What, two blogs within the space of a couple of weeks?

Yes!

First up, although it has been s-l-o-w going for the past year or two, myself and the “three Wallas” – Sarogini Kamalanathan, ace food snapper Craig Kinder and designer par excellence Cally Browning are now ramping up the work to get Sarogini’s Sri Lanka Food cookbook out.

We will be co-opting some food professionals as well and are really looking forward to getting what is a great, practical and beautiful (thanks for the pix Craig) cookbook out onto the market.
And while it features some truly superb images (many taken during our road trip to Sri Lanka) we want this book to become a curry-splattered, dog-eared kitchen favourite that will really bring the “wow” factor to the dinner table, be it for a family occasion or entertaining visitors.

So stay tuned!

On a completely different matter – beautiful watches – the first rule when buying anything over the Internet is caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) but I can report a recent purchase from Melbourne watch dealer www.watchtime.com.au went through seamlessly.

I picked up, for an excellent price, an as-new Eterna Monterey GMT, mechanical movement with second time zone and date display. Swiss made and runs like a charm.
So thanks to Sarah at www.watchtime.com.au.

If you are in Melbourne check out their shop in the magnificent Block Arcade in town.

cheers
Norman

 

 

Time to reflect on 2012.
A 12-week contract working with the London Olympic/Paralympic News Service was great, thanks to a thoroughly professional team and London put on a fantastic show. The Paralympics were a highlight and set a new standard that Rio 2016 will have to work hard to match. The sport transcended the athletes’ physical and/or mental impairment and Channel 4′s coverage was superb. Viewers tuned in by the million and advertisers/sponsors that had the vision to back the event got great coverage. Now if only the USA could cotton on to the fact that “disabled” sport can be every bit – and in some cases more so – as exciting and tension-filled as “able bodied” sport.
I took a break from filing any watch articles while away but watch out, www.thewritestuffmedia.com will be going all guns blazing for 2013 with some exciting opportunities on the horizon.
Designer Cally Browning and ace food snapper Craig Kinder have done a power of work on Sarogini’s Sri Lankan Food cookbook project and I need to get cracking on the words.
Ocean Magazine’s November issue features my article on the retro-trend in watches.
Always on the lookout, too, for more work…
I can be contacted on norman@normanburns.com or on +61 11 439 424 185.

best wishes
Norman Burns
Principal
TheWriteStuffMedia

Wow, looks like I’ve been pretty slack keeping this site up to date!
So, a brief recap of all things thewritestuffmedia.com…
A recent trip to Switzerland was great, attending the Baselworld watch fair and generating some stories for Box Magazine and a travel piece for Have A Go News.
Working in Shenzhen with the Xinghua (and others) crew for the world University Games was also exciting; next Universiade is in Kazan, Russia in 2014.
But first the London Olympics and I’ve been lucky enough to score a gig as a subeditor with the Olympic and Paralympic News Service.
Looking forward to all the events but tennis for Olympic gold will be extra-special – it’s being played at Wimbledon.
My tip for the final?
Roger Federer vs Canadian Milos Raonic…
I’ve got a piece going in Ocean Magazine in July on retro trends in watches as well.
Looking forward to a great trip to the UK and it will be onward and upward for thewritestuffmedia in 2013!

Hello all
My latest travel piece, The Real Japan, has just run in The West Australian Travel section.

It follows my week-long trip to the Water Cities area of Japan, not too far from Narita Airport. I love Japan and the Blade Runner-cool of Tokyo but this was altogether a more laidback affair…

Thanks to the Japan National Tourism Organisation and KNT Japan for making my trip to this fascinating part of the country so – well, fascinating!

I have more work in the latest Box Magazine ( the man behind the luxurious MCT Watches) and a bunch of articles in The Builders Choice next issue.

More work, of course, is always welcome!

best wishes
Norman

Hi all

A quick update on what’s happening with The Write Stuff Media for 2011!

Firstly, I’ve added some more examples of my work onto the Portfolio page – all from Box Magazine.

Thanks to Christine Gibson and you can check out Box Magazine at www.boxmagazine.com.au.

2011 is looming as a big year on the “Event” circuit, with the Rugby World Cup, World Swimming Championships and Pan American Games to name but a few…

As always, I am on the lookout for assignments short (and long)… just drop me an email at norman@normanburns.com.

Thanks again to Glenn Nicholas and the team at www.om4.com.au for all their great work in hosting this site.
Stay tuned for more!

Best wishes

Norman

Hard to believe that 3 1/2 weeks went so quickly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games…

Even harder to believe what a contrast it is to be in Guangzhou, China, for the 16th Asian Games.

I was in GZ in 1989 and it was a big, sprawling, shabby city with a trillion bicycles, the odd ox cart and many families getting around on retro-fitted combine harvesters.

Flash forward to 2010 and GZ is a big, sprawling shining city straight out of Blade Runner full of stunning towers (including the world’s tallest) and trillions of cars – rushhour lasts four hours and most cars seem to be only a couple of years old.

The countdown to the Asian Games is on and I am sure the Opening Ceremony will be a doozy…

Okay, a quick update on what’s happening…
I’ve a contract, ticket and vaccinations so it’s off to Delhi in about 10 days for a stint with the Commonwealth Games News Service.

Should be…. challenging!

After that, back in town for a week or so before another role in a major sports event, this time as Chief Subeditor with the Asian Games News Service in Guangzhou, China.

Wushu here I come!

Locally, I’ve had pieces published in Scoop Magazine (Life in the Fastlane, Boys Toys) and in the soon-to-be published spring issue of Box Magazine a yarn on that most desirable of watches, Rolex, plus a review of the great Baselworld Watch Expo.

Builders Choice Magazine has also provided a steady flow of assignments.

As always, I’m open to assignments, so please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Well, thewritestuffmedia.com is slowly, but surely, generating some work.

I’ll have several articles appearing soon in The Builders Choice Magazine, a niche trade magazine published from Perth’s northern suburbs….it’s been a steep learning curve, but fun!

The West ran my travel piece on Tokyo today, including a fair few pix I took…thanks to that foolproof Sony camera.

I am looking forward to expanding my workload, so stay tuned for some developments.

The Asian Games in October should be another fantastic experience, if my time in 2006 in Doha, Qatar, is any guide.

With more sports than the Olympics, it will be full-on….Twenty20 cricket and sevens rugby will be highlights but I’d hope to be able to actually go and watch the tennis and “soft tennis”; never heard of this, right…

it’s like tennis but uses smaller racquets and softer balls and has a different scoring system.

Newton said for every reaction there is an opposite reaction, thus it is with my foray into the freelance world.

I’ve spent the past 3.2 years as chief subeditor/writer with Scoop Magazine in Perth, keeping my hand in the newspaper world with regular shifts at the Sunday Times.

I’ve always dabbled in freelance stuff but, thanks to the fantastic help of Glenn Nicholas of OM4 in setting up this site and ace designer Matt Leigh for the “spacey” logo, it’s time to expand my horizons.

So anyone out there looking for help with PR, writing press releases, engaging the media, wanting someone to test out a round the world first class holiday (I’ll be objective, honest) I’m open to offers…

I’ll be putting up examples of my work and some background on experience etc soon…

Meanwhile, thanks to Tom Wolfe for coining the phrase The Right Stuff, which I have sneakily tweaked…