I started writing this
blog piece back in September just after I attended the NAWG (National
Association of Writers’ Groups) Festival of Writing at Warwick. September ended
up being ridiculously busy, as did October, so here we are in November, better
late than never!
This year’s festival on
the 4-6th September in Warwick University was started/opened with an
inspirational talk from Oscar winning writer and director Lord Julian Fellowes
and his wife Lady Emma. Julian is probably most famous for his film Gosford Park
and TV series Downton Abbey. We also had the chance to sit and chat with Lord
Julian and his wife over tea and cakes, frightfully british and modern Downton
but very casual and friendly. Lord Julian’s main advice was that you need
persistence
to get published, then we were left with this quote:
During the evening
there was an after dinner talk (the dinner I should add is fantastic, as are
all of the meals throughout the weekend) by children’s author and
hypnotherapist Steve Bowkett. Steve told us all about the Adventures as a
Visiting Author, showing us in a humorous way the perils and highpoints of
going into schools to give talks and workshops.
Throughout the weekend there
are many bookable workshops with a wide variety of different authors, this year
they included Della Galton, Tim Wilson/Jude Morgan, Paul Dodgson, Marvin Close,
Aimee Bell, Julie Bokowiec, Steve Bowkett, Veronica Heley, James Nash, Adam
Strickson and Talli Rowland.
Saturday morning
for me was spent with author Tim Wilson/Jude Morgan, who writes historical
fiction. We looked at ways to generate ideas and keeping the momentum going in
your novel. With tricks to keep on track and invaluable advice on how to get
past the dreaded blank screen! Which I have already started to put into practise
when working on my novel or short stories.
In
between workshops the weekend provides you with the wonderful opportunity to
not only eat nice food, but socialise and network with other writers at all
different stages of the writing journey. Networking provides time to share
ideas and experiences with like-minded individuals. Sometimes you can feel very
isolated when it’s just you and the notebook or laptop. This is why it’s often
a good idea to join writing groups or organisations such as NAWG.
There was
a talk by writer of women’s fiction, Talli Rowland on How Do Writers Know What’s
Best for Them? Exploring both self-publishing and traditional publishing, as
Talli has had great success with both. This was really eye opening and interesting
for me as I have no idea where it comes to self-publishing, so a very useful
talk.
Saturday afternoon
was spent with short story powerhouse, Della Galton. Della is a fantastic tutor
and very encouraging, she also does writing workshops for Woman’s Weekly. She
went into great depth on how to write and sell short stories. Everybody attending
the workshop created a usable opening to a short story, I’ve since progressed
and turned mine into a full first draft. Need to come back to that one!
One of
the highlights of the festival is the Awards ceremony and Gala Dinner on the
Saturday night. There is the option of attending just for this part, but I
prefer to have the whole weekend for the full experience.
Writers
get to don their posh attire and eat food prepared by top chefs, drink and be
merry whilst being entertained by the hilarious escapades of writer Lynne
Hackles. This was followed up by the results of the members’ only NAWG
competition.
I was
back with Tim Wilson/Jude Morgan on Sunday morning, this time looking at
research. An extremely useful and informative session.
The last
workshop of the weekend was with writer, composer, radio producer and teacher,
Paul Dodgson. Focusing on Writing from Life – Truth and Fiction, and exploring
the lines between fact and fiction within memoir writing, and just how good our
memories actually are.
There are
so many fantastic workshops there is just too many to choose from and it’s very
hard each year to pick a handful of the bookable ones. Over all, the festival
was another wonderful weekend of writing and being with other writers, which I
shall be encouraging others to book up for next year. I’ve already booked up
for NAWG Festival of Writing 2016, hope to see you there!
