Colette filled in for seamlessly for El Presidente Ann, reminding us of the upcoming SAW conference (19th – 21st March), a committee meeting next week (10th March) and that in two weeks time we should get the delayed adjudication of the Travel Article competition. All this despite the distraction of Fanziska’s cat attack – what a professional. Also on a sadder note we were reminded that it was a year since the sad passing of much loved GWC member Edith.
Last night featured another Peer Editing session. Hmmm must come up with a better name for it? – Answers on a postcard. Anyway whatever its called a grand night was had by all. One or two members did mention that they were still a little fearful of submitting themselves to such GWC scrutiny. All I can say is that it’s a bit like dipping your toe in the water – once you get in its fine and afterwards you’re glad that you did it. So why not have a go. It will help you as a writer and everyone else too.
We discussed Margaret’s poem ‘ New Dawn’. Apart from being generally loved by everyone it was interesting to note that there were two different takes on it. Some thought it about the pandemic and others about Scottish Independence. I guess we do tend to view things through the prism of our own current experiences. Both views (and indeed other interpretations) are perfectly valid since what Margaret’s poem did, in essence, was to capture peoples struggles against adversity and their emergence together, stronger from beneath its shadow. I guess once an author puts a piece of work out there it no longer exists just in their mind but now lives in the imagination of everyone who reads it.
Since we had a little spare time after discussing Margaret’s poem, Colette set a writing exercise on the intolerably difficult subject of ‘Kindness’. There were numerous takes on this from Helen’s description of a thinly stretched spiders web to Mhairi’s likening kindness to rain upon a seed and Margaret’s imperative of ‘He who dares to care.’ I thought though Tony best summed up this difficult subject for writers by highlighting the lack of conflict provided by a generous Scrooge or a more compromising Shylock. Its hard to get drama out of that.
Next meeting is the 17th March – Adjudication of Travel Article – hopefully.
Ho Hum, onwards and upwards.