Hello everyone,

General:
This is a Circular which I’d rather not be writing, but I’m very happy to do it for David, as I am sure that in due course, he will want and be able to take over at the helm again. What this emergency has shown is that we are a very close group, and we are all concerned for each other. However, I’ll pick up all the bits from David (some have already been passed to me by Carol) and we’ll proceed using his ideas where he’s started them. Because I have several commitments when I won’t always be able to circulate at the right time, I have asked Zena (and fortunately, she has agreed) to be at hand to help me when I need it.

This is the last circular of the season and really wraps things up for the summer (winter if you live in some parts of the world). There will be communications from time to time, but at no set times.

It has been an excellent season under David’s leadership, with many tough challenges, and a very high rate of response by members. I think we all learn a lot by reading other contributions, even if we don’t agree with – or sometimes don’t even like – them. I always feel that if a piece of writing rouses your antipathy, then it’s actually probably a good piece of writing, if you see what I mean. We must all shy away from work which arouses no feeling at all.

The start of next season will be with a circular with more details sent round at the beginning of September.

Overall Challenges result:
You’ve all had the results of Challenge 10, and using the criteria we’ve had this season (although it would normally be David who makes decisions about *s, he did carry on the system which I used the previous year), it means that I give myself 3 points, Rosemary and Zena get 2 points each (Zena with a *) and Chris and David getting one point each, Chris collecting a * as well.

That all makes the leading totals as

Chris 22 points and ****
Rosemary 21 points and *
Margie 20 points and *
Christine 19 points and **

I think I’ve got it right, but it shows Chris as the season’s overall winner – so Congratulations to Chris. (If you think I’ve got it wrong – please let me know immediately!)

It is tough to keep up the pace for entering all the challenges; the standard is pretty high and there’s not a lot of difference between us, so that makes the winner unknown until the last challenge is over. I always enjoy rising to the challenge, even though I rarely get amongst the winners – but then, that’s what Alpha is about – enjoying writing for its own sake.

I don’t know if any of you noticed, but there were only 3 judges who gave 3 marks to an entry, possibly this was because we were unsure how realistic the entries really were. The only previous time that the award of 3 marks was so low was for the Haiku, and then many of us were unsure about their quality: we learnt a lot from that, though.

Next season's dates:
David had sorted the dates for next season and had told me:

The First Challenge will be set on the initial date, and we will progress through 13 Alpha days, with the last one being the tidying up one or the season.

2009
September 24, October 15, November 5 and 26, December 17

2010
January 7 and 28, February 18, March 11, April 1 and 22, May 13, June 3

They should all be Thursdays!

Publicity:
Julie wrote about her feelings of the first year as a member of Alpha, and this will be published in Writers News. I liked what she wrote, and so did Jonathan Telfer of Writers News. He asked for a bit more information about Alpha and an address to which anyone interested could write. I gave him David’s address, but when he was taken so ill, I sent a message to Jonathan changing the address to mine, because I didn’t want anyone being worried by unnecessary emails. I can forward him details when the situation arises.

Membership:
It is our aim to keep the membership at 18 – we were let down badly by Teresa last year, and she should be erased from our address books by now. I have written to her (David may have done so as well, because we agreed that her membership should be terminated) and she won’t particularly have liked my email. (Does that make me a Terminator?)

David has 3 on a waiting list from earlier in the season, and he’s passed me their names. I don’t yet know if all the present members want to continue, but the initial reaction to my last memo suggests that most of do. However, Julie’s very objective note may encourage some more. We’ll have to deal with that when it arises.

Summer Showcase:
Christine has written to everyone regarding the idea of a Summer Showcase of our writing. It’s a good idea, and a great chance to dig out some of our earlier writing and shake the dust. I’ve already looked out one of my earlier pieces, and looked aghast at it. Not the subject matter, but the style of the language I used. I’ll be sending the contribution around.

Every-day Book:
You may have picked up a comment from the emails (actually following my original comment about Wordsworth, although a bit removed from that, now) that Zena has floated an idea about an Every-day Book. I think the idea’s worth considering developing, not least because we have members from all over the world, so I’ve suggested that she sets out her starting point below, and invites comments.

Zena writes:

"The emails Olaf mentions arose after I came across a book published in 1826 by a London writer and publisher called William Hone. His book contained “curious information on manners, antiquities and various other subjects” and he called it the “Every-day Book” - a great name! When he was putting it together he wrote: 'It will be gratifying to everyone who peruses this work, and highly so to the editor, if he is obliged by letters from readers acquainted with customs in their own vicinity, similar to those that they are informed of in other counties, and particularly if they will take the trouble to describe them in every particular. By this means, the Every-day Book will become what it was designed to be made - a storehouse of past and present manners and customs.'

Hone saw it as an opportunity for the communal pooling of knowledge, which got me thinking that, with our widely-spread membership, Alpha might be able to produce something similar. Where he has ‘other counties’ we could add ‘other countries’, and where he has ‘letters from readers’ we have Alpha. We have members all over Britain and the wider world who could write about local customs and characters, repeat local stories and traditions, and generally display our writing skills in an entertaining and interesting way. Traditions, events and characters that reveal a truth about a place or culture would be especially interesting. We may already have articles tucked away somewhere. For instance, Rosemary once mentioned the word ‘thrall’, meaning a stone plinth, as a regional word where she grew up, and Margie had that dramatic apartheid experience which she turned into a ‘Flight of Fancy’. Geoff’s vivid descriptions of everyday life in various parts of the world are always illuminating and entertaining.

I’m not imagining a book that would be read cover-to-cover in one sitting, more something to dip into, so the articles would need to be aimed at that sort of audience. I’m open to suggestion on all this, it just seems a good opportunity for us to write in our own styles on subjects we find interesting, entertaining or thought-provoking, and display the result to a wider audience.

Olaf has suggested we need a theme or aim; I’d add “or angle” (or are they the same thing?). Either way, we do need something to hold the whole together. Any thoughts?

When the idea came up in general emails, Margie wrote, “We could sell millions of copies as it would be read WORLDWIDE. I'm all for it.”

Could we? Would you like to have a go at it? What do you think?

Challenges for Next Season:
David has passed the message to me that he’s got about 6 ideas on the cards for challenges for next season, but Carol will let me know about them in due course. I will catch up with the details regarding those available to run them – I’ve heard from one or two.

At the moment, there’s nothing else that I can think of that needs saying, but I’ll keep in touch with you all.

Best wishes

- Olaf