Writers' events you can't miss

FOR FREELANCE WRITERS

If you are a freelance writer or journalist, you can't afford to be gazing at your pierced naval over the next two days.

This week, November 5 & 6, Media140 is hosting 'Future of Journalism in the Social Media Age' in Sydney - and online, of course.

When I was a cadet journalist - too long ago for me to even want to try and recall - there was no such thing as twitter and facebook. If I wanted to talk to a contact, I phoned them. Hell, when I researched stories there was no google for me to click on, I had to ring Bev in our library to call up past stories on microfiche!

But that has all changed, and the focus of this event is 'to educate and promote debate within the media industry about twitter and realtime social media platforms and practices'.

If you are serious about being making a name for yourself as a freelance writer, you can't afford to miss this.

I know my phone will be on silent all day as I lap up the thoughts, musings, debates and mutterings of the speakers at the event through twitter and online streaming.

FOR AUTHORS

As many of you may know, November is the month for NaNoWriMo - the National Novel Writing Month.

For the month of November, the goal of participants is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel.

As the organisers say on the website, 'Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.'

Fancy having license to write crap! What could be more fun than that?

If you're participating, I am keen to hear from YOU!

As you know, I regularly interview published authors about the trials, joys, highs, lows, ups, downs (okay, you get the message) of penning a story. But I think hearing your story of how you are going about this project is just as interesting.

Are you finding the experience:

(A) rewarding

(B) exhausting

(C) exhilirating

(D) frustrating

(E) nauseating

I could go on with the mulitiple choice options, but I am sure you have plenty of your own adjectives you would like to add.

Post your experiences - a one-liner, one page, up to you - here at the blog or over at the WriteSmart Writers' Group. We're all eager to hear from you.

For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/