[csaa-forum] Rebecca and the beach

[Kath Albury]

Hi all,

In addition to seconding various people's comments on the benefits of
teaching, I'd like to add to this thread with some of my personal experiences
as a freelancer/academic gun-for-hire.

I've gotten great benefits from attending a wide range of conferences & forums
- some only tangentially aligned with my official discipline. Not so much in
terms of my papers being praised or even acknowledged (although it's fantastic
when they are), but in terms of making connections with like-minded people at
all levels of the scholarly food-chain.I also have received incredible
intellectual and personal sustenance from attending events outside the
academy, particulary the TINA festival in Newcastle.

There are lots of forums where those who are able to communicate 'big ideas'
are welcomed... Radio National is particularly receptive to people who can
communicate deeper analysis with enthusiam & pleasure in their topic. The
producers in RN Audio Arts are quite supportive of freelancers with good
ideas, and research & writing skills; even without prior media production
experience. There are numerous radio & print outlets for opinion writing at
the moment, and the editors are keen to get 'younger' or 'newer' voices out
there. I could make up a little list if people are interested.

But you do need to be relatively thick-skinned, and accept that the eds may
take a while to return calls & email. They may ask you to meet very tight
deadlines (sometimes only hours away) and will probably change your work,
and/or cut it down to suit the space they have available. Despite all that, it
is worth pursuing op-ed and radio work if you're trying to get a book
published, since publishers look favourably on those who can market their
ideas.

Having plugged away at all this since I finished my honours thesis in 1996
(which I turned into a radio feature for RN), I'm finally getting paid for
media commentary more often than not. That said, there's always a trade-off -
in my case an over-due thesis.

Cheers, Kath