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If you read my blog yesterday, you will remember me talking about writers procrastinating and said we always have clean ovens and kitchen floors. Cue a sardonic phone call from my husband, who tells me that in nearly forty years of marriage, he can remember me cleaning the kitchen floor once, but that he has NEVER seen me clean the oven. Hey, what can I say? I’m a writer; I make things up for a living!

Wednesday’s short course (for me) was Cover Design and Marketing, given by two representatives of Troubador/Matador. I picked up lots of ideas for redesigning the covers of my non-fiction ebooks and made a first stab at writing the blurb for the next novel. So a good couple of sessions; and it was great to catch up with the team from Writing Magazine, too.

Brendan gets a hug on behalf of a missing friend
Brendan gets a hug on behalf of a missing friend

Our evening speaker was Irish story-teller, Brendan Nolan. He’s not been to Swanwick for a few years, so it was great to hear that wonderful Dublin accent once more. And the silence in the hall during the love story of the two swans was proof of just how spell-binding he can be. I was delighted to see Brendan  again, as it was his course on non-fiction, back in 2006, that made me realise I was a proper writer, even though my books on Amazon were, at that time, pharmaceutical textbooks, rather than the fiction I wanted to write.

Pirates with their clothes on
Pirates with their clothes on

Page to Stage is another Swanwick tradition, which has been run by the bubbly Katy Write for the past six years. This year’s offerings were the usual mix of drama (missing child and suicide pacts) and increasingly slapstick comedy. There were some brilliant performances, including Heather’s harrowing portrayal of the mother with a missing son; Geoff’s Brummie accent – harrowing for a totally different reason; and Simon Hall keeping his clothes on this year! The winners will be announced on Thursday.

Elizabeth Ducie was a successful international manufacturing consultant, when she decided to give it all up and start telling lies for a living instead.

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