hiya bucks in Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Marlow, Wycombe, Wooburn January 2018 | Page 13

What do you do if you are a frustrated writer in need of moral support? You get together with like-minded people and raise funds for charity – which is what Just Write, a group of 12 authors based in Amersham, has done. Driven by a shared passion for creative writing, Just Write has been collaborating since 2013 and this month sees the launch of Shakespeare Street their third collection of short stories. Instead of following the traditional route of many anthologies where the authors put together a collection of their best work, they decided to approach the book more as a ‘novel-with-ten-authors’. Their first book, Spilling the Beans, won Writing Magazine’s Anthology competition in 2014. The whole process was a learning curve with communication and co-operation being the key to their success. The next book Delayed Reaction was a runner-up in the Writing Magazine’s competition the following year. A percentage of the proceeds from the sales of the books was donated to charity and to date over £1,000 has been raised for the Royal Marsden Cancer charity. The Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted will benefit from sales of their latest book Shakespeare Street. The group attributes the success of their books to the variety of talent and experience amongst the members. In encouraging and supporting one another they have blown the traditional image of the lonely writer out of the water. Their mutual love of writing has proved to be the foundation of a group with friendship at its heart. The group meets each week in Amersham. For more information on the group and their publications, please email [email protected] or visit www.justwrite.ink hiyabucks.com | 13