After falling in love with Edge-Lit back in July, I knew I would be returning for the Christmas spin-off.

The puntastic Sledge-Lit didn't disappointment. I once again departed with new writer friends, a head full of wisdom, and a bloodstream full of caffeine, sugar and beer.

Here are the Top 18 things I learnt at Sledge-Lit 2018:

1. Sledge-Lit is like a slightly smaller Edge-Lit but with Christmas jumpers.

2. Angeline Trevena taught me that it is better to show a character's feelings through actions, rather than dialogue, or narration. She recommended The Emotional Thesaurus which lists physical signs of every emotion.

3. Angeline also advised that dialogue scenes should start late and finish early to avoid small talk.

4. Agent John Jarrold spoke on the reality of the submissions world. He receives 30-40 submissions a week but only signs 3-4 manuscripts a year.

5. Stuart Turton recommended targeting young, ambitious agents who are still building their list.

6. Sophie Draper advised us to participate in the 121 agent meetings at writing festivals, such as York and Winchester. Writers can gain five minutes of honest feedback from an agent, whilst also having the opportunity to win them over.

7. John Jarrold said, "Dickens wouldn't be published today."

8. M R Carey said, "You can't write something unless you love consuming it."

9. Sarah Pinborough said, "Magical realism is literary fiction wearing a beret."

10. Stuart Turton said, "Don't be a dick to agents."

11. An agent needs to be hooked by the opening page, especially the opening line. The writer's voice must excite them. A good voice cannot be defined. It is a subjective, gut feeling. However, one tip is to never start with explication. Start with character.

12. M R Carey spoke of his love for genre fiction over literary fiction. He said writing literary fiction would be like painting in grey after years of painting in colour.

13. Stuart Turton advised us to get feedback early, get it when its most useful, and listen to the feedback.

14. Ruth de Haas explained that writers shouldn't just focus on the disability when writing about a disabled character. Talk about the character in more detail - their hopes, their fears, their flaws - as you would with any other character.

15. Sensitivity readers can be employed to read your manuscript if you are worried that you have portrayed a disabled character, or any other traditionally misrepresented group, incorrectly.

16. Novellas are still being published by traditional publishing companies but they are an exception and still cost the same price as a novel.

17. There are plenty of famous novellas which you might not realise are novellas: The Old Man and the Sea, A Christmas Carol, Animal Farm, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Of Mice and Men,

18. The Buried Giant has a brilliant ending which Adrian Selby thinks about all the time.

Sign up to Simon's newsletter to hear more about his reading and writing projects.

There are just 10 days left of NaNoWriMo 2018.

Your enthusiasm might be waning. Your word count might be miles behind target. Depressing thought: you should be on 33,333 words at the stroke of midnight.

This seems like the perfect time for five quick, practical tips on how to hit that 50,000-word target before the end of November.

1. Stop editing - Get the words down, quick, quick, quick, and worry about fixing spelling, grammar, pretentious metaphors later. Throw in a time jump if you reach a tricky plot point. I often write something like INSERT ACTION SCENE because I write better and quicker when dialogue is driving the story.

2. Turn off the TV - It's only for a month. You can do it. If you have time to binge-watch Daredevil Season 3 in the month of November then you are shooting yourself (and your word count) in the foot. At the very least, ration yourself to one episode a day. Only turn the TV on for the purpose of watching that one episode. Passively watching whatever happens to be on Channel 4 is a big no-no.

3. No tweeting, no blogging - I break this rule all the time. I'm writing a 400-word blog right now when I should be writing my manuscript. What am I thinking? Don't be like me. Be better than me. Blogging and tweeting, much like Christmas songs on the radio, can wait until the 1st of December.

4. No reading - I know, I know, but you can't write a book and read a book at the same time. Close that best-selling paperback, let your Kindle's battery go flat, and use that precious time to write your own book, not devote yourself to somebody else's.

​5. Public transport - Ditch driving to work, or anywhere for that matter. Take your hands off the steering wheel and fill them with pen and paper instead. Driving is dead time. But riding on a train or bus or tube will allow you to write reams of words before arriving at your destination. This is the game-changer that helped me complete three separate WriMos in recent years. I owe that success almost exclusively to my train commute. All hail the rail!

Sign up to Simon's newsletter to hear more about his reading and writing projects.

If you are attending Sledge-Lit on Saturday for the first time then you might be feeling a little daunted, especially if you are going by yourself...

But have no fear!

You are going to have a brilliant day, packed with useful writing advice and valuable insight into the craft. You'll also meet lots of lovely people who read books, write books and breathe books.

I attended my first Edge-Lit (the summer version) in July and I would love to share my wisdom with you. I hope these five tips will help you get the most out of your day.

1. Get there early (ish) - The workshops are fiendishly popular and assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. Attendees write their name on various sign-up sheets at the registration desk. Once a sheet is full, the workshop is full. Maybe don't get there as early as I did (an hour before the doors opened!) but expect a modest queue about 15 minutes before the doors open.

2. Workshops are a great way to meet people - The workshops are a small, close-knit, hands-on affair, with roughly 15 people in each session. Most have quick, interactive exercises in which you work with a partner or group. For this reason, workshops are a fantastic way to make friends if you are attending the event by yourself.

3. Talk to everyone - Readers, writers and bloggers are friendly people, but statistically we are an introverted bunch, unless you are an attention-seeking only-child like me! Take comfort in knowing that most people are feeling a little shy and nervous too, but someone has to break the ice first. My advice is go for it, talk to a stranger. If it all goes wrong at least you'll have good content for your next short story! And when I say talk to everyone, I do mean everyone. International best-sellers are people too. Buy them a cookie to thank them for sharing their imagination with the world.

4. Put your hand up - There are a lot of panels - hourly, in fact - packed with charming, insightful folk. Make the most of the smorgasbord of talent sat in front of you and ask a question when the time comes. Pick their brains. Mine their gold. Satisfy your curiosity. Just one caveat: keep the question short. There is nothing worse than an audience member rambling through their life story before getting to the question!

5. Bring food - It looks like Sledge-Lit has a scheduled lunch hour but this wasn't the case with Edge-Lit. Such was my enthusiasm for the hourly sessions that I denied myself time to eat for fear of missing valuable content! So, yes, snacks are advisable, and use the offered lunch hour too. The ground floor cafe is delightful. Coffee! Cake! Beer! There is also a Gregg's round the corner. Let's all remember, the Gregg's festive bake is back on the menu. Rejoice.

See you on Saturday. I'll buy the mince pies!

Sign up to Simon's newsletter to hear more about his reading and writing projects.