Editorial

We hope that you enjoyed the summer months and found time to step away from your desks and relax. This time last year, Kath organised her first ‘Medical Writers’ Retreat’, the aim of which was to provide an opportunity for fellow freelancers to spend a day away from the office to ‘work on their business’, network, and attend a group coaching session with international life and business coach Elaine Bailey. In this issue of Out On Our Own, Kath describes her motives for organising the event and her experiences as organiser, while fellow freelancer Alysia Battersby gives an attendee's account.

How did we all keep in touch before Facebook and Twitter? Social media is taking up space in our personal lives, and is becoming an increasingly important tool in business for networking, marketing, and keeping in touch with clients. In the first of a new series on different aspects of social media for freelancers, Jane Tricker explores how social media can be used for networking.

Our Freelance Foraging feature will help keep those holiday spirits alive and make you smile, with a couple of amusing snapshots courtesy of Sam. You'll never look at an aircraft safety card in quite the same way again! Please send us your humorous photos for publishing in future editions of Out On Our Own.

The minutes for the Freelance Business Forum (FBF) at the May 2013 EMWA Spring Conference in Manchester are now on the EMWA website and we look forward to catching up with you in person once more at the EMWA conference in Barcelona on Friday, 8 November 2013 at 17.15. With so many new freelancers joining us at each FBF, we see a repeat of questions largely relating to acquiring clients and setting up and running a business. If you require such information, please go to the Freelance Resource Centre (FRC) on the EMWA website (www.emwa.org). Log in to the ‘members-only’ section, click ‘Resources’, then ‘Freelance Resource Centre’, and browse. The FRC contains a plethora of information about different aspects of business management as well as many other useful documents and guidelines relating to medical writing.

Kathryn White

Kathryn@cathean.co.uk

Sam Hamilton

sam@samhamiltonmwservices.co.uk