How To Prepare For Next Year's Writers' Summer School in England in 2019 Aug 10-16, Tips and Tricks

Writers enjoying summer weather at Swanwick in August. The Lakeside block is the far distance by the lake.

Problem
This year, 2018, Writers' Summer School was over-subscribed, with a waiting list. My friend D was only told the day before the event started that somebody had cancelled at the last moment because of illness. So how can you be sure of getting a place next year? Why would I want to go? For the food, if nothing else.

Desserts at Swanwick. Cheesecake was one of my favourites.

Answers
Number one action, note next year's date now.

Timing - AUGUST 10-16 2019
The conference starts just before tea-time on Saturday. It ends after breakfast the following Friday.

August, yes, August. Just around the time of the Edinburgh Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. One year when the writers' conference ended, we drove on to the Edinburgh Festival.

When To Book
Priority bookings open on 1st January 2019.
General bookings 1st February 2019.

Who gets priority bookings? Presumably the committee themselves. Plus the Friends Of Swanwick who have donated money.

Food
You can let them know about special diets and allergies.
A gluten free cake is provided for tea time and among the desserts at dinner.
I was so impressed by the cakes that I wrote about them in the Swanwick Standard which we wrote during the conference.


Accommodation
The price you pay depends on the accommodation you choose - or what is left if you book late.
Included in the price: breakfast, biscuits and coffee or tea drinks at morning break, lunch, tea-time biscuits or cakes and tea, dinner. 24 hours machines dispensing water and coffee, tea, water.

How can you Economise?
Accommodation
1 Ttake a room in the main house with only a washbasin. Showers and toilets are along the corridor.
Other accommodation price varies.
You could just come up for one day and not pay for accommodation, just the day rate. That works if you live nearby or have a friends or relatives in the area.

1 If the conference is fully booked, find out if you can have a day rate and stay at a hotel nearby.

2 Enter the raffle at a conference and hope to win the big prize of a free conference the  following year, or the other prizes of money towards your return visit.

3 Enter the competitions by sending in a short story or poem on the theme which is announced later on.
4 If you are a famous writer, offer to be a speaker or to run a course, in which case they might pay some or all of your expenses.

Here's the man who wrote the play in which I acted. He was also the actor in somebody else's play. The actress who played the murderer in his play won the best actor awarded.

Sell Some Of Your Books In The Book Room
You will sell more books if
1 They are how to books on the theme of writing
2 You give and evening lecture or a day time course and quote or read a passage from your book.
3 You offer a discount off the usual price in bookshops.

Start Writing Your Novel or How To Book
If you have been selling just one book at writing conferences, many people will already have it. So write a new book.

If you need a deadline, write it during the November NANO event - at least 500 words a day.

Last year we had a stage on the side of the hall. However, this was said to block the exits and a Health and Safety officer made the organizers move it.

Plan A Poem
Plan a poem to read out at the open mic poetry evening. Print it off or keep it accessible on your phone.

Learn A Poem
Practise reading your poem aloud without reading it off the page, to leave your hands free so you can make gestures and act, and lift your eyes up from the page and make eye contact with the audience.

Plan A Piece of Prose
Write a memoir. Read out the opening. For the prose open mic night.

Singers and Songriters Unite
For the buskers night, practice singing. Learn to sing in tune. Join a choir or sing along with museic every day. Or write a new song for somebody else to sing. Make sure it has lots of rhythm and a chorus so the audience can join in.

Contest Submissions
Write a poem or short piece for the competition in the hope of winning a prize.

Play Planning
Write a five minute play for the Page To Stage Event. Write it with characters who can be male of remale. Make sure each character has lines which suggest gestures, to give the characters in your play a greater chance of winning the best actor/actress award.

Ideally have all the characters standing or walking around the stage. The stage at the front of the hall is low and if actors sit down they cannot be seen or heard at the back.

Transport
Share driving with a friend.
Book a rail ticket well in advance.
Use one of the rail discounts.

If you were at the 2018  event, look for the post-conference downloads:
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/downloads
You will need the password which was given out during the AGM to those who attended the conference.

WANT TO RUN A COURSE
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/pitch-a-course

Closed Facebook group.
LinkedIn
Twitter @swanwickwriters

Websites of the 2018 speakers:
Sue Moorcroft
www.suemoorcroft.com

Ahmit Dhand
www.aadhand.com

To hire a costume for the fancy dress dancing night:
Jolly Jesters
www.jollyjesters.co.uk 

Secretary ingrid
secretary@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

Treasurer Lesley
treasurer@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

The Hayes Conference Centre
Hayes Lane
SWANWICK
Alfreton
Derbyshire
DE55 1AU.
tel:01773 526 000.

Useful Websites
Hayes Administration office: 01773 526 000.
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/improvements-to-food-and-decoration-at.html
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See next post:
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-lake-flowers-and-food-and-faces-at.html