Emerging

What's not to love about the Emerging Writers Festival?  It's the only festival I've been to that is actually there to inspire writers, rather than readers.  It is inexpensive and jam packed full of opportunities to expand your knowledge, be exposed to up and coming writers, hear from publishers, network with others like yourself or more established.  Generally its just 10 days of inspiration!  I didn't network as much this year as last because I was with a friend, but the range of authors and topics covered was even better than last year.
My only gripe would be that it ended (letters to the editor anyway) on a fairly sombre note about the difficulty of getting published and the changing face of publishing in Australia.  Also the poets seemed a little bitter, complaining about the lack of readers and appreciation of poetry in Australia (though not difficult getting published apparently).
Still it all just reminded me that I must keep writing, so stay tuned for what's next....