Sunday, March 19, 2006

Round and Round in Circles

Those of you who missed the Writers' Circle meeting yesterday, actually didn't miss anything much. Only a handful of people there and most of them were Oon Yeoh's friends. We chatted about what sort of things we'd like to happen. This didn't work too well since only a couple of people had attended the sessions last year!

As the months go on the list of proposed topics will be fleshed out so that writers know what to expect and can decide whether a session is likely to be useful to them. Of course, one day's notice just isn't on, and we also need more publicity.

I don't think there's any harm in some of the talks being repetitions of last year's sessions (though hopefully with different speakers) since so many writers missed them and there was a lot of pretty essential stuff: I learned so much about marketing and self-publishing and how the book industry works locally.

I also worry that Oon Yeoh is taking a lot on himself organising the sessions and although I'm happy to take over as facilitator when necessary, it would be good to have other people doing it from time to time. (Yes, but who?) When one person carries something alone, the danger is that they run out of energy before too long.

I'd also like to see more for fiction writers and a forum for discussion of various aspects of the craft and debates of relevant issues. There is just one session for fiction which Oon Yeoh tells me I'm organising (so hey, one or two of the folks reading this blog can expect to be roped in!)

The way I see it, MPH is providing the platform and it's up to us to decide what we want to happen in the space provided.

More about past Writers' Circle meetings here.

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