In yesterday’s post we left our intrepid blogger me pondering what to write and then read out on Friday.
As I clawed through my brain and indeed made several aborted attempts to start the short story I had planned on writing, I learned an important lesson: routine is key, at least for me. As lovely as the location was, as interesting as the course was, I still made the foolish mistake of changing my routine from writing first thing in the morning to the afternoon. Unfortunately by the time I realised this I was out of time.
I did draft a new story but it wasn’t in a finished enough state to read. I’ll probably redraft it next week.
We weren’t the only ones doing readings. On Wednesday evening Stephen Baxter was the guest speaker and he gave an interesting talk on how he develops his ideas. Thursday night saw Adam and Justina take the floor. Adam read a story included in the recently published BFS Dick and Jane Primer, Justina read from the Quantum Gravity series. Both were cool readings.
In the end I read a story called Pixies. It’s one of the more popular stories from my Friday Flash Fiction. I was pleased with the way it went down although I was quite nervous and so it wasn’t the best reading I’ve ever given. All of the stories read by people that night were really good.
The course was really useful to me and despite the wobble on what to write I did get what I needed out of the trip. Writers who’re just starting to take their writing seriously would probably get more out of it but the process of feedback, advice and support will be of use to any writer.
In other news: I’m disappearing again. I’m off to Marlowe tomorrow for a work thingy and so may be quiet for a couple of days depending on cost/availability of internet access. It’ll be nice to hang out with some of my colleagues but I’ve not seen much of G lately and I’m keen to be at home for a bit.
I’ve also begun the line edit on The Woodsman. I really must come up with a new title…