The Benefits of Wordy Chat - Wendy H. Jones

 

This blog post is dedicated to all the writers who join in every week for Wordy Chat. Now, you're probably saying, what on earth is Wordy Chat. Never, fear, Wendy's here, and I am going to explain. Wordy Chat is the brainchild of ACW member Maressa Mortimer, who, at the beginning of the first lockdown, set up a weekly zoom chat for ACW members to join should they so choose. These have, in many ways, been the highlight of the week as you never know what will happen or what topic will come up. The topics are varied and include, of course, what people are writing and what they are reading. My bank manager is currently strongly encouraging me not to attend this weekly gathering as the book recommendations are seriously damaging my bank balance. 

To give you a flavour of how it goes (with the permission of all involved tonight) I will try to summarise tonights chat whilst protecting the guilty - sorry the innocent. It started with a rousing couple of rounds of jokes including the lightbulb jokes. 

Q. How many Episcopalians does it take to change a lightbulb? A: 10. One to actually change the bulb and nine to say how much they like the old one.

Q. How many baptists does it take to change a light bulb? A. 15. One to change the light bulb and fourteen to throw the potluck supper to welcome in the new lightbulb. 

Apologies to anyone reading this from those denominations, it was light hearted fun and I respect you and your denomination greatly. So much so that I have been a member of those denominations at various times  whilst I was in the services and being moved around. Anyway I digress. 

We reminisced about our childhood and how we were thrown out of the house whatever the weather to give our parents some peace and quiet, and how many people our mothers would have to feed at lunch time. A spirited discussion ensued on whether pudding, should in fact be provided for lunch -  soup and pudding being staple lunch time fare in Scotland in the sixties. I have now learned this was not the case elsewhere. Who knew? I certainly didn't. These chats are certainly educational. 

A much more serious topic then came up - cultural appropriation and how we can approach it in our writing. As these things go this deteriorated rapidly and we ended up talking about cultural appropriation of ping pong balls and water buffalo. See, I told you it was serious. Actually, we did talk about this issue seriously and how we can approach this in a sensitive manner whilst still maintaining creative integrity. Thank you, Fran, for the topic.

We moved on to future posts for this blog and one member present feels called to write a ten part series on how to peel an orange. I shall look forward to that. Even more so, I am looking forward to Annmarie Miles blog on the 20th May. You are in for a treat. I will say no more.

We finished with the above mentioned Annmarie challenging me to write my next book in the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries with the title Killer's Chippie. Annmarie, you're on. I love a challenge. 

Why am I telling you all this? Because, it's good to laugh. We were certainly weeping with laughter tonight. It's good to spend time with like minded people and let your hair down. It's good to wander from topic to topic and just join in the conversation, never knowing what will come up next. These chats are enjoyable, enlightening, and you get to know others more fully. This blog is called More Than Writers and we are so much more than writers - we are Christians, we are people, we are individuals, and we are each special and unique in our own way. These chats are where we get to celebrate and support that uniqueness. So, I would like to finish by saying thank you to Maressa for all she does in bringing these chats together. Thank you also to those who come every week and make the evening so enjoyable. You are all amazing and I'm blessed to spend the time with you each week. 

If you will forgive me a moment of indulgence, the other exciting thing that happened today, my latest book arrived - Bertie at the Worldwide Games. It's  a fun look at what happens when Bertie represents Scotland at the Worldwide games and teaches children about games such as the Olympics, diversity, and working together to win. Although it's not yet officially released, I do have copies which you can get from me, signed to the child. You can contact me through my Website and I will get the book out to the recipient post haste. 

That brings me to the end of today's blog. I will finish with a challenge to you - what topics do you think we should cover in next weeks Wordy Chat?

About the Author 

Wendy H Jones is the Amazon #1 international best-selling author of the award winning DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Her Young Adult Mystery, The Dagger’s Curse was a finalist in the Woman Alive Readers' Choice Award. She is also The President of the Scottish Association of Writers, an international public speaker, and runs conferences and workshops on writing, motivation and marketing. Wendy is the founder of Crime at the Castle, Scotland’s newest Crime Festival. She is the editor of a Lent Book, published by the Association of Christian Writers and also the editor of the Christmas Anthology from the same publisher. Her first children's book, Bertie the Buffalo, was released in December 2018. Motivation Matters: Revolutionise Your Writing One Creative Step at a Time, was released in May 2019. The Power of Why: Why 23 Women Took the Leap to Start Their Own Business was released on 29th June, 2020. Marketing Matters: Sell More Books was released on 31st July 2020. Bertie Goes to the Worldwide Games will be released on 5th May, 202,  and the third book in the Fergus and Flora Mysteries will be published in 2021. Her new author membership Authorpreneur Accelerator Academy launched in January 2021.

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