Swanwick

Once again I’ve booked my week at the Swanwick Writer’s Summer School. It’s an experience I can recommend to any writer. The courses and seminars are valuable, of course, but the biggest benefit is the opportunity to mix with and talk to other writers. It was through the networking process at Swanwick that I first met my new publisher. I attended her classes, I chatted with her over lunch and dinner (always convivial occasions) and, in the course of time, counted on her as a very good Swanwick friend.

Graham, another good writer friend, who I also met at Swanwick, will be visiting Dorset later this week and we will enjoy a cheery chat (and a glass of wine) over a prolonged lunch at a local hostelry. I recall my first year at the summer school when I was a “white badger”… first year visitors are given white badges so that the more experienced delegates can help them along. I must have been looking lost because Graham came forward to show me the ropes. That was six years ago and we’ve kept in touch ever since.

I’ve heard it said that it’s a lonely life being a writer. It doesn’t have to be that way. I have made valuable friends through the experience of being a writer. I can now put up posts on the Swanwick Facebook site in the knowledge that they will be read by people I look upon as writing friends.