Northumbria Region u3a Creative Writing Group Publish for First Time

Cecilia, Chair of Northumbria Region u3a, talks about the network's creative writing group and the short story collection they've recently published

Our Northumbria Region u3a Creative Writers has 14 members from Alnwick u3a in north Northumberland to Saltburn u3a in North Yorkshire and many u3as in between. We started meeting on Zoom during the pandemic and continue to do so every month, with occasional face to face social/learning events.

 In each session, we might focus on a particular topic, for instance Flash Fiction, and then share links so members can read more about the concept of Flash Fiction. Each member of the group reads a short story or poem that they have composed as ‘homework’ from the previous session. We’ve covered many topics over the past 20 months or so. Some of the prompts have been to write a short story or poem from a Newspaper headline or to describe the world of a character without one of the 5 senses. We’ve also looked at the different forms of poems, such as Haikus and acrostics. 

The group has changed over the months we have been together. As Group Leader, I used to set the ‘homework’, now the members take it in turns to set a task. During the sessions, the more well versed writers are able to share their knowledge and expertise. Some members have been writing for years and others are new to the subject. I’ve only been creative writing for four years, learning the basics from a council run initiative. I thought I might be able to transfer the few skills I gleaned to members of u3a. I still attend other council run and WEA writing sessions so I can pass my knowledge on. It’s all about learning from each other.

In March 2022 we decided to publish a book of short stories and poems, 'Leafing Through The Seasons.' All of them are about the seasons of the year. I wrote an acrostic poem about Autumn called 'Acorns.' My short story is called ‘Best Friends’ about two school girls travelling to school in the winter who become involved in the aftermath of a robbery. Members had a limit of 2,000 words. They could either write a short story of 2,000 words or write a short story of 1,500 words and a poem. A mix and match situation. One member wrote 4 Flash Fiction stories covering each season.

 The best thing about the adventure was writing the stories and poems. All the members love creative writing. It’s always suggested that if you’re a creative writer you put pen to paper every day for a short time. ….that never happens for me as I’m always so busy doing other things. Many members say creative writing is ‘ their time’ away from distractions of the outside world. It has been shown that Creative Writing is good for mental health.

The hard bit …as we’d never done it before was self publishing. Normally a writer would engage a publisher and they would do all the hard work. As we don’t have the money to do that we had to self publish. It was a massive learning curve for a few of us. It’s actually been suggested that we add a session to the proposed workshop on self publishing then we teach others how to do it….now we have the T shirt.

Our next adventure is to have a bespoke guided tour of the Lit and Phil Library in Newcastle at the end of January 2023. It’s the oldest library in Newcastle. It’s the largest private library outside London. https://www.litandphil.org.uk/ Members that can stay are going for a meal afterwards.

We have decided to publish another book, but the topic has yet to be decided by all the members. We’ve just completed 'Leafing Through the Seasons' so we need a breather. We will still be meeting on Zoom every month writing poems and stories to entertain each other and learn new methods of creative writing.

 If any money is raised from our adventure, a day's workshop will be organised for all Creative Writing Groups within the Northumbria Region; 100 members could attend.

 Maybe you could purchase a copy to help us realise this goal.
The book is available from www.FeedaRead.com Direct link https://www.feedaread.com/search/books.aspx?keywords=leafing%20through%20the%20seasons

The cost is £5.99 plus P&P. It will also be found on Amazon, in Waterstones and all good booksellers by February 2023. (On Amazon the cost is £6.99)