{"id":50,"date":"2016-07-07T22:40:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T22:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nethergatewriters.org\/?p=50"},"modified":"2021-03-12T10:56:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T10:56:44","slug":"chattering-from-the-chair-6th-july-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/?p=50","title":{"rendered":"Chattering From The Chair – 6th July 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Carson is the Chair of Nethergate Writers, and these are his regular updates on our latest meeting.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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Nethergate Writers Meeting – 6 July 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Half a dozen of us began by chatting about the website. It was good to see some writing and some comments. As well as the link to the Ties to the Tay, we agreed that there should also be a link to Zoe Venditozzi\u2019s Dundee website. Craig will set this up.<\/p>\n

First up was Richard\u2019s poem \u201cNow and Then.\u201d We liked it. Its tone is deceptively simple, but it exemplifies an important aspect of how we view the world. Mood influences perception, in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

The result of the referendum was regretted by all present. Such unanimity of outlook didn\u2019t preclude lively analysis of why and how it all came about. As a lead-\u00adin to Roddie\u2019s piece, it was highly appropriate. It\u2019s entitled \u201cWhoa! EU referendum\u201d and is in the form of the song Hokey Cokey. Here\u2019s the first verse:<\/p>\n

You bring a new clown in and kick an old clown out,
\nVote in vote out,
\nThe markets shake about,
\nThe country voted Brexit believing pie in the sky
\nThat\u2019s what it\u2019s been about.<\/p>\n

Vintage Roddie –\u00a0 \u00ad you get the picture (and he sang it!)<\/p>\n

\u201cGive it a Rest \u201c is a pastiche on couples seeking counselling. It was written as an antidote to the political nonsense going on at the moment. The liberal use of the Doric added to the amusement.<\/p>\n

Roddie had another piece \u00ad \u201cWanderjahre\u201d It has flavours of Robert Louis Stevenson and anyone who has left their native shore to travel and wander will recognise the sentiments. It steers clear of sentimentality. Some suggestions for minor changes were made. (Incidentally, Roddie has submitted two entries to a competition, both works that he had introduced to NW, and he reckoned that the discussion about them had been very helpful)<\/p>\n

Tom read a short piece about losing one\u2019s glasses. In fact it also contained sharp observation about how we perceive things, thus linking with the first piece, and bringing the meeting to a satisfactory, circular conclusion.<\/p>\n

Not quite, however. We pondered for a moment or two about what makes a good short story. Mention was made of Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri and two contrasting stories that are both exceptional in completely different ways. One comment from Craig is worth hanging on to – \u00ad a good short story is one that could be the best part of something bigger.<\/p>\n

Roy had sent round poems for comment. We thought it best for individuals to contact him directly. We didn\u2019t feel qualified, since two are in German and one is in French. But we hoped that they would stimulate some multilingual interest (and I\u2019ll respond to the French one).<\/p>\n

It was another highly enjoyable and stimulating evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Carson is the Chair of Nethergate Writers, and these are his regular updates on our latest meeting. Nethergate Writers Meeting – 6 July 2016 Half a dozen of us began by chatting about the website. It was good to see some writing and some comments. As well as the link to the Ties to… Read More »Chattering From The Chair – 6th July 2016<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meeting-archive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nethergatewriters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}