Saturday was long and busy and full. I got to Lowdham early for a Megan Taylor writing workshop about childhood memories. I wrote two short pieces, one of which has already started becoming a story, and another which I think I can use as a snapshot in something, with a bit of careful editing. I like workshops. I like how they get you to think in a different way, and how trying new writing exercises seems to throw up things that you might not come by on your own. It was definitely worth the early start.
Next up was a talk about time and clocks by Geoffrey Evans, formerly of the British Horological Institute at Upton. He was ace. He had lots of facts about clockmaking and time. I think it's probably a good job Biff was too poorly to come, because he would've made a nuisance of himself and Geoffrey would have had to resort to calling the police to get him to stop hugging him. Geoffrey made the model of a special part of the clock that is halfway up Big Ben's tower. The man in front of me had a spider in his hair, which proved a bit of a distraction, but not too much. I was just VERY AWARE of the spider at all times.
We had to sneak out part-way through the questions to make it down the road to the Methodist Chapel, where there was a discussion about short stories. It was led by Frances Thimann and Roberta Dewa, and overseen by Nottingham short story publishers Pewter Rose. It was quite an interesting debate, with everyone agreeing that short stories were perfect for these busy, short-attention span, times. I was surprised that the internet as a source of/home for short stories wasn't mentioned, though. Maybe I should've piped up? Hmmm.
We ended our visit with Nicola Monaghan's reading/talk. She is great. She read briefly from her novels The Killing Jar and Starfishing, and then read a short story about maths, which I can't remember the name of, but it was brilliant.
After that, we had to catch the train back to good old Derby for Hello Hubmarine. From what started out as a quite sparse line up, it ended up being a really rich and full night. We had a film about growing up, then Callum Proctor and Elliot played some lovely twinkly acoustic songs, followed by two strange and wonderful stories from Damien G. Walter. After that our very own Jonezy treated us to a personal piece, and then we had one of the best open mic sections ever. Stevie, Nath, Abacus and Medicine, Rob Hodkinson. A guy with a video - Dan? All were top notch. Then Alex Blood accompanied by Nathan on guitar rounded off the night with lyrical waxings, MJ tributes, and a big hefty dollop of humour.
The whole night went so well it had me wondering why we were taking a hiatus. But it's only two months, and those two months off will give us a chance to get a new book done, something we haven't had the time or energy for so far this year. And it also gives us time to prepare for Derby's Feste weekender at the start of September. There's a lot happening. But I'm trying my best to 'keep calm and carry on'.
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