Online NAWG festival - your feedback
Henry Curry • 26 September 2020
A big Thank You !
Thank you to everyone who took the time to give us feedback after this year’s virtual NAWGFest event. How much feedback did you give us? Over 4,000 words!
You told us that you enjoyed meeting up with old friends and seeing new faces. NAWG’s friendly atmosphere was still in abundance, as was the inspiration and knowledge you’ve come to expect from NAWG workshops and talks. Even though it was digital, the online festival helped you feel part of the organisation again.
Yes, there were teething problems and things we could have done better. Some had technical issues. Others wanted to hear some of the winning entries at the awards ceremony. And those of you who attended several events across the weekend felt all Zoomed out afterwards! (As did most of the committee!) And many commented that they simply wanted time to chat and catch up with friends not seen for a year. All of this, and more, will be considered for any future events.
Where your feedback has been most helpful, is giving us ideas about how best we can use digital online events like this in the future. There’s clearly a demand for a wider programme of events throughout the year, in addition to (not instead of) the annual September festival. Some of you commented that you’re unable to attend the festival due to family or carer commitments, or because of the distance and cost, and so this year’s digital festival gave you access to something you wouldn’t normally have had.
Many of you said you’d like to see more workshops and talks, on a variety of genres and topics, with published authors, agents and publishers. There was also a call for some more light-hearted events, such as the open mic, and the quiz. There were even ideas about NAWG facilitating link-ups between other groups, and offering training sessions to group leaders giving tips and ideas for group meetings.
We shall certainly consider all of these. It would be brilliant if we could create a programme of events across the year — some for free, some for a small charge (there are costs for NAWG’s use of Zoom, as well as any fees for workshop facilitators).
Again, thank you all for the time and effort you put in to giving us this feedback. Thank you for your kind words to the committee, expressing your gratitude for what we (somehow!) achieved over that weekend. And thank you for all of your ideas. You’ve given us plenty to think about for the future.
Simon Whaley
NAWG Committee
You told us that you enjoyed meeting up with old friends and seeing new faces. NAWG’s friendly atmosphere was still in abundance, as was the inspiration and knowledge you’ve come to expect from NAWG workshops and talks. Even though it was digital, the online festival helped you feel part of the organisation again.
Yes, there were teething problems and things we could have done better. Some had technical issues. Others wanted to hear some of the winning entries at the awards ceremony. And those of you who attended several events across the weekend felt all Zoomed out afterwards! (As did most of the committee!) And many commented that they simply wanted time to chat and catch up with friends not seen for a year. All of this, and more, will be considered for any future events.
Where your feedback has been most helpful, is giving us ideas about how best we can use digital online events like this in the future. There’s clearly a demand for a wider programme of events throughout the year, in addition to (not instead of) the annual September festival. Some of you commented that you’re unable to attend the festival due to family or carer commitments, or because of the distance and cost, and so this year’s digital festival gave you access to something you wouldn’t normally have had.
Many of you said you’d like to see more workshops and talks, on a variety of genres and topics, with published authors, agents and publishers. There was also a call for some more light-hearted events, such as the open mic, and the quiz. There were even ideas about NAWG facilitating link-ups between other groups, and offering training sessions to group leaders giving tips and ideas for group meetings.
We shall certainly consider all of these. It would be brilliant if we could create a programme of events across the year — some for free, some for a small charge (there are costs for NAWG’s use of Zoom, as well as any fees for workshop facilitators).
Again, thank you all for the time and effort you put in to giving us this feedback. Thank you for your kind words to the committee, expressing your gratitude for what we (somehow!) achieved over that weekend. And thank you for all of your ideas. You’ve given us plenty to think about for the future.
Simon Whaley
NAWG Committee
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Here is the winner of our spooky ghost / horror story NAWG 2025 Autumn 250-word Flash Fiction competition . It ran from Friday 3rd to Friday 31st October, First, second, and third place entries will also be published in Link magazine. See the website HERE The prize of £25 for the winning entry goes to SUSAN KING for her story: RUSSIAN ROULETTE. I dread this day. Pumpkins with grinning faces and kids running about dressed as ghosts. Ghosts don’t wear costumes, they’d know that if they’d seen one. I can cope with all that – it’s the knocking on doors blackmailing adults into giving them treats that frightens me. Don’t they know how dangerous this is? Agnes has a bucket of Cadbury Heroes by the door. Her children have grown up and left home which is a relief to me, I can tell you I want to yell at the little ones who stand with expectant faces when she opens the door. Bugger off, I want to shout. But of course, I can’t. You can’t imagine the horror of watching her fill her syringe and pierce the wrapper of a chocolate bar, plunging the needle into the gooey inside and withdrawing it empty. You don’t know what it’s like to watch helpless as she smiles and hands out the sweets. She’s not daft enough to poison each one. For her it’s a game of Russian roulette. She waits for the post on the village Facebook page. She reads the hundreds of messages of sympathy with glee, scrolls slowly through emojis of crying faces, pink hearts and praying hands. She notes the date of the funeral and gets out her dark clothes. It’s the same black dress and coat she wore my cremation. A human black widow spider, she dispensed with me after our children were born. It’s just other people’s children she dislikes.
Members can go to the Members Only page (you'll need the password) and read stories that were a little too long to fit in the normal Link magazine - see the section marked 'Fiction Special' --> HERE