By Marlene Schellenberg
Thanks to Lori Gaudet and her regular mid-month newsletters, I learned about this excellent conference, hosted by Off Topic Publishing. This online publishing service is run by Jennifer Mariani and Marion Lougheed. They describe their services on their website in the following manner: “Off Topic celebrates good writing by forging a community of readers and storytellers. We do this in a bunch of ways – through our monthly contests, where every submission receives feedback, through our Facebook group, and through select publications by a diverse array of writers.” They offer chapbook and anthology printing, marketing, and distribution for writers, as well as retreats.
All of those things look great, but I chose to attend the conference they hosted. What a great way to spend two full days. About 50 writers attended the conference on Zoom, where we participated in a variety of workshops with published author/writing coaches, published memoir writers, trauma experts who specialize in working with memoir writers, and so many more. Among the 18 presenters, Andrew Buckley presented on the theme of writing humour, Chanel Sutherland, multiple CBC prize winner and 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner, made a brilliant presentation about branding. Janis McKenzie, a specialist in library services, offered advice about accessing support for writers from Canadian libraries. Finnian Burnett led a workshop titled ” Making It Weird: Writing the Unexpected” and offered concrete tools for doing so. Finally, the conference wrapped up with a panel discussion on the topic “Writing Without a Degree” that included Manitoba’s own Duncan Mercredi, who wrapped up everything with the closing keynote address. He shared his storytelling career, and his humour, and kept more folks engaged than I have seen before in the last session of a packed two-day conference.
I recommend you check out Off Topic Publishing both on their website and on FaceBook.
Additional Excerpt by Amanda Le Rougetel
Off Topic Publishing runs monthly contests that cycle through poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The entry fee is on a sliding scale and each submitter receives feedback on their entry whether or not they place in the contest. I love a contest because it inspires me with both a topic and a deadline. I’ve not won with Off Topic, but my nonfiction piece did earn me an honourable mention and that felt pretty good.
Contest page on Off Topic site: https://offtopicpublishing.com/contest/?srsltid=AfmBOoo5qk3wL7dPepO050fQkmveuwFCKGjem_yVukQQHViukxRfKmDN
I attended an online writing conference this past weekend, too. It was run by HippoCampus magazine, whose sole focus is creative nonfiction. For just $75 US, I got two morning sessions – one on five elements of the craft of writing, the other on marketing and promotion of our writing. The two evening sessions were panels – the first featured readings by and conversation with debut authors; the second was a roundtable discussion with editors at small presses and literary magazines.
While the viewpoint was entirely American, I came away with pages and pages of notes that are transferable to my own writing here in Canada — and in the world of online publications, where we are based is immaterial these days. None of us enjoyed the pandemic, but it taught us that online gatherings such as “HippoCamp” and the Off Topic conference offer us writers a great deal without ever having to displace ourselves from our home — which makes attendance that much more affordable.