As usual I arrived by train, and was surprised by how few people were waiting at Derby railway station. Normally we'd take over the frontage of two separate coffee shops (well we are writers), but this time we were all crammed around three tables. I found out afterwards that a lot less people booked to travel on the two coaches this year, but there had been a lot of arranging of lift shares on the Facebook group over the last few weeks, which probably had an impact. It's the first year we've had the facility to do it.
The conference centre was strangely quiet when we got there, with a lot of people in their rooms unpacking and more still to arrive. I went to my room - the same as last year, and it's a good job I didn't request that because I'd misremembered the number - and unpacked while dancing around to Absolute 80s on the radio. Then I went to sit on the lawn and wait for friends to arrive.
The evening speaker was James Moran, who's written for Spooks and Doctor Who, and also wrote the films Severance and Cockneys Vs Zombies. He told us about being inspired by a second-hand script book for Time Bandits, just how much rewriting goes into a screenplay, and also left us with the excellent quote "Every villain thinks they're the hero of their own story". He wrote the screenplay for Severance (which is very funny, by the way) while also working a full time job, and believes that if you really want to be a writer you'll make time for it.
After the speaker there was the opportunity to go to the "What are you writing now?" and "Alternative Fairy Tale" icebreakers, but knowing how tiring the rest of the week can be, I opted for an early night instead.