Sex, Dating and Privacy Online panel today at SXSW!

If you're at SXSW Interactive or know anyone who is, tell them to come to my panel today from 5-6 at the Omni. See you there!

Vote for my SXSW panel, please!

Please do me a HUGE favor and take a small moment to register and vote for my panel and if you're an extra special rockstar, leave a comment. And also please vote for Nichelle Stephens' solo talk "Major Laser Focus: From Dilettants To Polymaths". If we go we will throw another of our fabulous Cupcake Socials in Austin!



Sex, Dating and Privacy Online Post-Weinergate

Format Panel
Organizer Rachel Kramer Bussel – Freelance
Speakers

1. Twanna Hines – Funky Brown Chick
2. Samhita Mukhopadhyay – Feministing
3. Violet Blue – Violet Blue

Description We’re living in an age when even powerful politicians can’t keep track of their digital dating trail. Employers and exes are likely reading your words. How can you write about sex, participate in online dating and social networking sites, and still maintain your privacy? Bloggers and authors Violet Blue (sex author, tech columnist; @violet blue and tinynibbles.com), Rachel Kramer Bussel (Lusty Lady, Best Sex Writing series editor), Twanna A. Hines (Funky Brown Chick®, The Late Sex Show with Twanna Hines), and Samhita Mukhopadhyay (author, Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life, Executive Editor, Feministing.com).
Questions
Answered

1. Should you use your real name for all your online profiles?
2. How can you maintain a professional presence online separate from your personal/private one?
3. How do people who write about sex professionally balance the public/private divide?
4. How can online daters and social media users ensure their anonymity and privacy?
5. How should you handle online trolls or detractors?

Serendipity and writing conferences

I often forget to email my updates to the Backspace mailing list (if you're a writer, do consider joining), but this month, I didn't forget. That led to emailing and then talking with the wonderful Karen Dionne, thriller writer and Backspace organizer, who invited me to speak at the 2010 Backspace Writers Conference which will be held in New York May 28-29, right after BEA. We're still working out what'll happen, I think I'll be moderating a panel on writing sex scenes.

I'm still trying to figure out my SXSW plans - I want to go but would need to be on a panel because I can't afford the conference cost. I'm available to talk about food blogging, dating/sex blogging, media, cupcakes, social networking and blogging...etc. rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com

And in April I go to the AWP Conference in Denver. Lots of travel booking up for 2010, which is always exciting. I love visiting new cities (and cupcakeries) and just seeing someplace new. I also want to go back to Toronto in the fall - that city came closest to being somewhere I could eventually see myself.

Quoted on Gourmet.com!

Emily Farris (of Casserole Crazy fame) wrote about my food blog panel at SXSW for Gourmet.com!

With the advent of companies like FoodBuzz, which advertises on food-related websites, it is possible to turn a passion for writing about food into a money-making venture—which is exactly what Bussel wants to see more of.

“I hope the panel gave people the sense that there’s room in the blogosphere for more food blogs, which I believe is true,” Bussel said. “As long as they are targeted and know exactly what their aim is.”

I'm really pleased with all the feedback I've seen; people have said the panel was very useful, and in turn I've been reading posts about food blogging that are very useful to me. I truly want to take Cupcakes Take the Cake to the next level, starting with the book proposal we're writing now. Then our 10,000th post celebration (we're about 1,700 posts away, so it'll be a while).

Please vote for my SXSWi Foodblogging panel "Nom Nom Nom"

The SXSW Interactive Panel Picker went live yesterday. I would really appreciate it if you'd do me a favor and register and vote for my panel proposal “Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging.”

(details below). And yes, I know there are dozens, if not hundreds of other worthy panels being proposed by my friends and colleagues. Do your research and check those out too, but, you know, please vote for mine. FREE CUPAKES! (Yes, I am up for bribing, plus I want to sample as many Austin cupcakeries as I can.) And if you can't figure out the Panel Picker system (it's easy, I promise), drop me a line at cupcakestakethecake at yahoo.com and I'll try to help.

Here's the official description:

What does it take to build a successful food blog? From niche single-food specific blogs like Cupcakes Take the Cake to broader blogs like Midtown Lunch, we’ll share the secrets of making readers hungry for more and attracting press and advertisers. Free cupcakes.

Panelists include (this may change slightly, but hopefully will stay as is):

Rachel Kramer Bussel (Moderator) of Cupcakes Take the Cake

Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakes Take the Cake

Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch

Hunter Walker, Editor-at-Large, Digital City (formerly Associate Editor, Gridskipper)

Cathy Erway, Not Eating Out in New York

Voting closes on August 29th.

I’ve yet to peruse the numerous listings, so if you are pitching a panel I should vote for/know about, please let me know at rachelkb at gmail.com (put SXSW in the subject line). Same goes if you run a unique food blog and are interested in being on the panel; that’s iffy cause right now we have enough people, but there is a chance I may need someone down the road. Thanks!