SCBWI South Africa: Meetups

It’s taken a while but we finally managed to have in-person meet-ups in both Cape Town and Gauteng last month! It’s always lovely to see each other in the flesh.

Our Cape Town crew were able to meet in a beautiful new art studio owned by our member, Nicola. We had fun dreaming up story ideas from pocket-sized objects we brought from home - but mainly spent all our time chatting!

On the 30th of August some of the Gauteng members had a morning coffee get-together in Pretoria. It was wonderful to get to meet new members and to re-connect with old friends. We had a great morning sharing books, inspiration and projects as well as sharing tips and ideas. We hope to do it all again soon!

Join the Writers’ Crit and Craft Sessions!

The Writers’ Crit and Craft group offers a varied programme. Its leaders, Jo-Marie and Elaine, ensure that all members have regular opportunities to make requests and to submit their work for discussion. Traditionally we have met on a Friday morning but, in response to member requests, we have recently added a Wednesday evening to the roster which is gaining momentum.

Instead of echoing Friday’s meeting activities, the Wednesday session has developed a life of its own. For example, the Friday Zoom meetings have recently explored how to find the ‘right’ structure for a picture book, writing memoires as well as free writing as a strategy to discover a starting point for writing. The recent Wednesday evening group had questions about the journey to publishing and our own RA, Emily, shared her publishing journey. They have since also explored writing query letters and presenting a pitch.

If you are a SCBWI premium member and an author (or wanting to become one), why don’t you join us the meeting times that work for you. You will find a safe space to share your work and what we all need – a chance to discover that you are not alone. We all have our moments of doubt. Imposter syndrome? There is a lot of that going around. Joining in the discussion on craft aspects or other people’s work is a wonderful way of gaining insights and building your own confidence. We also encourage members to take part in presenting specific techniques. Whether you have a particular expertise or are prepared to do some research into a particular area of writing or the publishing industry, we would love you to do a presentation.

If you want to send in work for advice or critique within the group, please email it to us, stating which meeting time you are able to attend and listing a few of the aspects you want the group to comment on. Please make sure that you send any work in with ample time prior to the meeting. Unfortunately, we are not able to review pieces which are submitted at short notice.

We look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Elaine Ridge and Jo-Marié Barlow

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