This morning, I got on the tram and went to the Mercure Hotel in Albert Park to meet a visitor from Canberra, fellow blogger Anita Blythe, whom I’ve only encountered on line before. It was sort of like meeting a pen pal back in the old days when we were communicating by snail mail. We follow each other’s blogs and know each other from the A to Z Challenge.
I did know Anita writes “cosy” crime fiction, but not all the stuff she has studied and experienced to make those novels believable. Her series - not yet published, but having a promising response from an agent - is about the adventures of an Aussie bush mechanic(female). She has experience enough to know what she is talking about there.
She was in Melbourne for a conference of the Romance Writers of Australia. It’s not that she writes romance fiction, but she is impressed with how much you can learn as a writer from these conferences, and yesterday she ran a workshop in Biometric Facial Recognition, in which she got a Certificate 4, to help create a believable character who was a forensic scientist.
We found we had plenty in common, in our attitudes to writing, and in some of the kinds of books we enjoy. I had only intended to stay for about an hour, but we finally said farewell after two hours, and only because Anita had to see someone at 12.15, and I had to go to pick up a bottle of wine I left on the counter at the supermarket on Friday, before heading for the library to work on my story.
I do hope we can meet again(and am seriously considering checking out the RWA for myself).
Thanks for catching up today, Anita!
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| Selfie courtesy of Anita, who is using this on her own blog. |
I did know Anita writes “cosy” crime fiction, but not all the stuff she has studied and experienced to make those novels believable. Her series - not yet published, but having a promising response from an agent - is about the adventures of an Aussie bush mechanic(female). She has experience enough to know what she is talking about there.
She was in Melbourne for a conference of the Romance Writers of Australia. It’s not that she writes romance fiction, but she is impressed with how much you can learn as a writer from these conferences, and yesterday she ran a workshop in Biometric Facial Recognition, in which she got a Certificate 4, to help create a believable character who was a forensic scientist.
We found we had plenty in common, in our attitudes to writing, and in some of the kinds of books we enjoy. I had only intended to stay for about an hour, but we finally said farewell after two hours, and only because Anita had to see someone at 12.15, and I had to go to pick up a bottle of wine I left on the counter at the supermarket on Friday, before heading for the library to work on my story.
I do hope we can meet again(and am seriously considering checking out the RWA for myself).
Thanks for catching up today, Anita!
8 comments:
It is really cool meeting fellow bloggers. The digital world has changed the way that we interact with each other in so many ways. It is a good thing to step out of it and interact in real life sometimes.
Hi Brian! I’ll be happy to meet you too if you ever turn up in Melbourne!
Hi Sue - love the photo ... and isn't it great to meet fellow bloggers - fun as we all seem to get on ... cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! As a matter of fact, I’ve met TWO this week! Fellow A to Z blogger David Jesson is in Melbourne for a conference, so last night I met him and his wife at their Airbnb flat(the kids were in bed, but I took one of my children’s non fiction books for them).
How fun! It's incredible the lengths some writers will go for research. I love it.
Oh, so do I, Tamara! I’m really impressed and will be the first to pre-order one of Anita’s novels when she is finally published.
Sue, it was so lovely meeting you! I had a delightful time and we did have a great chat, didn't we. RWA is a great organisation for any writer, so well worth checking out.
How wonderful you did get to meet David as well. It was a big week for you!
Hi Anita! Yes, who would have thought I’d meet two “pen pals” in a week? Next time you visit Melbourne we’ll have dinner, my shout.
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