What a marvellous time we all had last night! Yesterday, if you had looked through my kitchen window at about five, you would have seen me attempting to do each of the following things at once: fitting six boxes of wine into a camping rucksack; making popcorn and putting it into candy-striped paper bags; and idiot-checking that the short film playlist on my laptop worked...

Head librarian Geoff had done most of the hard work by the time we arrived at The Leeds Library. He'd already set out the chairs and the projector. All that remained for us to do was to lay the tablecloth for the boxed wine table, and to marvel at that marvellous old-book smell. 

People started to arrive at around 7.30. Writers are a prompt lot, it seems! It was a good turnout, for which we were grateful. As well as many of the Fictions... regulars, there were lots of people there who hadn't been to one of our events before. I can only speak for myself when I say it was great to have the chance to meet so many new people and to hear their work. It made for an interesting open mic. 

As well as contributions from Fictions... regulars Kathryn Glass and Catherine Stones, we also heard from Nathan Ramsden, Becky Cheriman and Claire Robertson. In true Fictions... style, the majority of the contributions took the form of short and flash fiction. Becky read a short piece about the emotional distance existing between couples, and Nathan a story about the brevity of life. Afterwards, a concerned writer asked me whether it was considered important for contributions to the open mic to stay 'on topic'. In short, no - it's not important. The themes are there for writers to riff off - and, if you're working on something at the time that doesn't strictly fit the event's theme, you are still welcome to bring it. Divergers from the theme are rarely, if ever, strewn out. 

After the open mic, we had a little wine break, and then the films. At this stage, the popcorn was handed out. The crunch of it could be heard all over the 'new room' as the program started. 

The films each had a different connection to the theme. One, a spoof documentary, looked in a tangential way at many writers' almost compulsive need to keep scribbling - filling every scrap of blank paper they see with handwritten notes and words; and another, an animated short, named all the different things a writer will do when he or she is procrastinating. "Procrastinating is making a cup of tea. Procrastination is spending 30 minutes looking for the right pencil". Familiar territory for us all....

I'll leave you now with the final film from the program. This is the one that emerged as a firm favourite amongst the audience. It's by Canadian film-maker Patrick Wilkinson. Enjoy!  - Sarah

Failure from Patrick Wilkinson on Vimeo.