Meet the members

I (Nigel Dean) have had a life long interest in writing and almost took up journalism as a career before deciding on pharmacy. Now a semi retired locum pharmacist I have a little more time to enjoy some creative writing.

I entered the Ashburton Writers Club short story competition three years ago and was lucky enough to come second in the adult section. Not long afterwards I joined the club and for the last twelve months have been the President.

I enjoy writing for fun and a chance to put some of my ideas on paper and share them with this wonderfully supportive group. I look foward to the monthly meetings and am constantly amazed at what a talented and imaginative group of writers we have.

Most of my life I have been an avid reader, and have always written down about my life, problems and good times as well. Then I developed an interest in family history, and have a huge manuscript on my Magson family, intend to get it printed soon, just for the family though.

Many years ago, I had heard of the Writers' Group and decided to have a look at them, found I enjoyed it very much and the people whom I met because they had interests like mine. Consequently, I am still there and love it.

Years ago, I suggested a Short Story Competition for children, and as a group, we have organised this ever since. I love reading the stories. I have not had anything published, have not really tried, they are just short stories I write, definitely not poems!  I'm hopeless at those.

One of my favourite authors is Stephen King, and occasionally my stories explore the dark side.  

Stacey Broadbent has had a love of the written word for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until 2014 when she finally decided to bite the bullet and try her hand at publishing a book. As it turns out, one book was enough to open the floodgates, and now she has written 22 and counting. With a variety of genres under her belt, she felt it necessary to keep them separate, and thus Cyan Tayse and Stacey Jayne were born.​

A qualified proofreader, Stacey spends her days helping other authors with their manuscripts; when she's not writing her own, of course. She also hosts a charity book signing in Christchurch and a book subscription club to help promote her fellow authors.

Stacey first joined Ashburton Writers' Group in 2017 after being invited in to speak and she's never looked back! ​

Check out Stacey's books on Amazon.

I live in rural Ashburton with my husband and two teenage girls. My eldest lives in Auckland and will make me a grandmother in July 2025. My background is accounting but have always loved creative writing and when I quit full time employment I decided to invest in a creative writing course. I loved it and followed it up with an advanced writing course plus editing and proofreading. I am kept very busy with various part time roles and volunteering in governance roles, but do try to attend the monthly Writers Group meetings. I love the monthly assignments and the instant exercises. I have written some research, currently co-writing a local history book, however, my preference is short stories with a twist. My other passion is fullbore rifle target shooting.

My name is Karen; some know me as Kat. I am a cat person, like writing, reading, crosswords, jigsaws on iPad, amid other things. I have lived with my partner, Mary, for more than 14 years now, and between us, we have quite a collection of books! Also, we help at Rotary’s book sorting and have done for the last five years, then help at Bookarama. I am now an associate member, whereas Mary is an honorary member.

I’m in the Ashburton Writers Group, after being invited to the Short Stories presentation by the lovely Rae, in 2023. I have since been to most of the monthly meetings, with like-minded writers, and wannabes like myself! We meet once a month, and have fun, assignments, in-house fast stories, and chat amongst ourselves. It’s not a night that takes up a huge amount of your time, and there’s some cool people there!

I put my passion of writing to the test when I took up the NaNoWriMo challenge in 2019 where you attempt to write 50000 words. I managed 30000. I haven't looked back.

I joined the local writers group for inspiration. They are a great group of like minded people who love writing and encourage each other. I feel everyone can write a story, we only have to put pen to paper.