Friday 1 May 2009

Caerleon Summer Writers' Holiday

This is a picture of a New York park (can't remember which one, and have to race off to J's school - through rush hour traffic - as he's forgotten his memory stick with his A2 ICT work on it that has to be in today).

I've been very spoilt, as one of my birthday presents, from my generous mother, was to pay for me to go to the Summer Writers' Holiday at Caerleon. There are fourteen courses to choose from, and you can read more about it here.

I've opted for Della Galton's course, How to Write & Sell Short Stories, and Marina Oliver's , Advanced Novel Writing, which is for writers who have completed the first draft of a novel (80,000-100,000 words). I need to forward the exact word count, as well as a synopsis, etc.

The trouble is that before I went on holiday, I was busily editing one novel, and only the other day, I decided to send in a different one. So, I now have four weeks to edit this novel, whilst at the same time bringing up the word count by approximately 20,000 words, as, thanks to my previous editing attempt, it's now way too short. So, I really need to work at it to have everything up to scratch in time to send it out.

Thank heavens it's a long weekend. Guess who won't be making the most of any sun?

I've just finished, 9987 by Nik Jones, and will blog about it in the next couple of days.

22 comments:

Jumbly Girl said...

Wow I've just followed the link to Caerleon and it looks fantastic - you lucky thing! I will add it to my wish list for next year. Good luck with the novel edit

Anonymous said...

I'm going to Caerleon too. See you there!

By the way, the Chinese links above are spam. I'd delete it if I were you. I've reported this "ed" to Google/Blogger as he's popping up all over the place where he's not wanted.

Chris Stovell said...

Lucky girl! What a kind Mummy, look forwards to seeing how you get on, I know you'll make the most of it.

HelenMWalters said...

Glad to hear you're doing Della's course. She's fantastic.

Unknown said...

I'm sure you'll enjoy Caerleon. Good luck with the editing!

claire p said...

I WILL go on one of these courses one day!! Enjoy it.

Anyway what sun??

Amanda said...

Ooh, the courses look fabulous. Have a brilliant time x

Anna Scott Graham said...

great courses and I'll be thinking wordy thoughts for you this weekend!!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

jumbly girl - I'm thrilled to be going, but need to get a move on with my editing.

captain black - I look forward to finally meeting you. I think it is going to be hard work, but very worthwhile.

Thanks for the tip about 'ed'.

chrish - I know, I was delighted when she told me what she wanted to do.

helen - I'm hopeless at short stories, so Della's course will be very helpful to me.

shirley - it will be great to be away and only have to concentrate on writing for five days.

claire p - I've always promised myself this course, so I'm delighted to be going.

Isn't it sunny where you are?

amanda - they do look wonderful, don't they? I can't wait.

anna - thanks, I need all the help I can get.

DAB said...

Stick thy 'ead out of thy shed from time to time this weekend m'dear. May your words flow like a turkey with the trots :) TFx

Jenny Beattie said...

What a lovely present, Debs. I can't wait to hear about it all.

Lane Mathias said...

Good luck with the editing Debs. You've certainly got a good incentive!

Cait O'Connor said...

The writing courses sound terrific, I am very envious. Have a great time.

Pat Posner said...

What a fantastic present, Debs.
Good luck wuth the editing and writing those extra words.

xxPat

Tamsyn Murray said...

Bonne chance, m'dear and enjoy the course :-)

Leigh Russell said...

Caerleon sounds fabulous. I hope you have a wonderful time. I'm sure you'll meet lots of interesting people - in fact, I'm off to google it now and wish...

Flowerpot said...

I know lots of peple who go to Caerleon and all love it - have a great time Debs!

Melissa Amateis said...

Oh, how I would love to take a writing course like that. Have fun with it!

Sally Townsend said...

Thanks for dropping by, what a lovely birthday present.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

tf - don't worry, I have to intersperse writing time with weeding borders and planting!

jj - I know, I'm so excited, and will definately post about it when I get back.

lane - this sort of deadline is definately the best incentive.

cait - thanks, I'm looking forward to it.

pat p - thanks, I'm not doing too badly, but, as my reports used to say, 'Could do better'.

tam - thanks, I'm sure I shall.

leigh r - it looks excellent, I can't wait to go and spend five days thinking about nothing but writing.

flowerpot - that's good to hear, thanks.

melissa - thank you, it should be so helpful to me too.

sally - it was a great present, very generous.

Annieye said...

Debs! We shall meet at long last! I'm going too. Can't wait.

I didn't know whether to do the Advanced course, but chickened out of that one and put down the Plotting and coursing your novel. Only now I've finished the blinking thing so don't know whether to change to the Marina Oliver one. What do you think?

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

annie - I'm SO excited to be meeting you at long last.

Definately change to the advanced course. I think that I should probably benefit from the plotting course, but want to see how I get on with Marina O's course.