Author Archive: miaherrera

Networking Events – May 2012

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As I found last year, networking events are great ways to explore industries, meet some awesome people, and talk shop with those interested in what you love.

Yesterday, May 2, I attended the 2nd MEGA Networking Event at the Richmond Hill Country Club. Starting at 1pm and going until 4:30pm, I was able to attend the tail end of the event after work and was blown away by the size of it. Hosted in a larger venue by TheNetworker.ca – the same hosts of the Distillery District Networking Events – MEGA Networking provides even more ways to meet the people you want to know. The event was a great success, and I look forward to the next MEGA event.

Another event that I am extremely (understatement) excited for is York Region Arts Council’s first ever Arts After Hours Networking Event on May 24. Taking place at the gorgeous Willow Springs Winery in Stouffville and running from 7pm to 9pm, the night features a great opportunity to meet other artists in the area. It also includes wine and cheese tasting, raffle giveaways, and awesome performances by spoken word artist Sheniz Janmohamed and my good friend Manuele Mizzi. I can’t wait and hope to see you there.

Short Story: “Next Time”

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Great news! I recently received word that my short story, “Next Time,” will be published in this year’s TOK Anthology. The TOK series books are traditionally released in April, and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

I will be reading the same story at the Toronto Reference Library this April 20th for Keep Toronto Reading 2012 as part of the Friday Nights with Diaspora Dialogues series. It seems like only yesterday when I was nearly moved to tears by the MAD Poet’s spoken word at Friday Nights with Diaspora Dialogues in 2009, and now I will be one among the presenters.

It’s a mind-blowing opportunity that I’m still too giddy to wrap my head around. The sheer head rush that resulted from hearing both these things was enough to last me for a long time. I’m still buzzing from excitement!

For an excerpt of the short story, please feel free to read beyond the cut.

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Happy New Year – 2012

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Happy New Year everyone! I know this message is coming a bit late considering the new year has been present for about 20 days now, but I’ve taken one of those long breaks from posting to accommodate for the holidays, family time, and life in general. I’ve even eased up on tweeting! This disconnect from the Net and social media is disconcerting at times, but sometimes necessary, especially when special attention needs to be paid to life outside the computer.

It’s a new year and new start though and I recently renewed my ownership of MiaHerrera.com (with hosting! Though I still need to code the site beyond the basic blog template), so I’m dedicated to another year or two of infrequent posting for anyone who is interested (a small number, in fact, that more often visits my site for my MonopolyCity and Felicia Day posts).

I entered this year without any intention of creating resolutions. I’ve made resolutions every other year, but I’d like to believe that change can happen at any time – not just on the first of January. As the year drew to a close, however, I discovered an unintentional list of resolutions that continually grew. By the time the clock struck midnight on January 1st, my list of resolutions included Continuing Education and French language courses, more time in church, more time on the treadmill, and more time by the stove learning how to cook.

As 2012 began, however, life brought along many surprise and blessings. I put a down payment on a house (move in date September 2012), ruling out further courses due to the need to save money at the moment, and my love of chocolate and proneness to accidents threw a few wrenches on my road of progress towards cooking, eating, and living healthily.

If this year has taught me anything so far, it’s that everything truly does happen for a reason. Like that cliché quote says, sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. I naturally love to plan and when plans wouldn’t work out, I’d feel lost as I scrambled to create another plan for the changed situation. This isn’t a bad thing but, these days, going with the flow has been really nice.

This year, I’ll adapt. I’ll purchase Rosetta Stone instead of attend Alliance Francaise or keep active but try not to beat myself up when I slip up. I’ve always striven to do absolutely everything before, that life sometimes became too hectic to do anything at all. I’ve decided to choose what’s important and focus on it accordingly.  By the second week of January I already knew I needed to parse my ambitious list of resolutions down to allow for real life. And even if cooking, schooling, and running fell through, I was left with these final resolutions:

 I want to Live Well (live life to the fullest), Live Right (be kind, thoughtful, and thankful), and Write. If all else fails, I want to do these three things and always keep life, love and passion in mind.

2012 will be a good year. Happy New Year everyone. I wish you all a happy and blessed one.

YorkScene: Forget Professionalism, Remember Writing

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Check out my latest post on YorkScene.com – “Forget Professionalism, Remember Writing” – where I reflect on writing as a business venture, where each post becomes another page in your portfolio. This view is helpful and oftentimes necessary when art becomes public, but it can also be creatively crippling.

This YorkScene post is hopefully the first in a series of similar pieces written “Stream of Consciousness” style reflecting on the nature of writing. As always, please comment and review. Have you had a similar experience with writing? How do you balance the sometimes slapdash nature of creative inspiration with the methodical, meticulate needs of editing and reviewing? Let me know either on YorkScene or MiaHerrera.com.

Upcoming Panel: Buy, Sell, Trade? The Currency of Identity

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This Thursday, November 10, I will be attending the panel discussion, Buy, Sell, Trade? The Currency of Identity, hosted by Diaspora Dialogues and the Harbourfront Centre.

The event features writers Priscilla Uppal, Cherie Dimaline and Kate Taylor, and actor and playwright Ins Choi. The four will explore identity and representation issues, while audience members contribute one-word “identifiers” that will be used to build characters and discuss storytelling challenges.

The event starts at 7pm in the Harbourfront Centre’s Studio Theatre. Hope to see you there!

Tips from a Networking Noob

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Vito Marchese, event host and owner of Whiteboard Studio, and I

On October 19, I attended The Networker’s 3rd Distillery Business Networking event at Tappo Restaurant and Wine Bar.

An evening of business networking held in open format, the Business Networking event was a night of amazing hors d’ouevres (salmon + cucumber = AMAZING), great drinks, and fantastic people.

The event was a huge success with over 100 participants. It was my first experience at a networking event, and it felt a bit like speed dating for professionals (there were plenty of quick “Hi, Hello, this is what I do” speeches before moving to another), but I found my groove eventually. It was interesting to find myself among so many people in Finance and Real Estate, and I did get a few surprised looks when I introduced myself as a Writer, but I am assured in the fact that if I need an Accountant or Agent I will find myself in good hands.

The next Networker event will be next year in York Region – the 1st Annual MEGA Networking Event. Held at the Richmond Hill Country Club, the event will feature appetizers, drinks, a host and MC, and door prizes and draws. Be sure to buy your tickets now to avail of the early bird prize.

Curtis, Sam, Vito, myself and Rajvir - YorkScene Bloggers represent! Haha

Random Tips from a Networking Newbie:

  • Wear a blazer with two pockets – one to keep your business cards to hand out, another to keep the business cards people hand you. Do not mix these two pockets up.
  • Try all appetizers. They are generally delicious. If the salmon and cucumber apps appear, it is your lucky day.
  • If you’re at Tappos, ask for a red wine sangria. It is delicious! If you are anywhere else, ask for any sort of wine sangria, which is a never-fail treat for your taste buds.
  • Try to attend a networking event geared towards your profession. If you’re down for something fun and new, though, attend one for a completely different industry and have fun meeting new people with different perspectives

Awesome Find: They Bleed Pixels on Xbox Live Indie Games

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Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing Toronto’s indie game developer and founder of Spooky Squid Games, Miguel Sternberg. Miguel gave me insight into Toronto’s flourishing indie game community and the tight-knit world of socials and workshops offered by awesome organizations like the Hand Eye Society.

Recently, I was delighted to hear of Spooky Squid Games’s upcoming Xbox Live Indie Game, They Bleed Pixels. Featuring a distinct visual style that blends pixel art with paper and ink textures, They Bleed Pixels tells the story of a young girl haunted by a mysterious book and her violent Lovecraftian nightmares. The game features a robust one button combat system and a mid-level save system that requires players to pull off stylish kills in order to earn checkpoints.

They Bleed Pixels, on top of being an awesome game all on its own, features guest levels created by four other Toronto indie developers: Starfall, Sissies Magical Ponycorn Adventures, exp., and Techno Ninja.

“We’re big fans of community collaboration and wanted to give some of the talented folks we know chance to play in our world,” said Miguel Sternberg. “This is the first of two secret collaborative projects we’ve been cooking up – folks will have to wait till the release date announcement to learn about the second one.”

I strongly recommend everyone to check out They Bleed Pixels for some good fun when it is released later this year.

Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Party 2011

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Last Tuesday, July 26, I attended the Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Launch Party and met with the organizers, mentors and other mentees involved in this year’s program. We had a beautiful evening of talk, food, and white wine sangria (mmm!) on the patio of L’Espresso.

Among those that I met, I was also able to acquaint myself with my mentor, Olive Senior, and the other writers being mentored by her. Aside from TWUC, I haven’t had the opportunity to attend a writing event in a while. It felt great to discuss writing with a group of people who were as passionate about the art as me. There’s something amazing about being able to talk about character, plot, and the horrifying revision process with people who don’t think you’re a complete geek when you get excited about these things.

Though I didn’t know it was possible, the Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Launch made me even more excited for this year’s program. My peers are an amazing group of writers from a variety of backgrounds. I am already on my first round of revisions with Olive, and can’t wait for the rest of the season.

Just a heads up for other aspiring young writers, Diaspora Dialogues has released a call for submissions for a brand new youth (ages 16-25) mentoring program. Creative non-fiction, short stories, or poetry will be accepted up until September 30, after which 6-10 young writers will be selected through an adjudicated process.

P.S. I still get a schoolgirl thrill when I see “Writer” on any part of my name tags!

Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Program 2011

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It was only a couple of months ago that I wrote about Keep Toronto Reading – an article that referenced the great influence Diaspora Dialogues had on me. This month, and three years after my first encounter with the organization, Diaspora Dialogues has offered me yet another opportunity: acceptance into their 2011 mentorship program. I’m ecstatic. Mentorship begins this month (perfectly scheduled at the end of my Humber program) and goes until September. At the end of the program, I will have the opportunity to submit my work to TOK for publication, as well as read at a Diaspora Dialogues event (eek! Public speaking!).

Whenever opportunities like this come around – a scholarship, a mentorship, a publication – I am always overjoyed and overwhelmed with the mind-boggling idea that someone else has seen value in my work. In a way, it’s validation for all the long nights and early mornings, and an extra push towards my goal. On top of anything else, I am most appreciative of this – of the extra encouragement and the opportunity to better my craft.

I am so appreciative of this opportunity and excited to start working with my mentor, Olive Senior. My submission, “Next Time,” is a short story pulled from the novel I am currently working on. I am excited to see how it will evolve under scrutiny and guidance.

Thank you, Diaspora Dialogues! Yet again, you’ve made all the difference.

TWUC 2011 Recap

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On Friday, May 27 I was one of the lucky students from the Humber School for Writers to attend the Writers Union of Canada’s Annual General Meeting.

I live-Tweeted the panels I attended, so feel free to check those out on my Twitter account. Other than that, following is a brief recap of the day.

Having been under the weather most of the week and knowing absolutely no one at the conference, I woke up feeling sick and apprehensive to attend. Lucky for me, I expressed these feelings on Twitter and was met with welcoming tweets from others like Anita Daher and Nicole McGill.

I’m glad I didn’t let my shyness get the best of me. The day was fun and educational. Below is a recap of what I learned:

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