One of the things I really loved about Conflux Writers' Day was that they knew where to put the apostrophe, which is a great start. I don't know what it is about apostrophes, and, I will admit, I am not perfect myself, but I do like to see them in the right place.
I'd been looking forward to this, the inaugural Conflux Writers' Day, since I first saw it advertised months ago. I jumped straight in to purchase my ticket and wrote it in on my calendar and in my diary so I wouldn't forget, or get mixed up about the days (which is what I did with the last CSfG event I meant to go to – I had the right date but the wrong day and so missed the launch of 'Next' – embarrassing as well as frustrating).
This time I was there. On time. In the right place. Yay.
It was a fantastic day.
I knew absolutely nobody, although there were a few people present that I had exchanged emails with at different times and, possibly, one person who I thought might have been at a course I attended once. Somehow, I managed to overcome my natural reticence to socialise and chatted with a few of the delegates (one dedicated soul had flown over from Perth) and even one or two of the presenters.
Nicole Murphy, who did an amazing job of organising the day, promised us great things in her opening address. She also promised us that we would be overwhelmed with information.
She was right. On both counts.
Nicole also suggested that we just soak in what we could and take away what we needed most at this particular time, and said that her goal for us was that at some stage of the day we would have an aha moment.
So, yes, I soaked.
I also scribbled some notes in a pretty notebook (oh, yes, Joanne Anderton, I share this love of pretty notebooks with you) because I cannot just listen. Ever. Even when I tell myself that I will.
Some favourite gems of wisdom that I took away from the day were (paraphrased):
to allow yourself "the joy of boredom"... boredom gives you space to daydream, which is important to the creative process (Joanne Anderton);
that your "special place or time" for writing is in your head and hands, a lot of writing is what happens before you write, and don't forget we write because we love to write (Kaaron Warren); and
to be organised, be curious, be persistent, be creative, be brave (Dawn Meredith).
Next, I need to organise myself a Business Plan and set some SMART goals (Shannon Curtis), because [Nicole Murphy] my aha moment was that I AM A WRITER and I am off to write my next book [Alan Baxter] while I get my head around social media.
