I’ve stolen the format for my about page, shamelessly, from a stellar example set by my mate Alan Baxter. I struggle with these sorts of biographical scribblings, so needed a good guide, and his was the best! So, major thanks go his way!
My 30-second bio changes all the time. Here’s the latest version:
Leticia is a 30-something blogger based in Adelaide, South Australia. She writes music criticism, character fiction, essays and screenplays; blogs about the music industry and metal in general; is a novice bellydancer; and loves good friends, good life, and good beer. You can follow her on Twitter, find her photos on Flickr or Instagr.am and read her work at www.biodagar.com.
The real deal is more interesting:
Thirty-second bios are a bit like nibbling the corners off cakes. You get a snippet of something interesting, but it’s never enough. Here’s the real deal.
I’m a trained professional writer and editor, and have formerly been strongly involved in the local Society of Editors.
In my younger years I was quite a prolific writer, and have been published in a few anthologies. Two of these are out of print, and were published by the University of South Australia (of which I am an alumni). The others you can still get are:
Australasian Short Stories, published by Spiny Babbler in Nepal.
The Sex Mook, published by Vignette Press in Melbourne.
This is the Sex Mook. Image courtesy SPUNC (it links to the SPUNC page)
I started writing music journalism while I was at uni, for the UniSA paper Entropy. After I left uni, I was headhunted by my former editor (and live music photographic extraordinaire) Rod Magazinovic, to write for him for the online mag FasterLouder, which I did for several years. During this time I cut my teeth on some fantastic interviews (my first ever proper interview was with the almighty Rob Halford) and really started to build a bit of a profile. When FasterLouder cut back on their metal publishing, I started looking elsewhere… and eventually produced my own magazine, Metal as Fuck.
In 2008 I started my own publishing house, Brascoe Publishing. This was a doomed venture, and it ended in 2009.
After closing Brascoe down, I moved purely into copywriting, which I still kind of do. That website, Brutal Pixie, is here. My copywriting clients are many and varied. I moved a thesis into a website; wrote tons of articles on effective online marketing (and more besides) for the fabulous guys at Clever Starfish, and many many other things. I love freelancing because it pays so well, but I’m keen on winding that down too, now. Especially since getting a ‘real job’!
During my time with Brascoe, I edited some excellent works:
Cry for Health by Jesse Sleeman
History of the Introduction of Lithium into Medicine and Psychiatry, by Johan Schioldann
… and numerous articles and theses for academics and students.
Brascoe was the vehicle by which I built, launched, and ran the fabulous online metal magazine Metal as Fuck. This was my proudest achievement, and even after I closed the publishing house I continued to produce and edit it. By our second year, we had thousands of followers on Twitter, and hundreds and hundreds of fans on Facebook, and had started gaining some really positive press both locally and internationally.
Many of my writers and photographers I adore. And most of my recommended links here go to those guys’ works. I feel really privileged to have worked with so many beautiful, wonderful, talented people worldwide. Few people get an experience like it.
By early 2011, needing a change of direction (i.e. stable employment and time to relax), I got a real job and sold Metal as Fuck to Radar Media, who now run the ‘zine with aplomb.
So now, I write primarily for this blog; and occasionally get requests to guest at other magazines, so my finger is still in the music industry/criticism pie. The most recent spot I’ve got is at Alternative Matter in Holland, which publishes material on the not-so-mainstream side of metal.
And, lately, I’ve moved into metal publicity,with a view to building a publicity roster. My guineapigs-in-arms are Sweden’s Another Hell. Read more about this here.
Me during Miserlou veil, September 2011
The history of my blog
In about 2006 or 2007 I started blogging over at Blogspot; then moved to wordpress; then in 2009 (I think) scored my own domain. It originally started purely as a writing portfolio, to keep track of the articles, reviews and pieces I had published around the web.
Eventually it branched out into my fiction, essays, rants on various issues, music industry commentary, and my Music Journalism 101, which I wrote because no other course existed online at the time.
Now, this site is a bit of everything. I’ve got into cooking, so occasionally I post a recipe or foodie things; I craft a bit, so I post that here; I blog about my life and goings on. But it is still primarily a vehicle for my criticism.
And why Biodagar? It’s one of my most favourite films, and it’s Icelandic. Make sure you see it!
I hope you enjoy what you see here! Read, leave comments, and keep in touch.
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