CURRENT PROGRAMME
Non-members are welcome at any of our regular monthly meetings for a charge of £3
Forthcoming 2010 Meetings:
Thursday 10 JUNE - Hywela Lyn - BUILDING A WORLD OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Hywela Lyn will discuss how landscape and environment can inspire and set the mood.
Lyn is a country loving, animal and horse mad Welsh person. She wrote stories in
her head while horse riding in the Welsh Mountains, and her first novel was published
2 years ago. 2009 saw the publication of 'Children Of The Mist', the sequel to 'Starquest'.
Thursday 8 JULY - Sandra Smith - HUMOUR WRITING WORKSHOP - Writing that makes the
reader chuckle, chortle or momentarily snigger appears deceptively easy. True, humour
is often conversational in style, encouraging readers to assume the words tumble
effortlessly onto the page. Yet creating a humorous piece is just as challenging
as writing a serious novel, high brow thriller or complex sci fi story. Learn how
to fabricate a funny idea and concoct a comical story by abandoning any modest choice
of language, milking grammar for all its worth and indulging in a full frontal use
of exaggeration.
Thursday 12 AUG - Summer social gathering
Thursday 9 SEPT - Manuscript evening
Thursday 14 OCT - Tessa Harris, Editor of Bucks and Berks Life WHAT EDITORS WANT!
– A very practical guide to pitching, submissions etc. “I started off on local newspapers
and became women’s editor on a North London weekly. In 1987 I was a feature writer
on Best magazine when it launched. I then went on to become deputy editor on Heritage
magazine, followed by a long freelance career, writing for The Telegraph, Times etc
and several magazines, specialising in interiors. I’ve been editor on Berks and Bucks
Life since 2005.”
Thursday 11 NOV - S Bolton - CRIME AND THE ‘WOO-WOO’ FACTOR This talk covers the
crime genre in general and why it is so popular, the sort of books I write, my route
to publication and something about the writing process. I will also talk about the
‘woo-woo’ factor – the scary, supernatural-ish undercurrents – and how you blend
it in with the crime genre. Sharon spent her early career in marketing and PR, acquiring
an MBA along the way and working in a senior position in London’s insurance and financial
district. She left the City to work freelance, to start a family and to write. She
lives near Oxford with her husband and young son. Her first novel, Sacrifice, was
voted Best New Read in 2008 by Amazon.UK readers and was part of Waterstones New
Blood promotion. Published in over 20 countries it was shortlisted for the Mary Higgins
Clark award (part of the Edgars) the International Thriller Writers Best First Novel
Award and the Prix du Polar (detective prize) in France. Film rights have been optioned.
Awakening has also been shortlisted for the Mary Higgins Clark award and for Romantic
News Magazine’s Best Amateur Sleuth. Sharon’s third novel, Blood Harvest, is published
by Bantam Press in April 2010.
Thursday 9 DEC - A Festive Social Gathering
All meetings at the Library Room, Wendover, starting at 8pm, unless otherwise stated.
For further details of our activities, or if you have any questions, email info@chilternwriters.org
