Membership etc. We have a new member and a very warm welcome to Clare. Iıve sent you all her email address so that she can be included in all our circulations.

Plan for year:
This year ­ by general agreement at the end of May ­ will follow generally the same pattern as last year. We will have regular challenges addressing various aspects of writing and use of words, and we will have a different longitudinal exercise. I have another type of group story to attempt, but this wonıt (I hope) need quite so much supervising!! Weıll also have chance to discuss items of interest ­ and help ­ to us all.

Perhaps a Website?
We wonıt be getting our usual mention in Writers News ­ but we will get a mention if we do something different and newsworthy. To compensate for this, I am wondering if we should set up a simple website so that any others who are interested in what we are doing can look at it: however, I am anxious to avoid dialogue with others. Anyone got any opinions on this?

Clear English
We are all members of the Circle because we like good writing: good writing may have its own style, but the message it is conveying should be quite clear. But in reading the press during the summer, I came across a sentence by no less a person than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and I am having some difficulty in understanding the meaning of his message.

"The reality underpinning apophatic theory is 'ecstasyı ­ not a particular brand of individual mystical experience, but the sober acknowledgement that we must let go of the control of conceptual analysis when we are touched by God."

I am not particularly religious, I admit, but I think I understand the importance of religion to many people. But I am at a complete loss. If anyone can offer clarity, Iıd be pleased to receive an email about it.

On the other hand, in our hamlet (in Somerset), we had our post box removed for repair in mid-July. I have been chasing Royal Mail for information about when it will be replaced (the repair could be done in 30 minutes), and I have just received a letter from them (in Glasgow).

"Thank you for your complaint received recently concerning the posting facilities in your area.

"I have passed details of your complaint to the collections manager of your area who will look into this. He may contact you directly or send the response to myself in which case I will contact you as soon as possible.

Thank you for contacting me about this matter and I hope you will find my reply both helpful and informative. If I can be of any more help however, please contact me again."

Whilst I have considerable difficulty in understanding what the Archbishop wrote, I am sure that it is profound. On the other hand, I have no difficulty at all in understanding the letter from Royal Mail, but it seems to contain no information whatsoever! Hopefully we, as mere word-peddlers, create offerings which fall somewhere between these extremes.

Future Alpha Days
Many of you have offered to help me in running Alpha Circle, and Iıd like members to take over the ³hosting² the Alpha Days in turn. I propose the following procedure.

The host for any particular Alpha Day will receive from me all the up-to-date information that I have ­ which includes the design of the Regular Challenge. The host will send out the Alpha Day Circular (to which he/she can add what they like in the General and Discussion sections ­ or even modify the Challenge), collect in the entries at the following Alpha Day, number them, and send a complete file to everyone for assessment. Collate the replies by the next Alpha Day and send them back to members.

Iım looking after this Alpha Day, but can I have a volunteer for Alpha Day 2, please? I will actually be in Geneva for the week of Alpha Day 2, so I really need someone to do the distribution, or I'll have to delay it by a couple of days. I will liaise with you as necessary.

Other responsibilities
Writers Log and Learning Curve? More in Alpha Day 2 circular.

Grant Application
I duly submitted an application for a grant to put our first yearıs experiences in book form. I received an acknowledgement on 17 August, and the application now has a number and title for reference: No: 013953 ³To print and publish a book of a pioneering experiment². I should know by the end of September about the fate of the application.

See the Challenges page for details of this month's regular challenge.

Longitudinal experiment
As last year, a longitudinal experiment will be run. This year, it will feature a piece of prose of some 6-700 words which will be split at the centre. The bottom half will go to one member who will write a new top half. That top half will then go to the next member who will write a new bottom half, and so on. In order to ensure that everyone contributes, a second stream will start with a member writing a new bottom half to the original top half, etc. Every person will get his or her opportunity at some stage in this experiment. If itıs not you now, your turn will come!

At the end of the exercise, we can examine the changes which have taken place through passing it around.

Group creative writing:
I propose to start this in the distribution for Alpha Day 2, September 29th .

I thought it better to get the other things started first. It will be different from last year.

Discussion
Last year, we all found the discussions useful and very interesting. I hope we will do so again. Iıve had one suggestion for a topic already.

Short Stories and Book Reviews
Iıd like to thank members who have sent in Book Reviews and Short Stories: I always find it interesting to read other peopleıs work.

Iım not sure how far we want to discuss these stories, but Iıll start by making what I think is a useful point about my story ³A Holiday to Forget² (it doesnıt really matter whether you like it or not!).

A lot is written about vocabulary, direct speech, various forms of good practice, and so on. But very little is written about sentence length.

In my story, I have featured a man who is leaving one phase of his life and is anxious to move on. He is impatient, and impatience is well shown by simple statements, unadorned by adjectives, or even verbs. In the first 39 sentences ­ up to the stage at which he decides he will be Pete Jones ­ no fewer than 28 of them have fewer than 10 words (some without verbs!). It works out at an average of just over 8 words per sentence.

As Pete Jones in the next section ­ until he lands at Boston - there are fewer short sentences ­ only 8 in 28 - implying that he is calming down. The average now has risen to 13 words per sentence.

From then on ­ ignoring direct speech ­ the longer sentences indicate a loss of impatience and a change in attitude coincident with a little warming towards the girl.

But is there anyone whoıd be prepared to offer a story or an article for constructive criticism?

- Olaf