It started out with an early morning gym workout with the sensational Sean from Atlas Performance before gussying myself up to head over to UWA for the Perth Writers Festival. Although I had a frustrating 20 minutes trying to locate the box office to pick up my tickets for the publishing workshop, I then had the chance to chill out in the UWA club and chat with some other fascinating people attending the event including the lovely Sarah from the fantastic blog Ah, the Possibilities!
I found the publishing seminar I attended, aptly named The A-Z of Getting Published, a real eye-opener about the book publishing industry. Having worked in magazines and newspapers (and a few years as a record label manager) I have plenty of experience with magazine, newspaper and music publishing and although I have edited and published a few books for employers and clients - this is an industry segment I knew much less about.
The event was MC'd by Angela Meyer, a literary blogger for Crikey, and included a range of high profile speakers including publishers Meredith Curnow from Random House, Mandy Brett from Text Publishing and Clive Newman from Fremantle Press. We also got to hear from writer and manuscript assessor John Harman and and one of Australia's highest profile literary agents Lyn Tranter as well as writers, other publishers and lovely Scribe publicist Emma Morris.
There were so many amazing knowledge bombs they dropped on us throughout the course of the day, that I think this will call for another post in the next few days (so keep your eye out for that). Some statistics definitely reinforced the difficulty of becoming a published novelist, but the day also showcased the passion and enthusiasm people in the publishing industry have for what they do. If you get a chance to check out any of the other events over the long weekend for the Perth Writers Festival, I definitely recommend it.
If this workshop didn't make the day fantastic enough, I was then lucky enough to head straight from the event to pick up my husband and head down to Sandalford Winery to see Michael Buble live in concert. The tickets were a gift from my wonderful husband as nearly one year ago Michael's The Best is Yet to Come was our first dance together as husband and wife. Although this song didn't get a look in, the night was sensational. We couldn't have asked for a better night, beautifully warm, a great vibe, some incredible support acts, good food and of course cheese and wine. Delicious!
Michael was highly entertaining all but breaking into a stand up comedy routine after his first song. He chatted to the crowd at length, shared some personal stories, introduced us to every member of his band in detail and even threw in some really out of the box numbers - even Michael Jackson got a look in.
I have to admit I fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the car park, but what a day!
I have to admit I fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the car park, but what a day!
Ha! Our posts could be twins. Had a ball with you yesterday, we should definitely do that again soon. I learned so much as well. Glad you enjoyed Mr Buble, I would have loved to have gone to that.
ReplyDelete