Chapter and Verse

What a week! Monday afternoon I went to a writers’ workshop run by Jeff Phelps. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon although I suspect it didn’t quite go according to plan. One of the participants asked how can an editor edit fiction? I suppose in the ideal world no one has the right to edit your creativity but we don’t live in an ideal world and the bottom line is, if you want your work published, you have to give the editor what they want. All the stories published in magazines have to follow guidelines that have been laid down by the magazine and you have to adapt your work to fit their guidelines. Even competitions have rules that must be adhered to. There is no point submitting your brilliant

story of two tho

usand words to a competition that states the maximum word count is sixteen hundred words. It will be disqualified. So whether we like it or not, fiction is edited one way or another.

It was also

nice to see Jeff again, he was a member of Wrekin Writers when I first joined many years ago.

Monday evening I went up to Bishops Castle to hear the crime writer Priscilla Masters www.priscillamasters.com Her story is very different to most. One of seven adopted children of different nationalities she grew up in Yorkshire. Her entry into writing was the result of an aunt asking her what she was going to do with her life. The rest, so they say is history. If you haven’t heard Cilla talk she’s well worth seeing, as for me I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Thursday evening I was off out again. This time I went to Church Stretton library to hear Gillian Linscott. Gillian started her career as a journalist covering such exciting stories as jumble sales and lost dogs. Eventually she moved into writing crime novels and gardening. She now lives and works at Hampton Court, no not that one, the one in Herefordshire where she gardens during the day and writes in the evening. Again I had a wonderful evening.

Friday afternoon I had coffee and cake in Craven Arms with Phil Rickman. Phil like Gillian was a journalist who has also turned his hand to writing fiction. Ghost hunting is his speciality and consequently the discussion did turn to ghosts and seeking them out. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it was an interesting afternoon. Not quite sure though how far he goes with his research or whether he does it alone. I don’t think I would.

These events were arranged as part of the Bridgnorth and South Shropshire Literary Festival. I've had a wonderful time and learned a lot and am grateful to the organisers for arranging the festival. Hopefully it will be repeated next year but with better publicity. Also it was fantastic that there was so much going on right on my doorstep, now that does make a change.