Society of Editors (WA) Inc.

President’s message

Marisa — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:56:54 +0000

Reading single-handed

Even if Spring is only two weeks away, I still think of August as the dead of winter, hibernation time, time to contemplate, meditate and cogitate. The death of the fiscal year is a time when we are forced to look back on what we’ve done with our year, how much money we made, but particularly how much we spent (and what we can grab back from the government which so cruelly takes it from us).

I’ve spent a bit of money on books this year, I’ll admit. However, I’ve also spent a very little money on some books, that is, eBooks. I’ve cautiously paddled into the shallow end by getting books I can read on Kindle for iPhone (one of the books was The Sun Also Rises, which I found sexist, racist, kind of outdated – but very well written! Anyway, that’s another story … apologies to fans of Hemingway).

It’s so easy. I can read in bed. Kindle is not heavy like a book and you only need one hand with an energetic thumb. The ebook is always with me (or I should say they are always with me – I can get about 28,000 free ones). If I have a few minutes to spare waiting for a friend or a meeting (but not at traffic lights), I can click in and read a few pages.

Entertainment and knowledge is always at hand. This is strangely comforting. I like the fact that I can take 28,000 books away with me on holiday. I probably won’t even finish one, but it’s pleasing to know they are there, in the background, supporting me.

The Australian Society of Authors is currently working on the complexities of contracts for authors to include provision for eBooks. The ramifications also spread to editors whose work will only increase due to the dismissal of a large chunk of the production process, and the continuance of rigid content standards by respectable publishers. The eBooks are our friends. Embrace them, give them a try. You just might like them!

Happy editing
Robin
Robin Bower — President

September networking meeting – Donna Ward discusses what sustains a literary community

Marisa — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:18:33 +0000

Title: September networking meeting – Donna Ward discusses what sustains a literary community
Location: Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road, Subiaco, WA.
Map: Click here
Description: In conversation with Donna Ward, managing editor, indigo. Donna will discuss what sustains and encourages a literary community and how we can help nurture ours

Come along for an informal evening of discussion about indigo’s amazing journey and how we can help sustain our publishing community.
Start Time: 7:30 pm
Date: 21 September 2010
End Time: 9:30 pm
Fee: $2 for members and $5 for guests/non-members. Tea and coffee will be provided.
RSVP: secretary@editorswa.com

President’s message

Marisa — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:47:08 +0000

Endings may be new beginnings…

I’ve just returned from an amazing travel feast in Italy and Greece which, in the grand old days, they used to call a ‘sojourn’, or ‘we’ll be in Europe for the summer’, or ‘going abroad’. In Australia, if we say we’re going abroad, we’re either heading off to New Zealand or

Mauritius! Though I do still hear people say abroad…

Anyway, I came home to discover the machinations of getting a new prime minister were in place, and that another piece of the small but unique publishing puzzle in Western Australia is coming to an end… indigo. You’ve probably seen the letter from Donna Ward floating around cyberspace, The West Australian, The Australian, The Post, Facebook et al announcing that due to lack of funding by the Department of Culture and the Arts, the last issue of the journal is to be published in December. There’s more on this inside Bookworm this month and we’ll be in conversation with Donna Ward at our September networking meeting. We invite members to come along to share with Donna, indigo’s amazing journey, and see how we can help nurture and sustain the publishing scene in Western Australia.

Our June networking meeting showed us what editing courses are available in Perth and online. The bulk of my emails are from non-members requesting information on how to get into publishing, and what courses they should do to nudge their way into that editing job. It’s a huge ever-changing area so we hope we’ve managed to supply you with

some up-to-date knowledge in this area. We will also be posting this on our website and updating our Publishing Information document for 2010. It’s not a short, easy answer – courses, on-the-job training, networking and voluntary work all play a part but skills, knowledge and persistence will pay off. I still get the emails though…

Wolfgang Bylsma will speak at our August meeting. Wolf has a long and (self-proclaimed) dubious ‘career’ in community radio, including graveyard shifts, investigative reporting into the paranormal and his blog, Faster Than Ligh t. He’s

also managing director of Gestalt Publishing, an independent graphic novel publishing house. Come and be entertained in a brave new world…

Happy editing,

Robin Bower, President

August networking meeting – Wolfgang Byslma discusses editing and graphic novels

Marisa — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:24:31 +0000

Title: August networking meeting – Wolfgang Byslma discusses editing and graphic novels
Location: Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road, Subiaco, WA.
Map: Click here
Start Time: 7:30 pm
End Time: 9:30 pm
Date: 17 August, 2010

Description: Wolfgang Byslma, head of Gestalt Comics, will be discussing the editorial process as it applies to comic book and graphic novel publishing. Come along for a fun look into this literary form and to find out where the future lies for graphic novels in publishing.

Fee: $2 for members; $5 for guests/non-members. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Please RSVP to the secretary at secretary@editorswa.com .

June networking meeting: training courses & professional development

Marisa — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:12:08 +0000

The next meeting is on June 15 and the best reason of all to attend this particular meeting is because we will be discussing training courses. You will find out about the courses available both online and on campus within WA that will give you the skills you need to get your foot in the door or move ahead in your career. Come along and find out what has changed with what the tertiary (and other) institutions offer in terms of professional development and pick the brains of those members who have taken the courses.

Attendance Fee: $2 for members; $5 for non-members.
Time: 7.30 pm till 9.30 pm
Date: 15 June 2010
Location: Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road, Subiaco, WA.
Map: Click here.
RSVP: secretary@editorswa.com
All are welcome and tea and coffee will be available. If you wish to join the Society or renew your membership, you can do so in person at the meeting.

President’s message

Marisa — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:50:50 +0000

Cleaning out the files

It’s the last day of the Easter weekend and I still haven’t got to the overflowing paper on my desk – you know, that space where everything gets put until we can think of a better place for it. So now is the time. As I’m going through the paperwork that defines my life, ideas erupt. There’s that article I want to write on Lombok from our last holiday (so keep that Lombok Guide I picked up in the Beach House restaurant in Gili Trawangan), the last edition of ASA journal’s great article on writing book reviews (I might write a book review on Parrot and Olivier in America) (NB must update my Goodreads entry), the Walkley magazine (keep – need to know what’s happening in the journalism world), don’t chuck out that Bali villa brochure (always looking for new places to stay), there’s my date schedule for this semester’s writing unit, my notes on branding my image from that seminar I went to last week (NB update my website with profile ideas), UWA’s writing courses brochure (those writing courses I might consider doing… again), look into that cupcake stand and flowers and bomboniere (8 May is fast approaching), those clippings on Italy I need for the trip (NB think about new perspectives for travel articles), the contact list for that editing job I need to start, and don’t throw out the travel and review sections of the West and the Weekend Australian I haven’t read yet.

And there’s still the bougainvillea that’s been attacking the postman for the last week, plus the ever present danger of shorting the electrical wires. There’s a job for today. Or I could just continue reading about creating characters in Children’s Literature, or send a reminder email to Donna Ward about her talk at our next meeting, or update my website, or write up my notes for my next story, or… enjoy a day off with fresh air and family.

Happy editing!

Robin

Networking meeting: Ice is nice

Marisa — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:40:57 +0000

Title: Networking meeting: Ice is nice
Location: Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road, Subiaco
Map: Click here.
Description: Robyn Mundy will be discussing the publishing process and her book The Nature of Ice. Come along to network and find out more about the publishing industry. Refreshments will be available and all are welcome. Please RSVP to Marisa at w ebadmin@editorswa.com

Members: $2
Guests/ Non-members: $5
Start Time: 7:30 pm
Date: 18 May 2010
End Time: 9:00 pm approximately.

Editors’ showcase

Marisa — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:55:13 +0000

Title: Editors’ showcase
Location: Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road, Subiaco
Transport information: Click here
Description: Want to know what other editors are working on? What sorts of projects editors do? How they differ from yours? How they get work and how broad their roles can be?

Join us for an informal panel discussion where several members reveal their passions, projects, pet loves and pet hates about working in this diverse industry. Come armed with some questions and let’s have a lively discussion about everything you wanted to know about an editor but were afraid to ask. If you’d like to join the panel to share your experience in the industry, email president@editorswa.com and we may still be able to slot you in.

New members and guests are welcome. See you there!
Start Time: 07:30 pm
Date: 20April 2010
End Time: 08:30 pm

President’s message

Marisa — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:57:25 +0000

Where there’s writing, there’s editing…

I didn’t get to nearly as many sessions at the Perth Writers’ Festival as I’d wanted. There was so much to experience; it’s overwhelming trying to get to everything. And what talent we have! Pulitzer Prize-winning writers and intellectuals to children’s and youth writers, and

contemporary Indigenous chick-lit; it was a smorgasbord of ideas from young, old, new, established and emerging writers in the region. At twenty-three years, Jack Heath has just published his sixth book, is an award-winning writer, is Young Australian of the Year, and has his own Wikipedia entry; Dr Anita Heiss has just published her chick-lit novel Manhattan Dreaming and is about to release Paris Dreaming, both of which involved research in New York and Paris. She’s also huge fun! Society members Amanda Curtin and Georgia Richter chaired sessions and contributed

their own publishing experience.

Three writers who write about travel in various ways are so much more than travel writers. William Dalrymple, Nicolas Rothwell and our very own Stephen Scourfield discussed their disparate perspectives on India, the north of Western Australia and beyond. William is loud and confident, Nicolas a sensitive intellectual, and Stephen a keen

observer of human interaction with the land. Our perspectives and interactions with the landscape were a major theme throughout the festival. Mark Tredinnick and Barry Lopez are two of the world’s most prominent award-winning nature writers. Their inspiring philosophical words dealt with identity, the physical landscape and the human culture that are intricately balanced. I couldn’t begin to summarise their ideas here. Tom Keneally, Irvine Welsh, Hugh Mackay, Sara

Foster, Anita Heiss, Alex Miller, Monty Don, Don Watson, Morris Gleitzman, AC Grayling – an array of writers covering every genre. I wish I’d seen more. Some of the sessions are podcasts on the 720 ABC website so download them to your favourite media and have a listen. Rest assured, with the abundance of writing in this country there will never be a

shortage of work for editors.

Happy editing

Robin

Robin Bower — President

Important: Change of venue for AGM

Marisa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:49:10 +0000

AGM venue has changed due to flooding of Subiaco Community Centre

NEW VENUE details are:

Multipurpose Room80 Hamersley Road
Subiaco Arts Centre
Subiaco

Schedule is as follows:

6-7 pm Committee meeting
7-7.30 pm AGM and elections
7.30-8 pm Speaker – Amanda Curtin, publishing of The Sinkings
8 pm onwards – supper and networking