The Thursday
One rainy Yorkshire day in May I was asked if I’d like to be involved in organising the Crime Fiction Festival in Harrogate this year, AKA, Murder Most Yorkshire.
I admit, I was a little stunned.
And flattered.
I’ve only ever been to the outskirts of the Harrogate Crime Fest, on account of living close by but, err, not writing, nor reading crime (more on that in a moment, it’s not what it seems, folks) So, every year, I loiter at the edges, beckoning my friends who are proper crime writing aficionados to join me for a cheeky coffee on The Outside.
Despite my elementary crimelyness, I learned I’d be part of a small team organising ‘The Thursday’. Sorry? The Thursday, as in the whole Thursday of the four day event?
Wow.
Yes! I said, before the Imposter Syndrome Gremlins could take absolute hold, I’d be honoured to be involved in something like that. I used to work in PR and fundraising for charity and always loved the event organising side of things as well as the promotion. And I miss working in a team generally, so the pull of a step back into that world was slightly greater than my terror at being utterly out of my depth.
Secretly, I was a little surprised there wasn’t already an established team who’d been busily beavering away on this for months, years even. Harrogate Crime Fest is HUGE! It gets all the big names in the business.
I also knew there would be a great many other people out there more qualified to organise this than me, not least people who – ahem – read crime, perhaps write crime, and certainly know who is writing crime and doing it well. But then I told myself, The Thursday was more about workshops and side shows, albeit still with the biggest of names in crime writing. And perhaps one of the original organisers had dropped out. Goodness, maybe the whole team had dropped out?
I persuaded myself I wasn’t totally ignorant of the crime writing world, having friends writing beautifully in it. Besides, I wouldn’t need to ‘know it’, just help in organising it. It would be a steep learning curve, but a fun one. We decided to organise a day of panel discussions, book signings, some speed writing exercises for the panel and the audience, as well as an Open Mic for all.
I know, I know, I really should have smelt a rat by now.
I called one of the aforementioned friends I tease out of the fest for a cheeky hour every year, wondering if she would like to be one of our three writers on the panel.
Yes, she said. She’d love to.
Fabulous.
Except she had a different date for Harrogate Crime Fest and that one was two weeks later.
Rat smelt.
My embarrassment at having The Wrong Lit Fest was trumped by a huge melting pot of relief. I would be helping to organise one day of the inaugural four day, Books and Beverages, Crime Fiction Festival in Harrogate, rather than the global renowned, Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival which takes place in Harrogate every year. You can find out more about that one, here
Our crime fiction festival, Murder Most Yorkshire was to be an inclusive four day weekend of books and writing for anyone and everyone reading or writing crime in our region. Entrance was free. Venues hosted events for free. It was a gorgeously warm, community effort. Crucially, we were looking to attract around twenty people for The Thursday, rather than a few hundred at each event😉
Phew.
No one was deceiving me by the way, I’d put two and two together and made five. Although this didn’t mean it was all plain sailing from this point.
And we wondered if you’d like to host the day, he said.
My head was screaming: me? Really?! I may have mentioned that I’m not I wasn’t a devoted reader of crime. You may recall that I’m deaf. I’m blessed with great hearing aids but they aren’t as good as the real thing, and when considering any interaction with anyone that isn’t written down, my first concern is always my hearing. What if I commit and the panel and audience have six hours of me looking blankly, slightly strained, saying pardon?
Yes, I said, because I’ve always said to my children that you should say yes to things if you possibly can, because you never know how they might turn out and what they may lead to. Let me not be a hypocrite 😉 I also said yes with the huge caveat of my sub-optimal faculties, the promise that others would jump in if there was a problem, and that we’d be using mics. Oh, I love a microphone!
I do host days like these. I also host a bi-monthly Open Mic in this very venue, Delicious Cafe, in Harrogate, thanks to the hugely philanthropic owner, Olivier. But all the days and courses I run are ones I’ve set up for my existing and, hopefully, new students, too. I plan meticulously, read everything possible in advance and work only with small groups to get around the hearing problem. These days I run are my project, my responsibility, my success or failure. If it doesn’t quite go to plan and I don’t even cover my costs – it happens! Good job I love it – it’s only me to whom I need to apologise. Crucially, these events are pretty much in my comfort zone.
No matter. I rolled up my sleeves, lifted my paddle and moved a little further away from being out of my depth. There was still a lot to organise. Although gratefully working with the mastermind and chief techy officer of the whole festival (he really had his work cut out) and a cluster of fabulous volunteers from Books and Beverages we only had a couple of months.
And there was the small matter of becoming a crime writing aficionado, at least when it came to the worlds of the three writers who’d agreed to be on the panel. I needed to read several titles in a genre that, literally, gives me nightmares. I can watch the most gruesome horror or violent thriller on TV – by 1980s standards, anyway, and with a cushion perfectly poised for eye shielding, and, after checking all the doors I know are most certainly locked and investigating every imaginary creak, then taking out my hearing aids (being deaf helps with this) – and still settle myself down to sleeping soundly. Not a flicker of a nightmare.
Read a crime novel however, and not only do I not sleep well, no, I have proper night terrors, like a child’s. T’was ever thus and I wouldn’t dare test whether it has changed. I can only put it down to reading happening in a different part of the brain to ‘watching’. Sadly, I don’t earn enough to read during the day, and so crime novels never make it to my reading list.
Until now.
I not only read six books, but I became hooked on all three authors. I am changed. I am a fan, a devotee! How did I do this? I’ll explain all in my Day Dreaming Crime post, coming soon…
The Thursday, which now had a name: Partners in Crime, arrived on the UK election day, American Independence Day and coincidentally, the day in 1969 when British tennis player, Ann Jones, won the Wimbledon women’s single. A great day!
It had been a heap of work, and not without its stresses, but it was such fun. Our three panel members who were involved for the whole day, and working for free – I know, I love them too* – were so helpful and gracious and enthusiastic, just so good at what they do. I wasn’t the only one who suggested the three of them should go out on the road together. They were the perfect combination, a great team, absolutely hilarious and so illuminating and inciteful.
Our largely not yet published audience also threw themselves into the event producing imaginative and quirky speed writing extracts and reading their latest missives in our Open Mic. It’s a great reminder that whether published, or yet to be published, if you write, you are a writer. If you edit, seek out and react well to feedback, you are probably a good writer. Being published – self- or traditionally – just helps get your stories in front of people. It was thoroughly life-affirming to see our guest panel members and our audience mixing together, sharing experiences, and laughing – a lot!
You can find out more about our fabulous panel and their writing, here:
There’s so much more I could say, but for now, I shall leave it as some Nice News about fear and misunderstanding and relief and sometimes, you’ve just got to laugh at yourself 😊 And sometimes, nay, often, saying yes to a jump out of your comfort zone can be very rewarding indeed.
Do you have any tales of when grabbing the wrong end of the stick turned out well in the end? Please do share!
Sounds ridiculously scary - not the crime books but the organizing of the day! Massive respect! And like the look of those crime writers novels- will endeavor to get reading!
It was one of those beautiful accidents – a misunderstanding that somehow turned into a brilliant success! 🥰 As with most things you do Mrs B! Well done! And I know my daughter enjoyed being a part of it too. xx