Amongst all the hard work of doing the rewrites, I managed to take a little time out to attend Bristolcon.
Bristolcon is a small single-day literary convention held in the titular town.  It’s been growing in stature over the years, mainly due to everyone who attends attesting to how great it is.  It had always been a bit of a long drive for a single day but since moving to Swindon it’s now pretty local.
I was pleased that a lot of my writing cohorts from Swindon Free Writers had decided to attend and some of them had arranged a number of cars to take us all down.  It’s always nice to attend these events with good company and this was no different.
We arrived in good time as I had an early panel.   Crossing the Genre Borders covered how a number of mainstream books seem to be making it into genre awards and whether we should be worried.  It was a good panel that could have easily become very dry and monotone were it not for some good moderation.
I followed this up with a reading from Black As Knight.  I was nervous and had spent a long time preparing not only which passage to read, but voices as well.  I think good narration can make all the difference to a reading so I’d put the most preparation time into this despite only having a ten minute slot.
Both seemed to go well and so I had chance to rest a little, catching up with some old friends, hanging out with others.
My second panel was Fantastic Felonies & Criminal Crossovers and I particularly nervous about this as it was my first time moderating.  I’ve seen a lot of bad moderators who spend their time dominating the conversation instead of sitting back and guiding the conversation, ensuring that everyone gets to speak and feel included.  I had fellow Swindon Writer, Kate Coe, on the panel so having a friendly face helped my nerves.
It seemed to go over very well, with some people saying it was their favourite panel of the day.  Someone even did a write up of it here:
http://sawyl.livejournal.com/1027728.html
Before the evening ended our entire group was exhausted so we headed back early.
I definitely had a great time and thought it a very well run, well thought out convention.  No wonder it continues to grow and I look forward to returning next year if possible.
 
Pictures by Oliver Curtis