Tag: Public speaking

Writing

What Is A Writer?

carolyncordon

Points to Consider

  • Poetry
  • Prose
  • Journalism
  • Fiction
  • Non Fiction
  • Article
  • Blogs
  • Public Speaking

All of the dot points above involve writing, and involve writers. Not every one of them necessarily is seen as making a person a writer, but it’s is definitely true that if you write in any of these forms, you could call yourself a writer.

Whether or not you and your words ever get published is irrelevant, if you write, you are a writer, that is what I believe. Of course for some the idea of sharing their work with many other people, and even earning money with your writing is the ultimate result, but that isn’t as easy as it may seem.

So are you a writer who wants to get your words ‘out there’ and even earn some money? Read on, below:

 

Get your words working for you!

If you live in or near a town or city, there are probably many venues where you can meet with other writers. Many hotels and libraries, for instance, sometimes hold ‘Poetry Readings’ where poets can attend an ‘Open Mic’ session, having the chance of 2 or 3 minutes to read their poetry to audience members.

Service groups are another possible option, for being a place where an audience may be interested in your writing, and maybe but your books if you have them available.

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For the poetry options, the audience are often to also there read their own work out, so they are likely to already be interested in poetry. If you attend these kinds of events, and become known to other poets, there may be the chance of finding other events and other possibilities.

If you send your poetry to online or other magazines, you may gain publication and if you have enough of your poems published, or available online, you may have a higher chance of having a poetry collection published. If you want to cut some corners, and have some spare cash, you could self-publish a collection yourself, and possible sell some copies to heal to cover your costs, and maybe even make a profit!

The more you are seen, ‘out there’ with your poetry, the more likely it is that someone may ask you to present your words to an audience. If you write a lot of poetry about flowers and plants, for instance, perhaps a gardening group might like to have you speak to their club members.

‘Gigs’ like this may not be paid opportunities (although they may be, sometimes), but they can be a great chance to sell copies of your poetry collection, or whatever genre it is that you write. The same applies if your genre is something other than poetry, readings from collected short stories, or blog posts collected together, or articles, all these are possible avenues for a writer.

 

Bottom Line

So what is a writer? A writer is a person who writes. The world has many, many readers, as well many places looking for entertainment options. A writer can fashion themselves and their words as possible entertainment options, in a variety of ways. Comedy, for instance is an option. If you have a funny bone, and a good sense of timing, you may be able to become a stand up comic, or perhaps you could find somewhere you could sell your jokes – country newspapers are a possible place to accept such writing.

If you keep an open mind, and keep your options alive, who knows what and where your words may end up!

If you are a writer, the whole world is out there for you!

Public Speaker

Thoughts On Things

carolyncordon

I went to a speaker event today, a speaker with many intelligent and empowering things to say. The speaker was a writer, television person, and a deep thinker too. The speaker was Jane Caro, and even though it was a hot day today, I, and many others, were happy to travel to the Burnside Library, in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.

Jane has a book out, hence the Speaker gig, but she also had many relevant things to say, and she held the audience captured in her story, and then happily answered the many questions asked, from members of the mostly female audience.

The relevant ‘new book’ is Accidental Feminists, and while I haven’t begun reading it yet, I was more than happy to part with my money, to get myself a discounted, and author signed copy. Feminism has been cast as a bad guy, by some, and it’s difficult to see any rational reason for that. Plenty of irrational reasons though, holders of white male privilege would have more than a few of those.

Private single sex schools seem to produce the kind of politicians who have little knowledge of the ‘real world’, as can be seen in Canberra at the moment, where ideas of fairness are thrown out of the window, and ‘merit’ seems to be gained by the size of your bank balance, and the number of similarly privileged ‘friends’ you have. When feminism is ignorantly or purposely misunderstood, and those who are feminists, called ‘ball-breakers’ and other names, that’s when you know our society is still a very long way from being equal, which is what feminism is all about.

Equality, what is so hard about that, to have a society where all are treated equally. Same pay for the same job, but also understanding that the society we currently have is far from equal. Universal Basic Income was talked of, and the reality that women are poorly served by the mish mash of working life options most go through in their lives. The further reality of homelessness of mature women also was talked of, and ideas on how things really are, even though we’re less likely to see homeless women on the streets.imag0531

Jane spoke well on the subject of schooling, firmly standing on her belief that co-ed and public is the best way to go, for many reasons. When children play together, they learn from an early age how to deal with others, and gender issues can be dealt with well before the messiness of raging hormones ever come into the equation.

I certainly agree with that one, being co-ed and public all of my way through school system, I even went public with my tertiary education, and am glad of it. I’ve been toying with a vocational course of some kind, but unless I can go through TAFE, I probably won’t do anything more, unless it’s Uni SA. I am certainly not going to go to a private college, I don’t think, they seem far too interested in getting me signed up, and grabbing my money …

OK, where was I? Ah yes, several times, Jane Caro reminded us that Climate Change was happening, and if we didn’t get going, we may not have anywhere left to live … A sobering, but necessary reminder, I feel. Too many people are pretending Mother Nature isn’t hurting, and they’re taking no action at all to assist in the healing that must occur, As Soon As Possible!

This event was well worth the money, and I hope I have learned some points I may be able to use, when I move further into the Public Speaking realm. Getting the audience to add content, but giving them the opportunity to ask questions is a good idea, and especially if you have a handy person to provide the microphone, if you have a large audience!