Cairns Tropical Writers Festival + Regina Meyer’s Book ‘Change of Course’

Cairns Tropical Writers Festival + Regina Meyer’s Book ‘Change of Course’

January 18, 2023

I love hearing from authors who have read and made use of Look – it’s Your Book!.

One such author is Regina Petra Meyer. Regina has been booked to speak at the marvellous Cairns Tropical Writers Festival and I’m so happily jealous for her as she will be in amazing company. Tony Birch, the author of White Girl – one of my favourite book’s ever – will be presenting there too, as will other writers and thinkers including Annabel Crabb, Chris Hammer, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Aaron Fa’Aoso, Saman Shad and so many more.

The Cairns Tropical Writers Festival runs Feb 24-26 and there’s still time to book your trip. You can see the full program here. In other news, Byron Writers Festival has just announced their 2023 festival dates. The festival will be held in Bangalow, NSW for the first time and it will run Aug 11-13.

Now…back to Regina. I’ve just finished enjoying her debut book/memoir. Change of Course: Sailing into love and adversity on Caribbean Shores.

I love memoir for the deep dive into whole other worlds. Regina’s book delivered. From the real adventures and challenges of crewing long distance sailing boats (this is not Below Deck!) to getting a feel for the pace of life in the Carribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda, I felt myself slowing down as I read it, almost imagining I was on a sandy, tropical shore, swinging in a hammock….preferably not a tiny hammock on one of the boats Regina experienced though! What adventures and challenges she recounts!

As an indie author, Regina’s also experiencing the challenges of marketing her book – but she’s definitely having success which is one of the reasons she’s been booked by the Cairns Tropical Writers Festival to do not only an author talk but also facilitate a workshop on indie publishing to book industry standard. I’m so glad to be a part of her journey. Here’s what she said:

“I was in the final stages of self-publishing my book Change of Course when Look – it’s Your Book! was released. I immediately ordered copies of the book and workbook. Both were incredibly valuable to help me master the last hurdles of publishing and launch my own marketing campaign. Anna has done an absolutely amazing job at researching and collecting relevant and concise information on all stages and aspects of indie-publishing. Her book has now been sitting on my desk for almost a year and it’s become my much treasured publishing bible. This is a fabulous book to have on your side when starting out on your publishing journey and will guide you step by step. A must-have for any indie author out there!”

 

Thanks for the writerly thumbs-up Regina! And to you, the currently anonymous blog reader, no matter who you are or where you are on your publishing journey, I hope to be able to help you in some way too. Whether it’s through my books, Bold Authors (a new collaborative online author course hub) or one of my upcoming presentations for the Australian Society of Author’s, here’s to you setting sail on your writing and publishing dreams too!