2004
2004 started quietly. Only six writers attended the February Shorties, and just five at the Novel group. Tamara McKinley’s book. ‘Undercurrents’ was now in the bookshops, and her novel, ‘Summer Lightning’ had entered the German Best Sellers List at No 39.
The apathy continued as not a single member of Anderida Writers turned up to the Literary Event at Eastbourne Library. The monthly Newsletter began to carry details of open writing Competitions.
The April main meeting was held as an ‘Open House’ to attract new members, but there were no new faces and only seven Anderida members were present. Eight regulars were present at the ‘Shorties’, but just five at the Novel Group. Attendance did pick up at the main May meeting with 17 people present to hear and vote on the seven entries for the Crime Short Story Competition which were read out by Jo Sands. [No record of the winners]
Only three were present at the June ‘Shorties’ and the Novel group was cancelled. In July just John Bennett and John Connor attended. The York House Hotel, where meetings were being held, was up for sale.
By July there was a Newsletter message from the Chairman, John Bennett saying: “I regret to have to report that due to very poor attendance at our meetings there will be no Shorties or Novel Group meetings for the month of August. The main monthly meetings have also had diminishing attendances. If the group is to remain viable something needs to be done to rekindle our enthusiasm.”

The September Newsletter contained very little in the way of Club reports. Instead there were listed seven pages of competitions and markets. September saw a slight improvement in attendances; faced with a ‘use it or lose it’ situation, six writers turned up at Ella’s for the Shorties and seven were at Harry Pope’s for the Novel group. The main meeting in October, held at the York House, was a discussion on the book ‘Da Vinchi Code’ by Dan Brown. To better understand what makes a best seller, members needed to break down the construction of the story and understand just what components are required.
Liz Wright continued with her humorous, slightly fictionalised autobiography, ‘From Fancy Pants to Getting There’ and then divulged that she had won the article writing section of the Christchurch Writers Competition for ‘It’s a Dog’s Life.’ Tamara McKinley’s ‘Summer Lightning’ had been in the German Bestseller List for over 10 weeks and her ‘Matilda’s Last Waltz’ had sold over a million copies world wide.