Wednesday, May 6

Writing Seminars and Literary Festivals

You may or may not be aware but I'm a Journalism graduate from the Royal Pontifical University however I was only able to make use of the techniques and methods for only 7 to 8 months of 2003.

The reason? 
Well, it was to be with the love of my life (I have told the story countless times and I even won a Valentine's day contest for this story but I just never get tired of it). Back then, Dubai was not really open for other nationals to penetrate the Arab world of journalism. After a few years, more and more British nationals opened up magazines to suit the locals and the expats desire of being informed about the latest gadget, fashion and food available within the country but most importantly, outside of the UAE.

Though I have witnessed how the country opened its doors for expats to be part of their TV shows or newspapers, I was not able to give it a try. I guess it was more of me wanting to look after my parents than chase my dream (the love chasing was enough). However, I still try to make sure that I keep my writing skills in practice by maintaining a blog. I had a few blogs then... I was not really sure why I thought of having a lot that in the end, I abandoned them all.

Aside from blogging, I have also tried doing some online work which were successful only problem is my 'actual' work got a bit loaded that I had to let my writing take a backseat (again!).

Now that I am free to chase my lifelong dream - that is to write and hopefully become a novelist, I thought of attending writing seminars here in the Philippines.

When I was in Dubai, I got exposed to the literary festival there. The group would invite different writers in different fields or genre to talk about how to write well, how they come up with these brilliant masterpieces and so much more.

I am hoping to see this in the Philippines too though I think National Bookstore has already started the first ever Philippine Literary Festival last year because there was a talk conducted by Inquirer's Pam Pastor . Unfortunately, I was not able to get a lot of details about it (It could be because we were still trying to move things around the house).

Aside from that, I would want to still attend writing seminars and reading this entry from about.com as to why trainings or seminars are good for online writers (ahem, yes I kind of consider myself to be one).

I need this and I hope to find one that is not too pricey or if it is, it should be worth it for the price.

So, while I wait for that, I will just check bookstores like National or Powerbooks and possibly some online references too. I hope someone gets to read my blog and let me know of any upcoming events :)

image courtesy of wikipedia.org