It’s conference season! For me, it’s never about whether I will attend conferences. It’a about which ones to choose!

As an active freelance writer (I celebrated 20 years in the freelancing business in April, 2013), I belong to a number of professional associations — most of which have spring conferences. Earlier this month, I attended the District 64 Toastmasters Spring Convention in Winnipeg. I’ve been a Toastmaster since 2001 and have learned so much from this great global network of public speaking enthusiasts. I recently helped launch a new Toastmasters club in my own community specifically for members of the arts community as we have an abundance of writers, artists, performers, and other creative individuals in the Interlake region of Manitoba. It was great re-establishing friendships, picking up tips, and being inspired by keynote speakers such as world champion Lance Miller at the TM conference.

toastmasters-public-speaking Cathy Smolinski is past president of the Lord Selkirk Toastmasters club and a dynamic speaker

 

As a longtime member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), I don’t think I’ve missed one national conference since joining in 1997 (other than the conference in 1997 which was held within weeks of my joining.) I’ve been an active member of PWAC ever since joining and currently serve as the national vice-president. PWAC helped build my career as a professional writer and gave me a strong foundation to make sound business decisions. I’ve always believed that every freelance writer in Canada should be belong to PWAC. I will attending the PWAC national conference in collaboration with MagNet in Toronto June 4-7th, with a day of meetings beforehand. Writers conferences help build our careers and strengthen our vision.

Three years ago, I joined the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC), a strong national association for Canadian book authors. I’m slowly getting to know the membership and am learning from their diverse knowledge. There are 2,000 members in TWUC compared to the 700 in PWAC, so I find the organizational culture to be quite different. There are many differences between TWUC and PWAC, yet many  similarities. TWUC is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year at the national conference in Ottawa May 30-June 2nd. I will be there.

That was a difficult decision for me to make, as I’d originally signed up to attend the Travel Bloggers Exchange (TBEX) conference being held in Toronto June 1-2. I figured that since I had to be in Toronto June 3rd for PWAC meetings, I may as well attend TBEX and get to know more travel bloggers. But once I read the TWUC conference program more closely, I realized that I am primarily a book author who blogs, rather than a blogger who may some day write a book.

And as many key presentations and discussions at the TWUC conference will centre around self-publishing, that was the tipping point in my decision to attend as I am self-publishing my book, Chocolatour: A Quest for the World’s Best Chocolate, which I hope to have published in late June.

Have you been in this situation before? Has it been difficult deciding which conference or professional development events to attend? I’m hoping that my intuition is right, and that making the decision to attend the TWUC conference was the right one. But with all the TBEX hype happening online right now, I wonder …

And if you think that’s not enough, I’m also attending the Travel Media Association of Canada’s (TMAC) national conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from June 12-15. I’ve been a member of TMAC since 1998 and felt it was important to attend and support the Prairie region, plus I had the good fortune to be a speaker at the PWAC event in Saskatoon last fall and really fell in love with the city. Looking forward to a repeat visit to the Delta Bessborough, one of Canada’s premier hotels.

delta-bessborough the Delta Bessborough hotel in Saskatoon is one of the stately Canadian Pacific (CP) Hotels that was built in the early 1900′s.

 

After the busy conference season, I hope to remain in Manitoba for much of the summer, promote Chocolatour locally and online, and then get back in the saddle in September when my research and events bring me to San Francisco and Los Angeles for you guessed it … more chocolate.

Please join us back here the week of May 27th for our next new post. And please share your thoughts on attending conferences. Has something incredible happened to you at a writers’ conference or any other conference that wouldn’t have, had you not been at the right place at the right time?  

Share

{ 17 comments }

7 things you need to know about chocolate

by WizardOfWords on May 2, 2013

Thanks to author, A.K. Andrew for nominating me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. I met A.K. via the Bloggers Helping Bloggers group on Linked In and we have become good friends. This link takes you to A.K.’s blog and the post where she shares 7 tips she’s learned about blogging. A.K.’s blog has terrific info about creativity and the life of an author.

To fulfill the terms of my award as a Beautiful Blogger, I’m asked to share 7 of something with you. A.K. suggested I share tidbits about chocolate, as I am so immersed in the world of chocolate as I move toward the finish line in writing my book, Chocolatour: A Quest for the World’s Best Chocolate.

Great chocolate is being made all over the world. You just have to look for it! Great chocolate is being made all over the world. You just have to look for it!

7 Things You Need to Know about Chocolate

1. Dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content has many health benefits. I have an entire chapter in my book about these, but believe it or not, dark chocolate is actually a power food and raw chocolate contains more anti-oxidants than any other food in the world.

2. There is great chocolate of all types. Don’t be prejudiced against white, milk, or dark chocolate just because you may have had some of that type you didn’t like. Each chocolate company makes chocolate differently, and there are some that make white chocolate that’s not too sweet, milk chocolate that’s not too creamy, and dark chocolate that’s not too bitter. Experiment, and you’ll find the right ones to best suit your taste buds.

3.  You will find excellent chocolate in virtually every country of the world. I was shocked to try MAROU chocolate from Vietnam and find it to be some of the best chocolate I’ve ever eaten. And surprised to learn that the UK is probably home to the most amazing collection of chocolatiers and chocolate makers you’ll find anywhere. Both England and Scotland have some of the best.

4.  A lot of things will affect the ultimate flavour of the chocolate. Just as with wine, the terroir (geographic location the cocoa beans come from and conditions they are grown in), how the cocoa beans are handled and processed, and what ingredients are blended with the cocoa mass and cocoa butter to create the end-result chocolate can make two bars grown from the same beans in the same country taste entirely different.

5. Resistance is futile when your body wants chocolate. So why waste time and calories trying to fool yourself into thinking something else will do? If you crave chocolate, have it. A small amount of good quality dark chocolate will satisfy your chocolate craving and only add abut 100 calories to your daily intake.

6. Chocolate is versatile and can be paired nicely with coffee, tea, wine, whisky, and even beer. The key is to match flavours. Pair a milk or white chocolate with a lighter or rose wine. Pair a deep dark chocolate with a more substantial wine such as Malbec or Merlot. Pair a creamy Belgian chocolate with tea, and a darker chocolate with black coffee or a dark beer like Stout.

7. Chocolate is the universal language. It makes everyone smile. I’ve found that no matter where I’ve travelled, when you’re talking about or tasting chocolate, people are generally happy and smiling. No wonder I love my job so much!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this taste into the world of chocolate. I hope to have Chocolatour available by late June. To ensure you don’t miss updates and that you get your copy (we’ll be starting with a limited print run) be sure to subscribe to http://chocolatour.net.

Please join us back here the week of May 13th, and wish me luck in forging forward with the book. Cheers, and thanks again to A.K. for getting me to stop and smell the chocolate. :-)

Share

{ 35 comments }

mistakes made in my crowdfunding campaign

April 17, 2013

Thanks so much to those who have supported the Indiegogo campaign for Chocolatour over the past four weeks. We raised $7,500 on and offline during the 30-day campaign. That should be enough to do a small print run and cover the production costs for the book. Gratefully, donations are still trickling in via the Chocolatour [...]

Share
Read the full article →

what I learned from crowdfunding

April 2, 2013

Crowdfunding my book has been one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. It’s no fun asking people for money! As many people have asked me about my experiences with the process, I thought I’d summarize them here and hope it will generate some good discussion. Tips I’ve learned from the [...]

Share
Read the full article →

courage to crowdfund

March 18, 2013

It took a lot of courage for me to leave the comfort and security of corporate life 20 years ago when I embarked on my freelance writing career. But I really felt I had to go out on my own and make decisions that would drive my happiness and open the door for creative ideas [...]

Share
Read the full article →

independent publishing enables the author to shine

March 6, 2013

I recently attended a terrific workshop put on by the Manitoba Writer’s Guild featuring a panel of self-publishing experts. I was most impressed by the personal  story of Winnipeg author Mary Anne Appleby, whose book Winnie the Bear won a gold medal for the Canada West region in the Non-fiction category of the Independent Publisher [...]

Share
Read the full article →

take heed and listen to the signs

February 22, 2013

It’s been an interesting week. I’ve had to take a step back from the vortex that life can become and reassess the commitments I have made as I was becoming overwhelmed. What’s even more interesting, is that I was not alone. Several others friends and colleagues have found themselves in the same position. Is there [...]

Share
Read the full article →

an ode to things gone by

February 6, 2013

This week the Canadian government took the penny out of circulation as it was costing too much to produce: 1.6 cents for every penny produced. So the Royal Canadian Mint is no longer making new one cent coins, and retailers are supposed to round the price of an item up or down to the nearest [...]

Share
Read the full article →

time to check in on the gratitude meter

January 22, 2013

I recently met a fellow who is an expat Canadian now living in a climate that is warm and wonderful all year long. He couldn’t understand why I continue to live in Manitoba, where we have freezing cold (long) winters and mosquitoes in the (too-short) summers. On a week like this where the temperatures are [...]

Share
Read the full article →

born to blog

January 9, 2013

I recently tweeted the line below and it received a lot of reaction, making me realize that it was worth a blog post: “I’ve figured out why I love #blogging more than #writing. Blogging is social. Writing is solitary and I’m definitely not a solitary spirit.” blogging is hosting like a virtual party I absolutely love blogging. It [...]

Share
Read the full article →