Maureen On The Radio

Maureen Boon

We’re certainly living in strange times at the moment. And for some of us, it’s providing the opportunity to do new or different things with our lives and our work. This week, CWC member Maureen Boon tells us about her first experience of reading a story on the radio.

“At the suggestion of my friend and illustrator, Deirdre, I emailed Radio Devon offering to read one of the extracts from my two books. I expected to hear nothing, or a polite refusal.

Lynne Gets Editing…

Lynne Lawrie

This week, CWC member Lynne Lawrie tells us how she’s been getting on editing her first novel. Over to you, Lynne:

“This is a short run through of my first edit attempt. It is definitely not a ‘how to edit’, but I hope some small details might be useful to some of you, particularly if you haven’t used an editing package.

Social Distancing Via Video Conferencing

Photo by La Miko on Pexels.com

Just a short piece this week, as we’ve all got other things on our minds. It’s beginning to look as though we’re all going to be spending quite a bit of time on our own in the near future. Of course, there is an argument to say that writers are always isolated or socially distanced. We carry out our craft, by and large, on our own. Although many of us spend a lot of time ‘networking’ either in person or online. But even for us, the world has changed dramatically in the past few weeks. So we thought we’d look at some of the options for video conferencing that might be useful for writers in the coming weeks or months.

Writing, but not for me?

Celia Moore is one of the members of Chudleigh Writers’ Circle and a regular contributor to this blog. She published her debut novel Fox Halt Farm in 2017, and has just finished writing the final part of her Fox Halt Farm Trilogy, which will be launched in October 2020. Today, she talks about how she no longer writes for herself.

Reading To Children

This week, CWC member, Jo Elliott, tells us how she got on last month, reading her book Fang, the Unusual Rabbit to all of the children in Widecombe Primary School.

“Having never done this before, apart from a handful of children in a couple of libraries, it was a very daunting task to read to 70 children ranging from five to eleven years. I thought that I would’ve felt a lot more nervous than I did when I got there but everyone at the school welcomed me like an old friend and put me at my ease straight away (including the dog!).

Making A Musical

This week, Peter Whittle, playwright, musician and Chair of Chudleigh Writers’ Circle tells us about a a recent workshop he’s attended on producing musical theatre. And we also bring you news of some upcoming productions that Peter is involved in.

“I have been reminded once again in recent days how narrow minded I can be. Part of the deal for attending a workshop on ‘How to make a musical’ at the RSC theatre in Stratford was to attend a performance of The Boy in a Dress which is a new musical based on a children’s book by David Walliams. Normally I wouldn’t have dreamed of going to see this, thinking it just wasn’t my type of music theatre or story. How wrong could I be? It was a fabulous production.

The Nuts and Bolts of Creativity

Back in January, Paul K Joyce was one of the members of CWC who shared with us his writerly objectives for 2020. This week, we hear how he’s getting on.

“My blog is about the nuts and bolts of creativity. That is to say, the process by which we manage to get our innermost thoughts and ideas down into something resembling a cogent and readable output. Wow, that was a bit verbose!

Researching My Novels

Celia Moore, member of Chudleigh Writers’ Circle and regular contributor to this blog, is going to talk to us this week about researching her novels.

“Write what you know, that’s the mantra we all hear isn’t it? I’m taking a breather today from writing my latest novel — the final part of my Fox Halt Farm trilogy — because I wanted to talk about researching the parts of my stories where my experience is lacking.

News Round-Up

This week we bring you a mix of writerly news, covering a short story competition with some great prizes including a special Devon one; a conference that’s selling tickets at a great rate of knots; and an update on festivals coming to Devon later this year.

Writing Resources

Steve Male

This week, CWC member Steve Male brings us a round-up of his favourite resources for writers – some of which can be accessed for free.

“We all know how to write – yes? Well some of us paid a bit more attention during those English lessons than others but as writers or aspiring writers we all at least think we can write.