#OMEGA16

Edmund Rice Conference Centre, Mulgoa, NSW

Crazy, busy, educational, funny, friendly, food-laden, kindred-spirit-finding, word-focussed, supportive, Christ-centred conference.

 

Too many adjectives? 

Whether it would be good to edit the amount of adjectives and word phrases used to describe Omega Writers Conference 2016 or not, these were the words that I found came quickly and easily when mentally reviewing this last couple of days.

This year we saw some new initiatives:

• Live streaming of the CALEB awards via Face Book

• Boot-camp writer room (a room set aside for writers to attend with their work, and have an experienced mentor give tips and pointers)

• Our first American guest speaker – Hallee Bridgeman – who funded her own trip to come and share some insights into her writing realistic and authentic Christian Fiction

• The attendance of representatives from the Tabor Adelaide academic staff – Tabor Adelaide offer a Bachelor of Arts (major in Creative Writing) and Masters in Creative Writing (research)

• The Omega AGM held at a time and place where those of us from states (and countries, Iola Goulton) other than Queensland, had an opportunity to attend, and get voted in as president (that was not on my schedule, but everyone seemed happy about it.)

• Saturday lunch and dinner—we usually have that, but this time, Conference Committee gave us the opportunity to sit in genre groups (fiction, non-fiction, children’s, poetry, screenwriting, editors, etc); and at dinner to sit with writers from our own city or state. This proved to be an effective networking exercise

As well as the new, we also enjoyed some of the old program highlights:

• A wide range of workshops for various genres and writing styles, publishing and marketing, and spiritual encouragement

• We had appointments available for writers to book manuscript consultations

• There were interactive discussion panels with experienced writers and publishers

• We had our Sunday morning worship service which featured the theme: Words that Change the World

• The reintroduction of the CALEB awards evening, featuring  guest singer/musician, Astrid Elliman

• And a huge range of books to buy from Novella Distribution (in the words of Homer Simpson – Mmmmmm, books!)

As I was given the privilege to take on the leadership of Omega Writers, I personally had good opportunity to connect and brainstorm with a number of writers from around the Australasian region. Though I don’t imagine anything will be enacted tomorrow, I can see that if we continue the dialogue, and I employ a bit of delegation (which I am famous for) we will see more initiatives come into fruition, and there is some serious discussion about the introduction of a Nanna Nap at conference.

But jokes aside—from conversations I had at Omega 16, there is more that we can do – more strategies to be applied, more ideas to be supported and encouraged, more that Omega Writers as a fellowship of writers can offer through online interaction.

A few weeks ago, I posted a You Tube address regarding getting a larger body of supporters involved with Omega—at least financially, but hopefully by way of offering skills and talents. You can review that address here.

Let’s hear from you soon, if you want to be involved in those sorts of conversations.

Lastly, to make amends for a serious oversight at the end of the conference, I would like to acknowledge the conference committee. There is a lot of work that goes into organising an event like this, and we have often enjoyed the benefits without understanding the sacrifice that is made and the stress that is endured by those making it all happen. Susan Barnes has been the conference registrar. She has done a wonderful job of making it all happen, and making sure we don’t get left behind at the airport. As Susan is stepping down from that role, I would like to offer her our thanks for her efforts. Simon Kennedy, as outgoing Omega President, has had a finger in just about every pie, including conference. Simon is a quiet achiever (unless you see him on his You Tube channel Songs With Simon, and then he’s quite animated and silly). Thanks must go to him as well, for his enormous effort. The other committee members, who are staying with the job for another year, are Raewyn Elsegood, Heather Monro and Jenny Glazebrook. What wonderful women they are, and we thank them for their enthusiastic and faithful diligence. We appreciate you all.