Friday 14 June
By Friday, everyone had established a morning routine. I had some fruit, cereal and black coffee and then started writing, in the little nook of Scarlet Hall that had become my personal work space over the past week. In the afternoon, the weather finally broke: the rain fizzled out and beams of sunlight slipped through the clouds, enticing everyone out to explore the grounds; I came up with some new ideas for the scene I was writing on a long, peaceful walk. At 16:30 we all reconvened for our daily workshop; we chewed over two 5,000-word excerpts, considering issues of character, structure, plot, pace and style, among others, an experience that was proving extremely valuable for both the individuals receiving feedback and those providing it time and again. We then returned to our personal work spaces for a final writing session, with all the ideas and insights the day’s workshop had thrown up fresh in our minds. Finally, with no more words likely to come, we had dinner together and opened some bottles of wine. A few of us saw the evening out playing pool and watching England v Argentina in the Women’s World Cup.
Nicolas Padamsee