MY ARVON WEEK IN DEVON

So,  you may remember that last week I told you all about my anxieties about going away to a place with no internet/phone signal?

Well I'm still fretting....

I'm actually going to Totleigh Barton in Devon on a writer's course. I've wanted to go on an Arvon course for about five years, in fact ever since Mark Haddon mentioned it in a talk he was giving at Ilkley Literature Festival. ( Ok. Enough with the links. If you want to know anything else you'll just have to google it yourself!)

Anyway, for years either the courses I fancied were too far away or there was already something in the diary preventing me from going. So when a course on Editing your Manuscript came up I jumped at it (and ignored the fact that it couldn't be much further from here if it tried.)

I booked the course and the train and now I'm almost all set to go.

But I'm starting to get a bit nervous. Here are a selection of my worries.

1. All the other people will hate me.
2. I will hate all the other people.
3. All the other people will be much cleverer/ better at writing than me.
4. I will say too much.
5. I will say too little.
6. The food will be mainly pork ( which I hate.)
7. I will take the wrong clothes/shoes/lipstick

Ok. I'm being a bit silly now but you get the gist. I will be trapped in a farmhouse in Devon with a bunch of strangers who may or may not be axe murderers with no phone signal and be forced to listen to them pontificate about their manuscripts which may or may not be any good.

Or....I'm going on an adventure to a beautiful and unspoilt part of the country to spend almost an entire week indulging myself in one of my favourite activities with like-minded people who all share similar dreams to me.

I think that's a better way of looking at it. After all, I do actually think it's going to be a life changing week - certainly in terms of my writing. And I'm only a teensy bit nervous...

Imogen.