Around Northland, I do a bit of pro bono work sharing creative writing news, giving advice, connecting writers and doing lots of free performance (typically poetry and standup comedy, plus a May 10 Blogging For Business session at The Orchard Biz Hub).
I think it was a good decision this month to invest in a couple of domain names so that people who aren’t aware of the writing services I offer in Whangarei are aware of how I can help.
Last week I bought:
- The domain name http://www.WhangareiWriter.co.nz
- Domain name http://www.NorthlandWriter.co.nz
How come? It’s about letting people in the Whangarei, Kaipara, Far North and Bay of Islands region know that there is writing help available for them.
Here are some of the ways I’ve been helping people with their writing needs in the month of April 2018.
- Whangarei business and event mecca The Orchard is graciously allowing me to present a lunchbox seminar on May 10. The topic is ‘Blogging for business: How to make your words worthy’ and it’s a mixture of big picture and little detail. Event listing here.
- I wrote a blog for the Public Relations Institute’s PR Central blog about getting Maori spellings right and being more observant and respectful of the reo. It’s inspired by an unfortunate tendency in NZ for people who put out words not considering the negative effects of betting Maori words wrong.
- Creative writing – I completed the manuscript of a new short story collection called ‘True.’ It should be 16 short stories, provided I don’t cut any of them. It’s likely this one will be self-published as usual. Expect updates in winter.
- I built a website and blog for a highly respected member of the Kaipara community, turning his stories, photos and voice into an internationally-accessible online medium.
- A similar project I helped a client with was a Whangarei man who wanted some transcription done, capturing complicated family history. It was a challenging job – transcription is extreeemely slow – and it turned out that 70 minutes of recorded conversation equates to 9000 words. No exaggeration.
- I got back on my journalism horse (I haven’t done any journalism since March) and wrote an interview with an extremely high profile person in the insurance industry for an industry publication.
- I got onto the second draft of a novel called ‘Crimechurch’ which will be ready this year. It’s a gruelling, gritty collection about seven lives intersecting in the South Island underworld.
- Short short story checked (galley proof) for publication in a University of Canterbury collection
- More good reviews for young adult novel Moneyland. Plus lots of word of mouth.
- The ‘Write Club’ fiction writing crash course I’ve been delivering with Community Education Whangarei wrapped up. I’ll be providing the learners with ongoing support, and I’m going to take the material from the course and deliver it in one day workshops in libraries around Northland, starting with a One Day Fiction Writing Crash Course at Mahurangi East Library at Snells Beach. Here’s the event.
- I had several meetings with clients on the verge of contracting lots of writing from me. While not everybody was ready to go this month, it’s been good to get more insight into the needs of clients in Kaipara, the Far North and between Dargaville and Whangarei.
- The month also featured lots of blogging for Whangarei, Northland and Auckland clients, plus lots of personal literary development – poetry, improv and fiction. Oh, and I’m about to start doing videos for YouTube, too – creative writing advice. Might call it Wild West Writing.
Stay classy, San Diego.
Mike