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One of the best things any writer can do to inspire their creativity and hone their craft is to join a writers’ group. Little else gets the creative juices flowing and the pen scribbling like surrounding yourself with other writers and assigning yourself a task with a deadline. Not only can this spark great ideas, but you never know where they will lead and the success that may follow.

This is what happened to Dawn Knox, a member of the Basildon Writers’ Group. For one such meeting, Dawn crafted a humorous story of Derek, a socially inept man who blunders his way through a speed-dating session, consistently offending all the women he meets. The story was well-received by the group, and Dawn liked the two main characters so much that she decided to use them in another story. Thereafter, she took one or more people from the previous story and wrote them into a new tale to present to her group each month. Eventually, she had enough to submit the entire series to the CaféLit website.

Thus, from a short story exercise from her writers’ group, Dawn had manifested a book, The Basilwade Chronicles, which is available to purchase now. It just goes to show what writers inspiring writers can do for our individual creativity and success. The chapter I am delighted to tease you with this week was read out on a local radio station by John Guest, and the recording is embedded below. The book’s colourful and charming cover is by Neill C. Woods.

Also, this week, we have a poignant, raw poem by Barbara Campbell. Underlying Causations is a tribute to the ongoing problem of racial inequality that exists around the world, including in the UK and the USA. The poem highlights how the pandemic has brought into stark vision the socio-economic and health disadvantages facing BAME populations, while the Black Lives Matter movement has illuminated the systemic racism that societies all too often pretend does not exist. I had hoped to publish this poem a few weeks ago, when the weekly theme was more appropriate to the subject matter. Sadly, the content of the poem remains all too relevant.

Keep on writing!

Dan (Associate Editor)

 

The Basilwade Chronicles by Dawn Knox

(C) Dawn Knox & Chapeltown Books, 2020

The Basilwade Chronicles is available to purchase here. You can learn more about Dawn on her website here, or follow her on her social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DawnKnoxWriter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SunriseCalls
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunrisecalls/

 

 

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Underlying Causations by Barbara Campbell

Pandemic virus – causations
Poor health, diabetes and such like
Socio-economic injustices worldwide
In other words, we the BAME are bottom of the pile

Striving to elevate society’s strata
Unacknowledged by the glass ceiling barriers
Standing in the way of our success

We Care Workers unselfishly standing on the frontline
Innocently giving up our lives for the cause
No protection from the unseen beast lurking
Ready to take our lives in the thousands

I was such a man, faithful and devoted to my family
I was strong but made weak by an underlying condition
Taken too soon by the wretched virus
Who will be taking care of my wife and children?
Now I am gone

Innate narratives borne out of past slave mentality
Covert but alive and kicking, in motion
Now permeating through the consciousness of a different generation
Rising out of a heinous crime
Against a Black man, a Black population
Ricochet – rebounding across nations

Lest we forget
This punishment did not fit the crime
Unity is our mantra, we are all shouting out loud
Rising up against all the odds.
BLACK LIVES MATTER

(C) Barbara Campbell, 2020

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If you’d like to see your writing appear in the Write On! Showcase, please submit your short stories, poetry or novel extracts to: pentoprint.org/get-involved/submit-to-write-on/

Write On! issue 17 is now. You can read it online here. Find it in libraries and other outlets and see previous editions of our magazines here.

You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.

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If you or someone you know has been affected by issues covered in our pages, please see the relevant link below for ​information, advice and support​: