Having overslept yesterday morning and stayed up until very late last night (well, this morning really), how come I’m wide awake before 5am? My internal clock is shot to pieces. But I can always sleep when I get home. And it means I can get an early start on shutting down the Book Room. And today, as promised, pictures from last night, starting with everyone’s favourite nanny and her beau.
Thankfulness
It wouldn’t be Swanwick week without Rudyard Kipling’s six serving men popping up somewhere, and they appeared in the third part of Creative Non-Fiction yesterday as we learned how to carry out in-depth research. And I am very grateful to Simon Whaley for critiquing an article I was preparing for submission, helping me to ramp up the drama of the opening just that little bit more. The sessions of LGBTQ+ were fascinating and I was relieved to hear from Spencer Meakin that my approach to writing my amateur sleuths was the appropriate one. Just as well, given I’m four novels in and counting. I’m grateful to my friend, Katherine Bolton, for allowing me to play John Travolta to her Uma Thurman and teaching me the Pulp Fiction moves. But most of all, I am thankful for the two operations and bucketloads of physiotherapy in the past couple of years that allowed me to take my two new knees on the dance floor and keep going for nearly two hours, burning off the calories from all this week’s puddings. (Of course, I’ve not tried getting out of bed and walking yet, but I’m sure I’ll be fine!)
Anticipation
Thursday is always a poignant day. The last full day of the school. The closing sessions of the classes. The AGM and voting in of next year’s committee. The Dregs Party is a thing of the past, as we’re no longer allowed to bring our own food and drinks to the Conference Centre. So, this evening we’ll be donning our finery for the Prinks (Pre-dinner Drinks) Party, hopefully on the lawn. And, of course, there’s the excitement of the Awards Evening and Swanwick Farewell. Another packed day in prospect. Better get those knees warmed up!
