This year I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ticket the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet in Bristol, where I will spend a weekend gacking around with writers, readers and whoever else will let an over-excited Northern Irish woman natter in their ear about whatever has her attention. Next month I’ll be talking about Dos and Don’ts of going to Cons, but this month I thought it would be nice to hear a bit about the con from one of the organisers!

I’ve been chatting back and forth with Charlie Cochrane about things related to the Con (I’m doing a panel and a pitching session!), so I prevailed about her to tell us all a bit about herself and the con!

Tell us a bit about Charlie Cochrane

I’m a mad and middle aged, rugby loopy, daft as a brush, pen wielding/gay fiction writing/freelance trainer of school governors. I write gay romance and gay romantic mysteries, often historical and sometimes hysterical (yes, I was the person who wrote about weresloths for the UK Meet short story compilation ‘Lashings of Sauce’!)

How did you get involved with the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet?

By accident, which is the way I usually get into things. I do also have a habit of raising my hand when volunteers are needed. I was supposed to go to the first UK Meet in 2010, which had been organised by some of my closest writing friends, but our gas boiler went mental and I had to get an engineer out so missed the event. When 2011 got planned, I said I’d help in producing the event linked anthologies, Tea and Crumpet and British Flash. Somehow, the anthology team morphed into the organising team for 2012!

What can attendees look forward to getting from the Meet?

Having lots of fun. Catching up with old friends or meeting people in person they’ve only encountered online. Making new friendships. Finding out how to make their writing/reading/blogging better. A by-now-legendary goodie bag. Classy entertainment. Somewhere they can be themselves. And that’s just for starters.

Do you have any advice for the 2015 attendees?

First and foremost, be yourselves. Nobody will judge you; if they do we’ll have them duffed over at break time! Dip in and out of what’s going on as suits you. We always say that all our activities are opportunities, not obligations.

What panel are you personally looking forward to attending?

The panel about mystery and myth as an inspiration for writing. Also the non-verbal character communication discussion. Both of them will make me think and hopefully get the imaginative juices flowing.

Of everything involved in putting the Meet together, what’s been the most difficult this year?

This year specifically, the fact that tickets sold out within two months of going on sale, so we had to say “Sorry, you’re too late!” to some of our most stalwart supporters. We set up a waiting list, which allowed us to pass on any tickets which became free as people had to cancel – so some of our most ardent supporters did manage to get a berth for 2015. We still have people waiting, though, and have had to turn down a number of requests for extra places/swops and the like, as we’ve tried to administer the waiting list in the fairest and most transparent fashion. It’s really hard to be scrupulously fair to everybody and not seem a bit of a jobsworth!

What ambitions are there for the future of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet?

Well, there’s a question. We always start our yearly planning meeting with a discussion about our ethos and we usually decide that we want to retain our small, friendly feel, which means we don’t want to get much bigger, but we want to keep up the standard expected of us. 2014 set the bar very high. There are locations we’d like to use, but a number of them – Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh spring to mind – would mean paying 40% more in fees for no extra gain.

What is one word you want attendees to use to describe the conference?

Inclusive.