"No Easy Options? Being a Writer in New Zealand." This topic plumbed the emotional depths for aspiring authors and poets at Baycourt at the weekend.
The Tauranga Writers event was a venue for some hearty gripes about publishers and editors and "those TV people who distorted my great idea", but also
plenty of laughs.
There was a tonne of information on submitting manuscripts, self-publishing, distribution and use of latest technology...
Columnist Steve Braunius, novelist Emily Perkins and legendary publisher Dame Christine Cole Catley brought many wry observations on the New Zealand writing scene and the people in it, while "speed pitching" - a first for New Zealand - drew an audience of about 100.
With Tommy Kapai Wilson in the chair, 12 writers were each given three minutes to pitch their manuscript or project to a panel of three experts.
The Judge's Choice was Stepping Into the Light an investigation of UFO encounters by Tauranga writer Suzanne Hansen.
The judges, Waiariki lead tutor and novelist Sue Emms; Joanne Rye McGregor of the Tauranga Film Collective and literary expert Mark Houlahan, University of Waikato, said this work stood a good chance of becoming a hit internationally. The People's Vote went to Lee Murray for her chick lit novel, A Dash of Reality, set here in the Bay.
Jenny Argante of Tauranga Writers says more detailed information from the judges will be shared with the "pitchees" soon.
She and others from the group are heading for another seminar, run by the Society of Authors, aimed more specifically at publishing online, to be held later this month in Auckland.
