What a year it's been for WordWatchers! I've just been looking back at the December 2011 minutes to get a sense of what exactly we've achieved as a group in 2012, and it's fair to say we've been busy.
Those December minutes show that we discussed our new, yet-to-be-launched website and the new Twitter account we'd just set up. Now, nearly 3000 tweets and over 600 followers later, all very much thanks to the expert guiding hand of John Hoggard, and with a Facebook page as well, our online presence is evolving nicely.Clearly, though, an online presence for a writer's group is nothing if none of the writers are producing anything to tweet or blog about. Again, looking at those December minutes brings it all back - what we were working on, how we were feeling about things, and indeed who was actually in the group...It seems amazing to look back at a list of attendees and not see the names of John Potter and Chris McCormack, who actually joined us in February and have been fantastic contributors ever since. Their arrival coincided with (and definitely helped accelerate) a growing maturity within the group, as we increasingly embrace independent and digital publishing as a business choice rather than a last resort.Ginette succumbed to the pressures of setting up a new business and has taken a bit of a sabbatical. Hopefully, 2013 will find a more obliging work-life balance.Since then, it's been fairly stable, with numerous approaches from people to join us - and in November we welcomed Colette, who pretty much fills the WordWatchers' ranks. (You should be seeing Colette on the Authors' page shortly after the January meeting.)And what have all these WordWatchers been up to?
At the end of last year, Charlotte was getting ready to welcome the paperback version of The Apothecary's Daughter, while desperately trying to finish The Painter's Apprentice and commence work on a new idea. Today, both novels are out in the world, and Charlotte and her 17th century biscuits have been going down a storm all over the country. And that new idea is already with the editor!Abbie managed to write another book too, and we all had the pleasure of reading it. As ever, we provided our feedback, which was largely that Abbie had written something rather special. At the time of writing, it's with her agent. John Hoggard put in a huge effort, especially given a challenging year, to 'finish' Endless Possibilities, which he's currently editing. He also got published in Fusion, the Sci-Fi anthology published by Fantastic Books and has been doing his usual great job raising awareness through his growing individual and group online presence.A year ago, WordWatchers barely knew anything about Debbie's amazing chicken, Alonzo. Today, it's real, wonderfully illustrated, and available to buy. Chris achieved similar success with Pong!, his delightful alien who likes to race, bringing him to life within the pages of a fully interactive iBook, complete with questions about space and an audio book option (voiced by me!).John Potter cracked on with his new novel, but continued to amaze us with his knowledge of all things Kindle-related, as Chasing Innocence climbed the crime charts and found itself a finalist in a Kindle crime novel competition.
Everyone else was equally busy, working through and reworking existing novels or sifting through a world of ideas to settle on the one to take forward into 2013. Me? I managed to 'finish' The Stationary Half of Goodbye and have started sending it out to agents.And if all that wasn't enough, we produced our first anthology, Out of Time - published ready for Christmas and the January 2013 Writing Magazine competition. Check out the 'Books' page for this and all the other wonderful WordWatchers creations.Katherine Webb, one of our glittering alumni, continued to see great commercial success, and it was lovely not only to see A Half Forgotten Song make it into paperback and into the charts, but to be able to include one of Katherine's stories in the anthology.It's certainly exciting times at WordWatchers. Just take a look at the home page for a taste of what's going on. As for what lies ahead in 2013, I won't jinx anything by making predictions, but it's fair to say that it's going to be another busy one.