2000
In 2000 Sharon Searle took over from Robert Crouch as Chairperson. In the Year Book (priced £2.00) she told members that Tamara McKinley’s ‘Matilda’s Last Waltz’ had now been sold to ten countries, with large print and audio tapes on the way.
Liz Wright’s ‘Made in Sussex’ was published just before Christmas.
Chris McCooey ‘took us around the world as a travel writer’, while Sandy Hernu talked about how she came to write the biography of Desmond Llewellyn, who played the part of ‘Q’ in a number of James Bond Films.
At the August meeting, publisher Steve Benz gave members an insight into the world of commercial publishing and added some sound advice: “Don’t put months of work into a book that has no better foundation than a whim.” Ann Botha saw the publication of her second book, ‘The Cuckmere – A Sussex River.’ Erica Richardson was the winner of the Anderida Accolade and Ella Harris won the annual short story competition, just ahead of Tamara McKinley, Erica Richardson and Liz Wright.
The ‘Shorties’ meetings were attracting between 6-12 writers, and members of the Novel Group had expressed an interest in critiquing each others work using e-mail, where comments might prove to be more detailed. A club Handbook was distributed to all full members, which contained details about meetings, workshop groups, competitions and calendar of events. Robert Crouch stepped down from his position as Newsletter Editor and handed the task over to John Connor. Forty members and friends turned up for the Christmas party at Chaseley.