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How to set up your business blog - new course!; New date for Script Writing for Short Films; Learn Creative Writing online

In this issue:

• Nova Radio at the Sydney Writers' Centre
  
• TIP: How a comma can prevent repetitive writing
• How to set up your business blog
• Book Giveaway – The World Beneath by Cate Kennedy
• New date for Script Writing for Short Films
• Speed read the new Dan Brown novel and win
• Learn Creative Writing online
• Did you know: Is that God in the machine?
• WEBPICK: Bookseeker

Today, we’ve had the team from Nova Radio in our training rooms with two winners of a Fathers’ Day promotion - see Tony, myself and Joe pictured to the right. Tony and Joe are going head to head in a competition that will see one of them win $5000. My job today was to give them a poetry lesson. (Yes, I’m a closet poet!) So I taught them “The Cheat’s Guide To Writing a  Really Cool Poem”. They both wrote poems about their respective daughters and both did a great job. Good luck to Tony and Joe! And thanks to Nova Radio for visiting us at the Sydney Writers’ Centre.

Next week, I’m also thrilled to be leading the Online Feature Writing course for a new group of aspiring feature writers. I always get a buzz from the results we get from this course. If you’re enrolled, I’ll “see” you in the virtual classroom soon!

Online Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Valerie Khoo
When: Week beginning Monday 7 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: Whenever you want
Cost: $395




TIP: How a comma can prevent repetitive writing
Like apostrophes, commas have many uses, and many rules applying to these uses.

Here’s one from Mark Tredinnick’s Little Green Grammar Book.

A specialised use of the comma is to indicate you’ve left some words out of a sentence, which it would be clumsy to repeat. This is only going to happen in the second half of a sentence, where generally the second half is a clause (introduced by a semicolon) that sets up a contrast with the first:

Many fiction writers perform their work by trying to execute elaborate plans; others, by sitting down to see what comes their way.

The comma in the above sentence is used to replace the words fiction writers perform their work.

How to set up your business blog
We’re so excited about our newest business seminar – Blogging for Business. This seminar is for anyone who blogs for work or is thinking of setting up a blog for their business.

There are so many reasons to blog, and so many different types of blogs. An increasing number of  businesses are seeing the potential benefits in setting up their own blog, either for customers or staff. This one-day seminar will show you how to setup a blog how to grow and sustain your blog readership and how to integrate it into your marketing.

During the seminar you will learn:

• The critical distinctions between a blog and an ordinary company webpage
• The terminology of blogging
• What readers expect from a corporate blog
• How to write a blog that stands out
• Finding and building an audience
• How and what to measure
• Common internal objections to blogging and how to overcome them
• Best practice policies and guidelines for corporate bloggers
• Building the business case for your blog
• What you should be looking for in your blogging software

This seminar is presented by business blogging expert Steven Lewis, who has consulted on blogging, podcasting and other Web 2.0 tools for companies such as Westpac and IAG. For Tourism Tasmania he created a ground-breaking series of travel podcasts, with similar projects in the works for companies like V Australia and Time Out. Steven has also promoted blogs, wikis and podcasts as a corporate insider, having worked for AMP as an in-house evangelist for its enterprise 2.0 tools.

Before moving into the world of Web 2.0, Steven had a long history in translating online tools for non-technical audiences writing as a journalist for mainstream publications around the world.

Blogging for Business with Steven Lewis
When: Friday 23 October 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am – 5.00pm
Cost: $365

Click here for more information or to enrol online.

 
Slim Ink book giveaway
This month, Slim Ink is giving away Cate Kennedy’s new novel, The World Beneath. While Cate Kennedy is an experienced and much published writer, this is her first novel. She’s best known for her short story collections, including Dark Roots and Joyflight. Her stories have also appeared in The New York Times and she has twice won The Age Short Story Competition.

Here’s a little more about her first novel:
Once, Rich and Sandy were environmental activists, part of a world-famous blockade in Tasmania to save the wilderness. Now, twenty-five years later, they have both settled into the uncomfortable compromises of middle age - although they've gone about it in very different ways. About the only thing they have in common these days is their fifteen-year-old daughter, Sophie.

When the perennially restless Rich decides to take Sophie, who he hardly knows, on a trek into the Tasmanian wilderness, his overconfidence and her growing disillusion with him set off a chain of events that no one could have predicted. Instead of respect, Rich finds antagonism in the relationship with Sophie; and, in the vast landscape he once felt an affinity with, he encounters nothing but disorientation and fear.

If you would like to win a copy of The World Beneath tell us your favourite wilderness area in Australia. Email your answers to us by Friday 11 September 2009 - and don't forget to include your name and postal address.

Do you have a script inside you?
Have you got an idea for a short film but just don’t know where to start? Are you thinking of entering one of Australia’s many short film competitions in 2010? Our Script Writing for Short Films course will show you how to write your script and get it made.

This course will cover:

• How to select and develop suitable ideas for a short film
• What narrative elements do you need in a short film screenplay (characters, plot, dialogue etc)
• What technical elements must you consider in a short film screenplay (locations, props, budget etc)
• What are the roles of the writer/director/producer and how do they interact?
• Getting your film seen and sold

This course is presented by Geoff Bartlett who has written for several Australian TV shows and produced three short films. Two were semi finalists at Tropfest and one screened in competition at Flickerfest. They were also bought by Foxtel (The Comedy Channel), ABC TV, Qantas, Telstra and Japanese TV.

Script Writing for Short Films with Geoff Bartlett
When: Thursday 1 October and Thursday 8 October 2009 (two evening seminars)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $165

Click here for more information or to enrol online.

 
Speed-read the new Dan Brown novel – and win books!
All you speed readers out there should be very pleased to hear about this competition at the State Library of NSW. Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, the follow-up to the hugely successful The Da Vinci Code, is being released in Australia on 15 September 2009.

At 9.00am on that day, a select group of speed-readers gathered at the Library, will be given a copy of The Lost Symbol – the first person to finish will also be the first person in Australia to review the book, on TV, radio and in newspapers.

Not only will you enjoy (probably fleeting) fame as the country’s fastest reader and first reviewer of this highly anticipated sequel, you’ll also receive $500 worth of books from Random House.

If you think you’re up to the challenge, click here to enter.





Online Creative Writing – learn from wherever you are
Our Creative Writing course is one of our most popular, often filling well before the start date. That’s why we developed the online course as well. This way you can learn the same course – but from the comfort of your home. We have students from all over Australia and the world.

If you’re interested in writing fiction, short stories or even a novel, this course will help you improve your creative writing skills and give you valuable feedback from our experienced presenters.

The course will teach you how to:

• kick-start the creative writing process
• tap into your imagination
• draw from everyday experiences and memories
• examine different types of creative writing
• give structure to your writing
• use characters and dialogue

Online Creative Writing with Cathie Tasker/Pamela Freeman
When: Week beginning Monday 7 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: Whenever you want
Cost: $395

Click here for more information or to enrol online.

DID YOU KNOW: Is that God I see in the machine?
Sydney-siders may be familiar with the popular cafe/motorcycle shop in Camperdown called Deus Ex Machina. It's a pretty groovy place where you can get a super strong coffee and delicious breakfast alongside rows of motorcycles and even artworks. It's reputation is spreading as a cool, industrial-style store with an equally cool menu.

However, did you know that Deus Ex Machina is actually Latin for ‘god out of the machine’? It comes from some tragic plays in ancient Greece. At the end of the play, a deity would be lowered on to the stage using a crane ... god out of the machine.

WEBPICK: Bookseeker
You’ve just finished a great book and now you’re stuck for something to read. There’s just too much to choose from in your library or bookshop – the choices are too overwhelming! Well, here’s a site that can help you pick.

Just type in the title and author of the book you’ve just read, and you’ll be given three lists – recommendations from Amazon, BookArmy and LibraryThing. Easy!

Check it out here.

Other upcoming courses
Course: Online Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Valerie Khoo
When: Week beginning Monday 7 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: Whenever you want
Cost: $395

Course: Online Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman / Cathie Tasker
When: Week beginning Monday 7 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Mel Wilkinson - FULL
When: Wednesday 9 September 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $395

Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller - FULL
When: Every Friday starting Friday 11 September 2009 for six weeks
Time: 10am – 12noon
Cost: $450

Seminar: Successful Freelancing with Gayle Bryant and Valerie Khoo
When: Thursday 24 September 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75

Seminar: Travel Writing with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 30 September 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $75

Course: Script Writing for the Short Films with Geoff Bartlett - NEW DATE
When: Thursday 1 October and Thursday 8 October 2009 (two evening seminars)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $165

Seminar: How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 7 October 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75

Course: Crime Writing Weekend Workshop with Marele Day - NEW COURSE
When: Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 2009 (2 day workshop)
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $395

Course: Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Katrina Lobley
When: Every Monday starting Monday 12 October 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Mel Wilkinson
When: Tuesday 13 October 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle
When: Wednesday 14 October 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Self-Publishing: How to do it with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 14 October 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $75

Course: Writing for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 15 October 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395

Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman
When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 20 October 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395

Course: Feature Writing Stage 2 with Judy Skatssoon
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 21 October 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Editing Essentials with Katrina Lobley
When: Thursday 22 October 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am – 4.30pm
Cost: $345

Seminar: Blogging for Business with Steven Lewis – NEW COURSE
When: Friday 23 October 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $365

Course: Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Pamela Wilson
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 5 November 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395

Course: Marketing Your Book with Amanda Falconer - NEW DATE
When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 19 January 2009 for three weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $265

Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller - NEW DATE
When: Every Friday starting Friday 22 January 2010 for six weeks
Time: 10am – 12noon
Cost: $450