Writers Voice September 2011 - Fellowship of Australian Writers NSW

sizes, margins, headers and footers
and other various mysteries. We
are eager to assist all our members
to follow correct procedures when
entering writing competitions. Our
last internal competition has been
decided and chosen entries will
now be submitted to an external
competition for consideration.
Fingers crossed for all those involved,
hopefully competition rules have
been adhered to and the standard of
writing upheld.
Sue and Rex attended the book
launch for Port Stephens FAW at
Salamander Bay. They were treated
to a very enjoyable day and found
the anthology ‘Time and Tide’, to be
an attractive book full of interesting
local snippets. Our congratulations
to everyone involved. Bernie and Lila
Butler were also to attend but found
themselves land­locked in the very
wet weather which had visited the
area at that time.
Numbers at some of our meetings
have been a little down; Jean Moase
was a welcome face at the last meeting
and is on the mend we hope. Sadly,
Barbara Robinson has left us due to
home requirements and we will miss
her humour and interesting stories.
Some have taken holidays, others
have had family members unwell and
in need of their time and care.
However we all keep writing, and
after all, everything in our life can be
a catalyst for another story.
Happy writing, Trish Van Eyk
wollondilly
We are awaiting the result of our
application to Council for a grant to
publish our third anthology. This
publication will have a Wollondilly
district theme with many poems,
articles and stories reflecting the
diversity of our part of New South
Wales.
Our members are planning to
organise small workshops on short
story and poetry writing. The poetry
workshops will include free verse
writing and bush poetry writing.
Our library is now set up. Members
are encouraged to borrow the books
and articles and to submit a critique
in our monthly newsletter Scribblings
Vince Morrison (left, Wollondilly FAW President)
and Keith Coombes (former Secretary) promoted
the group to potential new members at the
Wollondilly Family Day Expo, held at the
Tahmoor Community Centre in July.
of their findings, and to inform
members how the book helped them
in their story and poetry writing.
At our recent AGM Keith Coombes
retired as secretary of our group. The
new committee is; Vince Morrison
(Pres), Joanne Dellit (VP/Librarian),
Olivia Mulligan (Sec), Narelle
Noppert (Magazine Editor), Richard
Bell/Rosemary Peters (Treasurers),
Clare Bell (tea/coffee facilitator) and
Glorya Gray (Publicity).
Olivia Mulligan
wyonG writers
Signatures – signs off!
The last issue of Signatures has been
produced, collated and distributed
to those people who contributed or
supported our magazine in any way.
The issue began with an Editorial by
Shirley Goodbar, Signatures Editor
and who is currently overseas. Shirley
began her editorial:
“With this issue we celebrate the
demise of a grand experiment, as
to whether a small group of writers
could produce quality publications
for the public display of their work.
That experiment worked very well for
three and a half years. Nevertheless,
there are many facets to such an
adventure, and we eventually
encountered the realities of modern
publishing and printing. Like many
other similar print publications over
the past years, we could not build a
large enough reader base to cover
costs
What we have accomplished is
invaluable. We have learned many
of the processes and procedures in
creating a publication, and have made
innumerable new friends through
their writings and support for what
we were trying to do.
We are particularly grateful to
Wyong Shire Council’s Cultural
Development Office for the initial
grants. The personal instructions
of Stuart Slough, and Eric Hook
of Bookbound Publishing whose
advice, guidance and support were
so instrumental in bringing about
the final polished product. We
are grateful to you, the readers,
subscribers, and advertisers, for it
is you who have allowed us to have
these experiences.
Thank you, from Shirley Goodbar,
Editor, Beryl Stirling, Asst. Editor,
Yvonne Sorenson, Artist/Illustrator
and all the members of Wyong
Writers FAW Inc.”
Our new web site has been the
incentive for one new member and
we have had a number of enquiries
regarding membership. As a result
of the web site we have been
approached to see if our group would
be interested in joining a continuous
Script Writing Workshop on the third
Friday of each month. This enquiry
has accordingly been passed along to
members for their information.
At our last meeting in July,
approximately twenty people,
including two visitors, obtained
great information from Jill Mathers,
a Central Coast writer, on what is
involved writing memoirs. Many
questions were covered including
how to make it flow. Jill said memoir
does not mean it has to be “all about
me” for it will also cover time and
events. In addition, Jill touched on
copyright as well as defamation. A
couple of members expressed the
opinion that they didn’t think writing
a memoir could be so involved.
We are busy reviewing our work
in groups to submit it for publication
in Wyong Writers’ first anthology
at the end of this year. Poetry, prose,
articles etc., are up for grabs as well
as illustrations from our established
artists.
Margaret Young
Visit us on the Internet at www.fawnsw.org.au WRITERS’ VOICE 233—SEPTEMBER 2011 13
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