To me, Thursday feels subdued even at breakfast. It's the last day, and as courses finish up time to leave gets closer.
We started with the final session of the specialist courses. In Novel Writing, Simon Hall went over the importance of using all the senses, and also touched a little on subplots - something raised by Erin Kelly in the Psychological Thrillers course the day before.
The short course I chose was Plotting for Historical Fiction, with Michael Jecks. I didn't realise he writes historical crime fiction - I seemed to have accidentally ended up with a very crimey week. Although he was a good speaker, the course was marred by a rude audience member who felt the need to argue with him. Since I was already feeling short-tempered I decided not to ruin my mood - and the rest of the day - by going back to the second half. Instead I retired to my room to finish my Alex Gray novel and a bag of caramels. Time well spent, so I didn't feel I'd missed out.
There were no more courses, so I surfaced for afternoon tea and the AGM. It was a short affair this year, since the committee was standing unopposed and only one person was standing for the position that was becoming vacant. There were a few other bits and pieces to deal with, including setting up Friends of Swanwick which is an initiative to try and support the school the rest of the year, as well as support the Topwrite scheme and start a hardship fund. It's very much in its infancy, so there will be more information to come on how it will all work.
Everything has a deflated feel after the AGM, which is perhaps why it's traditional to party after. There's a short break before the Dregs Party, which is usually held on the lawn but was indoors this year due to the weather. A lot of delegates "dress for dinner" in suits and dresses, but since I had limited luggage space I was in my usual jeans and t-shirt.
After dinner we had a pantomime instead of a speaker - a performance of the "first draft" of Romeo and Juliet which was very funny and had the audience divided into Montagues and Capulets. Finally there was the last night disco, and as usual I stayed up later than I meant and went to bed knackered and sad it was all over.
We started with the final session of the specialist courses. In Novel Writing, Simon Hall went over the importance of using all the senses, and also touched a little on subplots - something raised by Erin Kelly in the Psychological Thrillers course the day before.
The short course I chose was Plotting for Historical Fiction, with Michael Jecks. I didn't realise he writes historical crime fiction - I seemed to have accidentally ended up with a very crimey week. Although he was a good speaker, the course was marred by a rude audience member who felt the need to argue with him. Since I was already feeling short-tempered I decided not to ruin my mood - and the rest of the day - by going back to the second half. Instead I retired to my room to finish my Alex Gray novel and a bag of caramels. Time well spent, so I didn't feel I'd missed out.
There were no more courses, so I surfaced for afternoon tea and the AGM. It was a short affair this year, since the committee was standing unopposed and only one person was standing for the position that was becoming vacant. There were a few other bits and pieces to deal with, including setting up Friends of Swanwick which is an initiative to try and support the school the rest of the year, as well as support the Topwrite scheme and start a hardship fund. It's very much in its infancy, so there will be more information to come on how it will all work.
Everything has a deflated feel after the AGM, which is perhaps why it's traditional to party after. There's a short break before the Dregs Party, which is usually held on the lawn but was indoors this year due to the weather. A lot of delegates "dress for dinner" in suits and dresses, but since I had limited luggage space I was in my usual jeans and t-shirt.
After dinner we had a pantomime instead of a speaker - a performance of the "first draft" of Romeo and Juliet which was very funny and had the audience divided into Montagues and Capulets. Finally there was the last night disco, and as usual I stayed up later than I meant and went to bed knackered and sad it was all over.
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