MAILBOX
THE HONEST OPINION My past experience with certain people involved in the Writers’ Guild of South Africa( WGSA) hasn’ t been great. I’ ve attended several development programs run by people involved in the WGSA which have either promised a lot and underdelivered, or have been complete dead ends. Now I’ m not going to put the blame on anyone in particular, but it has left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
But I like to think that I am no fool, so I keep my ear to the ground and take a look through their frequent newsletters on the off chance that something worthwhile pops up. I was reading their newsletter today and was surprised to hear that they had launched the first online issue of their magazine WGSA MAG( in all honesty I didn’ t even realise they had a print version). Anyway, I clicked the link expecting it to be like my past experiences with certain members of the WGSA: disappointing at best, utter trash at worst.
Turns out it’ s not either of these things. I haven’ t read the magazine from cover to cover but I paged through looking for any articles that I might find interesting. I ended up stopping to read quite a few pieces. The magazine is a good combination of editorial pieces, news, and tips for writers and filmmakers, whether you’ re established or up-and-coming. Of course there’ s articles I had absolutely zero interest in( a few of the articles about local productions or local film politics didn’ t grab me at all), and the ads are a bit annoying, but I can also say this about some of my favourite publications.
Rowan Govender
Geek Ink Blog
6 | WGSA MAG July 2013
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