A fun fandom weekend.....
This past weekend was the 12th year we have been running writerconuk and 21 people attended this year. We even had people who had not been before and some who came last year and then came back (we didn't manage to scare them off LOL!). Under the cut is my report of the weekend for anyone interested. The good news is that everyone seems to want to continue with this mini convention, so hopefully it will be back next year in Coventry around the same time of year if you feel like joining us.
It's worth it for the goodie bags and the raffle which meant I came home with all this (including my fandom tissue box cover - more about that under the cut!).
I left mid-morning on Friday 7th as I decided to catch the train to Coventry. I got a ridiculously cheap rail ticket as I booked it very early. As usual it took hardly any time to get to Euston from where I live as the trains and tube trains mesh together so well, so I had time to buy a tasty baguette to eat for lunch on the train once I got there. I didn't have an allocated seat this year as I was using a different train company to get to Coventry, but I needn't have worried as there was plenty of time to find a suitable seat and get my luggage stowed. The journey was uneventful and I got to Coventry just after lunch.
A short walk to the Ramada and I got checked in and unpacked and then headed to the bar to meet lilachigh. We had our own velvet roped off area in the bar this year *g*
Also - wine....
As we sat and chatted more people arrived in the bar. ningloreth and hab318princess had lists for us to fill in for the evening meal and the cocktails, so they were passed around. trepkos was wished a very happy birthday (first time attending writerconuk - that's dedication to fandom LOL!). Eventually we were all safely arrived.
The event kicked off officially at 6.30pm with the welcome and goodie bag distribution (with our name badges and raffle tickets). The goodie bags were such a pretty rainbow of colours this year and ningloreth had hand made a teeny teddy for everyone! There were even clothes for the teddy as part of the raffle which curiouswombat won! She now has the best dressed teddy in fandom LOL!
Then it was onto the quiz which I had put together. We had four teams and I think people enjoyed it. Of course hils team won AGAIN! Well done to them - they weren't that much ahead of the other teams....
We had time to freshen up before the majority of us went to Aqua - the Lebanese restaurant next door to the Ramada, Coventry. The food was delicious as it has been the last few years. I didn't think we had to wait very long for all of us to be served, but the staff obviously did as they gave us a complimentary couple of bottles of wine as they felt they had not been as quick as usual (part of the appeal of this restaurant is that they can get the food to us quickly so no-one waits while others are eating). It's a shame that they thought they had let us down, although I really don't think anyone else felt they had!
I kicked off with Samak Harra (grilled salmon with spices and it was delicious and VERY spicy), followed by Shish Taok (chicken marinated in olive oil and lemon). Very delicious and very filling!
We got back to cocktails
and one by one we all drifted off to bed.
As I mentioned yesterday I did have a comfy room, but noisy neighbours so a bit of a disturbed night for me, but I still woke up ridiculously early, so I wandered down at 7am for breakfast as I was hungry. My early morning comrade thismaz made it to the con this year after a couple of years break, so it was lovely to catch up with her and we were slowly joined by others. I may have had more than one breakfast as you can keep helping yourself to the various delicious brekky items....
At 10am the event started with my talk about The Magic of Lighting. I am starting to run out of topics after so many writerconuks but I've always been interested in how lighting is used in film and TV so I had decided to explore the history and how lighting has developed and is used to create atmosphere, direct attention, hide surprises and flatter and beautify actors in both media. It was great fun to find film clips and photos which illustrated the different aspects and the research definitely made me think about how lighting is used, so I hope I managed to pass that on.
A coffee break then led on to ningloreth's presentation 'Doing it with Dialogue' which was fascinating as it was all about how dialogue is used these days in comparison to the past as well as lots of examples. I think we all noted down some of the novels she used in her examples as they were all so interesting. I really enjoyed it.
By this time it was lunch break, but as I'd eaten so much for breakfast I decided not to bother this year - otherwise I find I eat far too much by the time we get to the evening buffet. So instead I sat and chatted with those who had also decided not to eat lunch which was fun.
After lunch it was my turn again to lead a presentation about fandom and "Why we Love Them" (we didn't have so many volunteers to speak this year otherwise I wouldn't have been speaking yet again *g*). Everyone joined in the discussion and I think we looked at lots of different aspects which was interesting. We finished by looking at why people follow a TV programme (I used The Big Bang Theory as an example) even though they don't actually like it.
At this point we had a refreshment break with some gorgeous baby bite sized cakes (yum!).
Then we had the chance to make a tissue box cover with hobbituk providing all the fandom photos and decorative stuff and a calendar and even a box of tissues each! It was great to be able to personalise something I can use all next year. It was fun to chat while we did it too :)
Another break and more cocktails (yum!). I took advantage and went and had a shower as I was flagging a little bit after my disturbed night, but the shower really woke me up again *g* so I was ready for hils and signe_chan's talk about "Fandom is Fandom (Even when it's sport)". This was an eye opener as it covered lots of aspects about sports fandom and including how their ice hockey sports teams are promoted on social media. It was fascinating to see how the team managers play into the fans fantasies which I found really surprising (fortunately the players appear to be well insulated from any backlash).
Then we had a break before the group buffet which was really good this year. I had a little bit of everything as it was all so delicious - I started with sweet potato soup and then cauliflower risotto, and lots of yummy vegetable choices and I particularly enjoyed the fish dish which was made with Tilapia - a fish I'd not tried before. Dessert was incredibly indulgent chocolate torte, Eton mess made with fresh strawberries and raspberries and a very healthy melon salad. Gorgeous!
The rest of the evening we spent chatting and I ended up collapsing into bed around 11.30pm and fortunately had a much better night's sleep than the night before.
Up with the lark again and so I met with thismaz and shortly afterwards lilachigh and we ate several breakfasts again (ooops!) before other people came down.
The last entertainment of the weekend was Charadary (AKA Picharades) a combination of Charades and Pictionary which we haven't done before but it was good fun trying to either act out or draw the clues and there was much laughter along the way......
This was followed by the AGM - hab318princess is stepping down as Treasurer after three years of excellent work, and Bogwitch kindly stepped up to take over! Yay! tlanti and I will continue as Secretaries, and ningloreth will continue as Chair. The group voted unanimously for another event next year (hooray!) so the first job will be to see if the hotel are willing to have us invade them again (I'm sure they will!).
Then it was time for the raffle and as the prizes were donated by the attendees it was lovely to see such an enormous amount of fandom and fun things to win. We all ended up with more than one prize which was great.
Then it was time for goodbyes (always sad to leave friends) and I stayed chatting with curiouswombat, speakr2customrs and trepkos who were all staying on an additional night, and then I set off for the station in time for my train back to London. I was really lucky and stepped straight onto a tube train when I got to Euston station which meant I got to Charing Cross and lept onto a fast train home so I was back home in record time!
All in all it was a good weekend and as usual I really enjoyed it. It was lovely to catch up with fandom people and make new friends as well as having fun with people who keep coming back *lol* Roll on next year! Now - who can I persuade to come next year...? Hmmmmm???
Mr Cee had a productive weekend and we had a good catch up when I got in. I had a lie in this morning which is good as I've spent the day tidying up the house and washing laundry and I have a bellydance rehearsal tonight. Back to normal :)
It's worth it for the goodie bags and the raffle which meant I came home with all this (including my fandom tissue box cover - more about that under the cut!).
I left mid-morning on Friday 7th as I decided to catch the train to Coventry. I got a ridiculously cheap rail ticket as I booked it very early. As usual it took hardly any time to get to Euston from where I live as the trains and tube trains mesh together so well, so I had time to buy a tasty baguette to eat for lunch on the train once I got there. I didn't have an allocated seat this year as I was using a different train company to get to Coventry, but I needn't have worried as there was plenty of time to find a suitable seat and get my luggage stowed. The journey was uneventful and I got to Coventry just after lunch.
A short walk to the Ramada and I got checked in and unpacked and then headed to the bar to meet lilachigh. We had our own velvet roped off area in the bar this year *g*
Also - wine....
As we sat and chatted more people arrived in the bar. ningloreth and hab318princess had lists for us to fill in for the evening meal and the cocktails, so they were passed around. trepkos was wished a very happy birthday (first time attending writerconuk - that's dedication to fandom LOL!). Eventually we were all safely arrived.
The event kicked off officially at 6.30pm with the welcome and goodie bag distribution (with our name badges and raffle tickets). The goodie bags were such a pretty rainbow of colours this year and ningloreth had hand made a teeny teddy for everyone! There were even clothes for the teddy as part of the raffle which curiouswombat won! She now has the best dressed teddy in fandom LOL!
Then it was onto the quiz which I had put together. We had four teams and I think people enjoyed it. Of course hils team won AGAIN! Well done to them - they weren't that much ahead of the other teams....
We had time to freshen up before the majority of us went to Aqua - the Lebanese restaurant next door to the Ramada, Coventry. The food was delicious as it has been the last few years. I didn't think we had to wait very long for all of us to be served, but the staff obviously did as they gave us a complimentary couple of bottles of wine as they felt they had not been as quick as usual (part of the appeal of this restaurant is that they can get the food to us quickly so no-one waits while others are eating). It's a shame that they thought they had let us down, although I really don't think anyone else felt they had!
I kicked off with Samak Harra (grilled salmon with spices and it was delicious and VERY spicy), followed by Shish Taok (chicken marinated in olive oil and lemon). Very delicious and very filling!
We got back to cocktails
and one by one we all drifted off to bed.
As I mentioned yesterday I did have a comfy room, but noisy neighbours so a bit of a disturbed night for me, but I still woke up ridiculously early, so I wandered down at 7am for breakfast as I was hungry. My early morning comrade thismaz made it to the con this year after a couple of years break, so it was lovely to catch up with her and we were slowly joined by others. I may have had more than one breakfast as you can keep helping yourself to the various delicious brekky items....
At 10am the event started with my talk about The Magic of Lighting. I am starting to run out of topics after so many writerconuks but I've always been interested in how lighting is used in film and TV so I had decided to explore the history and how lighting has developed and is used to create atmosphere, direct attention, hide surprises and flatter and beautify actors in both media. It was great fun to find film clips and photos which illustrated the different aspects and the research definitely made me think about how lighting is used, so I hope I managed to pass that on.
A coffee break then led on to ningloreth's presentation 'Doing it with Dialogue' which was fascinating as it was all about how dialogue is used these days in comparison to the past as well as lots of examples. I think we all noted down some of the novels she used in her examples as they were all so interesting. I really enjoyed it.
By this time it was lunch break, but as I'd eaten so much for breakfast I decided not to bother this year - otherwise I find I eat far too much by the time we get to the evening buffet. So instead I sat and chatted with those who had also decided not to eat lunch which was fun.
After lunch it was my turn again to lead a presentation about fandom and "Why we Love Them" (we didn't have so many volunteers to speak this year otherwise I wouldn't have been speaking yet again *g*). Everyone joined in the discussion and I think we looked at lots of different aspects which was interesting. We finished by looking at why people follow a TV programme (I used The Big Bang Theory as an example) even though they don't actually like it.
At this point we had a refreshment break with some gorgeous baby bite sized cakes (yum!).
Then we had the chance to make a tissue box cover with hobbituk providing all the fandom photos and decorative stuff and a calendar and even a box of tissues each! It was great to be able to personalise something I can use all next year. It was fun to chat while we did it too :)
Another break and more cocktails (yum!). I took advantage and went and had a shower as I was flagging a little bit after my disturbed night, but the shower really woke me up again *g* so I was ready for hils and signe_chan's talk about "Fandom is Fandom (Even when it's sport)". This was an eye opener as it covered lots of aspects about sports fandom and including how their ice hockey sports teams are promoted on social media. It was fascinating to see how the team managers play into the fans fantasies which I found really surprising (fortunately the players appear to be well insulated from any backlash).
Then we had a break before the group buffet which was really good this year. I had a little bit of everything as it was all so delicious - I started with sweet potato soup and then cauliflower risotto, and lots of yummy vegetable choices and I particularly enjoyed the fish dish which was made with Tilapia - a fish I'd not tried before. Dessert was incredibly indulgent chocolate torte, Eton mess made with fresh strawberries and raspberries and a very healthy melon salad. Gorgeous!
The rest of the evening we spent chatting and I ended up collapsing into bed around 11.30pm and fortunately had a much better night's sleep than the night before.
Up with the lark again and so I met with thismaz and shortly afterwards lilachigh and we ate several breakfasts again (ooops!) before other people came down.
The last entertainment of the weekend was Charadary (AKA Picharades) a combination of Charades and Pictionary which we haven't done before but it was good fun trying to either act out or draw the clues and there was much laughter along the way......
This was followed by the AGM - hab318princess is stepping down as Treasurer after three years of excellent work, and Bogwitch kindly stepped up to take over! Yay! tlanti and I will continue as Secretaries, and ningloreth will continue as Chair. The group voted unanimously for another event next year (hooray!) so the first job will be to see if the hotel are willing to have us invade them again (I'm sure they will!).
Then it was time for the raffle and as the prizes were donated by the attendees it was lovely to see such an enormous amount of fandom and fun things to win. We all ended up with more than one prize which was great.
Then it was time for goodbyes (always sad to leave friends) and I stayed chatting with curiouswombat, speakr2customrs and trepkos who were all staying on an additional night, and then I set off for the station in time for my train back to London. I was really lucky and stepped straight onto a tube train when I got to Euston station which meant I got to Charing Cross and lept onto a fast train home so I was back home in record time!
All in all it was a good weekend and as usual I really enjoyed it. It was lovely to catch up with fandom people and make new friends as well as having fun with people who keep coming back *lol* Roll on next year! Now - who can I persuade to come next year...? Hmmmmm???
Mr Cee had a productive weekend and we had a good catch up when I got in. I had a lie in this morning which is good as I've spent the day tidying up the house and washing laundry and I have a bellydance rehearsal tonight. Back to normal :)