Stories at The Mosh Pit

I have written before about my Small Writing Group.  It’s interesting  that we have continued to call it the small group despite quite a few attempts to come up with a more unique name.  We have kept our numbers  small and  our writers, while diverse in writing style, genre and age group, are on a similar writing level.  We have grown and developed in our writing and in our critiquing.   It’s no longer about just punctuation and grammar but  the overview of the story  and how we can improve. We have developed a trust in each other to both tell the truth and hear the truth in a respectful way.

Two of us – Jess and I were recently invited to be on the ABC Treasure Hunters”  program.  We were asked about our group and what it was like to share our writing with others. Was it difficult?  We have learned it is essential to be able to share, but initially nerve wracking. Writing is a solitary occupation but sharing and critiquing helps enormously with our progress and our confidence.  

This brings me to our latest project.  We have organized an event  - “Stories at The Mosh Pit” which will be a live read by six of our group members and two guest readers. This gives the writers a wonderful chance to share their stories through live reading.  It will be held at a the Mosh Pit which is a popular and funky Record Store and Coffee shop at Cardiff CBD.  It is to be held on the Saturday 31st May and will start at 2pm and go to 4pm or later. There will be coffee and food available and music in between the readings.  

Anthony Skully  from the ABC 500 Word Stories is one of the guest speakers and will give a short talk on writing getting  your story published online at ABC Open. 

Karen Whitelaw is the second guest speaker.  Karen is a published author and writing tutor who teaches creative writing through the WEA. Karen has organised and guided  a number of writers from the Writers Workshop she teaches, through publishing an e-book anthology of short stories called Mirrors.  Karen will give a short talk about Mirrors and will also read one of her stories.

So if you would like to hear stories read live by local writers, please join us at the Mosh Pit on Saturday 31^st May at 2pm.

On Getting published on ABC Open 500 Word Stories

Recently I went to the Newcastle Writers Festival.  I went particularly to support fellow members of our small writers group who were live reading their stories.  One of these writers had won first prize in the short story Catchfire Press competition.  This was an amazing story and well deserving of first place in the competition. The other three writers  were to read their own stories that had been published on the ‘ABC Open 500 Word Story’  online site. 

It’s the ABC Open 500 Word story site I want to talk about today.

Run by the ABC this site is a wonderful place for budding writers to get their first ever publication of a story and after that as many more as they would like to submit. 

As it says, these stories have a limit of 500 words.  The story must be true and written in the first person. Each month there is a theme given.  Recent themes have included “Cringe” and “First Memory”. There are clear guidelines on the site regarding submissions.

The people who moderate in the Newcastle and Hunter branch are Anthony Skully and recently when Anthony was away, Bronwyn Purvis.  They are super supportive of the ABC writing community. Anthony runs workshops on how to write for the 500 Words, throughout the area and gives great encouragement to all.

I have written two stories in the last two months and they’ve both been published.  It’s a great feeling when you get the email to say your story is up on the site.  And you can then say you are a published author. A friend who has only just taken up writing and who sent in a story to “First Memory”, said waiting to hear if it was accepted was like waiting for a baby.  But just amazing and encouraging to hear it was accepted.

At the festival the ABC 500 group was the best of all the presentations I went to. There was standing room only.  A number of people read their stories which were welcomed with great delight by the audience.  Some made us laugh, some had us on the edges of our seats. All were amazing.  Bronwyn had a slide show up to match the stories and some stories were pre-recorded and played on the day. The atmosphere was wonderfully friendly and discussions later were amazing, with extra stories being told.  One reader of his stories was 97 years old!  The readers were from all walks of life.

It was the wonderful atmosphere that was the best part of that day – friendly and encouraging and happy.

So thank you ABC for providing this wonderful place for people who write, to be published and share their stories..

And to all you writers out there who would love to see your story in print  give it a go.