Meeting #1 (April 1, 2015)

Thanks again to Marc Gathercole and the Fredericton Public Library for opening their doors to us tonight. I enjoyed meeting everyone and look forward to collaborating with you all.

I am posting this to the blog and I have set each of you up to receive an email whenever something is posted to the blog. If you would ever like to unsubscribe to the blog, please email writegroupfredericton@gmail.com. At this point, the blog is public. If you would like to share something with the group, but would rather not post it to the public blog, send it to the same email address and we will forward it to the members of the group.

There were twelve writers (yes, you are all writers!) at the meeting tonight. We will meet the first Wednesday of every month. If we decide we want to meet more frequently at some point, the library will accommodate us.

Here is a breakdown of the type of writing we do:

Fiction – Roxanne Duplisea, Diane Peck, Louise Somerville (Louellena), Heather O’Connell, Lisa Jodoin

Children – Cindy McArthur, Roxanne Duplisea, Diane Peck, Heather O’Connell

Non-fiction – Kim B., David Schwartz, Louise Somerville(Louellena), Roxanne Duplisea

Screenwriting – Alex Brewer, Lisa Jodoin

Poetry - Lisa Jodoin, Roxanne Duplisea, Diane Peck, Louise Somerville (Louellena)

Other – journaling (Joan Mitchell), Women’s fiction (Roxanne Duplisea), mystery, romance, adventure (Roxanne Duplisea)

I will bring the charts to the next meeting so that new members can add their names.

Feedback:

Many of you said that you enjoyed meeting other writers, writing to prompts, and that you enjoyed hearing what others had written. Not everyone was comfortable with writing on demand. We don’t have to share what we write on the spot. We could also bring pieces that we are ready to share.

Suggestions:

Writing prompts, learning to write better, writing exercises, discussion, share what you’ve learned, workshopping, giving feedback, expert guest visitors, writing workshops

Topics for discussion:

Why do you write?

What is the point of writing?

(List) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PDt9PDVGHgQ9zM_UNYyPC7ZgW1sjvvgpbxbfNYxRg4c/edit?usp=sharing

Recommended Books:

On Writing by Stephen King

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves

Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Groups by Judy Reeves

Web resources:

http://Nanowrimo.org

http://polarexpressions.ca (short story & poetry contests)

Facebook (FredNoWriMo; FreddyWords)

writersdigest.com

random.org

Sadly, the awesome short script website I used to belong to is closed! http://moviepoet.com/lock.aspx

Events:

https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in (April, July)

Prompts:

(Place/Object/Genre) https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8FhvrLUF5gWNkxTeTg4RjFfSkk

(Poetry) http://www.creative-writing-now.com/creative-writing-prompts.html

Contests:

(List) https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yIOe7fSR3cEf5x8CfVFuARXb07m_QeL-0QEny_MWHc/edit?usp=sharing

(Your Story) http://www.writersdigest.com/your-story-competition

Critiques:

(Feeling) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PUqZHUlIt5PDRhQ_5ngdgxs-ypFSwc5hvNu6rsqhlTQ/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CMuw98MH

(Shape Up) https://docs.google.com/document/d/18lHZ0fbnio_o1-gXfdoMFR6DXTjv5FRHD2DzGJUNq20/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKTCgqYJ

(Poetry) https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/revising-critiquing-poetry/

(Poetry)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uLB8XlT3CZU0JhsDlz3AiXTDmEsts6JOFuWIeHjvMhY/edit?usp=sharing

The next meeting of The Write Group will be on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 from 6:30 – 8:30 at the Fredericton Public Library. Our facilitator will be Roxanne Duplisea.

See you then!

J Heather