Writing Conference in Newcastle

On the 18th of May I went to a writing conference in Newcastle. It was organised by New Writing North and I saw it advertised but wasn't too bothered about it, but then I saw my soon to be sister in law Libby was going, so I thought I would go and that it would be nice to spend the day with her. I asked Lee to take me so he could spend the day with his brother Andrew, Libby's fiance. And then we arranged to meet up for tea with our friend Lianne. She's married to Lee's friend Paul, but Paul was going to an all day festival so couldn't meet up, but we of course wanted to see Lianne anyway!

Lee and I set off from our house at just after 8am. He had been unwell with a cold and I hadn't slept well, but we managed to get up and off in not too bad of a time. The conference started at 10am and I made it just a few minutes before. I went in and met Libby and we got signed in and headed upstairs for the first panel.

It was Janice Hallett talking about her writing life and it was really interesting! I've read everything she's published and find her a really interesting writer. She was a scriptwriter and I think it shows in her novels. I got her to sign a copy of The Christmas Appeal afterwards, which I've read and enjoyed. I didn't get to speak to her for long but it was nice to meet her.

Each attendee had signed up for three different talks or workshops during the day, and for the first one Libby and I were doing the same one. It was about being resilient as a writer and it was really funny. After that there was a coffee break (but sadly no decaf coffee, which is annoying!) and then another thing. I did Meet the Editor and although I do understand a lot about that process already due to my MA, I did learn some things and it was pretty good.

After that was lunchtime so Libby and I walked to M&S in the train station to pick up a sandwich each. We went back into the venue to eat and got chatting to some different people, which was nice. We did keep explaining that we do already know each other and that our partners are brothers! 

After lunch the first talk was an author and an editor in conversation and it was really interesting - the author was called Eirinie Lapidaki and she is from the north east. Her book is about three women in the Highlands of Scotland who are all married to the same man, Elijah, a cult leader. It was really interesting to hear more about her craft and afterwards I ran to the book stall to buy a copy. Unfortunately I didn't see her again to get it signed, but I would have liked to.

My last workshop was Life Writing. I LOVE life writing (I do a lot of it in my zines) and I enjoyed the workshop. Then we were back in the main hall for the last talk, which was two northern writers talking about living and writing in the north. I was sat towards the back and I started to flag at this point, but I did still like it. 

The whole thing finished just before 5pm. There was a bar downstairs so we headed there for 'networking'. Libby and I shared a bottle of wine and we chatted to two people and made friends on instagram and stuff. It was really lovely! We wobbled out of there just before 6pm and walked to Super Natural. 

It is an all vegan restaurant and as Lianne is vegan and I am vegetarian it was ideal. Lee and Andrew and Lianne were already there. I chose one thing that I wanted but it turned out that it wasn't available after 5pm which was a bit annoying. I ended up going for a falafel platter instead. It was nice, but maybe a bit odd, and not what I had originally wanted. I had a tequila sunrise too which was delicious. They had vegan puddings so I had chocolate and clementine torte which was SO nice, it was really orangey. 

We chatted for a while and then about 8pm Lee and I said goodbye and everyone headed off home. We got home just after 10pm, both absolutely knackered so we just crashed into bed. I was asleep by 11.15!

I was really happy I bothered to go to the conference though. I've been trying to write again more, and I feel like this really reignited my spark for writing. It was lovely to spend the day with Libby - she's a lot of fun - and meet new people!

Look how beautiful this building was! This was before it started

Here's Janice Hallett on the right!

Look how pretty the ceiling was in Super Natural

Here we all are! Well minus Paul, we missed him but it was of course lovely to see Lianne

Tequila sunrise

My platter - it was fake fried chicken at the top and other delicious stuff

Lee had "chicken" kebab and he liked it but said there needed to be more sauce

And here'd my pudding!

What I Wore 7th March and Meeting Angie Thomas

On 7th March Lee and I went to Bradford to see Angie Thomas, the author. She was on tour from the US and tickets sold out super fast, but I was lucky enough to get two so we set off in plenty of time and then queued outside Waterstones until 6.30. Bradford Waterstones is in the old Wool Exchange building and it is utterly beautiful - I'd love to go back and browse for a while.

Angie was in conversation with a black poet called Sophia, and she talked really passionately about the place her books come from, their political standing within the world, the impact they've had, how they've been censored, and so on. I heartily recommend both her books. The Hate U Give is about a kid who witnesses a cop shoot her friend and who has to then go to court. On the Come Up is about a girl who wants to be a rap star but who is misunderstood by her neighbourhood. They are both fantastic books and excellent for young readers.

After the talk and a question and answer session Angie signed her books, and it was truly an honour to meet her.

Then Lee and I went to Zizzi for food as we had set off before tea. It was getting late but the staff were lovely. I had a goats cheese, onion, and pine nut pizza and Lee just had margherita. Then he had chocolate melt pudding and I had a chocolate and salted caramel brownie which was utterly delicious. It was late when we got home but worth it!

I had pulled on this red Scarlett & Jo dress with hearts on. I have the purple one and Lolly brought this to the last clothes swap so I snaffled it. It's a size smaller than I'd usually wear and I can maybe tell because the waistband comes to just under my boobs, but I think it looks fine and I liked wearing it. I love the red colour!

Red dress, black cardigan from H&M a million years ago

Inside the Wool Exchange

Sophia and Angie

Sophia performed one of her poems which was really good

Angie and me and Lee. She's so lovely!

Strawberry and cucumber cooler in Zizzi

Pizza!

And my very delicious brownie

Christmas To Do List

I started a sort of bullet journal last year. I don't do the "official" style, but I keep lists of stuff and do some journalling about holidays and stuff in there. I had tried different notebooks but I find the Leuchtterm 1917 in a dotted style the best because the dots are really easy to draw grids in and stuff. I asked for a new one in grey for Christmas, which I'm putting a bunch of stuff into for 2019. My other one was only about half full but I wanted a new one for the new year! It was a gorgeous emerald colour, but I'm enjoying the grey one too.

Anyway, I started making a list in October of things I wanted to do before Christmas, all the festive traditions that I like. I've found lists like these really help me get things I want to do done, and I've found that they help Lee and I find fun things to do together. I wrote down things I had to do and things that I knew I would find fun, and things that I knew would feel satisfying to tick off (like "buy all presents").

Lee and I also have a tradition of watching loads of Christmas specials of our favourite TV shows, so I added some to my list that Lee doesn't watch, like the Gavin and Stacey one. I also had rewatched a load of Royle Family so I knew there was a few of those Christmas specials to watch, and as it turned out there were like three that I hadn't seen, so that was nice!

Anyway one of the things we'd done in 2017 which I'd liked was going to Costa to try their festive drinks, so I added that to the list and told Lee we would definitely go to try some before Christmas. As it was, we didn't have time until the 22nd of December, but on that Saturday morning we popped into town and into Costa.

I had the caramelised orange hot chocolate and Lee had the Luxury hot chocolate which was incredibly thick sweet hot chocolate like you'd get in Italy or something. They were both nice, we decided. We had lunch too and then went to Lidl for some last minute bits.

Orange hot chocolate and luxury hot chocolate

I remembered I had new letters for this, including these Christmas ones, isn't the snowman cute?

Here's the list I made! We didn't get to Wentworth Garden Centre but there's always next Christmas!

Author Talk in Manchester

At the end of October Lee and I went to Manchester for an author talk. Young Adult authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera were on tour throughout the UK and Ireland, talking about their new book, What If It's Us, which they've written together. I heard about this event months ago and booked tickets straight away. I booked a general ticket for Lee, but for myself I got the one that included a copy of the book and a promotional poster. I was really excited for the event and it felt like it had been months before it actually happened!

Lee and I went across to Manchester in the morning; we'd bought sandwiches for lunch and parked near Manchester Central Library to eat them before we went in. The event started at 1, and lasted just over an hour. It was hosted by Lucy, who asked questions, and then there were questions and answers at the end.

I'm a big fan of Becky's books (my tag for her is here) and although I've only read one of Adam's (here) I like him as a person. I've got high hopes for reading their joint book, I'll have to go to it soon.

After the talk there was a signing. There were LOADS of people there. The tickets had said that Adam and Becky would sign their joint book and then ONE other book by each of them, but people had clearly ignored that because everyone had about five books with them. It was kind of a pain because the queue moved extremely slowly; we were queuing for about an hour and twenty minutes, and we were only about two thirds of the way down the queue... I bet Becky and Adam were glad when it was over!

Lee and I left the library about twenty to four and, feeling a bit cold, popped across the road to Caffe Nero for a hot drink. I can't say I've been in Caffe Nero too often but their decaf coffee was really nice - it tasted like the caffeine one!

Once we'd done there we headed down the street to Revolucion de Cuba. I'd seen on google maps that it was close by, and looking at the menu it sounded great. It turned out that tapas was 2 for one on Sundays, and we were cocktails! So we had tapas, and I had four extremely delicious cocktails. I'd definitely go back - I liked the ambience of the place and the food and drinks. Lee's not keen on tapas as a rule but he really enjoyed his, too.

I'd put this Scarlett & Jo skirt on partly because it's warm and the weather had dropped cold. I paired it with this plain turquoise t-shirt from Yours clothing. It's a good look on me I think. I'd chosen blue jewellery and this new rollerboot pin badge. I bought a few badges in the sale on Punky Pins and this is technically a "second", but it's got one mark on that is barely visible, so it was a real bargain! I wore this same outfit the next day too to go to craft club!

I adore this skirt, I love the pattern on it

Rollerboot pin badge!

Becky and Adam in conversation 

Us and them at the signing!

This bee lives in the library

Delicious coffee!

Even more delicious cocktails!

Those nachos were amazing, as were the prawns

Finally, here's all the books I got signed!

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 3

By the third day of Grrrl Con I barely felt like I was a person anymore. I was so tired and my head was so buzzy with inspiration and I had met so many new people. It was great, but also exhausting. Anyway, here are just a few photos from the Sunday.

I had been kept awake by an alarm that kept going off every couple of hours through the night. Don't worry, when it went off the first time I did get out of bed to make sure it wasn't my building. At around 7am the receptionist in my hotel was clearly worried so he phoned the fire brigade. Everything seemed okay, though.

I liked this musical instrument statue just outside of Affleck's Palace. I stopped to take this photo and a man gave me such a strange look

I also passed this billboard which was advertising Queer Britain, which is on iPlayer, I really recommend it. I like the advert, I think it looks like a Young Adult novel.

For lunch on Sunday we went to Pie Minister which was AMAZING, I am so taking Lee there for his birthday. I had goat's cheese and sweet potato pie, with a side of mac 'n' cheese. So, so good, I want to eat it again now.

And here are the books I got. The bottom left is a magazine that my friend Lori was published in. The top right sounded interesting so I bought it from the author on Friday. The other two are anthologies and are by black and minority ethnic authors, I'm really excited to read these! 

Phew, that was Grrrl Con 2017!

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 2

Day 2 of Grrrl Con dawned bright and sunny. I hadn't slept well - my hotel was really a bit dodgy and I'd been woken up by doors slamming for most of the night. I didn't have a bathroom in my room, I had to share a toilet (although I never saw anyone else in it). I did however have a sink and shower cubicle in my room. Like, just there in the corner hanging out. It was weird.

Anyway, Day 2 happened to coincide with Photo An Hour, so although I couldn't keep strictly to times due to being busy at the conference, I did manage to take lots of photos at regular intervals, so I thought I would share them all here. Enjoy my day!

Up bright and early with my hair all over as per usual. 

I needed a shower, but the water barely worked. It had no pressure when held up high, so I ended up showering bent over trying to get my entire self clean. My hair felt gross. Hence my cross face.

This was the street my hotel was on as I left around 9.45 to get to the conference. Look at that gorgeous sky! I really liked all the streets around here, and the shops. So much that I'm going to take Lee here for his birthday so we can explore all the record shops and vitange shops and yummy restaurants. 

The first panel, which I actually really didn't enjoy at all. 

My first workshop was held across the road in Madlab, where I really liked the beams in the attic room.

Selfie on the street around lunchtime, waiting for my friends to come and join me so we could go find lunch. At last year's conference I didn't know many people so it was nice to have people to go eat lunch with this year. 

Lori took this photo of me in Dough, drinking prosecco like a fancy bitch.

Selfie in the lift going back up for the last speaker of the day.

Patience Agbabi was the last speaker, she's a poet and I liked most of her stuff. 

We had arranged for six of us to eat at the vegan diner across the road, but before that we had some free time so I for one sat and read some of my book. I truly believe the first line here - funerals aren't for dead people. They're for the living. I loved this book. 

Here's the food I had - a "chicken" burger made of seitan, with guacamole and salsa, and fries topped with hoisin sauce, "cheese" and peanuts. It was so good - I've never had vegan food like this and I'm not sure I liked the texture of the seitan - but it was really delicious and I was really glad to try it!

My friend Amy and her friend Elise had come to meet us for food, as they're both vegans, and Amy took this photo of me. I love it! I look so natural. The drinks were coconutty and creamy and really nice. 

After we'd eaten Lori, Amy, Elise and I went to Soup Kitchen for a couple of drinks. Now a bar on a Saturday night in a city centre is pretty much my idea of hell, but this one wasn't too busy and so I felt okay. I even dared to go up to the bar to order drinks instead of getting someone else to do it for me! It had a nice vibe. 

Look, I had run out of wine! Terrible shame.

We finally called it a night just after 11pm. Lori and I were absolutely dead on our feet after being on the go all day, but I was impressed we'd kept going for so long. I was very glad to get into bed, though. I had to take this photo to show Amy the shower and sink... 

And that was Saturday! A gorgeous, fun, tiring, beautiful day!

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 1

Last year I went to Grrrl Con, a conference for women writers, in Edinburgh and thoroughly enjoyed it, so when I saw that it was being held in Manchester this year I obviously had to go. I booked a hotel which was a bit dodgy but did the job, and set off from my village at 8am on the Friday morning.

This year the con was three days instead of two, which was great as it meant more to do, but it also meant it was even more exhausting. I'm glad I was able to take a few days to relax afterwards because I really needed it. I am writing a zine about the conference as a whole so I don't want to share everything here, but I thought I'd post some photos.

I got the train from our village to Huddersfield, and from there to Manchester. It was fine, the trains weren't busy at all. I had plenty of chance to read my book (which is excellent and everyone should read it).

The first panel, in the main room. I don't think this picture gives the true scope of the conference - there were about 70 of us in that room and attending the con!

My first workshop talked about the inner critic and how to get rid of it, with Rosie Garland. It was really cathartic and amazing! 

Looking out of the back of Ziferblat, one of the venues. I love these Manchester streets (the Northern Quarter)

On Friday evening I went out to eat by myself which was terrifying but I was fine. I went to Turtle Bay as I knew I liked the food. I liked this on the receipt, in support of the attack at Manchester Arena recently. I love Turtle Bay and the curry I had was really spicy. This waitress was really lovely too.