Conference report

One of the greatest joys of this "becoming some kind of a writer" thing has been the new places it's taken me and the people it's introduced me to.

One such was at the weekend, when I was privileged to address the Southern Writers' Conference in Sussex. 

Now, regular readers of my wafflings will already know the high state of angst that Hall manages to work up in himself when doing talks about the tvdetective books.  I won't bore you with another run down of that, but it was as enthusiastically present as ever.

It is a curious thing - you walk in there as a stranger to just about everyone assembled and thus go through a process which I suppose is similar to being the new kid in class.  You have to quickly work out who's who, what the unwritten ground rules of the group are, and most importantly of all - will they take to you?

It is a nervy experience, particularly when you know you're going to do a formal address at some point, which they will be expecting to be, in some measure at least, informative, educational, and perhaps even entertaining.

So, how did things go in Sussex? Well, first of all, let me report the oddities.  I found only two, and they were so minor -

1. The peacocks, although beautiful, rise with the dawn and do so noisily.  The first person to breed a mute peacock will be very rich very quickly.

2. Single beds! The Hall backside is too wide for such - I estimate I had approx six inches clearance either side.  It was like being back at college, a long forgotten memory, but not an unpleassant one.

But, those were the only quirks, because the place was great, the staff kind and helpful, and the people assembed were a uniform delight. Such a range of backgrounds, ages, outlooks, I felt at home instantly and enjoyed myself enormously.

So, a big thank you to all who came along - and for laughing at the right points in my talk - and the organisers for an outstanding conference.   By the end, I felt more one of the delegates than an outsider invited to speak. 

Thanks all you Southern Writers, may you craft your words well and long prosper.