Posted by Lima Al-Azzeh

Torrential winds didn't deter this group of Suite101 writers from joining us at Suite101's Toronto Meetup. Nine writers met with myself, editor Cindy McGlynn and editor Sarah B. Hood for an evening of rustic Italian fare enjoyed by the fire.

We exchanged anecdotes, laughs, and writing tips throughout the evening. It was delightful to learn more about the members of Suite101's community.

Contributing Writer Rachel West intermittently checked her phone in case she was called in for a television emergency. West is in charge of scheduling television programs for several stations in the Canadian television industry, including scheduling when each commercial airs and for how long. This jobs calls for extreme precision and organization to ensure that TV watchers don't miss a single bit of television action. The live finale of "The Biggest Loser" was set to air that night, and West was on call in case anything went awry. Thankfully, her phone remained silent and she was able to fully enjoy the evening with us.

Dominic von Riedemann (Feature Writer for Animated Films) has been with Suite101 since 2007 and so far can be counted as one of the most prolific Suite101 writers with over 1400 articles. Von Riedemann is also responsible for the launch of two other Suite careers, those of his best friend Dominic Messier (Contributing Writer) and Messier's wife, Naomi Szeben (Contributing Writer).

In fact, what started out as an opportunity to engage in their love of film study and film critique, soon turned into a competition of "one up". Von Riedemann served as Messier's mentor in the early days, and as they both became comfortable with their online work, they started to discuss how they might leverage Suite101's reputation as a site with over 14 million unique visitors per month (at the time) to get on the press lists of major motion-picture studios. The two best friends engaged in a friendly rivalry for the attention of press agents, constantly calling one another and reporting their latest successes, "I got Disney this morning, who did you get?".

"As a matter of course, we'd share our contacts with one another, and so help each other get ahead" says von Riedemann and help each other they did. Not only did the two Doms become sought after critics, with invitations to press screenings with major directors like Disney/Pixar's Andrew Stanton, but Messier's work on Suite101 inevitably landed him a full-time job as a writer for Bell Sympatico's inMovies.ca. How did von Riedemann feel about this? "I realized I had just received the highest compliment a teacher could get: my student had surpassed me ... [I] was glad he was able to make a living doing something he genuinely loved."

The evening was a terrific success with everyone leaving with a head full of ideas and a belly full of pizza and vino. Thank you to all for attending and a special thanks to Contributing Writer Lori Bosworth for supplying some of the photos found on our Flickr page.

Stay tuned for more news on the adventures of Suite Interactive!