Conference Panel Reviews
by The ASJA Monthly editor Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Yes, It's a Real Job: Arts Journalism (FRIDAY)

MODERATOR (AND PANELIST):

Sondra Forsyth, ASJA, contributor to Dancer Magazine and Dance Spirit; dance critic/drama reviewer.

PANELISTS:

David Hajdu, music critic for The New Republic; professor at the Columbia Graduate

School of Journalism; The New Yorker contributor.

Jim Rutter, freelance arts critic for The Broad Street Review (Philadelphia); chosen for fellowship to USC, 2009 Annenberg Arts Inst. of the NEA.

As someone who just became a book critic for my county's metropolitan regional glossy here in Southern California, I was interested in hearing what these panelists had to say, especially because book reviewing isn't the most lucrative region of freelancing around. Here you will find ideas for how to make a living doing arts journalism and how to break in. Arts journalism can seem like an entirely philanthropic act, so it's nice to hear from those who find it worthwhile—financially, and spiritually/ politically/emotionally.

Big Changes, Big Rewards (SATURDAY, ADVANCED)

MODERATOR:

Sandra Beckwith, ASJA, freelancer; publisher of Build Book Buzz e-zine and online workshop teacher of "Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz" (www.buildbookbuzz.com/workshops/book-pub.htm).

PANELISTS:

Beverly Blair Harzog, ASJA, contributor to Good Housekeeping, Cooking Light, AARP.com, Bankrate.com; co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Person-to-Person Lending.

Juli Cragg Hilliard, ASJA, journalist for newspapers, magazines, and the Internet, and a novel-in-progress.

Andrea Warren, ASJA, children's book author of six award-winning books for young readers, including Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story; contributor to Reader's Digest, Writer's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal.

I'm a sucker for personal stories about writers' process and the writing life, and this panel sucked me in, just as I expected. Interesting women with interesting lives, and each one doing something a little different with writing, with a different writing dreams and goals. I listened to this panel while having a manicure (yes, I go in for manicures now and then) and during certain parts of the panel, the smile on my face caused quizzical looks on the faces of the salon girls Suzanne and Tina.

If you have a writing dream, whether it be writing a novel or branching out into a different aspect of freelancing, this panel just may be the ticket to sparking that blaze.

Your First Book (SATURDAY, GETTING STARTED)

MODERATOR:

Jackie Dishner, ASJA, freelancer and author of Backroads and Byways of Arizona.

PANELISTS:

Juliet Grames, editor for The Overlook Press; previously at John Wiley & Sons.

Florence Isaacs, ASJA, author of What Do You Say When ..., Just a Note to Say ..., and co-author of The 24/7 Baby Doctor; ASJA past president.

Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., ASJA, author of Yoga for Pain Relief, contributor to Yoga Journal, and blogger for Psychology Today; health psychologist at Stanford University.

Ted Weinstein, an AAR-member literary agent and contributor to The ASJA Monthly's Agent Roundup column.

What a generous panel facilitated by the effervescent Jackie Dishner. So much information and so many tips on how to find the right agent, manage the promotion of your first book, build a career, and more. The panel ran on Saturday morning and was pegged as a session for those getting started, but with a book and pieces in anthologies, I still found it to be a refresher and as a catalyst for ideas to build on what's already there. Good one!

Reviews are the opinion of the newsletter editor and not the board or the membership at large.

Note: Friday's panels are available to ASJA members only.

Order CDs or mp3s of all the panels at www.asja.org/wc/recordings.php