Gibraltar Writers at Sir John Mackintosh Hall

So the date is set: Tuesday 3rd December at 7.10pm.

The next Gibraltar Writer's meeting next Tuesday is an important date.  Last one of the year, so maybe a good time for people there to recap on what they've achieved in the past twelve months.  And if you haven't been published, we'll all want to know what you are working on, how far you've got and so on. Last before Christmas so maybe a good time to meet up with everyone, get to know those you haven't met before, exchange news and views and go for a bit of a bevy afterwards.  Last before the New Year, so a good time to get to know what's in the offing for 2014 so plans and resolutions can be made.

What could be in the offing for Gibraltar Writers this coming year?  Well, I'm only going to put in my ideas here, and other members will have more to add (and maybe bits to take away), but for what it's worth, here's my wish list for the spirit of christmas (whatever that is) to work on:

1. Regular, productive get-togethers with other writers that keeps me motivated, enthused and helps me over all those boundaries that writers tend to create for themselves (writers' block / no time / more important things to do / can't quite get the words right.....)
2. Arranging a series of workshops so we can practise some of those tricky little skills that we can then use in our writing (I once attended a one - hour workshop on using the sense of hearing in writing: it was surprisingly helpful and very entertaining).  We can run them in-house and also get outside speakers in.
3. Getting into the schools at competition time to mentor young writers 
4. Reach out into community groups to get all sections of the community telling their tales - the elderly, young mums, the sick, people with disabilities, young people: those who might need a little bit of extra support to write or tell those stories that need telling.
5. An anthology of Gibraltar Writers' work at the end of the year.  We'll need sponsors.  Anyone out there love local literature?
6. A role in the Literary Festival - an evening of readings by the Gibraltar Writers, a story telling afternoon, morning coffee over poems, a poetry jam in one of the local pubs (good poetry and ale seem to have been brewed for each other).  Oh, and perhaps we could run a workshop for beginner writers.
7. An online support group for submitting and critiquing work in between meetings.

That should get us going!

So if you've read this and you're wondering if......don't.  Don't wonder.  Just do it.  Find our Facebook page and join the Facebook group.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/274341619367603/?bookmark_t=group

And come over on Tuesday.

Nightwatch

Ok, I should have included it in yesterday's blog, but hey, I was tired, it was late, I forgot - should write when fresh not exhausted.  But here it is, first few lines of Nightwatch.  Hope you enjoy.....

It is never silent in the city:

even in the dead of night you hear the

threat of humming lights spreading yellow oil

across damp concrete.  The gas works rumble

and as the city sleeps, the freight trains snore

and rattle and rumble a steady trail

past aching whores tip-tapping their way home.

The empty bed lies dead in cold shadows,

Cheap mattress hollowed from his latest descent

into her life, unwelcome, uncalled for.

The rest can be read in the anthology, one day.....

Gibraltar Writers

After a very slow summer as far as writing is concerned, characterised mainly by finding a way to avoiding queuing for hours at the border with Spain.  Did I say border?  It's beginning to feel more like our own Mediterranean Berlin Wall!  As I was saying, after a long, hot summer, I have managed to scrape the nib of a biro onto some paper again and clawed my way into second place in the Gibraltar Autumn Festival Poetry competition with a poem called "Nightwatch".  Second place to an excellent poem by Rebecca Faller, published in The Gibraltar Chronicle.  First verse of "Nightwatch" is printed below. One day, it will form part of an anthology of my poems, but first I have to sharpen up my pencil, fill up my fountain pen, and boot up my lap top and PRACTISE.

Because, if what they say is right, that generally you can expect to scribble out a million words of drivel before you write something worth publishing, I still have a way to go.  Not far, I hope, but still a fair way.  So practise is a must.

Which brings me to Gibraltar Writers.

Writing can be isolated and isolating.  You can only really write something worthwhile when on your own.  Not necessarily physically (above-mentioned poem having been written and honed while surrounded by loving but noisy family), but alone somewhere inside your head, in your own space and your own world that you create paragraph by paragraph.  And the more time you spend writing the less time you spend interacting with real people - social networking only goes a little way to bring you in touch with people, flesh and blood human beings with all their oddities and quirks.  And since books and stories are populated by people, writers just have to go out into the throngs even if only to glean ideas with which to draw their characters.

Gibraltar East Side (because it's different to the West)

And one way to feel a lot less isolated and much more supported and surrounded by others with the same interest in writing as you, is to join a writers group.  Gibraltar Writers meets monthly at the Sir John Mackintosh Hall, on the first Tuesday of each  month at 7.15.  It's a space and place in the month where we can put the lap top to sleep, leave the family to fend for itself and indulge in the company of others who simply can't resist the urge to write down their thoughts, weave wonderful tales, paint visions with words and want to share this with others.  We'll be sharing tips, ideas, testing out our own writing on each other, improving our craft by having others share their opinions on our work and generally supporting each other through the minefield of creating, writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

Whoever you are, whatever age, whether English is or is not your first language, if you like to write, you need to come to Gibraltar Writers on 3rd December.  And if you are thinking about it but are unsure, email me for more info and so I can convince you to join us there!  jackiegirl@hotmail.co.uk  or find me on Facebook, or Google+ or Twitter (Gibtalk).

Sir John Mackintosh Hall, Gibraltar

See you on 3rd Dec with notebook and pen, or tablet, or wax and stigil or whatever you prefer to use to write!