The Write Path 2019

By NAWG Publishing

The Write Path 2019 contains all of the winning entries from the 2019 National Association of Writers and Groups members-only competitions, along with all of the judges' comments.The 2019 anthology includes contributions from Chris Raetschus, Margaret Morey, Alan Bryant, Terry Baldock, Jan Watts, Richard Layton, Lily May Hurley, Nick Brigham, Jean Eaton, Jo Roberts, Julie McKiernan, Stephanie King (aka Emma Finlayson-Palmer), Sarah Edgehill, Alex Morrison, Jupiter Jones, Victoria Lindsey, Christopher James, and Belinda Johnston.

• Language: English
• Publisher: NAWG Publishing
• Release date: May 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393883715

Book preview

The Write Path 2019

The Write Path 2019

Our 2019 Anthology of Award-Winning Writing

The National Association of Writers and Groups

NAWG Publications

Published by NAWG Publications

Anthology compiled, designed and typeset by NAWG committee members Jennifer Margrave and Simon Whaley, for NAWG Publications.

---

Cover photograph: Lynmouth Waymarks

© Simon Whaley.

The Write Path 2019

The Best Creative Writing from

The National Association of Writers and Groups.

---

Including the 2018 Open Competitions,

---

2019 Pam’s People Competition,

---

and the ongoing

100 word Mini-Tale Competitions.

---

© 2019 National Association of Writers and Groups

---

Print ISBN: 978-1-9161320-9-2

Join Us!

If you’d like to know more about the National Association of Writers and Groups (NAWG) then visit:

www.nawg.co.uk

We welcome members on an individual basis or as a group, and offer support, advice, writing competitions, LINK (our bi-monthly newsletter) and regular email newsletters, along with workshops and tutorials, weekend retreats and our annual festival.

Contents

2019 NAWG Members’ Competitions Shortlist Results

NAWG OPEN COMPETITION WINNERS 2018

Foreword

Open Poetry

Soldiers

Formal Poem: Three Verse Rubáiyát

Short Story (with a given object): A Watermelon

Seeds of Change

Historical Fiction

Candles

Ghost Story

A Hungry Ghost

Science Fiction

Moonlight

Comedy

The Philosopher’s Stoned

Story or Poem by a Child

The Stone of Helvede

Travel Article

An Airborne Wickerman

Memoir

A Very Emotional Journey

Ten-Minute Play Or Monologue

Roots That Bind

Group Anthology 2019

Pam’s People

2019 Festival 100-word Mini Tale

Mini Tale Winner

NAWG Open Short Story Competition 2018

All The Things We Cannot Say

The Tunnel

The Pony Club

NAWG Open Poetry Competition 2018

Night Sky

Where And When She Sleeps

Timal

A Message From The Chairman

2019 NAWG Members’ Competitions Shortlist Results

These are the shortlisted results for each category. (The order of entrants’ names under each section is random.)

---

OPEN POETRY (Judge: Susan Clark)

Soldiers - Chris Raetschus

Free - Julie Anderson

Coming Alive In the Underworld - Margaret Morey

Meeting - Susan Britchford

---

Highly Commended:

Ode To Bad Poems - Lorri Nicholson

The Dream Taker - Lesley James

---

FORMAL POEM, 3 VERSE RUBÁIYÁT (Judge: Alison Chisholm)

Haworth - Tony O’Neil

Shadows Of Isphahan - Chris Raetschus

Savanah Way - Lesley James

Home Thoughts from The Earth - Shelagh Wain

---

SHORT STORY WITH GIVEN OBJECT, A Water Melon (Judge: Tim Wilson)

Gone Missing - Julie Anderson

Seeds Of Change - Margaret Morey

It’s Still Life - Jude Clay

Lost In Time - Sylvia Edwards

---

HISTORICAL FICTION (Judge: Tim Wilson)

The Winter Solstice At New Grange - Mary Walker

My Part in The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre – John Thompson

A Drover’s Tale - Lynne Potter

Candles - Alan Bryant

---

GHOST STORY (Judge: Steve Bowkett)

Shadows - Bernadette Walker

A Hungry Ghost - Terry Baldock

New Homes, New Friends - Elizabeth Ashcroft

In The National Interest - David Lake

---

SCIENCE FICTION (Judge: Leonora Rustamova)

The Journal - John Hope

Moonlight - Jan Watts

Beneath The Surface - Penny Ellis

Junk Cowboy - David Lake

---

Highly Commended:

The Star Gazers - Alison Flind

---

COMEDY (Judge: George Simmers)

The Philosopher’s Stoned - Richard Layton

By Any Other Name - Dan Forrester

A Day At The Races - Terrence Sackett

Not A Sausage - Terry Baldock

---

STORY OR POEM BY CHILDREN (Judge: Steve Bowkett)

Words, In Honour of Dylan Thomas – Joshua Smith

Bubbles - Rowan Finlayson-Palmer

Waves - Barney Kieran

The Stone Of Helvede - Lily May Hurley

---

TRAVEL ARTICLE (Judge: Simon Whaley)

Visiting Saint Lucia - Jan Watts

A La Recherche - Margaret Morey

A Portrait of Gower - Anne Williams

An Airborne Wickerman - Nick Brigham

---

Highly Commended:

A Walk Through History - Olva Lloyd

---

MEMOIR (Judge: Simon Whaley)

A Very Emotional Journey - Jean Eaton

Why? - Penny Ellis

The Worst Day of My Life - Michael Parris

The Worst of Times - Carol Staley

---

Highly Commended:

Maurice Le Vaque Struth - Alan Murton

---

10-MINUTE PLAY OR MONOLOGUE (Judge: Marvin Close)

Cromwellian Harvest - Dian Dodd

Roots That Bind - Jo Roberts

Hidden - John Glander

Menage A Trois - Keith Davies

---

ANTHOLOGY (Judges: Leigh and Atherton Writers)

Truro Creative Writers’ Book - Truro Creative Writers’ Group

A Few Of My Favourite Things - Hastings Writers’ Group

Miscommunication - Leeds Writers and Poets

A Book For All Seasons - Lowestoft Library Writers’ Group

NAWG OPEN COMPETITION WINNERS 2018

SHORT STORY

WINNER : All the Things We Cannot Say by Sarah Edghill

SECOND : The Tunnel by Alex Morrison

THIRD : The Pony Club by Jupiter Jones

POETRY

WINNER : Night Sky by Victoria Lindsay

SECOND : Where and When She Sleeps by Christopher M James

THIRD : Timal by Belinda Johnston

Foreword

From the Competition Administrator

---

NAWG’s year revolves around the Member’s Competitions. The centre point of our year is the presentation of trophies to the winners and certificates to all the shortlisted competitors which comes after the Gala Dinner on Saturday night at the NAWGFest.

The presentations are made by our guest speaker and this year we had two speakers, husband and wife team Sean French and Nicci Gerard. Together they write psychological thrillers under the pseudonym of Nicci French. They gave us a very entertaining talk on the difficulties and benefits of two writers producing one cohesive novel.

I’ve run the members competitions for 7 years and found it a stimulating and very interesting thing to do. Right at the beginning I promised myself that I wouldn’t steal anyone’s ideas. It happened to me once so I know that it happens in some competitions but, rest assured, not under my administration. Over the years we have had some remarkable entries and it has been a privilege to have been able to read them as they haven’t always impressed the judges and so some weren’t short listed. Even judges have their own ideas as to what constitutes a successful piece of writing.

The next members’ competitions will be administered by Penny Ellis.

This year we had 335 entries for the various competitions.

---

Open Poem 58

Formal Poem 27

Short Story 42

Historical Story 23

Ghost Story 33

Science Fiction 26

Comedy 29

Story or Poem by Children 7

Travel Article 21

Memoir 36

10 Minute Play or Monologue 23

Group Anthology 10

---

Well done to all who took part in the competitions and congratulations to the winners and to the runners up.

Why not have a go next year? It costs little or nothing to enter depending on whether you enter by post or by email. If you can, then please encourage a closely related child to enter, we need more entries from children.

---

Best wishes,

Chris Huck Competition Administrator.

---

NAWG Competition Administrator

Open Poetry

The Daisy Watkins Trophy

Judge: Sue Clark

WINNER: Chris Raetschus - Soldiers

Judge's Notes

Yet again, this competition gave a platform to a wonderful variety of poems in relation to content, tone and style; yet again, selecting the 'best' came down to purely subjective judgement. There were several moving, clever, entertaining and effectively crafted submissions that space prevents me from crediting here. Anyway, the results are as follows:

The winner: Soldiers. This deceptively simple and moving poem centres on a young woman’s memory of a stay with her German mother-in-law. The poem takes us, via two simple questions, back in time and then out into the connectedness of people. It deals, in affectingly simple and transparent language, with past horrors and present love. The unforced but beautifully controlled rhythm enhances the narrative throughout, as does the structure. The syntax of the affirmative last line subtly suggests a German sentence and brings perfect and peaceful closure: 'This English custom, she likes.’

Three runners up: Free cleverly conflates the idea of writing a poem with that of living one's life. The poet chafes at restriction and in celebrating 'crossings out' and 'scribbles' celebrates, in beautifully lucid and economic language, the messiness and joy of living spontaneously. The central irony of course is that the verse is not free but cleverly shaped and contains some wonderful imagery: ‘Punctuation grips and tugs / Like too many hairpins'. The