Christine Rowlands Writing and Editing

Today I am feeling pretty gross, but since I am freelancing, I feel like the show must go on even if I would rather not be sitting upright, typing, or reading. And when you’re sitting around all nauseous and dizzy, the last thing you want to be doing is contacting potential clients, employers or markets (i.e., magazines).

Well, at the very least, at least I can hide behind the e-mail. If I need to put my head on my desk or lie on the floor for awhile, I don’t have to worry about a boss walking by and giving me crap for slacking off in the middle of the work day.

But since I am on my own, there is the very real stress that comes about from feeling like every day, I must do something to make some money. I am lucky enough to have a husband with a good union job and health benefits, but Vancouver is an expensive city to live in and one full-time income just isn’t enough to support the whole household. The constant anxiety I feel from not earning enough to pay my share of expenses does start to take a toll on my health, and perversely makes it so that I will earn even less money because it’s hard to concentrate when I’m feeling sick, tired and overwhelmed.

So what are some of the solutions for taking care of yourself and making it so you can be energized and productive as a freelancer? Some things that I’m trying to do include meditation, taking vitamins, establishing a routine (i.e., having a regular workday schedule), and spending some time each day exercising, even if it’s just walking around the building with the dog. More difficult is trying to get the emotional and mental support for freelancing. I try to get out to meetings and events - even if I don’t talk so much to new people, they give me a chance to reconnect with my loose network of fellow writers and editors. I also find that I have to explicitly ask for support from my partner from time to time. Both of us were reared on a “job has a punch clock” mentality and it can be hard sometimes to wrap your head around the catch as catch can, feast or famine nature of freelance work.  My husband can get quite anxious about feeling like he has to be the breadwinner for the household while wifey does mysterious things with the computer all day.

But the main thing is to keep writing even when you don’t feel like it. I feel sorta kinda better now. Keep well out there, ya hear?

Could Vancouver’s next claim to fame be our literary prowess? (Quit looking at those mountains, we’ve got books to read.) Not only is there a miraculously resilient publishing industry in town (small but wiry, it is), but Vancouver is home to plenty of authors: Douglas Coupland, Steven Galloway (an old classmate done good, as profiled by another former classmate, Kevin Chong), Grant Buday, Timothy Taylor, and Barbara Hodgson.

And now, as reported by the Vancouver Writer’s Festival newsletter, there is a movement afoot to name Vancouver a “UNESCO City of Literature.” Here’s the info:

A movement is underway to have Vancouver named a UNESCO City of Literature, joining the City of Edinburgh, which received the first-ever UN designation in 2004. Does Vancouver have what it takes? Alma Lee, the founding artistic director of the Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, and Margaret Reynolds, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, will chair a public consultation on April 23 that will explore the opportunities associated with becoming a UNESCO World City of Literature. Please join us to learn more and to give your input on the project.

Wednesday, April 23, 4:00-6:00 pm
Alma van Dusen Room
Vancouver Public Library at Library Square
350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver
For more information: almalee <at> telus.net

It’s not just that we have authors who live here whose books are published, sold and read throughout the world, but also that they’re writing about the specific place that is Vancouver for the world. I get a special twinge when I read Douglas Coupland novels with plotlines that feature specific, familiar streets and neighbourhoods on the North Shore,  my hometown, or Timothy Taylor gently skewering the Vancouver restaurant scene in Stanley Park.

It’s also thrilling to see local imaginations writing about the world, as Barbara Hodgson does in her amazing illustrated novels.

It would very cool indeed if Vancouver gained this kind of cultural distinction. Of course, if I hear Gordon Campbell proclaiming our literary culture as “world class” I’ll still grit my teeth. That empty phrase, that tourism-marketing-puffery just drives me batty.

Just as every client seems to have a specific invoice they want you to use, every magazine and book publisher has their own highly particular set of submission guidelines to follow. Some welcome electronic submissions; some still specify 8 1/2 x 11 paper, double spaced type, to be packaged in an envelope marked just so, and including a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope).

Having worked on the other side, reading submissions for a well-known Western Canadian book publisher, they can impose all these little rules because even a small publisher or literary magazine receives absolute ton of submissions. They also have small budgets and limited time. And much of what is received is either wholly unpublishable (to put it nicely) or justnotquitegoodenough to fit into one a few slots available.

Which brings me to the SASE. Several markets are still holding out on that SASE requirement, citing the cost it would take to send out letters and return manuscripts.  From the writer’s point of view, including a SASE is a way to pay for your own rejection letter. Talk about insult to injury. I don’t know about you, but getting an envelope addressed to me in my own handwriting sends a little chill through my soul.

So, I’ve stopped sending SASEs, even when the guidelines require them. I don’t care what they do with my rejected manuscripts. Hell, having a little bonfire with the reject pile might be cathartic for the poor souls on the receiving end and save a few bucks on heating. And perchance my story is good enough for publication, I’m sure they can reach me via the e-mail address in my cover letter. And if they don’t want to do that, well…

Now the good news is that several magazines are starting to embrace a fully electronic submission process, letting writers e-mail submissions and responding via e-mail as well. Others are choosing a middle road and requiring paper submissions but making the SASE optional and offering to respond via e-mail.

Interestingly, for the Canadian literary/ideas magazine scene there seems to be a geographical trend in electronic submissions and rejections; the further east you go, the more likely magazines are to be e-mail friendly.

Warning: A highly unscientific sample of submission guidelines from across the land:

• Montreal: Maisonneuve accepts via e-mail or snail mail, nary a mention of Mr. SASE
• Toronto: The Walrus welcomes queries via e-mail; again no dreaded SASE mentioned
• Toronto: Descant doesn’t want e-mail submissions, but will respond via e-mail. They do want a SASE if you want the ms returned, or if you just really really want to be rejected by mail.
• Winnipeg: Prairie Fire only accepts paper submissions, but they will respond via e-mail if you ask nicely in your cover letter
• Vancouver: SubTerrain, Geist, and Event all take paper submissions only, and require SASEs for response. None will respond electronically.
• Vancouver: Memewar accepts e-mail submissions only. They reject you nicely too.

Writers, do you still send SASEs with your submissions?

Publishers - why still require SASEs when e-mail could be much faster and less hassle? Here’s my take: when I was rejecting stuff, I had to drag out the reject box, print up a bunch of form letters, figure out which SASE went with which submission and if they had the correct postage, put the reject letters in the envelopes, seal them, and make sure the postie picked them up or dragged the pile out to the mailbox. The I had to file the strays in case the writer inquired as to why we kept their manuscript, etc. It seems like it would have been much easier to set up a generic e-mail address and form letter, enter the rejectees e-mail address and hit send. The risk of crazy writers responding is one reason I’ve heard for reluctance to reject via e-mail, however.

I’ve focused mainly on the literary side of things here, and I should say that despite all the rules, these folks are the ones most open to receiving material from new writers or writers who aren’t already known to the editors. So even if I won’t pay for my own rejections, I still love you.

The Editors’ Association BC Branch has just announced their topic for the March monthly meeting and it looks like a good one: Public-Private Boundaries in Online Writing and Publishing. It will be held at the usual bat time and bat channel (7:30 pm, Wednesday, March 19 at the Y-W-C-A downtown) and features superblogger Derek K. Miller as the speaker. Derek is a well-known webwriter and tech blogger who has written extensively on his blog about undergoing treatment for cancer for the past two years.

Having written a personal blog for about four years, I know I’ve struggled with issue of how much to reveal online many times. I’ve written and deleted more posts than I count because of concerns for how certain stories and attitudes would look to the people involved, and I’ve worried endlessly about how certain posts would be received. So this should be a good talk for anyone who has ever struggled with the ethics of online publishing and personal revelation.

Admission for EAC members is free, and non-members pay $10 (students $5). For more info visit: http://editors.ca/branches/bc/meetings

A summer tradition in the publishing world is SFU’s Summer Publishing Workshops. As usual they’re offering a range of courses from one-and two-day seminars to the famous  immersion workshops.

I myself am a graduate of the two-week Book Publishing Immersion workshop, where participants simulate a publishing house and work from 8 am in the morning to 10 pm at night, 6 days a week, to create and refine book concepts, design book covers, brainstorm sales pitches and media angles, and present “the list” at the closing sales conference. Along the way you meet great people (and then try not to kill them in an argument over something like fonts or colours) and have fun. A conveniently located Liquor Store downstairs in the Harbour Centre Mall provided the red wine that saw us through to many a nightly deadline…

The range of courses means there is something for anyone looking to develop their skills in writing, editing, publishing or designing books and magazines. The courses are moderately priced and I speak from experience when I say that they’re of high quality and taught by people who know their stuff. For the full list of courses visit: www.ccsp.sfu.ca/pubworks/workshops.html.

And should you prefer to sit back and just listen, check out the Symposium on the Book. This year’s theme is crime writing, and the $75 fee includes copies of books from each of the six authors on the panel. Note: The Book Publishing Immersion Workshop also includes admission to the Symposium.

Get going, kid

Event Non-Fiction Contest #21

• Deadline: April 15, 2008
• Booty: $500 plus publication for the top three
• Details: http://www.douglas.bc.ca/community/event-magazine/contestdetails.html

Better not procrastinate too long

subTerrain’s Lush Triumphant

• Deadline: May 15, 2008
• Booty: Prize breakdown undisclosed, but there is $3,000 in prizes between the three categories, and publication
• Details: http://www.subterrain.ca/subterrain/contests/Lush%20guidelines.htm

Squamish Arts Council  Sea to Sky Literary Contest

• Deadline: June 1, 2008
• Booty: Undisclosed cash prizes, plus publication in a special supplement to the Squamish Chief
• Details: http://www.squamishartscouncil.org/pages/squamish-writers-group/2008-sea-to-sky-literary-contest.php

The Federation of BC Writers’ 20th Annual Literary Writes Competition

• Deadline: July 1, 2008
• Booty: $500 and publication in Wordworks/$300/$150
• Details: http://www.bcwriters.com/literary.php

Bags of time

Vancouver International Readers and Writers Festival 10th Annual Poetry & Short Story Contest

• Deadline: October 26, 2008 @ 5 pm sharp
• Booty: $350/$250 for each category, plus publication in subTerrain for winners
• Details: http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/news/writingcontest08

I’ve decided to start this new blog and website in order to find writing and editing work, but in order to get, you must give. So, for my first post on this new blog, here is a rundown of some of my favourite sites for getting job leads and information on writing for a living:

• Freelance Writing Jobs: This site posts a daily roundup of freelance writing job leads from around the internet. Most of the jobs come from Craigslist sites, and not all are what I would call fairly paid, but it’s a good cross-section of freelance and blogging jobs. FWJ also features posts on various aspects of writing for a living, particularly webwriting. (And if you get frustrated with the Craigslist scam scene, head on over to Craigslist Curmudgeon for catharcism.)
• Copyblogger, the blog for web copywriters now has a jobs page. The opportunities are mostly US-based, but there are many that could probably be done from anywhere.
• Jeff Gaulin: This site posts writing and media jobs for Canada. It’s pretty easy to use, although the “freelance” search function can be tricky, I find. If you’re a writer, editor, or journalist, you can promote your site here as well as spy on how others are doing it.

If you don’t belong to one already, it is probably worth joining at least one of the professional associations for access to their jobs boards and e-mail lists, as well as listing in the directory for your specialty area. Some of the big ones for communicators include:

• Editors’ Association of Canada
• Society for Technical Communication
• Public Relations Society - free access to job board
• International Association of Business Communicators

For employers, listing your job or contract with one of these societies ensures that it will be seen by a targeted, qualified community.

If you have other ideas for resources and job sites, please leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading!