JANUARY 2023
11th Adjudication by Sylvie Bräunig of the Poetry Competition
25th Members’ MSS, Book Sale and Raffle of unwanted Christmas presents.
FEBRUARY
8th Theme: Playlets
22nd ‘All Write on the Night’: Flash Fiction
deadline Mini-Saga Competition (exactly 50 words, title 15 characters max)
MARCH
8th ‘Rise to the Challenge’: One Poem to the tune of Another…
22nd Speaker: Julia Usman about her recently published book A Little Country, the themes of which are her life growing up in the Dales and how the countryside has changed over the years.
APRIL
5th Adjudication of the Mini-Saga Competition by Anne Powell
19th Members’ MSS and Book Sale
MAY
3rd ‘All Write On the Night’: Too Good/Too Bad
17th Theme: Memoir
31st Poetry Evening
deadline Writing for Children Competition (max. 1000 words fiction/40 lines verse)
JUNE
14th ‘Rise to the Challenge’: Monologue
28th Speaker: Jan Burley CANCELLED AT VERY SHORT NOTICE. Replaced by a members’ manuscripts evening.
JULY
12th Adjudication: ‘Writing for Children’ adjudicated by Claire Thompson. This will also be our 950th meeting and there will be a special cake!
26th Members’ MSS and Book Sale
AUGUST
9th ‘All Write on the Night’: Found Poetry
23rd Theme: Holidays
deadline Artistic Licence Competition (non-fiction; 1200 words max)
SEPTEMBER
6th ‘Rise to the Challenge’: As the curtain goes up…
20th Theme: A Question of Sport
OCTOBER
4th Adjudication by Bill Hilton of the Artistic Licence Competition (non-fiction)
18th Members’ MSS and Book Sale
NOVEMBER
1st ‘All Write on the Night’: Ekphrastic Prose/Poetry. Your response to a piece of visual art.
15th AGM
Speakers: Arvon & Swanwick – Peter & Maggie
deadline Poetry Competition (60 lines max)
29th Theme: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
DECEMBER
13th Christmas Event
NB The Committee will meet in the spring to assess how the programme is going.
- NOTES
‘All Write on the Night’
These are structured writing sessions where participants are given both subject matter and a framework within which to work e.g. in Flash Fiction it will be 150 words max based on parameters and prompts provided. People will then have a defined period of time within which to write their piece (usually around 20-30 minutes). We will then break for drinks, and people will read what they have written in the second half of the evening.
‘Rise to the Challenge’
Similar to ‘All Write on the Night’ but with slightly looser boundaries. After being briefed on the challenge, Members would have a fortnight to work on their submissions for the following meeting e.g. for the March 8th meeting, the challenge would be briefed out on the 22nd February. Limits would default to 500 words (prose) or 40 lines (poetry), unless otherwise stated.
‘Themes’
Broad themes / styles will be set for contributions at the appropriate meeting. Members can obviously start working on their pieces for these sessions whenever they wish. Formats likely to be 500 words (prose) or 40 lines (poetry), unless otherwise stated. In both cases, members would be welcome to read a section of the appropriate size from a longer piece of work.
‘Members’ MSS’
Members can bring along anything to read on any subject and in any format. For these sessions the only constraint is likely to be time c. 10 minutes per member – so please check how long it takes to read anything you are intending to read!
‘Speaker’
On these evenings we will have someone talk on a specific subject followed by Q&A. Speakers may include people from both within and outside RWG. Presentations will normally form the first half of the evening. After the break there will either be a workshop, further discussion, or an Members’ MSS hour (depending on subject and speaker).
