My Time at writerconuk

[suki_blue]

I would love to be able to give you all a thoroughly coherent report on my weekend at writerconuk, but unfortunately I am exhausted and can’t entirely think straight (I have also stubbed my toe twice this morning and fallen over the dog). Instead, I present you with a rough idea of what went on.



The event was held in Nottingham, which is some distance for me as it’s in the midlands and I’m down in the southeast. Luckily, Kitty is a genius and thought it best to drive, so she picked me up on her way (after getting stuck on the M25 for 7 hours, poor thing).

We arrived late and missed the quiz, which was a bit disappointing, but there was still time for some chat and some introductions before bedtime. We were given a very cool goodie bag which contained our name badges and some Buffy related treasures such as a Btvs magazine, pens and keyrings; I got a Xander pen and I swapped my Spike keyring with Kitty for a Xander one ~g~ Thank you to bogwitch for organising such a lovely treat

Saturday was the day for action. We had panels right through from 9am-9pm (with lunch, dinner and refreshments in-between).

The first panel was ‘Accessibility’ run by kazzy_cee which covered how to make your LJ/website readable. I never realised that colour and font was so important, especially to sufferers of dyslexia. I will be changing my font later today

Next was Writer’s Block. This was incredibly interesting as the speaker, peasant_ had writer’s block for four years. One of the ways that she combats it is by turning off the comments on her posts. Fascinating.

Writing Fight scenes was next. I LOVE writing fight scenes so this was of particular interest.

After lunch, we had a Plot workshop, run by xanpet2000. Again, incredibly interesting stuff, which focused on structure. Later on in the evening, when Kitty and I retired to our room to unwind for an hour before dinner, I had a good hard think about my current fic, Parity Transformations. And I came to the conclusion that my story plan was missing quite a vital element. Without having known about such simple tiered system, it would have been much harder to identify the problem and my fic probably would have fallen flat at the end. So, much thanks to xanpet2000 for her valuable words.

Writing Drabbles was fun, and we were all set a challenge to write Angel loosing his soul (my results are in my previous post). Punch line – final line – is all important. Remember that and you can’t go far wrong.

The Art Workshop was basic icon making, so it was mostly aimed at beginners. I did, however, pick up one wonderful tip for saving a piece of art and still keeping the layers. Yay!

Dinner was next. Very yummy and at a reasonable price. Then we had our last panel which was a group discussion on feedback and concrit. Lots of different opinions, but I think we all can agree, sensitivity is the key. Actually, I don’t give concrit unless it’s specifically asked for.

We all hung out after that, us smokers lurking outside for much of the time. I met lots of wonderful people, lots of whom were into totally different sides of the fandom. Spuffy! ~eyeballs just_sue~ There were lots of Spander people there, too, which was nice. It’s been a while since I’ve chatted about my bois.

It was a late night and Kitty and I inevitably overslept the next morning. We made it down to breakfast just in time and hoovered up a cooked brekky with OJ and tea. First thing on the agenda was a raffle with the tickets we had been given in our goodie bags. Everyone got something, basically, and I am now the proud owner of the roleplaying game rulebook, which is a great big hardback. I can’t say I’ll ever actually play it, but it’s a nice collectable book with some lovely pictures.

Next was the swapmeet, where people brought in things to swap, although no one wanted to leave with the things they came with so it became a giveawaymeet. I got volume 3 of The Watchers Guide (which completes my collection) and a copy of Cursed which is one of the few Btvs/Ats novels I don’t own.

After a meeting concerning what had been achieved in organising Writercon and the future of the event, it was time for yet more tea and some last minute socialising before it was time to say goodbye.

The journy back was pleasant and we missed all the rain. We stopped at the Watford Gap for a piddle, a snack and an experiment involving a chewable toothbrush. I had spit. I’m not telling you which one.

We went a bit wrong on the M25, but that merely allowed for more time to chat, and we got back to my place eventually.

Basically, it was a fabulous weekend. I enjoyed it immensely and I shall definitely be attending the next one. Thank you to all the organisers and the all the attendees for making it such a wonderful event. I’ve met some lovely people, made some new friends and learned some handy stuff. That’s what I call a good weekend.

Comments

[iadorespike]

Sounds like you had a great time. :) Interesting, informative, fannish, chat, lots of tea and good food...what more could anyone ask for? Yay!

*hugs you*

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It really was wonderful. Well worth the money and the long travelling time.

~huggles~

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Hey, good summary. Can I steal it? By linking to it, I wasn't actually going to pick it up and run away with it. Honest.
I'm glad your journey back was clear.

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

LOL! Sure, go right ahead.

It was a nice clear journey. It was a pleasure to go the wrong way around the M25 ~g~

[kitty-poker1.livejournal.com]

Nice one, hon! Such a fantastic weekend and between us, we've probably got the high points covered.

Why didn't we cancel the wake-up call on Sunday, though? Another hour. Yes, please, another hour. *g*

[snowpuppies]

Sounds like you guys had fun!

*is jealous*

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It was brilliant! I'd go back again and again and again.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Wow! Sounds like such a terrific gathering!


Gabrielle

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It was great!

[lelaina-c.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had such a great time! :)

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was brilliant!

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

*is so very very jellus* *g*

Sounds like fun was had by all! Yay!

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

I think everyone had a fab time. I certainly loved every minute. ~g~

[bmblbee.livejournal.com]

Sounds like so much fun. I would love to attend one
sometime. Glad you got home safely.

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of fun. I attended the US one, too, and although both events had a totally different feel to them, they were both a wonderful experience.

[vinniebatman.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an enjoyable time and I'm glad you had such fun.
::hugs::
On a random note, (thinking of Kitty's description of the trip), I think you should post more pictures of Indy.
I heart doggies.

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It was wonderful!

Doggy pics, eh? I'll see what I can do ;o)

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Your post makes all the typine, IM-ing and e-mailing worthwhile, thank you so much! *hugs*

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! We had a great time, didn't we? ~huggles~

[gillo]

So glad you had a good time. I particularly liked the fact that people who ship or slash all sorts of pairings were there and completely relaxed with each other. It was good to meet you - and great to know all that work paid off.

[suki-blue.livejournal.com]

It really was wonderful, and it was fantastic to talk and chill with people from all over the fandom. I think more people would get on with each other if they had the opportunity to meet like we did.

~hugs~