The Globe and Mail: “But strong principles, they endure”

This week, the Thomson family announced that they are now hold 85 per cent of the shares in The Globe and Mail,  a result of the sale of CTV to Bell. No more Globemedia: the newspaper stands alone.

The Globe’s Saturday edition includes a compelling and entertaining editorial explaining this transaction and celebrating, deservedly, the newspaper’s new situation. We should all celebrate a nationally distributed news source that operates free of political or corporate involvement.

The editorial includes some wonderful tidbits about the late Roy Thomson, the media mogul whose family is once again solely in charge.  “The Canadian People Deserve A Free and Fearless Press!” read the ad that Mr. Thomson – then the owner of a series of dailies across Canada – took out in The Globe and Mail in 1951. You have to love this.

In fact, I love The Globe.  I’ve been a Globe reader since about 1960 (the year I learned to read). My brothers and I waged fierce battle over the sports section and the comics at the breakfast table. Gradually I learned to appreciate our morning newspaper as a source of not only news, but also opinion and entertainment.

Being published in this newspaper was one of my greatest thrills as a writer.

You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?  I’ve already written about my disappointment in The Globe and Mail’s 2008 change of policy concerning payment for writers of essays published on the Facts & Arguments page, “Why I can’t send my essays to The Globe and Mail and why you shouldn’t either”.

I believe that a basic principle of publishing is being abused. The title of Saturday’s editorial reads: “Editorial autonomy, financial acumen, real media values.”  How do “financial acumen” and “real media values” equal not paying writers for the privilege of using their work?  If the writing deserves to be published, the writer deserves to be paid.

I emailed John Stackhouse, Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail with my concerns, but he didn’t reply. Perhaps now, in light of these positive changes at the newspaper, and as a follow-up to the sentiments expressed (by him?) in Saturday’s editorial, it’s time for Mr. Stackhouse and the Globe powers-that-be to live up to the standards they so publicly celebrate.

“But strong principles, they endure”, Saturday’s editorial proclaims in its final sentence. 

I agree completely.  Please, writers and readers, ask The Globe and Mail  to pay its Facts & Arguments writers. Mr. Stackhouse didn’t listen to my voice, but he and the decision-makers he reports to might listen to ours.

_______________________________________

John Stackhouse, Editor-in-Chief  jstackhouse@globeandmail.com

Phillip Crawley, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer

The Globe and Mail

444 Front St. W., Toronto, ON Canada M5V 2S9

___________________________________________

 

Technorati Tags: Globe and Mail,Roy Thomson,Globemedia,CTV,Bell,John Stackhouse,Facts & Arguments,Phillip Crawley,sale of CTV to Bell,writers,payment for writers

Penguin UK (briefly) accepts electronic submissions: Really?

The news is all over Twitter and the blogosphere: from August to October 2010, Penguin UK is accepting unsolicited queries – electronically.

No agent, no SASE, no full manuscript – just a covering message and a synopsis in an email.

Really?

Sure enough, there it is on the website:

People frequently ask us how to go about getting published. Our company policy is to not accept unsolicited manuscripts or synopses and we cannot enter into correspondence about unpublished work. However, for a limited three-month period from the beginning of August until the end of October 2010, we will be inviting submissions to be sent in electronically to the following address: submissions@uk.penguingroup.com.

We ask that email submissions comprise a brief covering note and synopsis and not a full manuscripts. Please do not send attachments, please write out your cover note and synopsis in the body of the email. We remain unable to accept hard copy submissions and will not return or be responsible for the safety of any that we do receive, so please do not send any original or hard copy manuscripts to us. We will not contact you with feedback on your submission and will only enter into email correspondence with you if an editor within Penguin is keen to progress your idea.

So here are my three questions for Penguin UK:

1. Will your Inbox overflow and crash?

2. Are you aware of how many unpublished authors will be hitting the Send button in the next few months?

3.  How are your poor acquisition editors going to keep from drowning under the deluge?

And here is a thought for writers considering taking Penguin UK up on its offer:

You’ve planned, written, revised, shed blood and tears over your manuscript. You love it/hate it at the same time. It’s part of you and you want to share it with the world.

How can you win if you don’t have a ticket?

Send, Unpublished Authors, send!

I can’t wait to hear whose pitch makes it to the top of the pile – and how Penguin UK deals with the sudden spike in submissions.

How will this story end?

It’s Okay To Take A Break: Went to the Yukon and didn’t write a thing

I did have a plan: go to the Yukon on a much-anticipated family holiday and spend two weeks drinking it all in and writing about it.

The drinking part? No problem.

The writing? Well, that’s another story, which I will illustrate with an anecdote.

A number of years ago, we went to a family wedding. It was a perfect day, and the reception was in full swing, with dancing, visiting and general good cheer all round. I was enjoying myself, certainly, but I was alone.

Why? Because my dear husband was flitting around like a paparazzo on steroids, capturing every wedding guest’s every move on film. The camera was sizzling as he dashed all over the room snapping hundreds of photos to give to the bride and groom later. A lovely thought, but it meant his only view of the event was through the lens of a camera. 

Finally, one of the bridesmaids grabbed him by the arm, pulled him over to the table where I sat watching with amusement, and hollered: “Dance with your wife!”

Sheepishly, he put down the camera and we joined the action.

I thought of this story as we experienced the Yukon’s many spectacular offerings.

“I should be writing about this!” I nagged myself when a fox unexpectedly planted itself in front of our car, like Mother Nature’s toll keeper, on the way to Bonanza Creek.

“Describe it!” I muttered, mesmerized by the never-ending chain of blue-grey mountains and green hills lining both sides of the Dempster Highway in Tombstone Territorial Park.

It had been my intention all along to write about my trip, even send a few pieces off for possible publication. But once I got there, it was a completely different story. If I had spent my time finding stories to write about or considering markets that might publish my musings, I would have seen it all through the screen on my computer, not through my own two eyes.

So the notebook and computer got a rest. Let’s face it: I got a rest too. Instead of self-imposed deadlines, I enjoyed a relaxing family vacation and an unforgettable experience in one of Canada’s less-travelled territories.

The lesson learned? Writers are allowed to take a break from writing. When the time is right, I’ll put those memories into print. I stopped nagging myself and – like my husband at the wedding – got up on the dance floor to be part of the action.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Yukon,Tombstone Territorial Park,Bonanza Creek,Dempster Highway,writing,taking a break from writing

Facts & Arguments: Why I can’t send my essays to The Globe and Mail, and why you shouldn’t either

All last week, The Globe and Mail celebrated 20 years of publishing Facts & Arguments essays. 

I have had five of my essays published on the Facts & Arguments page, and each time, it was a thrill and an honour to see my name in print and know that people across Canada were reading my words, learning something about me.  One of those essays, “The Roots of Her Story”, won a national writing award from the Professional Writers Association of Canada.  And I was paid $100 for each of those pieces, a fairly low fee for 800 words, but a satisfactory arrangement, considering that I could say that my work had appeared in The Globe and Mail.

When The Globe pays a writer for publication, they also pay for the right to sell that piece of writing from their electronic database.  My essays have appeared in all sorts of odd places, some of them, I suspect, not paid for.  But I didn’t fret too much about that because I had, after all, been paid for my work.

But if I were to submit an essay to Facts & Arguments today, that would not be the case. Since 2008 The Globe and Mail no longer pays writers for essays published in Facts & Arguments.

At a writers’ conference a number of years ago, Moira Dann, at that time the editor of the F & A page, suggested to a room full of writers that The Globe didn’t need to pay its essay contributors, that being published in a national newspaper was payment enough.  Apparently her bosses feel the same way.

But the problem is, The Globe and Mail benefits from these essays.  It can boast – or celebrate, as it did last week – about the appeals of the Facts & Arguments page.  It can sell these pieces from its electronic database.  All without paying the writer who supplied the essay. 

I sent a Letter to the Editor, but I didn’t really think it would be published – and I was right.  I wrote:

The art of writing a personal essay is more difficult than readers may think. A great deal of thought, skill and awareness is required in order to create a compelling essay that transforms a self-indulgent story about, for instance, the death of a relative (or pet, or marriage) into a poignant and meaningful piece of writing. I’ve been proud to see five of my essays published on the Facts & Arguments page – but I stopped submitting my work when The Globe and Mail stopped paying F & A writers for the privilege of using their words.  The Facts & Arguments essay was intended by its creator, William Thorsell, to be the “centerpiece of personal writing quite unlike anything else in the newspaper.”  If the writing deserves to be published, the writer deserves to be paid.  

Sadly – and I mean that word in its truest sense, I am sad - I won’t be submitting any more essays to Facts & Arguments until The Globe and Mail pays for the privilege of using my words. I will continue to send Letters to the Editor, and lobby my fellow writers, and email the Publisher of The Globe and Mail.  I don’t really expect anything to change.  Why would it, when so many eager essayists submit their work to the F & A editors every week?  The Globe wins, and I lose.

But I think what they are doing is wrong.

If the writing deserves to be published, the writer deserves to be paid.

Technorati Tags: globe and mail,facts and arguments,facts & arguments,moira dann,personal essays,william thorsell,writers,payment for writers

Elora Writers’ Festival Young Writers Contest: Celebrating young writers never gets old

Sunday, June 6 was a big day in Elora.  For one thing, it was the day of the Elora Writers’ Festival, a wonderful afternoon of readings from six Canadian authors writing in a variety of styles and voices: Giller Prize winner Linden MacIntyre, Bonnie Burnard, Ray Robertson, poet Barry Dempster, Pasha Malla (“It’s a writer’s festival; will there be rides?”), and Terry Fallis reading from his hilarious political satire. All wonderful.

But the highlight for me happened a few hours before the Festival, when I had the pleasure of announcing the winners of the Young Writers Contest to a room full of young writers and their parents.  Who knew so many kids would turn up for this specially-organized celebration of young writers?  And who knew so many of the winners would be there to receive their prizes? 

Judges Heather Wright and Kira Vermond spoke to the audience about the challenges of choosing one piece of writing over another.  I encouraged the kids to think of themselves as writers and be proud of their efforts, win or lose.

Afterwards, kids and parents came up to say thanks – thanks for running the contest, thanks for hosting this event, thanks for the prizes.

No, kids.  Thank YOU!  Canada’s literary future is in excellent hands – yours!

Technorati Tags: Elora Writers' Festival,Linden MacIntyre,Bonnie Burnard,Ray Robertson,Barry Dempster,Pasha Malla,Terry Fallis,Heather Wright,Kira Vermond,young writers,writing competition,young writers contest

Pretending to be a Librarian: Five Reasons Why Librarians Have the Best Job in The World

The view from my desk, at left.

Today – in fact, all week – I am pretending to be the librarian at my son’s school.  While the professional is away on a week’s vacation, the amateur (moi) is sitting at the desk, checking books in and out, helping with the occasional research request, shelving the returns, reading stories and poems to every class in the lower grades and, basically, providing access.

What a gift!  To be able to spend the whole day surrounded by books.  To be able to read stories to kids (not a relative among them) and hear their responses. To pretend to be a librarian.

So, in honour of my temporary gig, here’s a list of reasons why I believe librarians have the best job in the world.

1. Books. Surrounded by books.  Handling books. The feel, smell, sight, sound of books.  You can have your Kindle, people.  Give me a real book any day. 

2. Readers.  Readers love discussing books with other readers.  Imagine having a job that requires you to interact daily, and in a concrete way, with readers?  Talking about books, authors, stories, illustrations…heaven!

3. Kids. In a school library, kids are the energy that lights the room.  They are hungry for books, information and stories.  And reading a story out loud to a group of attentive children must be at the top of the Fun Things To Do In A Library hit list. 

4. Information.  Tons of it.  Some of it accessed through computers, some of it found by lifting a book off the shelf and leafing through its pages.  The room positively hums with information, all waiting to be discovered. And every source has been searched out, vetted and tested by a librarian.  They are the wizards of research.

5. Oasis. Refuge. Peace. Order.  Like water to a thirsty traveller, a safe haven in stressful times, a quiet corner to escape the chaos of daily life, a place where numbers and letters tell you exactly where to find what you’re looking for…

That’s the world librarians create. Wish I could do this job every day!

 

Technorati Tags: library,librarian,Kindle,school library,books

The end of the Writer In Residence adventure: Roots and Wings

When all was said and read, they gave me roses.

Truthfully, I didn’t need any token of thanks – the experience of working with fifteen gifted young writers was thanks enough.  And hearing them present their stories with poise and professionalism in front of an audience of parents, teachers, school administrators and peers was inspiring. 

It had been an eight-month journey which began with a getting-to-know-you afternoon (we called it a “writers’ sweatshop”), continued with one-on-one feedback, lots of emails, and a session devoted to fine-tuning (e.g. “show, don’t tell”) – or nudging and tweaking, as I like to call it.

The final step was our evening of readings.  The study room was transformed into an elegant theatre, with tablecloths, centerpieces, soft lighting and vases of pink roses on every table.  Just like a “real” authors night!  In fact it was a real authors night, and as their companion on this journey, I was so very proud of what we accomplished together.

I believe that education gives us roots; education in the arts gives us wings.  The world needs people who can fly, and my young writers are well on their way to soaring.

And…they gave me roses!

 Jean Mills, Writer

Technorati Tags: writer in residence,show don't tell,young writers,education in the arts