Minutes of the meeting at La Rosa Hotel on the above date.
Present: Harry, Ian, John, Magda, Michele, Suzanne.
Apologies: Adele, Gill, Jan, Jenny, Jonathan, Kaz, Laura, Pip.
Topic: Members’ work-in-progress.
Matters Arising
Harry reported that the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) has recently made one of their 2 annual payouts. Both Harry and Ian say they have benefitted. A discussion ensued about the workings of the ALCS, especially its distribution of the photocopying levy.
Members’ Readings
Magda — read an article recalling the Covid Lockdown and the resulting social damage, not the least to our nation’s rights and liberties. Vital words defining what these are (such as “pandemic”) have acquired new meanings, to our detriment.
Members vehemently engaged with the arguments voiced, since these had a bearing on medical matters of which more than one member had professional knowledge.
John — read a further instalment of Bugle Blast, his 3rd novel. A folk ritual sends the Lord of Misrule and his disguised followers visiting weavers’ cottages, and the young hero is sent out for beer. But during the visit the hiding place of the family box of treasure must have been discovered, for it is burgled under cover of a subsequent alarm raised by a fire in a neighbour’s loom shed. This leaves the family virtually destitute, and unable to deliver a vital order, causing the father to lose his livelihood.
Ian — read a short story: A Hand in the Dark. First published in Volchin, edited by Ian’s son Max, Ian wants to revise it for re-submission to an outlet to be decided.
An 11 year old boy, caravanning in Rocky Glen, Weardale, with his single-parent mother, is rescued and befriended by a mysterious girl.
Suzanne — distributed copies and read aloud Jacob’s Story, a fictional memoir by a health professional. Jacob is a bright 16 year-old son of African immigrants with a promising future, were it not for his being HIV+. His parents adamantly oppose the treatment Jacob has been offered because they are AIDS-deniers.
Harry — distributed copies and read aloud from his memoir in-progress Sea Wife. Harry’s ship, the Marwarri, bound for the USA following a trip to India, has reached Gibraltar. We hear about Barbary apes, Carthaginians, the fate of the titan Atlas, and Harry’s own ballad about the Hartlepool Monkey.
Michele — distributed copies, read aloud and invited criticism of a draft cover letter for her recently-completed novel The Undesirables, which she had been reading to the group in instalments since 2022.
The meeting closed at 1:10 PM.
Whitby Writers Group 