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Croeso! Welcome!

We welcome new members, and look forward to hearing from you.
Meanwhile, we hope you will enjoy our blog.

Mumbles, Swansea, South Wales, UK

Meetings scheduled for 2010
will normally take place on the last Friday of each month.

***

Poster
South Wales Writers' Day, 2009

Please click on the poster to enlarge the details.

Please feel free to use the 'Comments' facility or to send a message using the email (click to 'View my complete profile' on the right, in 'About RWS').

You can locate samples of our work from the Labels section on the right hand sidebar, where you will be able to look up each 'contributor'. You can also follow the news of individual members (publications, prizes etc.) under the label, 'contributor's news'.

If you have any queries about RWS, please click the email in the 'Profile' section of this blog and send us a message. [readywritersswansea AT gmail DOT com*]. Alternatively, you can use the comments facility at the bottom of this posting.

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Writing Tips (1): Letters of Submission

We have been looking at letters of submission and in the process have found a few useful sites. We hope that these resources may be of interest to our readership.

• The Submission Letter by Linda Adams and Emory Hackman from The Writer Gazette
  
• Lee Stringer's advice
  
• Guidelines for writing a non-fiction query letter (source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/)
• Tips from essortment.com for poetry submissions
• Tips from Associated Content for poetry submissions
• Sample letter for poetry submissions (and some hints) from Robert Lee Brewer
• Forum answers with regard to supplying biographical information from Language is a Virus
• Poetry submission tips from Every Writers' Resource (including the importance of logging which poem has been sent to which outlet).
• The Poetry Society: FAQ
  

Events (6): The South Wales Writers' Day, 14 Nov. 2009

Book cover of 'A Gander's Tale', showing Burry Green and Bethesda Chapel on Gowerl

'Consider the birds ... but listen to the message behind the Gander's Tale' David Gill

The Gower Peninsula - known locally simply as 'Gower' - was the first area to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Many vistors to Burry Green approach this lovely Gower village from the rise known as Cefn Bryn, with its sweeping views across the Loughor Estuary. The building of Bethesda Chapel was financed in some measure by Lady Diana Barham. It opened for worship in 1814. William Griffiths, a Calvinistic Methodist who later became known as the 'Apostle of Gower', served as Minister from 1823 until 1861.

As you can see from the photograph, the village is dominated by the fine white-washed chapel and by the pond. Chapel Elder, Miss Eleanor Jenkins, has had an eye on both these features: her book is the culmination of her astute observations of the geese who live on the green. Eleanor's aim, however, in writing about the gander and his friends was to link these avian observations with Biblical truths about Jesus Christ. 'A Gander's Tale' is made up of fifty short chapters or 'goose fables' (in the sense that Paul White used the term for his 'Jungle Doctor' series), which began as monthly articles in the Bethesda magazine.

'A Gander's Tale' is adorned with Eleanor's beautiful colour photographs. Each 'chapter' contains a Christian message in addition to unusual insights into the life of the geese themselves. Did you know, for example, that a Frizzley Sebastapol is a breed of extra-feathery goose? If you come to our South Wales Writers' Day or buy a copy of the book, you will discover the joys of life in a Gower village. You may discover why Goosey should perhaps have been called Gandalf!

The link below will allow you to purchase a copy of the book or to opt for a free download.

• The publisher's site: 'A Gander's Tale'

• Details of the 2009 South Wales Writers' Day in Porthcawl on Saturday 14 November 2009 are here. Do book in if you would like to come. This event is being organised by the Ready Writer groups in South Wales. These are linked to the Association of Christian Writers (ACW).

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Dorothy Webb Davies (1): A Sonnet

The Sonnet was the focus of the RWS September meeting.

LACK OF INSPIRATION

When we agreed we'd each attempt a sonnet
I found my mind gone blank, to my dismay!
I take my paper, write some rubbish on it,
Then tear it up and throw the bits away.

The days slip by, the deadline's drawing nearer.
I wake at night and wonder what to do.
Where is my vision? Once my mind was clearer!
But now, I do not seem to have a clue

I ponder on the inspiration question
Here in the darkness with my lonely light.
I know my daytime life, with its congestion,
Has blocked my mind so that I cannot write.

Oh Spirit's heavenly sunshine please break through
The clouds of "Far Too Many Things-to-do"!

© Dorothy Webb Davies 2009


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RWS Members' News (1): Competitions and Published Work

Summer 2009

Competitions

• Sue Williams: First Prize in the Woman Alive/ACW Article Competition.
• Caroline Gill: Third Prize in the Haddon Library (Cambridge University 800) Poetry Competition

Published Work

• Caroline Gill: Caroline's poem, 'Stranger' has been published in Shoes for the Hungry (Popcorn Press 2009). The anthology has been edited by Patrick T. Randolph, who teaches Academic and Creative Writing at Wisconsin-La Crosse. Stranger is based upon observations made some years ago when Caroline lived in Rome. The anthology comprises 158 poems on the theme of hunger and homelessness by 80 poets, including many who have direct experience of homelessness in one capacity or another. All profits from the sale of this book will be allocated to projects concerned with helping those who are hungry or in need of shelter. Shoes for the Hungry can be bought from Amazon and Popcorn Press.

• David Gill: David's work and photography feature in the new 2009 edition of The Lion Handbook to the Bible.

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Events (5): Swansea Poetry Workshop

Just a reminder to say that Peter Thabit Jones, editor of The Seventh Quarry, will be leading a poetry workshop in the Dylan Thomas Centre on Saturday morning 20 June 2009 (10am-12 noon) with a poet from Catalonia and a poet from USA. Detail of the event can be found here.

• Caroline's report after the workshop

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Reference & Resources (1): ODNB

Bemerton Church, Salisbury
George Herbert's Living

Photo: C.Gill

The new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has a useful section for book lovers and reading groups. You may like to take a look here.

You can find out about literary groups e.g. the Inklings and the Metaphysical poets. There are podcasts and various other options available to non-subscribers, but you have to be a subscriber to have unlimited access to the DNB lives.

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