Rugby Cafe Writers

Here is the March newsletter of the Rugby Cafe Writers. I will try to send a newsletter at the start of each month from now on.

New Venue

As many will know, we are now at a new venue, Art at the Alex, and held our first meeting there on February 28th in their spacious and comfortable back room with good facilities and access. We plan to meet there for the rest of the year, except for one or two calendar clashes when we will find an alternative. If you can, please support other events at Art at the Alex, such as  their current art exhibition which includes work from Cafe Writer members.  

Life Stories Project

You are invited to submit your autobiography in about 3,000 words. We have extended the deadline to midnight on March 31st. We need 20 submissions to make this into a publishable book so please consider having a go at what should be an exciting project.

Send in your recent writing

Please send to me your recent contributions, such as romance stories and poems from our Valentine’s Day meeting and delights from February 28th. I will keep all of these in folders in readiness for future anthologies and book projects. You can also submit via the front page of our website.

Book Sales Update

We have sold a total of 781 books. The year has started quietly but we get a few sales on Amazon each week. Our bestseller to date is our first collection, Get to the Point on 158 sales followed by the Autumn anthology on 157 books.

Future Writing Challenges and Discussions

March 14th – How to self-publish your book (this is a discussion not a writing challenge)

March 28th – Things which irritate us. Write 400 words on one thing which irritates you.

April 11th – Why I love books. Write 400 words on why you love books, or your memories of childhood reading.

April 25th – The process of writing (this is a discussion on how we write, where we write, what helps us and so on. It is not a writing challenge)

May 9th – A fake obituary. Write 400 words of an obituary for a character you have made up.

Forthcoming Events

More volunteers are welcome for the first two of these events. Please let me know if you can help, even for an hour or two.

Sat Mar 22, Book Fair, Three Swans Hotel, Market Harborough, 10.30am to 4pm. (Team: Fran, David, Nicky, Helen, Pam)

Sat Apr 19, Book Fair, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. 10.30am to 4pm. (Team: Fran, Jeremy, Susan, Steve)

Sat July 5, Rugby Library. A Morning With The Rugby Cafe Writers. Reserve tickets on this link.

Our panel will be Lindsay, Phil, David, Maddie and Susan. Please go along and support them if you can.

Friday October 3rd – An Evening With The Cafe Writers, St Andrew’s Church, Rugby. 7.30pm. This is part of the second Rugby Literary Festival. (Organising group: John, Fran, Dot, Rose, Simon P)

Publishing News

Amina shared news that her daughter Aneesa had a poem commended in The Film Poetry Challenge on Young Poets Network, run in partnership with the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. The prompt was to write a film-inspired poem. A recording of Aneesa has been published on the Young Poets Network now, and you can listen to her reading the poem here.Congratulations Aneesa, our youngest member!