Get Writing 2010: the VWC Annual Writers' Conference

Getting inspired, Getting Writing at GW10!

And so to the frankly rather splendid de Havilland Campus of the University of Hertfordshire, the new home for Get Writing 2010.

GW10 was by far the most ambitious project VWC has undertaken, needing a new online booking system and seeking to draw some of the most influential people in publishing.

The generosity - of both spirit and time - that people in the publishing industry show to small groups like ours is a source of constant astonishment. There is surely no other industry where a local club could realistically expect some of the most senior - and by definition busy - people in the industry to give up valuable weekend time.

Our warmest thanks go to all our speakers and workshop leaders, to the University for providing such a splendid venue - and to you, the delegates, for making it the fantastic day that it was.

All photographs are © Chris Wells, 2010.

Top class speakers

The list of keynote speakers was spectacular: Marlene Johnson, managing director of the Children's Division at Hachette UK and Simon Taylor, editorial director at Transworld; top agents Anna Power, Phillip Patterson and John Jarrold (who can't seem to keep away from us!) and authors Mark Billingham, Adèle Geras and Imran Ahmad.

This was truly a day of 'something for everyone', even if the message was sometimes a little sobering.

Incisive workshops

And then there were the workshop leaders: Venessa Gebbie, Louise Allen and Jan Jones, Sue Moorcroft, George Spicer and Linda Banner, Judith Lennox and our own Steve Barley.

With topics ranging from the past (researching historical fiction) to the future (making the most of the online world) the full range of challenges faced by writers was there to be explored.

The Get Writing 2010 Conference Cup

For the first time we ran a short story competition, adjudicated by Lesley Eames, Meena Wells and Adèle Geras.

Katie Carr bagged the trophy, with Beating The Blues,
Jane Middleton was runner-up with Brightly Coloured Lives
Giselle Finn came third with The Confession.

The following were all shortlisted:
- Helen Beal for The Jigsaw Fairy
- Richard Bruckdorfer for Going Home
- Lynne Bullock for Black as Pit Gold
- Alison Reed for Feeding the Father
- Suzanne Jane Stanton for Never Judge a Book by its Cover
- Lawrence Stribling for Life & Death of a Stowaway
- Oscar Windsor-Smith for Closure

Well done to all the entrants and thanks to the judges for the time and effort in adjudicating.

Exquisite torture: 3 Minute Pitches

A key attraction of Get Writing is the chance to make a 3 Minute Pitch to top industry people. It is hard and scary and that is just the way we like it.

You don't get another chance to make your first impression: run out of time and the next person along will cheerfully shove you out of the way when the 'mean' and 'fierce' ringmaster calls 'Time!' (yes, those words were used).

A Conference for every writer

But at the end of the day, in Club de Havilland - or during the day in a coffee break, or over lunch - Get Writing is about meeting other writers.

It is about sharing your experience of the unique challenges of writing, where there is no production line. We may form small teams, but more often the labour force of publishing is the sole trader, working alone to create a world where previously there was none.

Getting inspired, Getting Writing at GW10!

Top class speakers

Incisive workshops

The Get Writing 2010 Conference Cup

Exquisite torture: 3 Minute Pitches

A Conference for every writer

'Get Writing' 2010 was brought to you by

Verulam Writers' Circle

championing writers for more than 50 years

And now a word from our sponsors