About WordWatchers
WordWatchers is a collective of authors based in and around Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom, who meet monthly to support and promote each other’s work.
WordWatchers was created in May 2001 by a group of people who had been attending a Creative Writing Class at Newbury College. We wanted to move on from weekly homework to more long-term projects. We each set ourselves a monthly target and report our progress in the monthly meetings. Although the membership has changed over the years, some of the founding members remain part of the group. Numbers vary between six and twelve, with an even gender split. Meet us in the AUTHORS section.
We aim to provide a forum and support for those wishing to undertake more ambitious projects than could be catered for in an evening class or writers’ workshop. We welcome writers who are serious about writing, whatever form that takes, from full-length novels in all genres, screenplays, travelogues, children’s books, local history and magazine articles.
WordWatchers expects a level of commitment from its members to attend meetings regularly, critique each other’s work and contribute to group discussions. The group has maintained its original character despite occasional changes of membership. Meetings focus on a variety of topics ranging from a detailed review of the work of one of the members
to more general discussion about aspects of writing, from inspiration to getting published.
Most meetings have their lighter moments and social activities are a regular occurrence. At least twice a year, the group has a bigger get together with partners and past members invited for a restaurant meal or barbecue. These are usually the occasions when our short story competition winners are announced. To get an idea of the group’s activities, look on the NEWS section of this site.
We have run hotly contested bi-annual short story competitions since WordWatchers began. We have a system for judging each other’s stories without revealing who wrote what, and there is an ancillary competition to match each story to its author. This challenges members to write outside their normal style and tackle different genres. There are some examples of members’ short stories in the SHOWCASE section of this site.
We want this site to attract agents and publishers, as well as potential new members. If you’re serious about writing like us, you’re welcome to browse.
If you want to contact WordWatchers for any reason, please e-mail peterpheasant@aol.com