to show the kind of achievements the children have made, please let me know ASAP.  I cannot stress how important this is.  The Young Writers worked really hard.  To be published at such young ages ( some were only 6 when the book was first put together) - they deserve all the recognition they get.  I know we are all incredibly proud of them.  It was a community project so please help me to get it out into the community - maybe the church has an autumn or Christmas fair coming up?  Please let me know how you can help - and we will soon get the children's work into the Public consciousness, I know it!

I will blog again in a couple of weeks just to let you all know the date of the September re-launch, but in the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer. 

Good Writing, everyone!