Tag Archives: WforW

WforW Short Story Workshop

Posted on by

short story workshop, short story, writing Words for the Wounded is a charity founded by Margaret Graham, author and contributing editor for Frost Magazine. WforW raises funds through writing events   to help wounded ex-service personnel, with 100% of everything raised going to the wounded. To this end, WforW is holding an inaugural writing workshop on 24th September. There are just a few places left on the:

Short Story Workshop.

Short stories can earn you cash as well as being your calling card. Learn how to turn those rejections into sales.

We will ground you in the basics of short story structure, and provide you with the ability to target your work towards a market of your choice. It will be fun; Margaret and Tracy’s workshops always are.

Tracy Baines has been selling her short stories for almost twenty years. Her stories have appeared in Woman’s Weekly, Take a break, My Weekly and The People’s friend and many others in the UK as well as overseas markets.     www.tracybaines.co.uk

Margaret Graham is a best selling author with Arrow. She also writes short stories and features. She is a creative writing tutor,mentor, editor, and also contributing editor for Frost Magazine. She is founder and administrator of WforW.  www.margaret-graham.com

Saturday 24th September:  10:00 – 16:30   ( Registration 09:30 )

Venue: Downley Community Centre, Old School Close, Downley, High Wycombe, HP13 5TR.  (trains run regularly from London to High Wycombe, Downley is about 2 miles and there’s a taxi rank  at the station )  There is parking at the venue.
Cost: £45

Book online www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

 

 

The WforW Grannies Raise More Money…

Posted on by

Photographs: Kate Pain

The WforW grannies raise more money… mca

‘OK, let’s get down and dirty, then.’ The decision was made. We’d do the military assault course Mud Challenge at www.actiondaysout.co.uk to round off charity Words for the Wounded’s 2015 fundraising activities.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 1begins

We? Margaret Graham, Jan Speedie and Penny Deacon, are the grannies who run Words for the Wounded. We choose to conduct strategy meetings at The Wellington on the Strand, and decisions seem so easy over the second glass of wine. ‘Yes, there’ll be a bit of mud. Yes, we’ll get the families involved. Yes, it’ll be a bit of fun – and easy peasy.’

The WforW grannies raise more money… 2upandoverbarrier

Easy peasy? For goodness sake.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 3poledance

On the whole our charity, Words for the Wounded, raises funds by offering opportunities to readers and writers: the annual Independent Author Book Award, the LitFest Day. But we also like to do something different. Last year was the sky dive, this year MUD.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 4 The WforW grannies raise more money… 5a

With our long-suffering children and grand-children on the team we met up at Action Days Out, Henfold Lakes, Dorking, in the rain. Ah well. Ian and Callum Marshall briefed us, which is when ‘easy’ and ‘The Wellington’ seemed a million miles away, and teamwork was emphasized as crucial to the escapade. Off we trooped, to the warm up obstacles.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 5

Ho hum. Warm up, indeed. Then it was 1,2,3, and off we went. Mud? Oh yes. Water? Oh yes? Small obstacles? Oh no. BIG obstacles.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 6

Ian and Callum were there all the way, (on the bank). We ranged in age 11 to 70, and everyone helped everyone else. Was it like one great mudlark? Not exactly, one has to say, in fact, just feeling a little faint at the memory.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 7

I found dragging my feet out of the mud was half the battle, but there was the other half of the battle looming as I tried to find somewhere to put the foot that would actually help me hoof up the bank. Frequently it was on some poor soul’s knee. But then I took the weight of a few so all is fair in a  mudbath.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 8

So, easy? NO. Fun? Oh yes. I haven’t laughed so much for years, even when Ian asked us to link arms and run across the next few inches of water, which we did. It was actually several feet deep. Then there was crawling through water beneath barbed wire, throwing ourselves through tyres (frantic searching to find one big enough for my bum – oh, the humiliation had I stuck)

The WforW grannies raise more money… 10

Finally the end, and yes, you guessed it: debrief over lunch at a pub down the road, The Royal Oak Stonebridge. Adrian and Beverley Waterworth looked after us like troopers. Try it.

A success? Fantastic day, a great team, we all know one another far too well, having trodden/thrown, tugged one another into and out of obstacles. We surely must have soft skin from the all- over mudpack.

The WforW grannies raise more money… 12

Action Days Out – Ian and Callum are a great team. Boris, Callum’s 5 month old Norfolk Terrier came round with him, and found a false boob from the previous day’s Stag Mud Challenge. Yes, indeed, Stag and Hen parties do it here too. Crikey. It’s fun, give it a whirl, but be prepared to throw your clothes away afterwards. Of course, we’re all looking at Norfolk terrier puppies now.

£1750 raised so far. Remember every penny Words for the Wounded raises goes to where it should, as the grannies absorb all costs. If you fancy helping the wounded. Go to:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/granniesmudchallenge

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

www.actiondaysout.co.uk

Facebook: royaloakstonebridgedorking

 

 

 

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW Founder Margaret Graham

Posted on by

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW founder Margaret GrahamwordsforthewoundedThe Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on commended, highly commended, and then – the three winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all three winners. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW founder Margaret Grahampalamedes

Thank you, Palamedes PR for sponsoring a professional press release for the winner, and the opportunity of a discounted press release for 2nd and 3rd. Thank you Frost Magazine for publishing a review of the top three

Roll of drums for the list of winners, highly commended and commended.

1st The Cheesemaker’s House.  Jane Cable

2nd No Stranger to Death  Janet O’Kane

3rd Man, Dog, Stroke Eric Sinclair

Highly Commended

Alphabetical order

The Grown-ups Wouldn’t Like it. Diane Kay

Callum Fox and the Mousehole Ghost. A. C. Hatter

Commended

Alphabetical order

The Roman Citizens from Class 6B Kevin Brooke

Run fast, keep low Eleanor Broaders

Ruby’s New Coat Jane Carling

Chasing the Dark Clouds Courtney Hulbert (Guy Mortenson)

Brandy Row Shelagh Mazey

Orange Juice and Codliver Oil. Peter Morley

Pegasus to Paradise Michael Tappenden

The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumplin Allan Susie Twine

The Labyrinth Year Clare Weiner

The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.

Also we are honoured to announce that Felicity Trew will be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award.

Let’s have a closer look at our winner, Jane Cable, with The Cheesemakers’ House that achieved First Place in the inaugural WforW Independent Author Book Award. Congratulations!

First Place: The Cheesemaker’s House by Jane Cable.

Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award By WforW founder Margaret Grahamjanecable

Alice Hart’s husband runs off with his secretary, she runs off with his dog to lick

her wounds in a North Yorkshire village. Soon she decides to start renovating the barn next to her house and opens a whole can o’ worms.

Judges’ comments: The Cheesemakers’ House by Jane Cable was the only possible winner. The clarity, structure and story line was immediately inviting, the characters interesting. They weave, twist and develop towards the denouement, always keeping us with them. Cable is adept at peeling back the  layers; the writing is snappy, the tension implicit. She holds back, and you have to keep turning the pages unable to work things out until she wants you too.

There is a paranormal flicker, which can be clumsy, but in this case we found it believable, and in keeping with the book. Alice is the main character, a survivor of a marital breakup, but unembittered. Owen is the secondary character and is complicated; infuriating, almost fey. All this set against a rural village setting, which Cable ‘gets’ perfectly.

The Cheesemaker’s House is Jane Cables’ first published novel, but it is the work of an experienced writer. Has she many discarded novels in a drawer? Or has she worked with writing groups and really learned her craft? We do wish this is the case with more writers, because until clarity, organization and structure is achieved, fiction won’t work. It is only then that characters haul you into their world.

Jane Cable’s biog.

I have lost count of the number of stories I have started over the years but my first breakthrough came when I actually finished one. It was a romance about cricket and completely unpublishable. But it made me a much better writer. A few more followed, before I started The Cheesemaker’s House. I changed to writing in the first person and it felt different – it felt as though I had found my voice.

In May 2011 The Alan Titchmarsh Show announced a competition to find a new author – a People’s Novelist – and my mother persuaded me to enter The Cheesemaker’s House. I did and was shortlisted, and then made it through to the final. Though I didn’t win, it gave me confidence.

Mainstream publishing was becoming so risk-averse it was harder than ever to get a contract unless you were already famous and this was making many very talented writers go it alone. I had already come across Matador at a self publishing conference organised by The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. I like them because they are selective about the books they take and very, very professional.

The Cheesemaker’s House was really well received by book bloggers and readers and at the time of writing has sold around a 1,000 copies. I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award (such a good cause) and a professional press release from Palamedes, and publicity in Frost Magazine. My next novel, The Faerie Tree is now finished. Life is good.