Jimmy 1984

I know what you mean Sarah. I haven't got a facebook, twitter or website set up. I did once have a facebook account, but at the time I was on a Masters in Creative writing course at Manchester Met and found I was spending more time reading facebook than doing any work - it was a distraction so I got rid of it. Not sure I can really set one up again, I'll feel like a bit of a loser having to re add people... I am going to set up a website though definitely think that is the way forward. Well done for getting your short story published!! I was thinking of setting up a blog for the writing group by the way, I have been told its quite easy, attach it onto the bank street website so anyone can see the work being critiqued and what people are saying...scary but good..

Hi guys, Sarah D - sorry, I have been trying to send you a PM but for some reason it is not allowing me to do it - so far we have 3 people - if you were to take the plunge we would have 4!! I'm happy with this - always going to be difficult for the first month and when my flyer person gets back to me with the goods I am confident we will be able to attract some more....only looking for 6-10 anyway, (wouldn't turn people away if we get more though) I have already received some work from Andrej, so if you want to send me some work that would be great - I can then send our work through to you so you can arrive on Thursday with feedback at the ready! The other person in the group is still at the ideas stage so she has not sent us anything yet - which is fine also!! Would be great to see you there, due to the private email thing not working its probably best you send me a text or an email.. james.major@ymail.com 07828167139

Bank street arts fiction writing group get together tonight at 8pm at Porter Cottage on Sharrow Vale Road. Anyone interested in popping along give me a ring on the number below... first group meeting is next Thursday 8pm at Bank street arts centre in town... Cheers James 07828167139

....if a group of us can meet up that would be good...I know allo allo and Sarah d have expressed an interest in meeting up... anyway, send me a text with your email, its 07828167139.. James (sorry, for some reason it wouldn't let me write everything in one post)

Hi Deb, Yes you are free to come along, if you can send me your email address I am going to do a group email in the next couple of days.. We are actually organising a meeting for 15th March at Porter cottage in sharrow vale if you are interested in coming along? Its just a chance for people to meet each other etc...get the ground rules in place before the first meet up.. I think most of the people in the group will be at different stages in their writing - doesn't really matter if you're at the start, in the middle or at the end - the idea is just to spur each other on, offer ideas and help each other improve!! Is everyone ok for the 15th? I know Dave can't come along but

or post me an email: james.major@ymail.com...

Well I thought we had 7 people interested. It has all been arranged on here though, which is potentially a problem because I guess we should factor in a drop out ratio. What is really important is for us all to meet up though, exchange numbers, email addresses so we can hit the ground running in the first meet up! It feels like its just me and Sarah D at the minute. If anyone wants to drop me a line, text, to confirm their interest in the critique group then I can properly assess numbers. Would be good to send email addresses as well so I can send some group emails etc... Unless some more people post messages here saying they are coming to the Porter cottage tomorrow we should probably sack it, try and arrange another meet up nearer the time of the 22nd.. James 07828167139

Well so far we have me and you I think - nobody else seems to be responding!! I'm still up for it though..

Ah I am not on facebook. It is going to be weird walking into a pub and not knowing who is there to meet us...ummmm can't think of a way round this, Im up for it though. Just make sure we stand by the bar? I would point people towards a picture of me somewhere on the internet but there isn't one sadly. we could always just meet at bank street arts centre next saturday morning maybe? so that would be March 10th? I am going there for 10.30am ... Who is coming then? if people feel weird about it we could just meet up on the 22nd?

Thursday 8th March, Porter Cottage it is then! its 10-15 mins walk for me, up a big hill like, but i don't mind!! we all need to bring something to recognise each other....everyone should bring their favourite book and make sure its visible?? perfect ice breaker...

Morning people, I have booked the room at Bank Street Arts for Thursday 22nd March at 7pm!! We should have the place to ourselves and I have a key .... Sarah D mentioned meeting up somewhere on eccy road to get to know each other before we begin so I was thinking we could do this on one of the Thursdays (this is turning into the thursday club) before the big opening day.... I am totally easy with where we go, Sharrow Vale Road looks nice and I have to admit the Porter House?? looks good from the outside but does the inside replicate this?? my first suggestion is the Porter House on Sharrow Vale Road then....8pm Thursday 8th March - due to Dave's child being born on the 15th... Anyone?

Well to be honest I have almost finished my book aswell. I'm thinking of writing a synopsis of how the story begins, develops, and then start submitting work from some point near the end...I have no idea how this might go down but its the area I need to concentrate on, ie the ending....Eccy road as a meeting point is fine for me, I'm not massively up on what places are decent round there, any ideas? I am also new to the area by the way, moved in December... Fat Dave - I totally agree you need to concentrate on the birth of your child! the only reason I said Thursday 15th is because Audra, another person interested in the writing group, is only available on thursdays...could do the 22nd? I am going in on saturday morning to finalise so Thursday March 22nd - anyone any problems with this date?

Brilliant, sounds like we are getting some interest now. I have just been sent the logo by Bank Street so I am going to get some flyers done up. It maybe that we don't need to get that many more people involved now but its probably best we have something so that we can look for new people all the time - this is a long term project!! The idea at the moment is to have the first meeting on Thursday March 15th at 7pm. We will have the room for 3.5 hours; we probably won't be there for this amount of time, but we can be if people want to really get our money's worth! I am going to go along on to Bank street this Saturday morning to get this finalised. Remember the price will be £25 per meeting, so its going to come to very little after we all chip in... Probably would be a good idea for us all to meet up before the 15th just to firstly get to know each other and secondly to talk about the rules etc. Anyone up for this? I live in Heeley, near the sheaf view, could that be a good location? anyone know of any other decent places? best time for me to meet is weekday evenings, say 8pm, could do Thursday 8th March? We need to start swapping email addresses as well. The idea being that the people who are showcasing their work will email the rest of the group before the meeting. I was thinking a max word count of 2500 to be handed in, what you think? say 20-30 mins discussing each piece of work? I will post again on Saturday. If anyone wants to text me or send me a PM thats fine... James 07828167139

hi guys, I'm thinking Thursday march 15th at 7pm for our first meeting, at the moment there are 4 people interested . . how does this day sound? I'm going to call bank street tomorrow and then pop in at the weekend to get it booked . .any one else fancy it? looking for 8 to 10 people if possible . . . James

Sorry, what times would be best for people? we can do weekends or during the week in the evenings? the place is accessible 24-7 (I will be given a set of keys, I think) but the place does shut at 5pm to members of the public... I'd rather a week day evening from 7pm .....

Hi everyone, I have decided to set up a fiction writing critique group and it is going to be based out of Bank Street Arts centre behind the cathedral in the city centre. The name we are giving it is - Invisible Army! I have spoken with the centre and they are keen, going to put it on their website and send me their logo etc so I can get some posters done... The idea is to meet monthly and simply discuss each others work. I'm currently working on a novel so I was going to submit a chapter at a time when its my turn, but short stories are also fine. Before the meetings the writers whose work will be presented that month will email their work to everyone else so we can arrive with feedback ready to go. The room at Bank Street will cost £25 and it fits 15. If we struggle to get this number there is another more informal room which sits about 8.... Anyone up for this? Once I have got the logo sent to me I'm going to get some posters done up, so this should attract some more people. Give me a call or post a reply if you want to join this exciting venture!! James 07828167139

Right then, I've spoken to Bank Street Arts and the quote is £30 for a three and half hour slot. The room fits 15 people. I am going along tomorrow at 2pm to check it out. If anyone fancies coming along you are indeed invited. I'll be the one with the beard and the hair sticking up on end ...so we need 15 people, whose in? The idea is a group that meets say fortnightly/monthly and critiques each others work. If we have 3 and half hours that should be plenty to get through everyone. We could even throw in a book club to fill the time! If anyone fancies coming along i'll be there for two, I might even put up a poster to get some more people interested - i'm not great at posters though so expect something simple....if anyone wants to give me a call its 07828167139 (please don't abuse this number!!) James

Thanks De Batz as well, i'll search out Bank Street Arts too. Agree with your comment about writers offering good feedback, they are more likely to offer honest, constructive criticism I think (hopefully anyway) in that they have an idea what is going through the writers mind and the reasons why writers add certain character/plot sections into a story. They also generally ask pertinent structural questions. It is the structure of a story that I am most of the time preoccupied with. If you speak to someone with no writing experience and ask them whether they think your structure works they often look blankly back at you...they do with me anyway and so they should, who cares about structure? well I do, and most writers do, i think....anyway, ill check it out, cheers again...

Cheers Mr Gobby, I shall head to the library this weekend to check the list of groups. If there are none near to me I will look at possible venues round where I am. I'm really looking for a group to meet once a month, or maybe fortnightly, with work emailed to the members before the meetings for feedback during the meetings. So if the group is small then we can read everyone's work once a month/once a fortnight and then offer feedback during the meetings; if the group is quite big then we would look at say 3-5 per meeting and alternate appropriately. If anyone else is interested or knows of any venues round Heeley, Abbeydale Road, Sharrow Vale (or anywhere else in the area I don't know about) post it on here and I'll check it out...

Hi Dave, Cheers for the response, I know what you mean about having a group that meets up regular, it really does push you on, which is all important when trying to get something finished! writers need spurring on and encouraging and so in my opinion we need to get something organised. Anybody else out there fancy joining mine and Dave's writing group? We need to start thinking about venues. I do like the idea of empty office space, using up somewhere that is not being used, I am going to start looking about and seeing what is available in my area...think this could be a great resource for us sad, lonely and impoverished writers. We can bounce off another, undertand one anothers influences (in the process learn about new authors, gain new ideas) build a Sheffield writing enclave. Who else is in?

Hi People, This is my first post on here, I have recently moved into the area, Heeley to be precise, and I am looking to get involved in a writing group. I have been writing a novel for the past 2 years and feel I need a group who say meet up once a month to really push me on to complete it. I am also new into the area so wouldn't mind meeting some new people as well!! moving to a new area can get awful lonely...I am also willing to critique other people's work....if any one knows of any groups in the Heeley, Abbeydale Road, Sharrow Vale area please please give me a shout! I realise posting this on a writing forum is a little odd by the way - why don't I just use this forum? I know, but I want to meet people! again if anyone knows anyone or wouldn't mind adding an extra person to their own little group get in touch..thank you thank you James