Events

MARK & CLAIRE STAY

Mark & Claire were our guests on the 20th of July at our evening event held at Anna’s.

What a wealth of knowledge these two have about everything to do with books, they are both very talented authors with a few books under their belt. It was a brilliant evening, I am sure everybody went away with a bit more information about something. I look forward to reading The Crow Folk, the first in the series of The Witches of Woodville which is available here.

Mark has also gone into the film industry, you can see his film on Prime now. His podcast called The Bestseller Experiment is also top-rated, you can find it here. Mark’s books are available on Amazon here. You can also read all about Mark on his very detailed website here, one of the best I have seen, I might get a few tips when I see him next at The Hythe Food & Drink festival this weekend.

Claire has written some beautiful children’s books about growing vegetables, which is her favourite thing to do every day, the books are available to buy here. Claire’s website is here, another great read.

Claire started recording her gardening information on Utube, which she still does and has hundreds of episodes which you can listen to here.

HYTHE FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL – You can meet Mark and Claire here on Saturday 29th July 2023

Events

HYTHE FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL

The group will have a big presence at the festival this year as many of our published authors will be selling their books. Our three anthologies will be on sale plus members of the group will be available to talk to, Karen will be there Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday Ben Shockley and some of the actors will be there to promote the film and book.

If you would like to have a table please contact Debby from the writing group.

Mark Stay and Claire will also be there to promote and sell their books.

Hope to see you there.

Events

OUR FIRST BOOK LAUNCH

What a fantastic day we all had on Saturday at The New Folkestone Bookshop for our very first book launch, it was our third anthology but we had never celebrated one before due to being a new group and then covid. So many people came to support us and listen to the readings we did during the afternoon. The finger buffet was a success, especially the personalised cupcakes and biscuits.

We had 28 people submit stories for this anthology so it was a significant task for Matthew and Debby to do all the editing etc but we have to agree the book is bigger with a variety of stories and poems.

Write by the Sea has now produced three anthologies, Ghosts by the Sea, Doorways to the Sea and Journeys by the Sea.

All our books are available at the bookshop on Tontine Street and also on Amazon here.

A fun afternoon for the children as well.

A massive thank you to everyone for making this book a success.

Our next event is on the 25th May at Anna’s, all about script writing and dialogue. Everyone is welcome to our free events we just like you to buy something to eat or drink so we support the establishment.

Events, Meetings

COVER REVEAL

THURSDAY 27th APRIL 6pm

Our third anthology has taken longer to edit and publish because of the work that has gone into it from Matthew and Debby Jones, whom we thank very much. We had over 30 stories and poems this time from the group, thank you for your support.

We will reveal the cover at our next meeting on Thursday 27th April, this event is open to everyone, and there will also be a talk about writing romance.

Events, News

ANTHOLOGY NEWS

We have set some dates towards our third anthology publication.

The cover reveal will be on the 27th of April 2023

The book launch will be at The New Bookshop on Tontine Street on Saturday 13th May between 2 & 6 pm. There will be some readings from the book and your opportunity to meet the authors and of course, buy the book also the best bit is there will be prosecco and nibbles.

Hope to see you all there.

members

JANA CHATTERS

Born in what is now the Czech Republic, I began to attend school in 1943, during the Second World War. I lived with my parents in Parish Zvoleneves near Prague. This meant that my education was,  from the beginning very challenging. Nobody felt safe. Our childhood was not carefree. As soon as I started to learn to write, I found everything was wrong; we were having lessons in German with a man wearing an Army uniform, who only spoke his own language – and unnecessarily loudly too. 

Once the War was over, there was to be a New Life with freedom. That was what everyone was saying, anyway, but this proved to be just an illusion and the Russian regime proved to be a variation on German hegemony.

I continued with dual languages and realised that I preferred literary subjects to Maths and Physics. I was influenced by nature, and started writing poetry and short stories, for which I won praise from my teacher. It almost seemed incongruous then that my next step was a secondary school specialising in Accountancy, taking me up to the A-level stage. There really wasn’t much choice. My heart wasn’t in that profession, and so, some years later, whilst on maternity leave, I studied for my Institute of Teachers qualifications from home. This was decidedly more “my cup of tea.” I could pursue my interests in art, reading and nature at last. 

The next “game-changer” in my life came after the Velvet Revolution, which took place in the Czech Republic in 1989. My daughters were already grown up and had left home. When my husband died unexpectedly and suddenly, I found myself alone. The borders of our country were open and my dream of seeing other countries and more nature was becoming a reality. I was amazed at the ease with which tourists were now passing through the Iron Curtain. I passed the course to become a Tourist Guide. This enabled me to learn more about history and geography, to write itineraries for coach parties and to work with travel agencies, paving the way for my next game-changing episode and my first trip to the United Kingdom. 

Within the space of a few years, I had met my next husband, got married and become a British citizen. I carried on with my second profession, as a teaching assistant in a primary school in Folkestone. I had lived through such upheavals and this was such an emotional period of my life that I felt compelled to write about it. And so, my first book, Goodbye Comrades, was born in 2008, followed by another four, in which I describe the life stories of Eastern Europeans coming to the UK.

Exercises

SUMMER EXERCISE

TRAVEL PIECE

As we have had two events this year about condensed writing, the journalist and travel writing, your summer exercise will be to write a piece about TRAVEL. You have a free rein but please think about the length of your writing as we will all read our work out during the meeting.

We will be reading them out on the 7th September after the summer break then they will go on the website.

Exercises

NOTEBOOKS

We had an interesting discussion about what goes in a notebook at our last meeting, I liked the hangman and maths……a few grandparents were present. Eventually, we all came up with many ideas and how we remember things, glad it’s not only me that forgets just about everything. I thought separating your notebook into sections was a good idea as it often takes me a while to find what I am looking for.

write by the sea website here.

write by the sea Pinterest page

members

KATE GOODY

Born an Essex girl I graduated to a Kent Lady in 1998, where  I live with my husband Roger and little dog, Teddy. I have three children and three grandchildren who keep me on my toes. In my previous life, I have done a variety of jobs from teaching horse riding to the disabled to arranging funerals. After a spell at Bible School in 2000, I worked in India and Nepal as a missionary.  I started writing in 2012 when I retired and have been on an exciting journey ever since. My first book was a memoir piece of how my life changed when I became a Christian, at age thirty. It’s called, I Met Him at the Well. I then wrote a children’s book called Peter the Pony, which encourages children to know they are all special and loved. I had the pleasure of doing book readings in the local primary schools, sharing Peter’s story. These books are both on Amazon. Currently, I am writing a longer fictional piece based in the village of Lyminge where I live. I am not sure whether it will make the status of a novel but certainly a novella. I also love to write poems and draw inspiration from life, nature and my faith in God. You can see this on my blog at kateguk.wordpress.com I have just done a course as a volunteer news reporter for Academy FM and am looking forward to seeing what may develop from this. I belong to several writing groups but particularly enjoy the Write by the Sea group as it gives the opportunity and space to learn about different aspects of the arts.