P.W.G Minutes of the Meeting on 28 May 2020
Venue: Zoom
Present:
John Goodwin Bob Barker Jennie Rook Nikki Burrows Richard Powell
David Greensmith
Apologies from Caroline Harman-Smith.
Greetings Scribes,
As always, we hope that you and your closest are healthy and safe.
This week’s 11th online meeting was held solely on Zoom and the news we’ve all been waiting for…
…Neo’s are welcoming us back to host our PWG meetings.
‘Apologies if this sounds OTT but we want to make sure the proprietor of Neo’s doesn’t get fined by not abiding to the new restrictions. As you are all aware, there are safety and hygiene regulations that Neo’s now need us to adhere to. These are as follows:
Upon entering the establishment of Neo’s, you must disinfect your hands with the antiseptic gel provided on the table, just after the sliding doors. They are supplying disposable gloves too, should you want to use them, but they are not making that mandatory, only to disinfect your hands.
You are not required to wear face masks. This is your personal choice.
You will not be able to congregate at the bar to order drinks or sit at the bar to eat or drink. If you wish to have a drink before or after the meeting, you will choose a table, one table apart from the next occupied table, and Panayiotis or Bianca will come to take your order.
We will take our meeting drinks order as before, with one person taking the note down at the beginning of the meeting. All drinks are available as before.
Our room at the top has been renovated and extended. There is a maximum allowance of 10 people, using social distancing.
Should you be showing any COVID-19 symptoms, you should refrain from entering the premises.
Other necessary changes:
Time and dates:
Our PWG meeting will now be from 11:00am until 12:30pm (Cyprus time). You will still be able to arrive from 10:30 and stay for lunch.
We will return to Neo’s on Thursday 4th June and run until Thursday July 30th 2020, for the summer.
We will return on Thursday 10th September until Thursday 17th December 2020, for the autumn.
Capacity:
Due to the maximum number of 10 people, I will now send out an email list every week and those who wish to attend must reply and your place will be saved. So this will be on a first come, first served basis. We don’t usually run beyond 10 members so this shouldn’t be an issue. In the unlikelihood that we have more than 10 in any week, the members who were too late will be carried over to attend the following week’s meeting, to be fair to all. You also have the option to join us online.
Online options:
Zoom and/ Skype will still be available and running each week, for those who wish to continue online. If you have not joined us over the last 10 weeks on Zoom or Skype and are now able to join us virtually:
For Skype: Please send me an email stating your Skype name to add you to the PWG Skype group.
For Zoom: I will need your email address only, to send you the coded invite to the meeting.
On a personal note:
In order to keep the smooth-flowing PWG meetings, face-to-face and to continue including those joining online, may I ask you all to answer me by email on Wednesdays 11am the latest, with your intention to participate. This enables me to respond promptly should there be any capacity issues. Please also aim to arrive at Neo’s on time. I am aware that at any time your personal plans and health may change, especially going into the winter months. So, if you can’t attend a meeting at the last minute, please contact me as soon as possible and I can open your slot to another member, next on the list.’
From Jennie
mobile: +357 99107543
(All of the above has been sent to you by email, to ensure all members, past and present have received the news and you can save the details).
After Jennie made the above announcement, all agreed that returning next week was good and led to a short discussion of who’s planning to fly back to the U.K.
Bob asked if we still had access to the flat screen TV at Neo’s as it will be nice for all to see who’s joining online. This will be followed up.
Nikki’s garden at The Roost in Polemi will be available from next week and we will discuss holding a meeting there in June, soon.
Jennie mentioned to John that she tried posting the minutes to the PWG public Facebook group without success. John agreed that he would post to the Public page and Jennie will continue posting to the Member’s Zone page. The minutes will be identical. Should anyone not wish to have their full names posted on the Public site (in the Minutes only), please contact John or Jennie by mid-June to opt-out.
Readings:
John: Based on last week’s homework: First Day Out – great dialogue and scene around the Moorhen family in John’s back garden.
Nikki: Based on last week’s homework: Twenty two D – excellent story using dialogue from an Irishman, an Indian, a Liverpudlian, a Scot, and English woman and a ‘nasal-sounding’ train station announcer!
David: Based on last week’s homework: Franglais – as it sounds, dialogue with various French celebrity footballers. Cleverly written.
Rick: Based on last week’s homework: Scouza – good dialogue between an Italian and an American.
Bob explained how, though he’d not done the exercise, he saw it was something he will have to do for his new book, which is set in the U.S. Rick explained to Bob that there were different accents in nearly every district/suburb of America. Bob will be using a character with a Brooklyn area accent, in his book and will do more research so that he has a genuine-sounding character.
Bob announced that his UK writing group had organised an online training on Scrivener and how to use it to write creatively. We had a long discussion around the benefits, advantages and disadvantages of using Scrivener, with Bob showing us detail of his chapters using Scrivener’s cork board tool. He explained clearly the various options available for writers and how to use it. He also mentioned how it does take time to become adept at using the tool, but once you have spent around 2 weeks working with it you’ll soon come to love it.
Bob is now using it for his new book, having never used a writing tool before. He says he’s converted and will never go back to Microsoft Word. Bob also showed us his copy of an illustrated children’s fairy tale he’d written for his family. We had a short discussion on how to use pictures in Scrivener.
We ended the discussion with Bob offering to do a training during a meeting, for PWG members. We will ask the group from next week if they’d be interested to learn about the tool.
Nikki was very interested in doing the training for Scrivener, as she has just sent her completed ‘Zeus Factor’ to readers for pre-publishing feedback. Having seen Bob’s demonstration, she wished she’d known about it before finishing her novel.
We had a discussion about buying ISBN numbers for the self-publishing route.
We will continue with Zoom/Skype for those out of Cyprus and we welcome back any past member whom may feel the online option suitable.
For those interested and want to know more about Zoom, please go here for details: https://zoom.us/meetings
For those interested in joining our PWG Online Skype group, please email us your skype name to add you to the group.
Coffee break: Throughout the meeting
Homework:
Title - ‘Happy 100’
Write a scene or a story that includes the number 100. For example, a centennial celebration, £100 notes, life lessons from a centennial or 100 days in….
Any genre and up to 500 words.
For those attending the call online, please send your piece to Jennie to upload to the PWG Zoom Group, or any other you would like to share and/or get feedback on from the group.
Next meeting will be on:
Thursday 4 June, 11:00 am – 12:30pm (local time) at Neo’s Sports Bar and on Zoom.
Thanks to all who attended. Stay healthy, safe and happy writing.
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