Category: Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspiration, Writing tasks

Christmas Fun with Poems, Lyrics and Stories

Windsor Writers Group

At our Christmas meeting last week (complete with mince pies and mulled wine) we had fun listening to some Christmas silliness and heartwarming tales. Find some of our Christmas creations below. Enjoy!

A Faithful Friend in Christmas

by Vince Moran

Once there was a time

A time not long ago

A time when things were carefree

 A time that let life flow

A time when the wide world crowded

Around a spruce of pine

A time when goodwill was magic

And the music was sublime

Well you’ve got a friend in Christmas

The season love cannot ignore

A faithful friend in Christmas

Tis the season you might still adore

Where children gather around you

And light up the festive tree

From the smiles on their loving faces

You know in your heart you are free

Then came the darkening shadow

 Danger swept the sky

A virus so vindictive

You could hear the people cry

No more getting together

Social distance the norm

Masks on face to follow

To stem the rising storm

Well you’ve got a friend in Christmas

The season love cannot ignore

A faithful friend in Christmas

Tis the season you might still adore

Where children gather around you

And light up the festive tree

From the smiles on their loving faces

You know in your heart you are free

And through the mists of sorrow

Where dreams have withered and died

And many have lost loved ones

Their memories touch the rolling tide

Still the human spirit stays sturdy

No matter the cause of its woe

There’s a place for the truly worthy

Glistening in the yuletide snow

For you’ve got a friend in Christmas

The season love cannot ignore

A faithful friend in Christmas

 Tis the season you might still adore

Where children gather around you

And light up the festive tree

From the smiles on their loving faces

 You know in your heart you are free

Yes you’ve got a friend in Christmas

Blessings around your door

A faithful friend in Christmas

Tis time to sing once more!

Polycotton

by Vivien Eden

“Time for another present!” declared Eva.

Joe raised his eyebrows at his wife Maria who mouthed “Still acting like she’s five.” Eva and Josh dived under the tree. Baubles bounced up and knocked into each other as pine needles silently deposited themselves on the teenagers’ backs.

Rustle, jingle, rustle, jingle

Finally, they emerged holding a selection of gift bags and presents in their hands for everyone.

“Here you go grandma, grandad, there you go dad, here’s your one mum,” said Josh as he diligently distributed out the contents of his arms until all that remained in his hands was a small soft parcel in his hand; he speculated that it was socks since his grandparents always got him a pair of novelty Christmas ones – and every year he wondered if it would be the last pair he might ever receive from the oldest members of his family.

Eva clutched one large parcel in her arms with ‘To Eva, love from Mum & Dad xxx’ written on a white laser label. The tearing of paper started. Exclamations of thanks were made. Hugs.

Eva stared at the parcel. What could it be, she wondered? It was a fair weight and square with a small amount of give. Her younger brother elbowed her to get a move on.

“Oh darling, I hope you like that one – and that it helps you feel at home in your student house.”

Eva tore a fragment of paper, “Ah a new duvet cover,” she exclaimed. She turned the package over and read the label. “Oh, it’s polycotton,” and her face fell.

“Sorry Eva, what was that?” asked her father.

“Polycotton. I thought you knew that I only have Egyptian cotton on my bed.”

 “Mum, what’s polycotton?” asked Josh.

The chatter in the room, slowed. Then stopped all together. Eva was standing up. Was that a tear forming in her eye?

“I can’t believe you bought me this! I wouldn’t dream of giving anyone anything made of this stuff,” and she threw her present on the floor. Her grandparents gasped. Eva stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

“What the hell happened there?” asked Joe.

“I’m damned if I’ve got any idea. Ungrateful little… when I was a student I had a scratchy bloody woollen blanket on my bed and I was fine with that. Is there anymore sherry – I’ll have a large one if there is?”

Josh’s face broke into a smile, “I guess that’s what you call a very ‘sheety’ Christmas present!”

Mike’s Christmas Quiz

Can you solve the mystery in Mike Moss’s quiz “Sing a Song of Christmas” extravaganza

sing-a-song-of-christmas-quizDownload

And don’t forget as a great last minute Christmas present our very own publication: Windsor Christmas Tales is available on Amazon Prime!

Don’t worry, we’ll stop talking about it after Christmas 🙂

Image by Sandra Seitamaa

Creative Inspiration

How Do You Create & Launch a Book?

Windsor Writers Group

We’ve been absolutely blown away by how many people have bought our Windsor Christmas Tales book – thank you, thank you, thank you! Our book is a community project and, as with a lot of labours of love, it was never going to make anyone a millionaire. But it is art. And it brings joy. And those are both very valuable commodities.

So how did we do it and how long did it take? If you or another writing group out there has any ambitions of producing a book at some point, we hope you find this an interesting read.

And talking of interesting reads… this is the must-have Christmas read of 2022

Buy Windsor Christmas Tales

“The perfect way to get yourself in the mood for the festive season.”

How do you bring a book to market?

With twelve authors involved, sometimes decisions took a bit of time. But the expertise amongst us was impressive: we had a phenominal set of skills. So here’s how we did it – the journey of how Windsor Christmas Tales came to be:

January 2020Our last face to face Windsor Writers Group meeting before you-know-what happened. One member suggests producing a book to cement all the writing knowledge learned since joining the group. Half the room groan at the idea (they’d done it before) but the seed is planted…
April 2020The project is sanctioned at the AGM and project streams are created including promotion, editing, artwork…
June 2020The writers brainstorm story ideas together and the story length was established at around 3,000 words. This may or may not have been faithfully stuck to…
The rest of the long, hot 2020 summer…We pen our Christmas stories and poems whist sweltering away in the heat
October 2020Authors read each others’ stories and give initial feedback
February 2021The editing team are in full swing working through the stories and providing comments & amends to each author
April 2021Authors complete their amends and finalise their stories
June 2021Cover design is approved. Several illustrators respond to our brief and Bryony Usher gets appointed as the story illustrator. There is some healthy debate over typeface!
August 2021Blurb is written. The foreword is kindly written by Ruth Brandt and the authors write their biographies.
September 2021Proof reading and formatting (yawn!)
October 2021Platforms for producing the book are investigated, debated and voted on. The RRP price for the book is established
November 2021Initial print run of the book. The book has a soft launch and sells out just before Christmas.
A Big Long Rest to Recuperate…
Summer 2022The marketing team engage with retailers ready for Christmas
September 2022Marketing commences. Flyers for the book launch are produced.
November 2022Windsor Christmas Tales has its official Book Launch at The Old Court and receives a fantastic representation from the Windsor community. Press articles appear. The book starts selling.

And that’s the end of the story so far. December is here and Christmas just a couple of weeks away. But there’s still plenty of time to grab yourself a copy of Windsor Christmas Tales and enjoy the fruits of our labour as it’s now only a click away on Amazon. Waterstones Windsor are now fully re-stocked as is the Craft Coop Windsor and there are still a few copies at the Windsor Museum which is a great place to visit (and FREE!)

Buy WIndsor Christmas Tales

We are all very proud of Windsor Christmas Tales and of the great reviews it has achieved and we are so grateful to all the Windsor residents (current & former) together with visitors to our magnificent royal town who have supported our book.

Creative Inspiration

Let’s Take a Walk

Windsor Writers Group

We may actually have had the best illustrator in the world working with us on Windsor Christmas Tales! Not only did the talented Bryony Marianne Usher create jaw-droppingly beautiful colour illustrations in the book – she also created a beautiful map so that you can go for a walk around Windsor and spot the locations that have been written about.

From the Queen Victoria Statue that stands regally in front of Windsor Castle, to the Relief bridge overlooking the Thames all the way over to the Marsh Lane Wier on the Jubilee River if you really fancy stretching your legs.

Discover secret locations that only locals know about using Bryony’s magical map. And of course, no walk would be complete without a copy of the book to find out what happened at each location… from the scary, to the sad, to the adventure of a lifetime. Everything will be revealed when you read Windsor Christmas Tales!

ORDER WINDSOR CHRISTMAS TALES

For the perfect Christmas walk, use Bryony’s map to investigate the book’s Windsor locations:

Creative Inspiration, News!

3 Ways to Gently Introduce Christmas into Your Life (in November)

Windsor Writers Group

by Vivien Eden

“Christ-MAS is all around us,” as Bill Nighy sings in a well-known noughties movie. Well, that certainly seems to be the case all of a sudden. The school nativity dates are out, a new Christmas shop has popped up, Christmas carols were heard in Daniels department store last week and Santa in already booked out in certain establishments. How quickly the world moves through the seasons where Christmas is concerned. If it’s all a bit much but you don’t want to completely ignore the fact that Christmas is happening here are three ways to acknowledge it and lay the foundations so that when you are ready you can hit the ground running and embrace the season for all it is worth:

  1. Order a copy of the Windsor Christmas Tales book

You can order it from us here and we’ll carefully deliver a copy of this fantastic book to your home address where you can leave it to sit until you are ready to start reading some charming, festive stories set against the beautiful backdrop of Windsor. Alternatively, you can get ahead of the game and turn it into one of the first Christmas presents you buy for someone.

Like Windsor? Celebrate (or tolerate) Christmas? Then this is the book for you.

Not a fan of online shopping? You can support local Windsor retailers and pick up a copy of the book in Waterstones, Craft Coop and the Windsor Tourist Office (situated in the Windsor Museum). You can also pop along to the official book launch on Thursday if you’re near Windsor – now it will be a *bit* Christmassy but not too much. You’ll get to meet all the friendly Windsor Writers and buy the book at a special launch price.

2. Buy a Christmas delicacy with a long use by date and stick it in the cupboard

There’s probably one you like more than others. Mince pies, stollen, chocolate covered Brazil nuts… the latter being the one I personally went for. By doing this, you:

a) secure your favourite snack for Christmas Day in case there’s a world shortage nearer the time

b) can have a nibble if you have a bad day and cheer yourself up.

There’s really no downside to this option at all.

3. Accept that if anyone is expecting you to buy them an advent calender, you have to act now

Now I am sorry about this one but practically speaking 1 Dec is only a 3 weeks away. And I speak from experience when I say what a soul-destroying experience it is traipsing around every shop in town on 30 November trying to find one. I accompanied a dear collegue on this horrific pilgramage a few years ago and watched her have to buy two liquor chocolate advent calendars for her twin toddlers. On the plus side, I guess mum got to legitimately scoff the contents of those.

A reasonable selection in Aldi at the momenet for £1.99 #YouCanThankMeLater

Oh yes, Christmas should most definitely be taken at one’s own pace.

Photo by Julia Larson

Creative Inspiration

An Octopus and Even Stranger Things have been Sighted in Windsor Great Park

Windsor Writers Group

Where to get that nugget of inspiration from? That crumb of brilliance that prompts an outpouring of ideas, adventures, emotions and characters. If in doubt, go for a walk. It’s an age old method that resulted in great success for Sue Blitz when she turned her walk into Battleground Great Park: a short story which will have you pondering what’s really going on with the trees.

Dead trees are selectively left within Windsor Great Park to provide habitats for woodlice, spiders, beetles, butterflies, ladybirds and other insects. Over the course of summer 2020, Sue caught some of these striking wooden masterpieces on camera. Not only are these fallen trees flourishing into wildlife communities, they also provided a flourish of characters for Sue’s story.

Do you see what Sue saw in the trees?

How could anyone fail to see the giant octopus camouflaged as this fallen tree? Given his size he must have been around for some time. What’s he doing there? What’s he thinking?
This snarling crocodile is waiting, just waiting… but for what? Can he move? What’s his prey of choice here in Windsor?
This misaligned eyes, the open mouth as if uttering a blood-curdling cry. This ancient tree has been possessed by an ogre… or was the ogre poseessed by the tree?

Battleground Great park features in Windsor Christmas Tales – a collection of short stories by Windsor Writers Group authors. Official launch is in November 2022.