Diversity

We had our writing group this morning, not the exclusive one on the Peninsula, but the open one for people in the surrounding area, and all the way to Kaitaia and beyond. This is a weekly group and open to anyone who has an interest in writing or who likes to listen to others’ work on the days we read. This morning’s homework was a 100-word piece starting with ‘I remember when’. It always surprises me the diversity of this group and how many talented writers there are lurking in the shadows. Week upon week, new members pop up out of nowhere with many interesting stories, both personal and written.

This morning it was no different. We listened to a range of works and yet still, another new person presented themselves and read a lovely poem she had written, which even though she didn’t know of our topic this week, had fitted the brief perfectly.

This group meets weekly. I try and make it every other week, but this month, I decided to come this morning as well, even though I attended last Tuesday. Our Peninsula writing group is the last Tuesday of the month and because of five Tuesdays this month, I knew if I didn’t go today, I wouldn’t get to the next one until August, which would have been a three-week gap. Not that it matters, but it is nice to attend reasonably regularly.

A suggestion put forward this morning, was to each submit a piece that we could publish in a book that we put together ourselves. It means someone or some people would need to take on the task of collating and editing, but a great idea for those who have yet to have something published or who don’t have enough material for a book of their own.

Our group is definitely evolving. At the start, it was just coffee mornings, which have now grown to monthly readings and in between, tasks. Next week it is a limerick or haiku, neither of which I have ever written. I won’t be there, but I think I shall still do the task anyway. Good practice for me.

I still have my poems to work on, so on that note, I shall leave this.