We’ve had an exceptionally busy week at Casa Libertà.
Joanna had serious train travel and a full diary, while still reluctantly convalescent. Sophie had much writing – blogging, a magazine article and catching up with belated Amazon reviews of recently-read books – together with a trip to see Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance.
Above all, we were running up to part two of our Sparkle editing workshop, otherwise known as Bling it Up. So we spent Friday on a full day’s dress rehearsal before Saturday when the curtain went up.
Busy Preparation
We’ve been thinking about Bling It Up for months, even before we held our first Hook and Hold workshop on editing the start of a ms. We had plenty of material from our experience with different books. Maybe we had too many points?
So we marshalled our thoughts and restructured the day. Several times. Friday was supposed to be the final run-through.
We’d scattered practical tips all over the place. They were getting lost. We added a session on techniques and tips.
And did another run-through.
Joanna left exhausted. I fell into bed without doing the washing-up.
Busy Oscar Wilde
I promised myself I wasn’t going to let A Woman of No Importance push me into changing my bits of the presentation. We already had a reference to “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.” That was surely enough.
Reinforcement is Always Welcome…
As it turned out, the programme, the performances and the play itself reinforced points the workshop already contained. Yay!
(Character is part of world building: tick)
Eve Best, staking a claim to maternal ownership that made my teeth bleed, nevertheless convinced me. BUT it took a great director and actors to bring those big speeches alive.
(Novelists beware! Long speeches need actors: tick)
(Some of a story’s most memorable moments are a) off the wall and b) funny: check.)
And you realise – much-married Lady Caroline needs a man beside her to sustain that monstrous confidence.
(The unsaid is powerful and the audience/reader is alert to it. Use the space between the words: check.)
Busy Workshop
It felt like a fabulous whirlwind. The wonderful participants really entered into the spirit of the thing. I had a ball. Thank you, guys.
And yes, I went to bed for the second night running without doing the day’s washing up.
It was worth it.
Sounds great – must think about my diary for next year …
You would be very welcome, Evonne. But next year’s diary takes a great deal of resolution to think of, just at the moment!
So glad your workshop went well. I hope that you still feel it was worth the work.
And special thanks for sharing points with readers too far away to ever be able to attend one of your workshops.
Really glad you enjoyed the blog, Sue, and even more so if the points are helpful.