May 2008May 2008
Writer's Quote of the Month
Love is what happens to a man and woman who don’t know each other.
~ W. Somerset Maugham
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Contents
1. News – Another Writers Write graduate becomes a winner
2. Guest Speaker: 23 May 2008
3. Courses & workshops
4. How to Become a Subscriber
5. Book Reviews
6. Author Interview: Johan Marais & Elma Vliet
7. The Star Struck Writer - Taurus
8. The Write Co Competitions
9. Classified
10. Students Writing
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1. News
Winner!
Marida Fitzpatrick, one of our Skrywers Skryf students, has won 3rd place in NB Publishers and Leserskring’s “Die liefde is vir ewig” romance competition. Her novel is entitled Eksklusief uit Eden and will be published in September.
Congratulations, to Morne Malan who taught her and to Marida herself.
If you want to write a book, May & June dates for Writers Write are available. Call Wiida on 079 875-3719
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O is not just a letter of the alphabet.
All of the news from our week with the Oprah Big Dream winner
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The Fair Bookie’s Take ~ Amanda’s Diary from The London Book Fair
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The Caption Competition
Write a caption for the photograph of the month!
May: Nicci Stewart, Project Management, and Johan Marais 23rd April 2008
Winners – for March and April and enter for May
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We launch The Power of Words Campaign on June 1st.
Please email us if you feel that you can help in any way.
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2. Guest Speaker May 2008!
To be announced
Date: 23 May 2008
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: TBA
RSVP: info@thewriteco.co.za
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3. Coming up in Writing
Creative Writing Courses & Workshops - Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries
Writers Write (4 weeks):
Saturday Mornings: 08.30 – 12.30 17 May 2008
Tuesday & Thursday Mornings: 09:00 – 11:00 3 June 2008
Tuesday & Thursday Evenings: 17:30 – 20:00 13 May 2008
Writers Write 2 (4 weeks)
Tuesday & Thursday Mornings: 09:00 6 May 2008
Write a screenplay (5 weeks)
Sunday mornings: 09:00 – 12:00 from 18th May 2008
Creative Writing One-day Workshops
How to write for Mills & Boon: Romancing the Dollar 24th May 2008
Plot LUCK: Learn how to plot a novel on Saturday 10th May 2008
How to write lyrics: Music & Lyrics on Saturday 31st May 2008
Business Writing One-day Courses
Strategic Press Release Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries
How to Write Reports Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries
Two Hour Sessions – It’s worth subscribing! Call Wiida 079 875-3719 for queries
Tuesday evenings with Morne Malan
Friday mornings with Anthony Ehlers
Friday poetry morning with Amanda Patterson
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4. How to Become a Subscriber
Please click here: subscription form
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5. Reviews
Our reviewers rate books from 1 – 5
1 - For use as a doorstop only
2 - Keep for publishers' & booksellers' strikes
3 - A great holiday read
4 - You'll remember this with enthusiasm a month later
5 – Unforgettable
The End of America by Naomi Wolf (Scribe) R160 ISBN: 978-1-921215-84-1
Is America becoming a classic fascist state. Wolf shows how the US government violates the holy American Bill of Rights.
Wolf has been targeted by the government and is subjected to special searches at airports. This violates the Fourth Amendment, but America just accepts it.
Wolf compares the US tactics and methods to those of the fascist states of Italy, Germany, Latin America and the Soviet Union. She then describes the ten steps used by these governments as they came to power. These steps are being taken in the USA. The book examines the jargon, the methods and the political labels. It is frightening that all of these regimes simply use different words for the same thing.
This trend is obvious to every non-American around the world. It is frightening to read in black and white and one hopes that someone stands up and takes notice. America is dysfunctional at the best of times. It feeds its citizens with a well-packaged lie of freedom and a caring government. Anyone who reads Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair editorial will understand what I’m talking about.
A fascist American government is disturbing. I suspect that Americans will be too apathetic to stop it. Citizens are well-fed with sugary doughnuts, processed foods and brain-washed with coma-inducing television. A revolution is out of the question if you really think about it.
God bless them. God help the world.
Amanda Patterson
4/5
The Secret Life of Husbands by Kirsty Crawford (Orion) R116.00 ISBN: 9780752882703
You meet the perfect man. You fall madly in love. Within a few months, you’re ready to get married. But how well do you know your new husband?
This is what happens to Ruth, a nurse at a GP’s office in Oxford, when she marries Ned, a sensitive, handsome rugby-playing engineer. Ruth’s family is quirky but pretty normal – so it comes as a shock when she inherits Jackie, the mother-in-law from hell. Picture Glenn Close in a beige cardigan with an English accent. To make matters worse, Ned’s clique of varsity pals are a complex bunch with a secretive history. Ruth realises there are more than two people in her marriage.
Kirsty Crawford, author of Other Women, studied at Oxford and she deftly renders that fabled, picturesque town like a water colour. This is Chick Lit with a bit more depth and wisdom than we’ve come to expect from the genre. She keeps you in suspense as you expect something sinister to unfold. She also drives home the importance of communication in a relationship. A compulsive page turner.
Reviewer: Nichola Kilian
4/5
The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux (Hamish Hamilton)
The intrigue and mystery of India fail to deliver well developed characters to drive the narrative. Each has an expectation of escape whether it be from relationships, business pressures or just sameness. What they do find is that the allure of the Elephanta suite, the cultural nuances of India and the sexual freedom only leads them back to the people they really are. It’s a loosely woven plot that didn’t command my full attention.
Iza Goldwasser
2.5/5
Finding Your Feet – How the Sole Reflects the Soul by Ann Gadd (Findhorn Press) ISBN: 101844090817
What starts out as an interesting and long-awaited book about the spiritual significance of the feet and how understanding the chakras can help one heal oneself ends in an anticlimax.
The book was written in an easy to grasp style all the way through, but it did not tie up the whole story at the end, and left one hanging. A summary or conclusion would have rounded off the book nicely.
That said, there is a wealth of fascinating information including how the shape of one’s feet have different meanings to what foot abnormalities such as webbed toes and bunions signify and it gives exercises how to heal oneself. This is a book that reflexologists, podiatrists and others who deal with feet on a daily basis would find useful.
Amanda Blankfield
3/5
The Daughter Game by Kate Long (Pan MacMillan) R155 ISBN no: 978-0-330-44859-8
Anna Lloyd cheats on her husband in the hope of consolation and a baby. She is angry with Jamie, the husband who stopped teaching so he could work from home as an unpaid writer. The husband who doesn’t want children. She loves to hate the in-laws, Russ and Ruth and their three children.
Anna, the teacher, is quite capable of hiding how she feels, because her classroom is her sanctuary. She is a mother figure to her learners. The headmaster of her school warns her against encouraging contact with children outside of class. Against her better judgment it happens. Kali Norman speaks to the mother Anna longs to be.
Then Jamie moves out. Russ is insistent and Kali comes to Anna’s rescue. Or so she thinks.
Wiida Hamman
4/5
Things to Make and Mend by Ruth Thomas (Faber and Faber) ISBN 978-0-571-23060-0
Sally Tuttle’s talent for embroidery emerged later in her life, much to her own dismay. Circumstances in her past have created her humble demeanor which unravels itself to the reader through honest and sometimes uneventful, yet plainly charming flashes of her past. Ruth Thomas takes us on an amalgamated journey of two friends, torn apart in their closest moments by teenage misunderstandings and life change. The colourful threads of love, life and friendship run throughout this story to make for a true to life and warming read.
Ruth Thomas enthralls readers with her description of these two friends and their severely middle class experiences. Its genuine, true to life nuances, are sure to tug a familiar string in any female heart and mind.
Angela Auld
Rating: 3/5
Having it All by Dr Linda Friedland (Tafelberg) R130, 00 ISBN: 9780624046103
This workbook is for ‘today’s woman’ who is apparently, ‘frantically juggling’ the ‘never-ending daily tasks’ that she faces.
Does this sound like torture? Don’t be put off by this dismal blurb.
This book is helpful if you are a woman wanting to balance all the challenges you face on a daily basis. There are lots of useful tips and exercises to help you cope. There are even the ubiquitous 7 Steps that Stephen Covey invented some time ago.
Dr Friedland is a medical doctor, the mother of five children, and the perfect role model for the book.
I would have given this a 3.5/5 but the poor packaging, typesetting and quality of the book made it difficult to read.
Amanda Patterson
2/5
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More reviews
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6. Interviews
Johan Marais and Elma Van Vliet give their 17 Answers to our 17 Questions
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7. The Star Struck Writer
Taurus
Amanda Patterson ©
Writing for all the other Star Signs
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8. The Write Co Competitions for Subscribers
Monthly ‘What’s on your mind?’ Competition
Write 400 words and win!
Prize: 2 Books from The Write Co and Publication on our web site, in our newsletter and in Off the Cuff.
Conditions: 1 Entry per Person, 400 words.
Closing date: 25th of every month
To enter: Send entries to info@thewriteco.co.za
Winner: March: Tanya van Eyck & April: Jackie Kelly
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Monthly Poetry Competition
May’s theme is: Take me with you
Prize: A case of Leopard's Leap Wines
Conditions:
1. Only 1 poem per month per subscriber is allowed.
2. The poem must not be longer than 30 lines.
3. The poem must be about the given topic.
4. If you are not a subscriber please pay an entrance fee of R50, 00 per entry.
Closing date: 30 May 2008
To enter: Send entries to amanda@thewriteco.co.za
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The winner for Lights Out: Pam King
2nd Place: Cathy Loupis
3rd Place: Kim Scott
The winner for Gentlemen & Players: Elena Di Cesare
2nd Place: Jill Marais
3rd Place: Barry Finegan
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Please choose your winner for April: The eyes that don’t cry and send the poets name in the subject line to amanda@thewriteco.co.za
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Rick Thinks?
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9. Classified
Are you looking for something GOOD to read?
Let Penguin Books keep you up-to-date with news on the latest releases, exclusive invites and information on upcoming author tours.
Click here to subscribe to our e.newsletter
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The Write Co boardrooms are available for hire when not in use.
R150, 00 per hour
R200, 00 per hour
R250, 00 per hour
Please contact Wiida - wiida@thewriteco.co.za for more information on rates.
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Tarot Course
Every Wednesday night from 18.30 – 20.30 at The South African National Museum of Military History, 22 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold.
Learn to trace your own personal journey on the Tarot Cards.
Astrology and Numerology on the cards.
The use and meaning of archetypes in our lives.
Learn to read the cards for others.
Phone Sandi on 083 531 4449 or email sandimak@mweb.co.za
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Need custom made bookshelves / shelves?
Contact Rod 083 750-6854 or mail colleenrw@telkomsa.net
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