Last Wednesday, November 18th, was to be the first time I would take part in Glasgow’s publishers and writers monthly social gathering which is fondly referred to as Weegie Wednesday. Heading into the Universal Bar, me and the girls were palpably apprehensive about what lay ahead of us for the evening. But it was our own choice to be there, no backing out now.
By the time we got there the room was filled with people and we bashfully situated ourselves on a couch away from what initially seemed to us, the hoards of people present. The fact that Weegie Wednesday is a monthly occurrence led me to presume that many of the people there, unlike me, were familiar to the scene and therefore knew everyone else there. It was at this point I began to chicken out of immersing myself in the crowd. Mingling is so much more intimidating when it seems that you are one of the only people doing it. Thankfully, we were joined by a writer who introduced herself as Victoria and suddenly I didn’t feel like such an outsider.
The speeches were to come next. Karen Cunningham was first up. Head of Libraries, Culture and Sport Glasgow, Karen spoke of her position as Director of Aye Write – an annual Scottish book festival. Although unwilling to inform us of the writers who were shortlisted for the festival, Ms. Cunningham was extremely encouraging to the talents of all present.
The second speaker was David Neville, a producer at BBC Scotland’s Radio Drama Department. His speech consisted of informing us on how to write drama for radio, the means by which playwrights can get their dramas aired, and his radio lab workshop programs which seek to nurture new writers’ talents.
Post-speeches, everyone was free to mingle again and once it was discovered that we were students, we were inundated with writers and other guests coming to chat with us. The attention we received for simply having shown up was definite encouragement to attend future Weegie events.
I must admit, the highlight of the night for me – who am I kidding, the highlight of my week – was meeting crime writer Helen Fitzgerald. As soon as she sat down with us I totally geeked out! I was like a child at Christmas talking to her and asking her questions about writing and her career as a writer. Part of me was inwardly screaming, “Aah! This could be me some day! Successful author!” meeting someone who is currently and successfully doing what I have always dreamed of, well, it was fantastic.
What else can I say?
Bring on the next Weegie Wednesday.
Helena O’Leary