TUESDAY 12th AUGUST SWANWICK

TUESDAY 11^th August

Tuesday is a ‘day off’ at Swanwick when the normal short and specialist courses take a break but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on. The day’s possibilities included  a discussion of ‘Bookselling in the Digital Age’ led by Annie Quigley and Martyn Daniels, a visit from the Derbyshire Police Forensics team, and last but not least, Swanwick page to Swanwick Stage. Each year, people are invited to write short scripts for plays or sketches. These are judged anonymously and the winners are then produced at the Summer School, using whoever turns up as cast on the day.

I entered a script last year but thanks to unwise choices regarding actors, the whole thing was something of a nightmare, so this time I didn’t bother entering a script. I thought I might drop by and see if I could land a small acting role but in the end, I went shopping with a friend and didn’t get back on time.I did come back with two new dresses, one of which I wore to the traditional last day dregs party, and some other bits and pieces.

The evening’s speaker was Simon Hall, a Swanwick favourite. Simon writes crime fiction as well as working as a journalist/reporter for the BBC down in the Southwest of England. When he first came to Swanwick he was rather shy and lacking confidence but in the last couple of years he has emerged from his shell with a vengeance. The talk he gave was perfect. It was funny, informative and very entertaining. It covered, among other things, a hilarious episode regarding a frozen otter. 

As far as I’m concerned, I’d be happy to have him return to Swanwick every year. 

The final event of the evening was the Poetry Open Mic which I had intended to go to but in the end I missed most of it. Della has asked everyone who had attended her stories for competition course to meet in the lounge so that people could read their opening paragraphs and the shortlisted entries receive a prize of  chocolate buttons.  By the time everyone had read their pieces and we’d had comments on them, most of the poetry mic was over.  Sometimes there’s simply too much going on making it impossible to fit everything in.

I neglected to mention another highlight (for me anyway) which happened on the Sunday. In 2013 I had a tarot reading done which proved to be uncannily accurate so when the same lady offered to run them again, I was first in the queue.  The most important thing she told me was that I need to stop over-thinking which I know all too well is one of my biggest faults. She also told me that this will be a great year for me and that I can reach for the moon, find love and make loads of money.  My cup will literally run over. 

My final question regarded what I should write next. The answer was romance.

So now you know.