We spent the evening reading each other’s work and commenting in turns. Novels, stories, poems, articles, book reviews, plays… you name it, we had them. There were humorous articles, historical novels, poignant poems, adolescent poems, lonely and sad poems… dollops and dollops (this word became the word of the evening) of each and every genre.
Sheila was overwhelmed with the amount of work everyone had brought. To be honest, we all were. By the end of the evening we had hardly managed to finish reading never mind commenting on the pieces of work. It was inspiring to see everyone was writing and keen to share their work and opinion.
I felt newer members were not clear about how much work they can bring and what happens on a ‘club night.’ That made me think. So here are my observations since I started (is it already a year?!). I hope this helps and please make comments if I get it wrong:
Club nights can vary but if we are bringing our own materials:
- Use a pseudonym
- One to three pages seem to work alright. Obviously it depends how many members turn up and how many bring their work. (Maybe the number of words can be a guide).
- Bring four copies of each piece of work
- When you arrive, hand it to Sheila or whoever is leading the group that night
- We go into groups of three to four members (again depending on the number)
- We discuss and speak about the pieces
All in all we had a fantastic ‘working’ night and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Uuganaa Ramsay