|
comments
on the 2008 school.
Below are
direct quotes from the year's questionnaires on speakers, tutors, the
school experience and more.
Speakers
were
‘Fantastic’
‘Accomplished, varied, entertaining and a highlight each day’
‘A varied selection of excellent speakers’
‘Entertaining and relevant’
‘As always, a broad spectrum of interest’
‘Excellent. A very good balance – something for everyone
and very high quality’
‘More people at the top of their field than ever (as I might expect
in the Diamond Year!’
‘The best group of speakers since I started coming to Swanwick
in 2003’
‘Excellent! This was my third year and I felt the speakers were
the best yet’
‘All very entertaining, perfect for our Diamond Swanwick’
‘How do you rate or improve on the BEST?’
Simon
Brett
'Brilliant - as always!'
'Fascinatingly delightful'
'A diamond!'
'Simon's performance was a tour de force'
'Highly entertaining'

Katie
Fforde
'Definitely
a 'champagne' start!'
''Entertaining, informative'
'Wicked and amusing'
'Superb'.
John
Jarrold
'A
wealth of information to pass on'
'Hidden knowledge and passion revealed!'
'Superb - more please!'
'Very informative and entertaining at the same time'
'Exceptionally helpful to writers generally'
'Please can we have John back as a course leader?'

Carole
Matthews
'Ignited a spark
in me and I've since been inspired to try a new genre'

Penny
Junor
'Fascinating revelations'
'Insight into a different world'
'A lot unsaid and wanted more'
'Thoroughly enjoyable'

Liz
Niven
''I
was enchanted by Liz Niven who opened the treasure chest of language
itself'
'It's good to have a subject which is linguistically orientated'
''Poets may be in the minority but are as deserving of having their
interests aired as the rest of us'.

Courses
were
'Well prepared, informative
and entertaining too. Nothing was dry or dusty'.
'Excellent - so positive and helpful'
'Very informative and giving of their
knowledge'
'Good balance between information and interaction'
'Loads of useful insights'
'Well organised, good rapport with audience/class; generous with advice
and extremely positive approach'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Patricia
Kitchin
(Patricia Burns)
Novel
'Inspiring'
'Excellent, I have learned so much'
'The best novel writing course I've been to at Swanwick. She was fun
and made the whole process shift from daunting to fun and her practical
tips/exercises were brilliant'.
Alison
Chisholm
The
Art and Craft of Poetry
'Absolutely excellent'

Frances
Coombes
Writing and selling articles
'Great impact'
'Very helpful indeed'
'Very good and encouraging'
'Lots of useful handouts'
'Absolutely excellent'

Roy
Devereux
Technology for writers
'Roy's course was most interesting for me'
'Very good'

Zana
Lamont
creative genius 
'Zana fantastic, as always'
'Excellent'
'Zana's handouts are great.'

Michael
O'Byrne
crime
'Brilliant!'
'A wealth of knowledge that crime writers have been waiting for'
'Very useful for me as a potential writer of crime!'
'A fascinating authoritative course leader - excellent'
'Michael could have done with more than 4 sessions to cover all his
material! Absolutely fascinating'
'Inspirational, most interesting, should be often invited back'.

Brendan
Nolan
Professional Development
'First class and enjoyable'
'Excellent, I learned a lot'
'Very useful, has given me ideas to develop during the year'
'Very good plus good humour!'
Iain
Pattison
short
stories
'Inspiring'
'Excellent'
'Outstanding'
'The time flew!'
'Really excellent, freiendly and approachable'
'What a talented guy! And great on delivery'

Roger
Stennet
Drama
'Excellent,
well organised with constructive sessions'
'Well structured and professional. Useful and practical information
delivered in an entertaining way'
======================================
Workshops
were
'Little gems that were
like sprinkles on the icing on fairy cakes - a bonus that was often
unexpectedly good'.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Gwyneth
Box
The Poet's Toolbox
'Very strong workshop leader'
'Excellent'
'Very well organised - more please!'
-------------------------------------
Della
Galton
Twist In The Tales
'Inspiring'
'Hit the spot'
'So competent and helpful'
'Great! I got two 60-word stories from Della's workshop'
'Brilliant, enjoyed it, very useful information generously given'
----------------------------------------------------------------
Mal
Leicester 
Writing For Children
'Excellent'
'An information package well put together'
'Plenty of information and interaction'
'Extremely informative'
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ann
Palmer
Right Brain Creativity
'I got a lot from Ann's workshop - the quality of presentation was excellent'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin Scott

How To Write How-to Books
'Very strong workshop leader'
'Great information, wish we'd had more time'
'Good ideas - could be a great marketing course leader'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Roz
Southey
Historical Fiction
'So interesting. Roz gave me priceless personal time, thank you'.
'Very focused and therefore very practically useful'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Xanthe
Wells
Images Through Words
'Excellent'
'A good follow up to last year's course'
'Outstanding'
'Very good and particularly helpful to those who haven't approached
this style before'
'Thought provoking and gave a new perspective on writing description'
'Very intellectually engaging, well structured and managed'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Eileen
West
Funny Muscle
'A fantastic time!'
'Brilliant!'
'A very funny person'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Stella
Whitelaw 
Blocks, Clocks & Glitches
'Inspiring'
'Well organised, as always'
'Very motivational'
'Excellent - makes it easy to comprehend'
'Brilliant as usual, well prepared'.
'Very helpful and full of life'
'Stella is brilliant. Her workshops are well-planned, entertaining and
with the right amount of audience participation. Superb'.
======================================
Themed
workshops
In your own write
'Excellent'
'Extraordinarily effective 'doodle' approach by Ann Palmer'
======================================
One-Hour
talks
'Little
gems that were like sprinkles on the icing on fairy cakes - a bonus
that was often unexpectedly good'.
'Clear speaking sessions, ended wanting more, more, more!'
------------------------------------------------------------
Confessions
Of A Restaurant Reviewer
(Della Galton)
'I managed to get placed as a runner-up in a little comp to
write a food review on a Hayes lunch. It's got me hooked on Restaurant
Reviewing now!'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Collective
Writing
(Jeeve Publishing)
'I especially appreciated the encouragement of Jeeve'
'On top of their offerings'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrical
Challenge Workshop
(Maria Hennings Hunt)
'Absolutely great!'
'Very good - inspired good ideas'
'A refreshing and thought provoking addition to the programme'
'I
enjoyed it, anyway, the songs were great.'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Character
Authenticity
Elizabeth
Lord
''Informative and very interesting'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beginners, Tactics & Tips
Chriss McCallum
'Chriss was brilliant. No nonsense, shoot from the hip tips and advice.'
'So knowledgeable and clear. I can now take home lots of ideas to my
writers' group'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you talking to me?
Jill Swallow
'Excellent communicator'
'Very helpful'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Writing
radio plays
Stella Whitelaw
'First class offerings'
'Excellent'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Diamond
Moments
(Mike Brewer)
'Mike inspired a lot of good reminiscences - perhaps again
next year?'
======================================
General comments

pic Fiona McFadzean 2007
'Loved
Rosemary Robb (Ghost Stories) - great accent!! Send her special thanks
because it must have been very hard to do so soon after her fall.'
'William Murtha's talk - 'Dying to Write' - took my breath away'.
'Bill's talk was inspiring'
'BUZZING!' Salsa evening superb; Ceilidh great fun - thanks to Fiona,
John and Zana! 60s/70s Disco - Eileen and Angela terrific. Diamond Night
Dance - Maria superb.'
'Room
101 - great fun!'
'The highlight of an impromptu 'event' was the guitar and singing jam
session with John Lamont. Please get him and his other friends to perform
next year!
‘
Swanwick
2010 August 07 to August 13
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swanwick
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