FAWNS NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER, 2008 Fellowship of Australian Writers – North Shore Branch C/- The Secretary, 35 Eyre Street, Smithfield 2164
Meetings held 1pm on the third Sunday of each month at Community Centre Willow Park, 25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby
President: Jan Foster Treasurer: Dorothy Walker Editor: Jany Garland
SOME WORDS FROM THE PRESIDENT: Where did the year go? Soon there will be decorations and carols in the shopping centres, presents lists, cards to be written, puddings and cakes to be planned and those festive occasions to be slotted into the calendar. Weren’t we clever to have our pre-Christmas lunch last week, before all this nonsense started, and wasn’t it fun? Also today, Richard is bringing us a workshop on “Scenes” and I’ll be announcing a new thing for FAWNS – there’s a note on it later in the newsletter. Since our next meeting won’t be until Sunday January 18th 2009, I wish you all a safe, enjoyable and restful festive season and look forward to seeing you all in the new year. “The pen is the tongue of the mind” - Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote Jan Foster
The part of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is the longest of the playwright’s speaking parts with 1630 lines. The second longest part is that of Richard III with 1164 lines.
Frankenstein’s first name was Victor and he wasn’t a doctor in the original 1818 novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
FAWNS Award.
Eastwood/Hills FAW has asked for two prose people from FAWNS to judge their in-house annual short story competition, called the Pauline Walsh Award, next February. In return, they are offering to judge a similar in-house competition for us. The executive decided this was a great idea and so we're announcing the inaugural FAWNS Award. This will be a short story competition, open only to FAWNS members and is to be written over the Christmas break and handed in at the first meeting next year, Sunday 18th January. The story must be fiction, no more than 3000 words, typed double-spaced on one-sided A4 paper, 12 pt minimum font, with only the title, text and page numbers on each page. Attach a separate cover sheet, with your name, the title and word count, so I can keep a record of entrants. Don't use clip art or decorations of any kind, just the story. Why not have a go? Jan Foster
“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” Henry Van Dyke
Demons are a ghoul’s best friend. “One may know how to gain a victory, and know not how to use it.” Pedro Calderon de la Barca Some days you’re the bug, some days you’re the windshield.
“Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe.” Josh Billings
TANKA : icy lake
BRING OUT THE BUSH BALLADS : “It’s time for bush poetry writers to put pen to paper for the 2009 Blackened Billy Verse Competition.
The top prize is the Blackened Billy trophy and $400, with cash for second and third places. Entries must be written in the rhythm and rhyme of traditional bush verse. Winners will be announced at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January.
The competition closes on 30th November. Entry forms are available by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope to Jan Morris, PO Box 3001, West Tamworth NSW 2340 or e-mail janmorris@northnet.com.au
] Did you hear that Paddy had been reading so much about the ill-effects of smoking that he decided to give up reading? ] No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
Writing a tanka when my neighbour, beaming, come to tell me she is soon expecting triplets. © Valwyn Edwards Wishart 19.10.08
Seize the moment – and write about it. Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below. John Dryden 1678
(Copied from “The Alternative Dictionary” by
Arctic – The clock in the ark. Barmen – What feminists would like to do. Claustrophobia – Fear of ChristmasDrill Sergeant – An Army dentist Exorcise – What ghost hunters do in the gym. Football fan – A device for cooling footballs. Gumboots –Shoes worn over the teeth History – the tale of a man. Igloo – An Eskimo’s lavatory. Jumbo jet – A flying elephant. Keyhole – A very important opening. Livelihood – An active gangster. Myth – A spinster who talks with a lisp. National Elf Service – Conscription for gnomes. Octopus - A cat with eight legs. Procure – To be in favour of medical treatment. Quadrille – A very square dance. Rule of thumb – What Tom says, goes. Sunburn – To get more than you bask for. Tyrant – A despotic insect. Urchin – The lower part of a woman’s face. Volts – To dance in an electrified fashion. Wombat – An Australian vampire. Xerox – Stones, as in Xerox of Gibraltar. Yellow line – A file of soldiers who won’t fight. Zincography – The science of washing up.
WRITERS’ Prompts : a How many additions can you make to your own Dictionary” (Examples shown above); b OR:- (In 100 words or less):
All the best “Christmassy” |
November 2008 Newsletter |