Well, I do. On Saturday was a case in point. In Downley, High Wycombe on 16th April I was speaking at the Words for the Wounded Literary Festival and what a fabulous day it was – yet again. I attended the event last year and was amazed at the quality of the speakers on offer. This year, small continued to be most definitely perfect.
It’s all very well going to these huge week long events on offer throughout the year but your chances of getting up close and personal with authors and agents is severely limited. At the Words for the Wounded LitFest you won’t have to compete with hordes of people waving their hands to attract the attention of the speaker when it is time for questions. There is time enough for everyone here and you obtain one to one advice that you wouldn’t receive at other festivals. And it’s such fun, and so informal.
Normally waiting your turn is a game of chance – your turn may not come. Not so with Words for the Wounded.
This year’s programme kicked off with the wonderful No 1 Sunday Times bestseller Elizabeth Buchan in conversation with bestselling author, Margaret Graham, who is administrator and founder of WforW. Paul Vates, professional actor, read excerpts from the works of the speakers throughout the day, and chose the first few pages of I Can’t Begin to Tell You. These two old friends talked about this novel, which is Elizabeth’s latest. If you haven’t read I Can’t Begin to Tell You do seek out a copy, it’s absolutely gripping. Elizabeth Buchan talked of her inspiration for the story, of meeting with Noreen Riols of the SOE, and why she came to set her book in Denmark. She chatted about the writing process: getting to grips with the spine of the story, drafting and redrafting – and moving on to the next idea. Elizabeth signed books during the break and had time for a word with everyone.
Penny Deacon interviewed Jemima Hunt, Writer, Editor and Agent at The Writers’ Practice. Jemima explained what a good editor can do for your book. Jemima is particularly interested in memoir and brought along a few of her authors’ books. She gave an overview of their initial approach and how she worked with them to bring the story to a better shape. She works with fiction and non-fiction and guides her writers towards the best platform to develop their writing career. You can find out more at www.thewriterspractice.com
By this time we were ready for lunch, accompanied by lashings of wine (all part of the ticket price), as was copious amounts of tea, coffee, cake and biscuits throughout the day. I cannot overstate what fantastic value it was.
I kicked off the afternoon session with a talk on how to write short stories for competitions and magazines. Paul read aloud one of my stories and it was great to hear the audience reaction – positive I’m pleased to say. I sell my stories, I see them published but I’ve never known what the audience thinks of them and it was a superb confidence booster. The audience were a delight and asked lots of great questions that thankfully, I was able to answer.
The day was rounded off by the amazingly talented Catherine Balavage, proprietor of Frost Magazine. Catherine gave an insight to the trajectory of her career from actor, theatre critic and from there, establishing the magazine. She gave an overview of the pros and cons but also the relentless hard work that goes into creating a magazine in the digital age. It certainly gave me food for thought as I drove home that evening.
Margaret’s stalwart family were, as usual, beavering away in the background making sure that the event sailed along without a bump.
The grannies, led by Margaret Graham, provided us with yet another fascinating event and the lovely thing was, that while we were sat on our bottoms, drinking wine and having fun we were helping raise money for wounded troops. Now that’s my kind of fundraising.