Captain's Log: 21st March 2018

A full house yesterday for an interesting session. First off, we welcomed our new mentor, Meg, a highly qualified and motivated lady who has made writing the main focus of her life (after her family of course). Meg will be conducting once a month workshops/talks. for us.

First off, we had a roundtable discussion get to know each other, to talk about our and Meg’s various writing backgrounds. Then, Meg sat through two of our critiques:

Terry’s chapter 7 - Hallelujah, praise the lord, Voss lives. I thought he was a goner for sure after the four-wheel drive incident. Was it an accident or deliberate?

Julee’s chapter 39 – As KT said, ‘What are you doing to us? First Emma and now Violet.’ Oh, and don’t worry, even though the fire brigade was called to attend the blaze caused by the unauthorised welding, no real harm was done.

Two excellent chapter, which, with a little tweaking will both be even more excellenterer (I invented the word this morning and it will be in the Oxford dictionary by tonight).

Everyone was on their best behaviour this week, with no verbal fights, swearing or punches thrown.

It certainly was nice to meet Meg for the first time and I do feel, that after meeting us, she has our measure and will be able to put together some interesting and informative workshops for us. I have promised to include her in our critique post outs so that she can keep an eye on what we are producing.

I’ve prepared a new calendar, reflecting Meg’s sessions and am just waiting for her to get back to me about April (Meg can’t do the third week) before I send it out.

Congratulations to Janeen for the Hobart bookshops who have asked to sell her book. And to Terry who’s first Voss is about to go into print.

I look forward to seeing you all next week, until then  ‘Sholem Aleichem’.

Regards Les

Judy Rigby Wins City of Melton Short Story Competition 2017

Wordsmiths of Melton member Judy Rigby took out first place with her short story Clearing Session. Judy placed second last year and with this triumph is showing us the breadth of her ability to sum up emotion and place in lest than 1500 words.

   Short story is all about conveying the emotion of the characters, the tension within their dialogue and setting the story with enough economy of description to put the reader in the scene. In Judy's winning work, Clearing Session, Ro, Ava and (call me) Ray come together in the clearing session where Ray hopes to resolve the impossible.

   Click here for the link to download your copy of Judy's Story.

http://www.melton.vic.gov.au/Out-n-About/Libraries-and-learning/Libraries/Library-news/Short-Story-Competition

   More of Judy's stories and musings can be found on her website: http://judyrigby.com/

Captains Log

Melton Library 29th November 2017

Sometimes there's a bit of bovine
by-product in our sessions

G’day Everyone,

Seven reported for duty today, Tracey, Terry, Janeen, Judy, Lena, KT, Damien and me. With two critiques sent in from our long-range sniper, Kevin and two more to follow.

Apologies from Julee and Sonia.

We also had a drop-in visit from John, to show us a copy of his new book which has just been published. It looks pretty impressive.

We had four critiques to cover, chapters from Terry, Janeen and me, plus Lena’s chapter from last week.

Each had good reviews with only minor tweaking.

I thought mine was doing okay, until Judy and Janeen both jumped on me from a great height for lack of emotion (Ouch, those steel cap boots hurt). I promise to do better next time.

Congratulations again to Judy for coming first in the Melton Comp, with her story – very exciting.

Mathew next week, hope to see you all there. 

Until then, ‘selami ke’ānite gari yihuni

Regards Les

Mon Kapitan Les

Five yesterday – Tracey, Sonia, Judy, Terry and me. Apologies from KT, Julee and Janeen. With long distance Kevin lurking on the email.

Terry’s Voss is doing very well and I hear on the grapevine that Tracey’s Ruby (great to see Tracey pounding the old keyboard again with such vigour) is considering hiring him.

As you can imagine, with three chapters and a poem to critique, the potential for open warfare and bloodshed was huge. 

However, apart from a sprained wrist (from warding off comments), some cuts, bruises and dented ego’s, all went well.

Another great session, with lots of chats and constructive comments, all designed to improve our writing skills.

Next week is Mathew. I have no idea what he has in line for us but I guess it’ll be interesting.

Hope to see you all next week.

Until then, Fred være med dig.

Regards Les

Captains Log 23rd August 2017

My Dear Wordys,

Today was ‘Exercise Day’. On parade we had, Tracey, Sonia, Judy (welcome back), Terry and me. Sadly, KT had hurt her back, Julee had a doctor’s appointment and Janeen was studying for an exam.

We started off with a general chit chat about, of all things, just how useless Qantas Frequent Flyer points are. After we’d had enough of that, we started work.

For this week, I devised an exercise on words to avoid when writing. I gave an example of a piece of writing full of bad words and invited everyone to re-write it and remove the bad words. While not mind boggling it did give us all pause to reflect on the words we use in our stories.

Tracey had given me a topic – A car found thirty years after the crash. We all wrote a short piece, using the first exercise as a guide. As per usual, when we do these impromptu stories, some good results were achieved and more than one of them could be easily turned into a short story.

The exercise can be found on our Writing Exercise page in the next couple of days.

All in all, it was a thought provoking session which, I hope, will improve everyone’s writing.

Hope to see you all next week. Until then, aapako shaanti mile

Regards Les

Just posted:

Writing Exercise Link:   

Members Stories Link:   

Captains Log 17th August 2017

My Dear Wordies,

As always, a great day yesterday (even though I was outnumbered), with Tracey, Sonia, KT, Janeen and me in attendance. Judy isn’t back yet, Kevin was an apology (although he was with us in spirit and sent in two excellent critiques) and Julee had to look after our migraine afflicted granddaughter. Terry was also an apology as he is suffering, ‘Man Flue’. But he dragged himself out of his sickbed, crawled over to his computer and sent in his critiques this morning. Dedication deserving of much praise. Thanks Terry, much appreciated.

We also had a surprise visit from Caitlin, a past member who had to abandon us to complete her studies. For those who know her, you’ll be interested to know that she has a deal going with Penguin on her Batman/Robin style book.

I was ganged up on almost from the get go and forced to suffer the stings of my critique first. I must confess, even though I was expecting a Battle Royale, it proved to be a skirmish with only a dozen band aids required. Thank you, everyone, your input was, as usual, spot on and you will be pleased to know that I have addressed all the issues you raised.

On the conclusion of my critique, my chapter reared up, pawed the air with its hoofs and with a, ‘Hi Ho Silver Away,’ raced off into the sunset (that was for Tracey).

Next, it was Tracey’s turn. Her chapter proved to be a hit, with everyone overjoyed that she’s stopped mucking around and is back in the saddle again (a motorbike though, not a horse). She did pretty well, with a few good suggestions to push her chapter forward and very little bloodshed.

When her chapter rode off on its bike, Tracey admired the view. It was definitely a whole lot of chapter (for Tracey again).

As Yoda would say, ‘Good chapter that was, Tracey. Herh, herh, herh.’

Next week is EXERCISE WEEK. So be afraid, be very afraid. No critiques, so if you have anything to send me, it will be held over until the following week.

Until then, as Yoda would say’ ‘With you peace be.  Yes, hmmm.’

Regards Les

Captains Log 3rd August 2017

Captain's Log 3rd August 2017

Crew Assembled for Mathew’s Monthly session:

Tracey, KT, Julee, Janeen, Terry and including our leader, Les. Apologies from Sonia, Judy and Kevin.

Today, we had a general chit chat about the contracts some of us went into at Mathew’s last session. Tracey is firing with both barrels, shooting off her first chapter for some time, ready for critique next week. Yahoo. And I’m on track to complete the first draft of The Covent Garden Nun by December.

We touched on Mathew’s challenge to put some short stories into various competitions. Several members have submitted stories, let’s see what happens there. Good luck everyone.

Mathew pointed out that the Melton Word Fest is running from the 19^th to 26^th August. Lots to see and do. Keep the evening of Monday the 21^st free as Tracey is going to try to book us in for a trivia night at the Caroline Springs Library.

The session finished with a flash fiction task to write something to the theme of: ‘My Happy Piece’ and we had ten minutes to complete. We had mixed results, all of them good. Some of us have our stories published on our Members Stories blog page. Today was an afternoon with lots of fun and good fellowship.

I am attaching my next chapter and we already have Tracey’s offering, so that gives us two to critique for next week.

So, until then - An tsíocháin a bheith in éineacht leat.

Regards Les

Captains Log 26th July 2017

Crew Assembled for Mathew’s Monthly session: 

Tracey, KT, Julee, Janeen, Terry including our Captain, Les. Apologies from Sonia, Judy and Kevin.

Today, we had a general chit chat about the contracts some of us went into at Mathew’s last session. Tracey is firing with both barrels, shooting off her first chapter for some time, ready for critique next week. Yahoo. And I’m on track to complete the first draft of The Covent Garden Nun by December.

We touched on Mathew’s challenge to put some short stories into various competitions. Several members have submitted stories, let’s see what happens there. Good luck everyone.

Mathew pointed out that the Melton Word Fest is running from the 19^th to 26^th August. Lots to see and do. Keep the evening of Monday the 21^st free as Tracey is going to try to book us in for a trivia night at the Caroline Springs Library.

The session finished with a flash fiction task to write something to the theme of: ‘My Happy Piece’ and we had ten minutes to complete. We had mixed results, all of them good. Some of us have our stories published on our Members Stories blog page. Today was an afternoon with lots of fun and good fellowship.

I am attaching my next chapter and we already have Tracey’s offering, so that gives us two to critique for next week.

So, until then - An tsíocháin a bheith in éineacht leat.

Regards Les

Captain's Log 26th July 2017


G’day Everyone,

It was a small group today, with Julee, Janeen, Terry and me attending.

Sonia, Judy, Tracey and KT were apologies and Kevin was missing in action. Lena will be off the books until October as she has managed to secure a part time job for the next three months.

First up, we had a chat about Janeen’s story. It appears to be coming along nicely and she has some interesting new layout developments, which I think will add an exciting twist to her story.

Then we worked through the three critiques, one each from Julee, Terry and me.

Each chapter was discussed and critiques given. There were many good suggestions given and small errors highlighted, all designed to help the writer improve their story.

Mathew's week next week, so no critiques.'

Hope to see you all there.

Until then, amar amgalan ta nartai khamt baikh.