This is the post of people who have signed up to WriterConUK Midimeet 2009.

I'll update this list as more people register.

I'll also add a comment to this post, each time that I do, so if you track this post you can keep up-to-date on who's coming.

Register for WriterConUK 2009 here! It's going to be fun.

Registered Attendees:

1. just_sue
2. kitty_poker1
3. darkhavens
4. bogwitch
5. kazzy_cee
6. hesadevil
7. quinara
8. ningloreth
9. miso_no_tsuki
10. eternal_red
11. hab318princess
12. thismaz
13. lilachigh
14. hils
15. curiouswombat
16. speakr2customrs
17. mirasol

Comment here if you think you should be registered, but I've missed you off this list.

Hi All


Accommodation

I have just updated the accommodation post. It now lists all those ready to book a room, those looking for a roomie, and has the booking details needed to book accommodation. So for your Midimeet 2009 accommodation needs, please go here.


Membership

Yet to let us know you're interested in attending? Ready to get your membership? For full details and methods of payment, please go here.


Contributors

Interested in contributing to the programme, either alone or as part of a panel? To register your willingness to entertain us, please go here.


As always, if you have any questions, please ask.


BFN!

Are you sitting comfortably? Ready to think about how much fun it'd be to stand up in front of a very non-scary group of friends who want to learn, will be interested and participate, and talk about your favourite fandom subject?

Good!

We'd love to hear from you. Whether it's how to write a better love scene, a better action scene, make a better manip, debate that AU is better than canon (or vice versa), anything that pops into your head, send me a PM or email me, or send a letter by camel...

You can ignore the last bit. ;)

All fandoms welcome, all subjects welcome, and you'll have a 45 minute slot which you can fill up with anything that occurs. Think you only have material for 15 minutes? You'd be surprised at how fast the time goes, and there's no obligation to do/say any more than you're comfortable with.

Don't be shy, guys. Step up and give us the benefit of your knowledge!

All comments are screened so you can suggest absolutely anything without fear or favour. *hugs*

WriterconUK are now pleased to accept registrations for the Midimeet 2009

Dates: Friday 14th – Sunday 16th August 2009.

Venue: Daimler Room, Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry City Centre

Membership Cost: £25.

Programme: Quiz, Goodie Bags and Introductions on Friday evening.
A full day of talks and workshops by fanfic writers, fan vidders, and fan artists, on Saturday, followed by socialising, and supper for those who wish.
More socialising and possibly a couple more talks/workshops on Sunday morning.

Intended Audience: Anyone currently involved with, or wishing to become involved with, the creative side of any fandom as a writer, vidder, artist, beta or reviewer. All levels of experience welcome.

Accommodation: Members will be responsible for booking their own accommodation, although we have negotiated a special group rate at The Ramada, details of which are here.

Saturday Night Meal: £15 per head for two courses. £20 per head for three courses. To be booked in advance and paid for individually.

Car Parking: £4 per 24 hours

Please note: Membership numbers are initially limited to 30, although if there is greater demand we will make every effort to book a larger room, to accommodate more. Membership will be on a first come first served basis.

How to Register
Please comment on this post. All comments are screened so that only the people processing your registration can see them.

Please provide the following information:
1. Your full name for membership purposes
2. A contact email
3. The name you would like to have listed on your badge and the attendees list
4. Details of your website if you would like it included on the attendees webpage
5. How you intend to pay (see below)
6. Your fandoms (for quiz and workshop planning reasons, if you haven't already told us this in the previous post)

Contributing
WriterconUK is by the members for the members, so everyone is invited to contribute to a talk, workshop or presentation. Please don't be shy about offering; if you'd like to take part then we will be pleased to try to fit you in.

kitty_poker1 has posted here asking for volunteers, or just ideas.

To see what kind of things have been covered in the past, take a look at the 2008 programme for the one day event.

Payment Options

A single membership costs £25.

PayPal: Payment must be received in full at least three weeks before the event. If paying via a different email address to the one listed for contact, please say what it is in your comment.

peasant_

Hi all

This post is purely to make a list of those who will be availing themselves of the group rate offered by Ramada Coventry, and to ensure that the minimum target of ten rooms will be booked so that the rate can be assured. They are holding a maximum of twenty rooms for us up until two weeks prior to the event.


Group Rate

Single occupancy of double room, including full English breakfast, will be £45 per night.

Double occupancy of twin room, including full English breakfast, will be £30 per person per night.

These rates apply when booked and prepaid directly with Ramada Coventry, and will only apply if the minimum of ten rooms are booked.


Standard Weekend Rate

Flat room rate for either single or double occupancy, breakfast not included, £69 per night. Breakfast would be a further £10 per person, per night...or morning.


What happens if we book now but the minimum ten room target is not reached?

Ah, I'm so glad you asked me that! What happens is that the nice group rate disappears and is replaced by the Standard Weekend Rate, which is why I thought of this cunning plan to make sure we have enough folk committed to booking a room before giving out the details for getting the discount when you book. That way you won't run the slight risk of having to make up the difference in rates should the minimum not be reached.


Does the group rate have an expiry date?

Sure does. The absolute latest a room can be booked and prepaid for is two weeks before the event. Personally, I'd like to get mine booked and out of the way earlier so I can concentrate on putting aside my 'socialising' dosh! *grins*


So what do I do now?

When you are ready to book and pay for a room just let me know by commenting below and I will add you to the list (which will not be updated until after I get back from me hols on 4 April, so don't worry if nothing seems to be happening).

If you are looking for a roomie, again, comment below - or look to see if there is already someone there who's looking for a roomie - and I'll add you to the list once you're paired up.


Any questions?

Bear in mind that I won't be able to answer anything until I get back, but please do feel free to ask.


List

kitty_poker1 & suki_blue
thismaz & darkhavens
just_sue & eternal_red Booked!
hesadevil
ningloreth
booster17
kazzy_cee
bogwitch
lilachigh
quinara (Please see comment below re: sharing)
miso_no_tsuki
mrwgana & mirasol


Looking for a Roomie




Booking Details

You can book your accommodation only with Ramada Coventry direct, by phone (0870 890 3722 and ask for reservations) or by email (reservations@ramadacoventry.co.uk) and in both cases you will need to quote 'Midimeet 2009' to get the group rate. I have tested it and it works! And don't forget that booking must take place more than 2 weeks prior to the event, and that they are holding 20 rooms for us.


BFN!

Hi all!

I am delighted to offer you further details regarding Midimeet 2009 at the Ramada Coventry.

Dates: Friday 14th – Sunday 16th August 2009.

Venue: Daimler Room , Ramada Coventry.

Membership: £25 – details for payment to follow shortly.

Travel: I have placed the Ramada Coventry, Railway Station and Pool Meadow Bus Station (for buses and coaches) on this map, which you should also be able to use to plan your journey if travelling by car. Birmingham International Airport is to the north west of the city.

Folk from the hotel assure me it is situated a ten minute walk from the railway station, or a £3 taxi ride.

Accommodation: The Ramada Coventry has offered us a group rate for B&B of £45 per person per night for single occupancy of a double room (usual room rate £69 plus £10 for breakfast) or £30 per person per night for two sharing a twin room (usual room rate of £69 plus £10 each for breakfast).

In order to take advantage of the group rate, members need to book a minimum of ten rooms in total (they are holding twenty for us). The rooms must be prepaid and booked before the end of July.

Unless anyone has any objections – or a better idea! – I propose to make an accommodation post where folk can put their names down for rooms when they are ready to book, and once we have reached the magic ten I will release booking details so we can be confident of getting the best rate.

ETA: The accommodation post is now here.

Car Parking: Ramada Coventry has secured parking for 250 cars – so hopefully they will have room for ours! They have given us a reduced parking rate of £4 per 24 hours (instead of £6 for 6 hours).

Programme:

The main programme will be developed over the next few months. So far:

Friday 14th August 2009 – 7pm–9pm Daimler Room: Meet & greet, goodie bags, quiz (any volunteers out there to take on a multi-fandom quiz?).

Saturday 15th August 2009 – 9am-ish–6pm-ish Daimler Room: Various presentations/discussions etc (if you’d like to volunteer to deliver an item look out for the post from kitty_poker1 coming soon).

7.30pm-ish Fellini’s Restaurant (Ramada Coventry) – 2 or 3 course dinner (we have been offered a rate of £15 for the two course and £20 for the three course dinner), payable by individual members.

Sunday 16th August 2009 – 9am–12 noon Daimler Room: AGM and Raffle, farewells.

Optional lunch in Fellini’s Restaurant for those departing later in the day.

ETA: gillo has offered to conduct a guided tour of Kenilworth Castle in the afternoon for those with cars and time to linger. Thank you, Gill!

If you think you might join us, please could you leave a note on this post, listing your fandom interests (for quiz and workshop planning purposes).

And that’s all we can tell you right now.

BFN!

Hi all

I am delighted to say that, subject to contracts being received and signed, we have booked a venue for Midimeet 2009

Ramada Coventry have offered us a very reasonable package which will give us a room for Friday night (7pm - 9pm), Saturday (9am - 5.30pm) and Sunday morning (9am - Noon). Included in the package are reduced B&B rates and parking fees. Details to follow next week.

The dates are 14-16 August 2009. Hope that suits most, if not all, of you.

The ticket price will be held at £25.

Further posts will be made for sign ups and to give more details.

My thanks to the rest of Team Midimeet 2009, kitty_poker1 and thismaz, for their valuable input and cheerful approach to event planning!

BFN!

For some strange reason, I woke up this morning thinking of spelling tips.   There are a lot of lists around explaining the differences between homophones but none I have seen that give ways to remember which word is which.

I'll cross-post this to various writing comms but I may as well start here. 

If you have problems deciding which spelling to use for commonly confused words, I hope this will help (and yes, I know that the very first one is wrong and should be 'may' rather than 'can'  but that doesn't work! *g*).  They are just my own thoughts so feel free to amend/clarify.

- a few that leap to mind:

( Too many ways to spell two )

Hi all

Just to let you know that we are currently looking at venues in the Birmingham/Coventry area for August. At this time we are pretty optimistic that we will be able to get room hire for the Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning...and adequate refreshment...and keep the membership cost at £25! *bounces*

Your help would be appreciated in pimping the event in your LJs, particularly those of you who are multi-fandom in your interests (I'm useless as only dabble in the Buffyverse pond), so that we can continue to welcome new members from other fandoms. And, if you've attended a Midimeet - or two! - I hope you would feel able to recommend it personally as a good way of meeting folk, learning stuff, and having a fun weekend.

Final details to follow soon!

BFN!

Good to see the mills of organisation grinding away for the next meeting - I still get a rush of pleasure when I think of the greeting I got last year, so thank you all for that.

In the meantime, I'm pleased to say that I have actually been doing some writing in the last few months, thismaz  has helped me get my long-stalled Spander, Haunted done and finished and I got stuck with a Spesley with some very odd prompts (sewers; boots; masturbation) during a round of nekid numbers roulette on nekid_spike  the other week and, totally unable to make a manip out of it all without some backstory, had no option but to write the backstory, *g*.

However, as I'm not sure if this is the place to post fic without prompting, I'm hoping you won't mind if I give you a drabble that I recently re-discovered and made a banner for.  This is with thanks to speakr2customrs for his excellent talk in 2007.  (Even though I wrote it in October 2006, it seems!)

The Dying Times

Finally, would anyone be interested in doing a beta for the historical Spangel I'm stuck on?  I'd badger thismaz again, but I know she's a Spander girl - and I'm hoping she'll help me beta the early chapters of Haunted - I don't want to over-pester you, Hon.  

So far there are four chapters and it will be a lot longer.  I know exactly where I have to go with it, because it's based on factual events; basically I've just got enmired in depression and am finding it difficult to get going again.  Perhaps a good, brisk bit of betaing will stir up the creative juices.

Thank you.

Hi All

Apologies for the delay in getting this poll up, but I'm hoping that it will quickly become apparent which is the most favoured month and booking of the event can go ahead. *bounces*

If there are any specific dates that are definitely out for you, please let us know in comments and we will do our best to avoid if possible.

Poll #1337768 When? When? When?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which month(s) would suit you best for MidiMeet 2009?

Hi All

The time has come to ask for some feedback from the members to help decide where to hold next year’s MidiMeet, and to get an idea of the interest in the event. So, if you have a minute to spare, we - kitty_poker1 (Secretary), thismaz (Treasurer), and I (Chair) – would very much appreciate your input. Thank you!


Poll #1300713 Interest & location
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Interested in attending MidiMeet 2009?

Your preferred general location for MidiMeet 2009 is:

I have been bad in updating this on site. Here is Chp 6 of the story written for kazzy_cee wonderful banner.








The story so far: It is 1943 and to save Dru's life, Spike has been forced to fly to France to rescue an English Slayer called Joy. In 2001, Buffy is persuaded by Quentin Travers to time travel back to 1943 to rescue a Slayer and kill a vampire, who, turns out to be William the Bloody. An unchipped, evil, Dru-loving Spike - which confuses Buffy as she is in the middle of an affair with him at home! But together they have rescued Joy, discovered she is married to a member of the French Resistance and has a baby, Aurore. They are now on the run. Oh, and what Buffy doesn't know - but we do! - the charm to get her home doesn 't work.


We Will Remember Them….

By Lilachigh

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon



Chapter Six



Somewhere in France – 1943


Branches sliced at Buffy’s face, brambles snapped at her legs as she ran. Ahead of her, she caught swift glimpses of Spike shouldering his way through the undergrowth. He had tossed aside the blanket he’d thrown over his head and amidst the dappled browns and greens of the thick wood, his brown leather jacket gave him good camouflage.

‘Big plus for not bleaching your hair, Spike!’ she thought. ‘Platinum blond would have been dangerous, far easier for the Nazis to see.’

She glanced behind her, but there was no sign of pursuit yet. But she was sure the Germans would be following. If they were desperate to catch Joy’s husband, one of the leaders of the French Resistance, then they wouldn’t give up easily their hopes that the English girl would lead them straight to him.

Buffy glanced down at the baby she was holding in her arms. The little girl was awake, but quiety, seemingly enchanted by the motion of running. A little fist reached up and tugged at the locket swinging from Buffy’s neck. “Glad you’re happy, baby!” Buffy gasped and then skidded to a stop as she realised the woods ahead were thinning out.

Spike was standing behind the broad trunk of an old oak tree. He had dumped Joy unceremoniously on the ground and was peering out at the sunlit field in front of him. “Sodding hell!”

“What?” Buffy placed the baby in Joy’s outstretched arms and joined him.

“There’s a guard on the Tiger Moth. They’ve found the plane.”
( Read more... )

And here it is. The long-promised last chapter of what was intended to be a short, fluffy fic about Spike and Buffy in a haunted house. Interesting how that worked out... I want to thank teragramm for her banner, and writerconuk for having the banner challenge in the first place. I'm also reposting her banner, in case anyone's forgotten how cute it was.

ETA - ok, someone just told me that the picture bumped or covered a bunch of text, so the whole beginning of the story went missing. I've repasted the first bit and I apologize for not noticing the problem before. :(

( Read more... )

One more to go after this! Next to last chapter behind the cut:

( Read more... )

Wow, only two more to go. *sees light at end of tunnel*

Behind the cut is Chapter Twenty-eight of Things That Go Bump in the Night:

( Read more... )

We're within three chapters of the conclusion. Hang in there, those of you who are worried that Buffy may be getting too comfortable with her single state. Behind the cut will be Chapter Twenty-seven of Things That Go Bump in the Night.

( Read more... )

I was delighted to find out that two of my stories had won at the rwsawards .

If Only You Could See The Real Me was my contribution to the midimeet 2008 banner/fic challenge.  It won Best Short and was runner up in the Best Slash categories.  It was my first slash.  When I began to write it I had intended it to be Spuffy but decided that it just wouldn't work.  The banner was gorgeous and by the talented vamptastica

The other story that also won was Changing Lives - an AH/AU Spuffy.  Links to both can be found in a list on my lj :)

Congrats to all the other nominees and winners and thanks to the mods and judges for running the awards for us to enjoy. 

Here are the pretties for the writercon midimeet challenge fic

Still plugging away at this. It's been a couple of months and Buffy is struggling to sort out what her life is going to be like now...

Things That Go Bump in the Night, Chapter Twenty-five

( Read more... )