Maz's confused virtuality

The Event of the fandom summer will be held over the weekend of Friday 9th August to Sunday 11th August - Writercon UK 2013.

It's a weekend of laughter and some not too serious (but still real) learning of new stuff. Over the last few years there have been sessions on the art of writing drabbles, how to structure Songvids, things readers hate, the use of smell in writing, icons for dummies and a Write Your Own BadFic group activity (which also involved huge group hilarity).

It's not big and intimidating - maximum 40 people!

It's in Coventry, so nice and central for England and Wales, at least.

It's not difficult to get to by road (M6, M40, M45 (off the M1)) or rail (direct from London Euston, Manchester, Carlisle or Oxford (although if coming from the north east you have to change at Birmingham New Street, bleah!))

You don't have to be a writer - if you're a lurker, a writer, a vidder, an artist, a beta, a reader/reviewer, or simply a fan - of any fandom - you will still find you are amongst friends straight away - it's most certainly not cliquey!

The details:
Location - The Ramada Hotel, Coventry
Price - £35, plus accommodation and food

You can see further details here

So if you are in the UK, or within reach of it, why not come along?

I can guarantee that you will enjoy yourself and meet friendly people to talk all things fandom with. Plus, the hotel has promised a special cocktail menu, just for us. How can you resist?

I'd love to see you there.

I have a strong feeling that I am preaching to either the converted, or the out-of-reach, here, but this is a reminder that the poll for the timing of the writerconuk 2012 Event (which has to move because of those pesky Olympics) is open for one more week.

You can vote here and you can find out more about the sort of interesting things that go on at The Event here, plus, more generally at the LJ.

Do go and browse. There are even podcasts of the 2011 talks.

There's a guarenteed welcome to everybody with any interest in fandom (any fandom) be it as reader, writer, artist, beta or simply as an admirer of things fannish.

It really is hugely fun, with lots of laughter, good company, food and drink to be had.

Why not go and vote and then come to Coventry, next year?

Easter break over, Royal wedding over, bank holidays over. Time to post about THE event of the summer season

Totally gakked from curiouswombat because writerconuk are now accepting registrations for the Event 2011

For those on my flist who have no idea what I am talking about - a resumé -

A long, long time ago, in a Galaxy far away... well, actually six or seven years ago, on LJ, lots of American fandom people used to be so excited about something called WriterCon.

They met each other - by the hundred! They had breakfast together! And dinner! They had speakers and were all terribly serious about panels and presentations... and we small band of non-Americans were really rather jealous.

A small group of wonderful folk (I can say that, as I wasn't one of them!) decided, instead of just being envious, to see whether they could organise something similar - which is why it was called WriterConUK.

To be perfectly honest I don't think we are really quite like the US one.

A quick check list of similarities and differences -

We meet each other - but only up to a maximum of 40 of us! We have breakfast together! And dinner! And chocolate! And partake of alcohol!

And then there is the They had speakers and were all terribly serious about panels and presentations...

Um - we have speakers - they are us. We are not terribly serious, but we do learn a lot about fandom related stuff - the art of writing drabbles, how to be a good beta, coping with writer's block, making icons, things readers hate... all have been covered over the years - here and here are the last couple of programmes.

And we have a raffle, because we are, mostly, Brits - and a multi-fandom quiz (bring your own questions) and have personalised goody bags!

I really think our small get together might be more fun than the American version, to be honest.

You don't have to be a writer - just a fan - of any fandom - or just of Lj itself. And if you have never met any of the LJ community face to face before, you really will still find you are amongst friends straight away - it is most certainly not cliquey!

For the full details on this year's get together click here - and then see if you have the first weekend in August free...

Hey folks,

Are you in the UK, or within reach?

Do you want to meet up with a crowd of relaxed and friendly people who can talk fandom and be very silly?

The writerconuk date poll is about to close. ETA: At 6.30pm GMT, tomorrow (Sunday).

Even if you're not absolutely sure if you can make it, you can still vote. It's small, it's friendly and it's a great laugh. And there's lots of stuff at the LJ about previous events, if you want to go and have a look.

It's going to be a weekend in August. It's going to be in Coventry again. The hotel is good and very tolerant of our noise. The company is fantastic and the multi fandom, multimedia talks are always informative.

If you're alone and nervous, never fear - by the end of the first evening, you'll feel like you've known us all for years.

The details will be posted on the LiveJournal community writerconuk

Do come and have a look around. We're a nice bunch and we'd love to meet you.

*points at icon* Yes, honestly!



ETA: Some extra links to posts of peoples' presentations.

One of the advantages of leaving my report until today is that other people have already done great reports and celebrations of the weekend that I can link to. The ones I have seen so far are:

http://kazzy-cee.livejournal.com/396668.html
http://hils.livejournal.com/4048839.html
http://shapinglight.livejournal.com/995123.html
http://brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com/111215.html
http://lilachigh.livejournal.com/485297.html
If I've missed any, please let me know.
I'm keeping an eye out for quinara's. I believe she got an A+ for the one she did last year. *g*

( And so to my version of the weekend )
If you are in the UK and want to meet up with a crowd of relaxed and friendly people who can talk fandom, you really should consider coming along next year. It will be in Coventry again. The hotel is good and very tolerant of our noise. The company is fantastic and the talks are always informative. If you're alone and nervous, never fear - by the end of the first evening, you'll feel like you've known us all for years. The details will be posted on the LiveJournal community writerconuk, probably in the new year, but there is more to do there, before that. There is a banner challenge with some wonderful graphics to spark your writerly ideas and there will be at least one other meet up before next summer. Do come and have a look around. We're a nice bunch.

*points at icon* Yes, WriterconUK!

The 2010 midimeeting, linked to writerconuk, is open for business (and has been for a week, but I have been too busy on other things to make this post before now *g*) It is being held in Coventry on Friday 6th to Sunday 8th August.

It is always a brilliant event, but if you're nervous of the idea of meeting new people, lilachigh posted a much better description than I could, of why it is not really as scary as you think, here. I'd love to quote the whole post, but it's more polite to point you in her direction.

The first year I went, I had sparrow2000 to hold my hand and make me brave. But truthfully? We neither of us needed the support. We walked in and there were a group of people standing in the foyer of the hotel and they said hello and that was it. Immediately I wondered what I'd been worried about.

So if you have ever thought that it would be nice to meet a few of the other crazy people you only know on LJ, go have a look at the LJ Comm. There's a banner challenge going on at the moment (details) which will mutate into a fic challenge in the summer.

Registration is easy here and, as people fully register, they get added to the list of attendees, here.

We'd love to see you. I'd love to meet you. And did I mention that it is always fun?

I have one good night's sleep under my belt (which, when I think about it, is a really strange place to keep it), I have caught up on my flist, sort of, (meaning that I haven't read anything, but I do have ten zillion tabs open), and I am suitably caffinated, so I may manage to stay awake until tonight. (Dimly, dimly, dimly, I can remember a time when I could stay up until 3am, like some other people (yes, I'm looking at you three) but in my defense, they didn't get up at 6am. At least, I don't think they did. If they did, I will be content to feel very inadequate.) But the first thing I did this morning was the important post for kazzy_cee, here. This was the result of someone (not me! Why would you suspect such a thing?) making a comment over supper. It had to be done.

WriterconUK 2009 was great! *thinks* That deserves more emphasis - IT WAS BRILLIANT!!!!!

( So... )
*waves at all of you* Thank you for making the weekend such a success.

This morning I posted a list of registered attendees for WriterconUK Midimeet 2009, Coventry, Friday 14th to Sunday 16th August.

The event has been advertised on merlinbbc and beinghuman_fans but it would be great to get the word out to more fandoms, especially British ones (it being writerconUK and all).

Howay folks, come and join us. Spread the word and send yourself to Coventry.

And following up from from birthdays, it seems like a good idea to advertise (to my admittedly, mostly North America flist, who will just have to ignore this) that writerconuk has now posted the details for the meeting this year.

It's on Friday 14th to Sunday 16th August, in Coventry.

Details are HERE and I'll be putting up a membership post, in a week or so.

Last year (and the year before) were great fun - meeting people, getting involved with talks about writing and graphics and all sorts of other fannish stuff.

I hope to see you there. Come friend the community, so you don't miss it. I would love to see you all there. Or, failing that, as many of you as can make it.

The meeting in 2007 was the first time I had ever climbed out from under my rock and attended any fandom event. I went with sparrow2000 and we were both full of trepidation. But everyone was wonderful and we have a fantastic time. Last year, sparrow2000 was across the Atlantic, so I went alone. I had another wonderful week end. There is no way I'm missing out on going again (even if they'd let me, since I'm treasurer this year *g*).

What a fantastic week end!

Well, it was an evening, a day and a morning, but the organisers jammed so much into it that it felt like a whole week end!

kitty_poker1 has done a much better summary of the programme than I could hope to achieve here, so that saves me even trying *g* You don't mind me being lazy, do you Kitty?

I second everything she says about the workshops, although I'm very glad that sparrow2000 and I had a smoother journey to get there than she and suki_blue had.
ETA: And while I'm being lazy, Suki did a really good summary too - here

However, I do really want to add my own thanks to hils, just_sue, woman_of_, bogwitch, gillo and hesadevil for all the work they put into it.
ETA: OMG, I missed out kazzy_cee. How could I do that when, besides everything else, she was a member of our award winning quiz team? I'm so sorry Kazzy.

Oh, and the drabble thing. I've never written a drabble before, so this was totally new to me, although I have read some wonderful ones. The starting point was that Angel had experienced a moment of true happiness, but the fact that he was now Angelus was supposed to come out in the last line, which was meant to be dialogue.

There were some really funny ones that had us all laughing. Mine was a bit angsty *ponders* Strange that. And in truth, I think I need more practice with the form.

But if you want to, you can see it under the cut ( here )

Thank you again to everyone involved. It really was fun.

ETA: Two people asked for the link to the site that allows you to back up your LJ. One was Sparrow, was the other you, Suki? Anyway, it is here: http://www.ljbook.com/ click on 'create pdf', on the left hand side.