I will be appearing at a session on blogging with this title at The Press Christchurch Writers Festival, which runs from September 4-7 at the Christchurch Town Hall. On the panel will also be Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation (selected by The Guardian as one of the top ten literary blogs on the web - intimidated, moi?) and Donna Robertson from the Christchurch City Libraries blog. Please come along if you are in Christchurch and help us defend our territory!
I will also be chairing a panel of new and newish writers: Mark Sarvas, Anya Ulinich, Christine Luenens and Maxine Alterio. The full programme should be up here any day now.
I will also be chairing a panel of new and newish writers: Mark Sarvas, Anya Ulinich, Christine Luenens and Maxine Alterio. The full programme should be up here any day now.
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11 comments:
Oh, give my love to the Christchurch Writers Festival. My very first festival, and my very first introduction to that weird existence which is called Being An Author, and it was all very scary but ultimately very confidence-inducing - meeting you was definitely some of the latter, too.
Best of luck for the panels, and do defend the blog. At an otherwise interesting London Lit Fest panel on The Essay (Andrew O'Hagan, Jenny Diski, Ferdinand Mount) someone asked if the blog had become the place for essays - the well-crafted, well-written, readable opinion piece - and they all snorted. But that's how I see my blogging, and I longed to jump up and tell them to go and have a look at mine, and yours, Rachael, and half a dozen others, before they dissed the form. We don't all chunter on about what we had for breakfast or what music we're listening to.
certainly will give your love, Emma. The panel I did with you was also one of my first experiences on such a thing as a fully-fledged author. I remember I was hugely pregnant and on the way to the panel thought I was going to faint after walking up the stairs! I also had very much a case of baby brain and remember frequently waffling all over the place and then forgetting the question!
I don't think blogging will ever replace essay-writing, but I think blogs are an outlet for that kind of writing that as you say, is thoughtful and elegant, and the web gives it the potential to reach a wide audience. Maybe there are too many blogs out there that are worthless - but the great thing is that nobody is being forced to read them, and there are some wonderful blogs about writing and other interesting topics out there.
So many literary blogs I have noticed simply act as gateways to articles elsewhere on the web, which serve their own purpose too, but I do like blogs that are original in their content and thought-provoking. Yes, like essays.
I like the feeling of writing community I suppose.
Yes, there's that! Me too.
I enjoy the sheer freedom of blog-writing ... after years of writing for something (deadlines, employers, specific readers) and conforming to word lengths, house styles and other assorted nonsense, it's great fun to be able to write about things that interest me in any way I wish! Good to be part of an online community as well; when you publish something on paper it goes out there in the world and you effectively lose touch with it, whereas you're always close to your readers online through comments and site stats and so on. Looking forward to going along to your blogging discussion.
ooh forgot to add before, it is also nice to know something is being read, it is a long time between drinks with novel writing if you know what i mean :)
Yes, I'll be there! I just checked and my hour with Lloyd Jones is straight afterwards. Your session will be a nice distraction from worrying about my question line. Had a look at Sarvas' blog and it's incredible.
Hi Rachael, looking forward to being on the blogging panel with you and Mark.
I'm glad that blogging rates a discussion at the festival. One of my favourite things is how you can range around a subject and not just produce a book review. The whole reading/discussing/thinking process comes into play - and yes, the feeling of writing community as gondal-girl mentions.
And there is something exciting about comments expanding the discussion.
Mary - it's a shame you're not in the session as well! And in my other one too. Too mnay writers, too little time I suppose.
Donna - I look forward to meeting you!
There are no blogs that are worthless. Just as going jogging or playing tennis isn't worthless. At the least, it's good for the person who is doing it - but not all are worthy of spectators. Some are meant just for family and friends, and a few deserve a wider audience.
(I loved "The Sound of Butterflies", by the way)
A team of people from Christchurch City Libraries are attending the Christchurch Writer’s Festival and will be blogging and taking photos and interviewing the authors and others. The photos we will post to our Flickr set.
I am interested in anyone else who may be blogging, or adding photos to Flickr and if we can connect it all via a tag at technorati or Flickr. I would suggest the tag CWF08 - but you might also want to use a more human friendly one like Christchurch Writers Festival
If you are using any other web2ish thingy tell us.
Check Technorati tags CWF08 ~ Christchurch Writers Festival
Check Flickr tags CWF08 ~ Christchurch Writers Festival
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