Festival of Writing 2015

I think most of you have heard that I'm attempting to write a book. Let me state that another way… I am writing a book and I am attempting to have it be good enough that other people may some day want to read it. In that vein, I have been learning a lot more about the art, craft, and business of writing. I have been reading books, blogs, and articles all while writing, writing, writing. 

Late last year I bookmarked a bunch of writing websites that I visit periodically. One website, the Writers' Workshop, is like a small, UK-based Writers' Digest that hosts a lot of seminars, on-line lectures, and the like. Their premier event is the Festival of Writing, which happens every September in York. Bill encouraged me to go, so I signed up and attended - what a whirlwind of learning and adventure it was!! 

University of York campus

I attended the 4-hour seminar on Friday on how to edit your own novel. After that first session alone I knew I had gotten my money's worth, and I still had two full days of education ahead of me! 

Even though York University is only an hour away, I heeded their advice and stayed on campus for the duration of the weekend. All meals, parties, workshops, etc. are held within a few main buildings and all full-weekend attendees are given a private, en-suite dorm room to call their own, just a short way away from the event buildings. 

My dorm room

I couldn't help but wish I had some U2 posters and fairy lights to adorn my dorm room, but I was only there to sleep for two nights, so bare it stayed. 

I attended seminars on the craft of writing as well as business seminars taught by big-named book agents and publishers who want to find all the good writers out in the big wide world. The whole weekend was intimidating, informative, and inspirational. 

I met two other first-time attendees in the parking lot upon arrival, and those two became my buddies for the weekend. The guy had just returned from his honeymoon after a long deployment in the middle east with the UK military. He wrote a fantasy novel while on deployment as a way to escape everything going on around him. The gal is a mum of two who had always wanted to write, and now that her kids are a bit older, is doing what she's always wanted to do and writing a contemporary women's fiction novel. Both of them were great fun to hang out with and I hope I see them both again next year at the Festival of Writing… or on a bookshelf in Waterstones (Barnes and Noble)!