Welcome to Alphaday 6, the first Alphaday of 2012.

I wish you all plenty of success and fulfilment with your undertakings in 2012, both in your personal lives and with your writing.

2011 is hereby relegated to the past. For the Alpha group it was marked by the loss of David in March. He’ll always be remembered with affection by those of us who knew him.

We published our 2nd Alpha book in June 2011. The first one (“Alpha Writers, The birth of an email group”) came out in 2005. It was a paperback recording all the work we’d done in the first year of our existence. Similar, in a way, to the contents now on our web site. Olaf edited most of it, delegating some chapters to other members. It was a great success… certainly with the members of the Alpha Writers’ Group!

Our 2011 book, “Say n’More”, was published on Amazon and Smashwords. It’s a novella with chapters written by Alpha members and has proved a great best-seller… with at least four copies already snatched up by the enthusiastic public!

The cover was once more designed by Michelle, Margie’s daughter, and Rosemary did all the hard, skilled work of preparing it for publication as an e-book (thank you!). Her experience in this matter came from the e-publication of her own first novel, a collection of poetry, and more recently also her book about Alfie, her famous dog. We hope she’ll find the time to publish another Alpha book, “Scalla”, our fantasy novella, and the short story collection on the theme of music. After that it’s definitely time to look seriously at the possibility of planning another group project. If you’re interested?

There are plenty of treats lined up for us on this Alphaday. They include:

1) This missive from me.
2) Log 6 VIII, edited by Rosemary.
3) The results of the photo challenge from Margie.
4) The file of Gluttony entries from Clare.
5) The brief for Challenge 6 from Rosemary.
6) The results of Olaf’s amazing Christmas quiz.

That’s quite a line-up and once more I’d like to thank all those involved for their efforts. That includes the entire group for all the entries and the feedback.

This Log is Rosemary’s last Log edition (she’ll be busy with Ch.6 for some time!). Margie has volunteered to take on the task of compiling the Log for the rest of the season. I hope you’ll remember to send her all your writing news from outside the Alpha cocoon. We all dream of getting our writing noticed by the public at large, and we love to hear how efforts to reach an appreciative audience fare.

I’m sorry to have to tell you that Betty has decided to leave Alpha. Betty joined Alpha at the beginning of Season V, and we’ve enjoyed her company and her input for over three years. We wish her success with her writing, especially her remarkable poetry.

Please delete Betty’s address from the group list.

Betty sent us the following:

I am afraid I will have to tender my resignation as a participant in Alpha.   There seems to be a combination on health and family issues which is causing me to not meet deadlines.

I am sorry that I have come to this conclusion, but I think it is best for my situation right now.   I am aware that I could apply to join once again when things improve for me.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the Challenges we have had over the time and the way in which they have contributed to my writing.    Just now. however, my situation seems to indicate that I cannot continue with the discipline.   Thank you to everyone in Alpha for their interest. and comments - it has been a truly great experience.

Keep up the good work!

Regards

Betty

This Alphaday coincides with Twelfth Night. Time to clear out all vestiges of the Christmas season and get back to normal… turn off and stack away the miles of fairy lights that have been up since the 1st of December last year… and utter a huge sigh of relief.

Twelfth Night is usually said to celebrate the eve of the arrival of the three kings in Bethlehem to pay homage to Jesus. Their joy at finding the world’s Saviour is an Epiphany. The Church always celebrates Epiphany on a Sunday, which makes it a moveable feast (the three kings wisely brought their picnic with them), while Twelfth Night is fixed on the 5th of January.

Many people connect the Greek word Epiphany with St. John on the road to Damascus. The word has since slipped into the lay person’s vocabulary and we can all experience an epiphany. For example when a piece of writing we’re struggling with suddenly gels and everything falls into place. That’s a great moment, a revelation, an epiphany.

There’s another Greek word with a similar meaning, but belonging to classical Greek culture (Aristotle) rather than Christianity. It’s ‘peripeteia’ which also describes the moment when things suddenly gel. It’s a lovely word, but to me peripeteia gels into tragedy (Oedipus et al.), while epiphanies are joyful. So have plenty of those! As for Twelfth Night moments, they’re more comic and unnatural… in quite a pagan way, I think, and there may well be a link to the Roman feast of Saturnalia, when slaves were allowed to behave like free people. (Cf. Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’.) Poor Malvolio in his yellow stockings – cross-garter’d – has greatness thrust upon him, and Viola takes a man’s part. I expect most of us belong to Malvolio’s second category, i.e. those who ‘achieve greatness’. Well, don’t we?

(Twelfth Night: Act III, scene 4, ll 15-52.)

I love pondering about words and their implications. In this case I vaguely wondered whether I was guilty of steering the result of my research into channels that appeal to me – like a statistician picking out the figures that favour his theory. Might somebody with other interests come up with a totally different explanation? Does accurate research guarantee reliable conclusions? Now there’s a question and a half!

(I accidentally wrote the above instead of some musings about the sad state of the world.)

Have a nice Alphaday and please pop in with your comments on the proceedings.

- Christine