Birthday Lunch by Andrew Shephard

Five years ago today the first Writers’ Lunch blog post appeared. 261 posts and over 125,000 words later, it is still going strong. The first post, by Emma Harding, was a simple manifesto which has served the lunchers and contributors well. I recommend reading the post, but the essence lies in this quote - ‘we have found that it helps to help each other.’

Over the five years the numbers for the weekly lunch, in a café in Huddersfield, have expanded, contracted and expanded again. There is no quorum, no constitution, no membership, no fees and no requirement to post. Over 20 different writers have contributed with a range of stories, poems, and creative non-fiction. With regard to fiction, there must some genres we have not covered, but writers have used the blog opportunity to experiment with their style and try something different. All contributors are taking steps in the process that makes a writer – building up a body of work, distinctive to that individual.

A number of collaborations have been spawned. If anyone can suggest a home for a 12,000 word murder mystery with a child detective set in 1947 London, please let me know. A film noire script, an explosive Western, a set of stories based on one edition of the local paper, another set from the melodic ‘sea areas’ of the Shipping Forecast, have kept the lunchers from predictability. We taught ourselves about Print on Demand publishing and produced a paperback based on the blogs, Dining on Words (click the picture for details). Individual members have published novels and short stories with the prodding and help of the group.

I still get a Monday morning buzz of anticipation for what will appear, and it often surprises – and I mean that in a good way. The truth is writers improve as they gain experience. They come up with ideas which make me say ‘wow!’ A big part of that is confidence, and confidence is gained from working on a piece until it is ready to be shown and getting some feedback from readers. Genuine responses are gold dust for writers. Gentle criticism is food for thought.

It is said that writing is an isolating activity. Big projects require long hours of near solitude, and it can be years before an idea bears tangible fruit, if ever. Success, or the appearance of success, may visit temporarily with a competition prize, a book contract, or a payment of some kind, but disappointment is the usual lot of the writer and it is hard to keep at the keyboard without occasional validation. Writing entirely for its own sake is like talking to oneself, but chasing recognition is like planning to win a lottery. For me, the weekly chat over a light lunch with friendly fellow-scribblers is the most reliable form of validation.

Writers’ Lunch appears via a platform called Blogger, which is a Google product, free to use. Google gets something out this exercise – data. Quite what their algorithms make of the Writers’ Lunch menu I do not know. A recent change in their system means we have lost the bulk of the comments left by readers over the past five years. Please do your bit to confuse the algorithms further by wishing the blog a ‘happy birthday’ via the Comments below. At tomorrow’s lunch we may recognise our milestone with something stronger than tea.