The Journey Continues

Queensland was awesome; warm, sunny, lovely company. Being able to spend time with family who we hadn’t seen in a couple of years was fantastic. My oldest son had his birthday at his aunt and uncles place and we even got to go four-wheel driving on a long stretch of beach!

The writer’s conference was amazing. I felt so privileged to be there and to hear the speakers talk about their own journey’s as well as getting advice and tips on writing, and learning more about the publishing world. 

The title of the first session I attended was 'To Write is To Bless'. Wow, is all I can think of to write in response to that. The most challenging and encouraging sessions that I attended were those taken by writer Rosanne Hawke. She is an amazing woman and I would encourage you to look up her website and read her books.

One of the best things about it was the one on one times spent with different people I met. It’s so incredible the different people who I had no idea existed before that weekend but were in some ways connected to me.

I just finished reading this blog post by author Matt Haig, after twelve years of being a published writer this was one of the things he’s learnt.

17. People who work in publishing are generally very nice. I think this is because they read a lot of books. (Books make you better.)

That comment made me smile because since focusing on my writing I have met so many wonderful people connected to the writing ‘business’. It’s been a real blessing.

I had an opportunity to speak to a publisher about a book that I am currently working on. It was a great learning experience particularly as the in house children’s book editor was also there.

I came away with lots of things to think about and work on. Which reminds me, I really need to go over my notes from the conference. My younger brother had to come to my rescue the night before the conference. I discovered that I had travelled all the way up to Queensland, to attend a writer’s conference and forgot to bring my notebook (slap forehead).

To sum it all up. We had a great time. 

Writer’s Conference

 Well, I’m off to a writer’s conference this week, and I have to say, that I’m very excited. It’s the Omega Writer’s conference that is being held in Brisbane. Omega Writer’s is a group of Australian and New Zealand Christian writers. I know I’ll learn so much and meet amazing people.

Another plus to this trip, is spending time with family that we haven’t seen in years. It will be lots of fun. And to top it all off, we’ll be in a warm place again. It’s has been so cold here and we’ve all be sick with the flu for the past ten days and we’re all feeling just horrible still. I really hope we get better before Thursday, because flying with blocked sinuses is not fun.

The first day of the conference, I’ll be taking a master class in Y/A (young adult) fiction and fantasy. I’m more interested in the Y/A part then the fantasy part, but who knows, I might get hooked on writing fantasy.

My husband and I are going to be attending the ‘gala’ awards ceremony. I’ve never been to an awards ceremony before, so it should be pretty fantastic. And, I hope it will be another chance to mingle with more writing people.

I’m going to pitch my story to a publisher, something that I’m quite nervous about, but also, really thrilled about. It will be good to see if I can get this particular publisher excited about my writing. Hold breath.

There are going to be some great speakers at the conference and also editors and publishers, so hopefully, it will be a good opportunity to make some more contacts.

Yay. So, it’s going to be great.