Finchley Literary Festival

What's it like organising a literary festival?

That's what somebody asked me the other day.

It felt quite odd to actually think about it, for so long I have just been doing. The words that come to mind are 'exhausting', 'hard work' and 'exciting'. I'm supposed to be a writer. I have become a festival administrator, a creative director, a social media-person, and general woof woof - just get the bloomin' thing done. 

Up until a couple of years ago, I had no experience of organising festivals and this got me thinking. How on earth had we known what to do? I remember using google a lot and learning from what other people had done as well as attending festivals and pinching ideas. It’s the same as being a writer. Want to write a good book? Then read at least a thousand books before you begin.

Paolo Hewitt at the first festival

The first year was a small affair, a mini literary festival that was held in a church hall. I approached a few writers I had got to know via Facebook and Twitter, both excellent tools for networking. The second year the festival grew and included a Spoken Word event, a sort of organised open mic at the renowned Friern Barnet Community Library, organised by the extremely efficient Allen Ashley.

And this year? The festival has expanded. Did I say expanded? I meant exploded! A week-long festival with loads of writerly events taking place throughout the week. So, what's it like organising a literary festival? It's like, it's like, panic-panic, having a never-ending list of things to do:

• Raise money (it's so important to have cash and wine - lots of it, to bribe pay the writers)
• Book events/venue/speakers
• Set up a Facebook page/Twitter account and remember to use them
• Email lots of people all the time
• Set up online ticket booking system (Eventbrite is brill)
• Design and print pre-printed tickets for people who don't have computers or who don't want to use them
• Get lovely local people to sponsor you. This year we are very lucky to have Stephen's House & Gardens, Finchley Society, Waitrose via their community matters project, and Squires Estates.
• Design posters/programme/blog/website
• Advertise online, offline, in a library, local newspapers, shops etc
• Publicity stunt? (naked girls covered in books written by the speakers?)
• Signposting at the venues
• Write articles/press release like this one about the festival line-up
• Don't forget the programmes for the chairs (like I did last year)
• Have a driver handy in case you have to go home for programmes or even vases for the flowers

Finally make sure each event has a liaison person, someone to welcome the speakers and audience, preferably not still in your old clothes with one trouser leg tucked in a sock as I did in the first year.

I've taken the week off work and I'm really looking forward to attending as many of the events as possible. I will be making guest appearances at the anthology launch and Spoken Word event as well as hosting the Main Event on Saturday 31st May 2-5pm at Stephens* House and Gardens, 17 East End Road, N3 3QE. 

This year's main speakers are: Alex Wheatle; Caitlin Davies; Rosie Fiore; Miriam Halahmy; Allen Ashley, Maggie Butt, Emily Benet, and A.L. Michael. 

There will be guest appearances, talks and workshops from Sarah Holding, Anna Meryt, Gina Blaxill, Lil Chase, Bettina Von Cossel, Liz Goes, Linda Dell, Theresa Musgrove, Matt Baylis, Ruth Cohen, Gillian Stern, Cari Rose, Mary Musker and Greenacre Writers.

The festival could end with a bang or at least fireworks as the panel discusses: When a Man Writes a Woman and When a Woman Writes a Man. We'll be discussing such issues as whether writing in third person opposite sex is really writing in a different gender or is just observation. 

Do join us at this year's Finchley Literary Festival it promises to be the best one yet.

If you're organising a festival, let us know via Twitter @finchleylitfest and we'll follow you.

Good Luck!

*Formerly Avenue House

A Reader

Being a reader for short story competitions means I have to read a helluva lot of stories. There are many ways to start a short story - scene setting; conflict; mystery; and a narrator who speaks to you are just a few. I can usually tell from the first paragraph whether or not the story is going to work. I am also a reading detective and am often disappointed if from that first paragraph, I have worked out the plot of the whole. If I am reading for pleasure and am not hooked by that first paragraph, I can decide not to read any further, if I'm reading as a judge then I have to read on.

I am also a trained 'reader'. I underwent The Reader Organisation's, 'Read to Lead Training', some time ago. The Reader Organisation brings people and literature together, not just any old literature but 'great' literature. They use an innovative 'shared reading' model that brings people together for weekly read aloud reading groups. Stories and poems are listened to, thoughts and experiences are shared, personal and social connections are made. I recently ran a 'Make Friends with a Book', session in the restaurant of the hospital where I work. It was lunchtime and packed with nurses, doctors, other NHS staff and members of the public. I chose to share, 'Tea with the Birds', by Joanne Harris. A powerful story about loneliness, isolation and mental illness. It also happened to be Mental Health Awareness Week so it was the perfect story in the perfect setting.

I suspect that as Canadian author Alice Munro has just won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature, there will now be a revival of the short story form. Sarah Hall, winner of the BBC National Short Story award says: 'My feeling is that the short story is, if not gloriously ascendant in Britain, then airborne and at reasonable altitude'. And I agree, it has been a struggle but in all honesty the short story form has been slowly clawing its way back from banishment for some time. It was the 10th anniversary of the short story festival, 'Small Wonder' that is held every year in September, at one of my favourite places, Charleston - the former home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.

Having just completed another batch of short stories for the Greenacre Writers competition, I've been questioning: What makes a good story? I may change my mind in a few days but this week I am saying it is the subject. There will be those among you who say, any subject can work as long as it is written well, and yes this is probably true. For me though, it is what is at the heart of the story that is important. I have to be interested in what I am reading about as well as how the story has been written. And that of course comes down to the telling, the voice, the emotion, and often a funny little title. So it is not the first line that must grab your reader, it is the title. Put everything into that title - intrigue, emotion, strange voice, and if possible even humour.

'Tea with the birds' - what does this title conjure up for you?

Sarah Hall's winning story 'Mrs Fox', is about a woman who turns into a fox much to her husband's bewilderment. Here's an extract from the story: Mrs Fox

Do you have a favourite short story?

Writers Retreat

I remember the last writing workshop I attended was at the Jane Austen's House Museum and run by Rebecca Smith, Author of Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas, A Bit of Earth, Happy Birthday & All That and The Bluebird Cafe. Rebecca teaches at Southampton University.

It was a freezing day and had been snowing. Walking through the snow-covered park in the early morning I did wonder if I was wise to be travelling at all. But travel I did all the way to Alton in Hampshire. Rebecca was an excellent facilitator - calm, interesting and interested. The workshop, ‘But intricate characters are the most amusing…’ was of course linked to Jane Austen's writing. Elizabeth Bennet was a studier of character, and so, of course, was Jane. Rebecca spoke about all sorts of relationships – romantic, friendly and difficult. With examples from Jane Austen’s work and contemporary fiction, we looked at creating and capturing the sort of convincing characters and relationships that are at the heart of all good fiction.

Jane Austen's House Museum

What did I enjoy most about this workshop? Not having to do the preparation myself! And I even wrote the beginnings of my autobiographical novel, Homesick about a 16-year old girl who is leaving care and setting out into the world. So, it was a fantastic experience for me. What may you ask (quite rightly) has this to do with a writer's retreat?

Well I organised the recent Greenacre Writers writing retreat at St Katharine's, Parmoor, Oxfordshire. And although there was some organisation involved, researching places to stay, as well as negotiating with St Katharine's and the writers, I pre-warned the writers that I would not be doing any workshops, or tutoring. All I did when people first arrived was a sort of reflective exercise, that asked a few simple questions along the lines of what the writers were hoping to get out of the weekend. And in fact none of the writers except me bothered to do the exercise so I won't waste my time with that in the future. We were all there to write and write and write is what we did.

St Katharine's, Parmoor

The first thing that happened was an amazing piece of luck. We were told that we would be inside the house rather than in the annexe St Joseph's which is a little cheaper, and that it would be at no extra cost. My room was lovely - old rickety furniture, comfy bed, my own shower and the most amazing peace. No cars anywhere near the beautiful old house.

The estate, in the Chiltern hills above the lovely valley of Hambleden, was in possession of the Knights Templar originally (says Langley), was probably surrounded by wild open moorland country, and must have been an isolated place in those days. The magnificent cedar tree in the grounds was reputedly grown from a seed collected from the Lebanon during the Crusades.

The amazing Cedar tree where I sat and enjoyed the amazing peace of St Katharine's

In 1995 the Sue Ryder Prayer Fellowship took over Parmoor, now a Grade 2 Listed Building. The Fellowship was conceived by Lady Ryder to be a "spiritual powerhouse" for the needs of others. In the grounds, the walled garden is being brought back into productive use and supplies vegetables and fruit for the kitchen. The outline of a formal garden has been uncovered and is being made into a sensory garden by Lane End Elim Centre Oasis Project while a large sunken garden awaits restoration.

Lady Ryder cherished frugality, compassion, respect for the contribution of volunteers, and the spiritual dimension of charitable work. Her loss is keenly felt but her memory lives on in Parmoor.

It was this frugality that I most admired about St Katharine's as well as the amazing sense of peace I felt the whole weekend. However, there was nothing frugal about the food, home grown and home cooked, it was delicious. The writers were an interesting bunch and I learnt many things during the course of the weekend. Including all about Fracking from Irving, which apparently causes mini earthquakes - so not good for the environment and well done the protesters in Sussex. Find out more here. 

A few of the writers: me, Mark, Irving and Lianne

The view outside my bedroom window

Irving was convinced he was sleeping in King Zog's room!

I managed to get lots of writing done, as well as a quick trip into Marlow with Lianne and Mark where we treated ourselves to some new clothes! And returned with chocolate and wine for the evening spent chatting in the spooky old library. The food was excellent and my fellow writers told me over and over again what good value the weekend had been. We will definitely be booking another retreat!

WRITING RETREAT 28TH-30TH MARCH 2014

Writer's Block

What is writer's block?

Can't write, won't write? Writer's Block happens to everyone at some stage in their writing career. It has its roots based in fear, the I'm not good enough to write fear; the why on earth would anybody want to read what I've written; or I've written so much the vessel is empty - nothing left, all gone - I know NOTHING. Of course one can always write something; for example there is the writer's journal - forget about fiction for a few days - FORBID yourself to touch a drop of the fantasy stuff. You are only allowed to keep a journal - about anything and everything - what time the postman put the letters through the door - how he did that - shoved them in without care or rang the bell and said, 'Good morning, this package won't fit through the letterbox'. Try writing about the mundane stuff for a while - your imagination will soon be screaming for relief - TAKE ME AWAY FROM HERE, QUICK!

Of course there is another type of Writer's Block and this one is more worrying. It's the, I've got loads to say but no time to say it in. This is a sort of Writer's Block, it is linked to procrastination or that psychological word that means doing anything but writing: deflecting. The washing up, telephone calls, hoovering (yuk), sorting, filing, emptying bins. This sort of block is a little more worrying and it tends to happen to people without routine in their lives. For example, I know a published author who religiously sits at her desk everyday from 10am-2pm without fail - oh the green-eyed=monster just quipped: 'Well it's alright for her, she doesn't have to work.' It's true she doesn't have to go out to work but she does work, very hard everyday at her desk refusing to move until something is written on the page. And unfortunately there is no magic wand that will take those words in your head and get them down on the page without your help. You have to find some time and just sit there and write - even if it is on the train or bus on the way to work and back - that's a couple of hours a day, ten hours a week, forty hours a month and precisely five hundred twenty hours a year - which brings me to my next question: How long does it take to write a novel?