Get Writing 2012: there's no longer time to get a Coke

Had a wonderful day at the Verulam Writers' Circle's Get Writing 2012 conference on Saturday based in the setting of The University of Hertfordshire's impressive de Havilland Campus. Arrived just in time to be on a panel on Non-Fiction which was the first time I'd ever done that sort of thing and great fun.  I was sat next to author Adrian Magson and we exchanged a few, what do we do now glances but it seemed to go okay!

I also ran a workshop on A Writer's Guide to Blogging which was packed out - enjoyed kicking it off with some adverts letting people know there was still time to grab a coke - see video above - and to turn off their mobiles - anyway as Ian Cundell (the chair of the Verulam Writers' Circle) twittered, it was downright trippy!

Best of all was meeting people and putting faces to virtual friends like Jonathan Pinnock who's on my The View From Here team: he kindly signed his book Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens  with a rather wonderful signature with a huge tentacle squirming out of it.

Also enjoyed listening to the keynote session by Barry Cunningham (who first signed J.K. Rowling to Bloomsbury and worked with Roald Dahl and Spike Milligan) Many interesting insights into Roald Dahl (grumpy) and JK who Bloomsbury advised to get a job as her Harry Potter was never going to earn her a living.

Finally a couple of shoutouts: Karen Roy for navigation to the event via Poland, John Cowton  and the comedy mic on the panel - up a bit, no down, down, that's it, is this thing on?