Not my favourite day as there’s always a definite sense of
ending looming on the horizon.
I’m always struck by how many of the 200+ plus people I
haven’t managed to engage with at all, and frustration at not being able to
spend enough time with others. At Swanwick, six days feels like both a lifetime
and a moment in time.
The next photo shows my friend John, from Watford Writers.
The day began with yet another difficult choice. Did I go to
Steve Hartley’s course on writing for young people or Simon Hall’s one on crime
writing. As I’m supposed to be working on a novel for teenagers (!) I opted for
Steve then wished I hadn’t. Steve is amazing. His insights into character and
what makes people tick are invaluable but this time his audience worked against
him. His subject of choice was bullying and everyone wanted to share their own
experiences rather than listen to the theory. I decided to switch over for the
next session as I could always down load Steve’s notes from the web site at a
later date.
Meanwhile, it was time for the last session of Xanthe Wells’
glorious novel course. It began with how
creativity makes you feel and comparing that with how it feels when you’re not
being creative. For me the difference is
stark. When I’m being creative I feel full of ideas, enthusiasm and energy.
When I’m not being creative, I feel
listless, tired, fed up and half alive. Pretty good reasons for getting on with
some writing I’d say.
A final thought from the course as a whole – Dumbo didn’t
need the feather, the magic was in him already.
After lunch, I headed to the second part of Simon Hall’s
crime writing course. As always, he was brilliant and I’m not just saying that because
I like him. He knows how to hold an audience. There’s never a dull moment because
you simply don’t know what he’ll do next. Sadly, he kept his clothes on this
time, but then you can’t have everything can you?
The main work of the summer school was over. Time for the
big wind down to begin. I’m not going to
go into too much detail here. If you were there, you know all about it, if you
weren’t, then maybe you should have been. First came the AGM which was efficiently
run and not at all boring and which left us with a man at the helm (Michael O’Byrne).
The raffle was also drawn and the prize of a free week at next year’s school
went to Julia, a very popular lady, which was great to see.
After that it was the famous dregs party where everyone puts
their left overs (mainly booze) on a long table and everyone tucks in. Some
people dress up for the occasion too. That was when I finally got to spend more than a couple of seconds with the delightful Helen Yendall, a lady I'd long wanted to meet.
After that it was dinner followed by the
last night’s entertainment in the main conference hall. I was a bit wary. In previous
years there’s been a big name speaker on the last night but due to economics, a
version of I’m Sorry, I haven’t a Clue was staged instead. I need not have
worried because it was brilliantly done. My only beef was that I wasn’t invited
to take part. It was an evening of silliness and fun complete with audience participation
courtesy of dozens of kazoos which were handed out. The final item on Thursday’s agenda was the
traditional Swanwick farewell when everyone links hands and sings Auld Lang
Syne, after which I headed for the bar.
The photo shows the new Vice Chair, and no, she didn't drink ALL that booze.
Having injured my foot earlier in the week I should NOT have
gone to the last night disco but in the end I did. I don’t get many chances to
dance and simply couldn’t resist. The upshot was that the next morning, I could
barely walk, but it was worth it. Definitely.
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