I've been meaning to post for ages. The writing group meeting was marvellous. We hadn't seen each other for six or seven weeks since the course ended, and I was wondering if it would work getting together again and sharing our writing.

It was a fantastic evening. The people are all so different, different ages, from different walks of life, ranging from single 20-somethings to grandparents, from artists to teachers to software developers to home-makers. There is a real connection there. I can't wait for the next meeting, which will be mid-February. The theme is a love story.

We have also decided, just for fun, to write a serialised communal book together. Each member of the group will write one chapter.

The theme for the meeting we just had was 'A story of your choice, in dialogue form'. Some wrote dialogues, some didn't, some brought poems, some journal entries. It didn't matter. I had a lot of fun writing and reading my story, and was frantically finishing it on the afternoon of the meeting. I almost burnt the house down in the process, as in a feeble pretense at feeding my poor neglected offspring threw some popcorn in a pan on the stove. Next thing I knew vast clouds of black smoke were pouring out of the kitchen. Next time I need to neglect them I will buy them potato chips.