Sandakan Parish holds workshop for writers

A half-day workshop on Basic Writing Skills was held on Dec 29, 2018. It was organised by the Parish Pastoral Council in collaboration with the Parish Social Communication Committee (SOCCOM) and St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Office. Fifteen participants, including Pilis Malim, Chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council, attended the workshop.

Kathlyn D’Souza, a journalist from one of the popular social magazines in Kuala Lumpur, facilitated the workshop. She hails from Sandakan but is currently based in Kuala Lumpur. At the beginning of the workshop, Kathlyn shared her experience in becoming a journalist and how enjoyable it is. In her session on writing, she explained the different types of writing which include:

— Press Releases
— News Story
— Newspaper and Magazine Feature Story
— Narrative Writing and
— Devotional

“When writing a report, please don’t be afraid of your imagination. Have fun, explore any or all angles possible, and be relatable and open. In writing, there is no right or wrong, you are free to write and try to have fun,” she said. She also shared on how to draw the audience to read an article through a catchy and punchy headline.

Pilis Malim, in his sharing, said that there would be no problem in writing articles on church events for SOCCOM members because they have acquired the basic skills in writing. He thanked the speaker for her time in conducting the talk on basic writing skills.

He also thanked all participants for their generous support. He hoped that the just-concluded workshop would produce a few committed writers.

Mdm Cecelia Polo, one of the participants, expressed her appreciation to the speaker. She hoped that church events would be properly covered and posted in the blog so that parishioners could keep up with happenings in the church.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online