Paul Cipywnyk's Blog

BC Artist James Koll Posts New Works to Website

I received an email from BC artist James Koll today about new pieces posted to his website. Coincidentally, the topic of art came up on the Editors' Association of Canada email list recently, with people sharing info about artists whose works they'd bought. I mentioned Koll and his website, and here are a few comments:

"Koll's work is beautiful and, from the photos, exceptionally well crafted. The next time I'm back in B.C. I'll make it a point to see some of his work; I'm in love with it, even via the Internet. A new slant on Internet dating?"

"Thanks so much for sharing this link."

"I like his Burrard Street at Night--lovely."

"Ooo--another great site."

Cumulative Effects of Watching TV a Killer

From an article in today's Vancouver Sun, sourced from Agence France-Presse:

"Relax in front of the TV much? Be warned, each hour you spend there boosts chances of a premature death by 11 per cent..."

So, math wizards, how many hours does it take to ensure death by TV?

Later on the article makes a bit more sense:

"... an hour of television time a day delivers an 11-per cent higher risk of early death..."

But even this is ridiculous. What about an hour a day of sitting and reading? An hour a day of sitting at a desk and working? An hour a day of any sedentary activity? Why only TV?

Hm, and then the article slips back into weirdness yet again:

"People who watch television four hours a day see their increased rate of death from any cause by 46 per cent, and from cardiovascular disease it soars by 80 per cent." [And no, I did not miss any words in that quotation.]

Huh? People who watch television see their increased rate of death..? I thought they saw various programs :-).

ADD:  And as an editing colleague points out, isn't the "risk of death from any cause" already 100%?

National Post dumps ‘The’ with Ukraine, Kiev finally becomes Kyiv

As one who has supported the usage of "Ukraine" alone, I am pleased to note that in today's National Post, "senior editors have ruled that 'the Ukraine' is verboten. And the country's capital is now to be given as Kyiv, not 'Kiev.'"

PCs Advocate Rough Treatment for Liberal Senators?

Great editing catch by a fellow Editors' Association of Canada member. B. A. sent this SITW (Seen In The Wild) post to the EAC mail list, as seen on the National Post website:

The photo caption reads:

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says Liberal Senators who voted to weaken her
product safety bill "are putting the health and safety of Canadian families at risk."

Teen Sexting to Kill Us All?

I had a good laugh at a headline boo-boo in an email from CNET today - as you can see as you read further, it's not about hormone-fueled kids and cute vampires :-).

I delight in such editing slips because. . . I'm an editor and it happens to all of us.

Has Anyone Read Hemingway?

The question came up on the Editors' Association of Canada mailing list today, and here's my response:

It's been awhile since I've read Hemingway. I went on a binge :-) of his writing, and writing about him, about 20 years ago. Some of his stuff is very good, some may feel dated now, and, like any writer, there are weak patches.

I think his writing has been (and to some extent perhaps always was) overshadowed by his persona. And in death the persona grew even larger. I've seen the strangest documentaries on his life. By chance there was a scathing review in today's Vancouver Sun of a "new release" of his classic A Moveable Feast, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture of attempts by his heirs to "improve" on his work and cash in along the way.

My bottom line? At his best, I think he was one of the best. I just wonder how many people read him any more, how much he is now of a certain (bygone) era, and how many just wear the T-shirt.

‘The’ Ukraine?

The "The Ukraine" topic came up as part of a larger "The" usage thread on the Editors' Association of Canada mailing list again recently.

Didn't we discuss, a few months back, some geographic names that take "the"? Places like the NW Territories, the Ukraine, the Argentine, the Arctic, etc.

Here's my response:

I thought "The Ukraine" had finally died (though I see it's listed as an option in Canadian Oxford 2). I've never seen the need for a "the" on it.

I don't know why the use of the "the" ever arose in the first place. But to me it always seemed to be somehow diminishing, second class, not quite worthy of nationhood. With Ukraine's history of being constantly invaded, split up and forcibly incorporated into various empires, and subjected to repeated programs aimed at wiping out its language and culture, Ukrainians can feel rather sensitive about such things.

"Ukraine" in ITP Nelson does not list "The Ukraine," all the definition says is:

"A region and republic of E. Europe; came under control of Lithuania in the mid-14th cent. and was a constituent republic of the USSR from 1922 to 1991."

Huh? That's it? The blind man describing the elephant?

I also note that neutral phrasing: "came under control of" and "was a constituent republic of." Sounds like Ukes happily bought into both regimes, eh?

What’s Wrong With This FP Picture?

The joys of middle age: I can easily spot mistakes like this one in today's Financial Post:

That ain't no Monte Carlo!

A Plague of Plagiarism?

There's been some discussion on the Editors' Association of Canada mailing list recently about plagiarism and how to detect it. Here are my perceptions of overall trends:

I believe there is an ongoing technological and cultural shift that is blurring the issue of plagiarism in people's minds. We have become a copycat, copying world, and the digitization of content has made it effortless to make exact copies of text, graphics/photos, audio and video. This is not by any means a new idea or concern, and I'm sure there is research on this trend, but here are a few words off the top of my head.

In my youth we learned relatively simple analog copying from LP to cassette, from TV to VCR; however, such copying took as much time to accomplish as the length of the original recording. Now everything is digital files that can be copied and transferred from medium to medium in seconds or minutes at the click of a mouse. Kids have grown up with digital audio players (iPods et al), personal video recorders (PVRs) that amass hundreds of hours of one's favourite TV programs, and computers and the 'Net.

This digitization also makes it easy to non-destructively break down files and use snippets of original works. Kids are now encouraged to do "mashups" using text, graphics, audio and video, and web designers "suck" and "scrape" data from all over the 'Net for inclusion in re-purposed or re-branded websites. It's par for the course for bloggers and Twitterers to copy and use ideas/data, though most abide by precepts of acknowledgment, including citation, mutual linking, blog rolls and the RT (reTweet) function.

When I did my MA a couple of years ago after a 20-year hiatus from the halls of higher learning, I was pleased, amazed, and finally shocked at how easy it was to "do research" by logging into the university library from the comfort of one's home computer, and copy and paste relevant bits from peer-reviewed papers in respected journals downloaded in their entirety from databases. I kept such notes and quotations in a different font to make sure they stood out on the screen as I wrote papers. A far cry from physically entering the library, combing through the card catalogs and stacks, and taking notes by hand on 3 X 5 cards!

I have encountered situations in which people have copied copyrighted and trademarked material wholesale and passed it off in their "own works" -- entire swaths of writing, not just a sentence here or there -- only to have them deny that they'd done anything wrong. Pressing the issue resulted only in anger, incredibly (to my mind) broad definitions of "fair use," or a blanket dismissal that I wasn't with it.

Now I believe there are upsides to this technological/cultural revolution. I'm a fan of open-source movements that originated in software development and are gradually encompassing photography, audio/video production, and publishing. I appreciate the benefits of "open-source learning," which entails a lot of collaborative group work in educational settings. The key here is that people who honestly contribute original work are recognized by their peers in a self-policing atmosphere of mutual respect, acknowledgment, and encouragement.

Whether or not the positive influences of such open-source concepts overcome the temptations of cut-and-paste plagiarism remains to be seen. The bottom line is not technology, despite my focus on technological developments. Technology doesn't set ethical standards, though I wonder if it can undermine them. It's the people using the technology that need to know better.

Perhaps the cookie jar of original research and artistic production has become too easy to access and copy. A strange statement coming from me, since I despise DRM (digital rights management) and censorship. But I realize that I am human, and when there are cookies easily accessible, I know I'll be tempted to gobble them up, though if I had to bake them from scratch I'd think twice about the effort. At least I know that I wouldn't pass off store-bought cookies, or the neighbour's muffins, as my own!

I see that my argument is getting mired down, and my mind is not keeping up with my fingers on the keyboard, so I'd better quit now before I get stuck. Time to get back to work. Perhaps I'll write another mini-essay extending this topic another day.

Language Lanterns Founders to Receive Inaugural CFUS Translation Prize

CFUS is awarding its first George S. N. Luckyj Ukrainian Literature Translation Prize to my aunt, Roma Franko, and my late mother, Sonia Morris:

Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies
www.cfus.ca
416-766-9630

May 19, 2009

MEDIA RELEASE

The Board of Directors of the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Roma Franko and her sister, the late Sonia Morris have been selected as the first recipients of the George S. N. Luckyj Ukrainian Literature Translation Prize.

The Prize is named in honour of the late Professor George S. N. Luckyj, an eminent Ukrainian Canadian Slavist, editor, and translator of Ukrainian literature. It was created to encourage the translation of Ukrainian literary works into English and other major languages and consists of a monetary gift in the amount of $2,000.

Roma Franko and Sonia Morris are being awarded the Luckyj Prize for their dedication to and tremendous efforts and achievements in translating Ukrainian literature into English and making it accessible to a wide reading audience. After taking early retirement from their respective academic careers at the University of Saskatchewan in 1996, the sisters embarked on new careers, Roma Franko as translator and Sonia Morris as editor. Together they founded Language Lanterns Publications dedicated to publishing works of Ukrainian literature in English translation. They imposed on themselves what seemed a daunting schedule of publishing at least two books of literary translations per year. In 1998, a series entitled Women’s Voices in Ukrainian Literature was launched. By 2000, the first set of six books in this series was completed. The series includes translated prose of Ukrainian women writers of the 19th century. To date, seventeen volumes have appeared translated by Roma Franko and edited by Sonia Morris. A further three volumes are in preparation. Roma Franko currently lives in Toronto. Sonia Morris passed away in 2007.

The Prize will be presented to Dr. Franko and the family of the late Sonia Morris on June 3, 2009 at the UNF Library Dinner in Toronto. The names of the recipients will be inscribed on a plaque that will be permanently displayed in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto.

CFUS is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to securing funds and other resources that will promote the growth and development of Ukrainian studies in Canada in perpetuity. The work of CFUS is supported by the generosity of individuals through donations, bequests, and endowments.

For further information, please contact:
Natalka Zyla
Office Administrator, CFUS

Punctuation, Mechanics Rock -- Really!

Who says punctuation and mechanics are boring? Frances Peck led a great session today on the topic at an Editors' Association of Canada BC chapter workshop. Frances works with West Coast Editorial Associates, and also teaches at Simon Fraser University and Douglas College. If you think editors don't need punctuation workshops, you'd be wrong -- a refresher never hurts as today's session proved.

Setting Up a Business

Recently a student in the Print Futures program at Douglas Collage interviewed me about the freelance writing and editing life, and how I felt about future prospects in the sector. Today she followed up with a question about registering a sole proprietorship in BC (you go girl! :-), so I provided her with the following list of resources.

When I was setting up our company, I found the BC One-Stop Business Registry to be invaluable.

They have tons of great info, plus name search/registration, GST signup, etc. It might look a bit daunting at first, but it's actually not that difficult once you get into it.

Small Business BC is another great business resource. And it offers several guides, some downloadable as PDFs.

Another good resource is books from Self-Counsel Press that can walk you through the setting-up-a-business process.

They have several good titles including:

Start & Run a Consulting Business
Start & Run a Copywriting Business
Start & Run a Creative Services Business
Start & Run a Desktop Publishing Business
Canadian Legal Guide for Small Business

Many banks often have free brochures on setting up and running small businesses as well.

Obama's New, Simple, Straight-Shooting Language

NPR on 'The Art of Language, Obama-Style':

http://tinyurl.com/btmz9r

"Because he understands on a profound level that language is the way to hearts and minds, it makes sense to observe his word choice and manner of speaking very closely. In terms of style, Obama has a new way with words. Obamantics, maybe?"

Obama's way of speaking is a lesson to all communicators, speechwriters, writers and editors.

Friday Feast of Media Glitches

As an editor by trade, I can't help but notice when things go awry on the printed page. We all need editors. Editors need editors! Here are three items that popped out at me this morning:

1) From a Vancouver Courier article about the Stream of Dreams Murals Society, of which I chair the board.

Part of the article describes the history of how the watershed education/community art program started. The first mural went around a vacant, rubble-filled lot ten years ago:

...The eyesore sat abandoned while the owner fought with the city council of the day for permission to build a hotel.

"I just looked horrible," says [SDMS founder] Towell...

Yes, "I" should have been "It".

It was a great story, though!

2) The Vancouver Sun waffles on usage with Canadian Forces on page B1:

"The Canadian Forces have been taking a low-key approach to its involvement in the Games."

3) The Vancouver Sun slashes the population of the GVRD, now known as Metro Vancouver, on page A6:

"The total amount of regional parkland increased to 66,300 hectares in 2006.... But due to increased population, the amount of parkland per capita dropped to 29.8 hectares...."

Hm, that puts the Metro Vancouver population at 2,225.

Obama Speech Websites

I ran across these websites that will be useful for the speechwriting course that I'm taking. Whatever your political leanings, Obama has had some great speeches, both in the writing and the delivery.

The official inauguration website.

The Barack Obama website page featuring his speeches.

Speechwriting Course

I've signed up for a speechwriting course with Colin Moorhouse -- check it out here. I heard Colin speak some years ago and was impressed. If you're a freelance writer or editor, you should subscribe to his newsletter.

I expect the course will stimulate my brain, and perhaps add to my services.

Michael Jackson Big For Age

On the National Post's letters page today there is a photo of the Jackson Five, "circa 1960."

Michael is looking pretty big for a 2-year-old toddler, born in August 1958! :-).

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1170147

If that doesn't work, go to National Post, Letters, and the "Motown" item.

Language Lanterns Carries On

My mom, Sonia Morris, was a founder of Language Lanterns Publications Inc. along with her sister Roma Franko.

At the time of her passing, Mom and Roma had published 15 volumes of translations of Ukrainian literature into English, accomplishing this immense task after they both retired from the University of Saskatchewan. Roma translated, Mom edited, and I helped out with proofreading and the website.

Roma intends to publish five more volumes over the coming years that Mom had already worked on, and I will help Roma achieve that goal. It'll be a challenge filling Mom's shoes, but it's the least we can do to honour and respect her memory.

National Post Sows Descent

In today's National Post, the RCMP takes on the Mafia in Montreal, "sowing descent and confusion among gangsters."

I guess this means: "You're going down, punk!"

Strategy? Tactics? What Enemy?

From a listing for the History Channel on the Zap2It online channel lineup:

"Strategic bombing is the tactic of dropping explosives on the enemy nation."

Huh? At least we're not bombing ourselves...

National Post Melts Water

There was a puzzling headline on page A6 in the National Post today:

Arctic Waters Melting As Temperatures Pass Records

Huh?

Writing, Editing and the 2010 Olympics

The BC branch of the Editors' Association of Canada featured a presentation on writing, editing and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at the April meeting tonight.

Sam Corea, Manager of Editorial Services for VANOC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee, talked about communications, media relations, and editorial services required by the Winter Games.

The amount of paperwork in terms of manuals, guides, maps, brochures, media kits, reports, schedules, etc., that needs to be produced is staggering, though Corea hastened to add that with sustainability being a major goal of the Games, VANOC was exploring alternatives to printing as much as possible, and would ensure that all materials were printed using recycled paper.

VANOC is already contracting external writers, editors, translators and photographers, and will be handing out work to more in the future, so Corea encouraged attendees to keep an eye on the VANOC website.

Other ways to get in on the action include the 2010 Commerce Centre and BC Bid

EAC Report-Writing Workshop

I attended a report-writing workshop put on by the BC branch of the Editors' Association of Canada today. The presenter was Diana Wegner, who teaches in the communications program at Douglas College.

The workshop had a stimulating mix of presentation time and excercises, and even though I do not do a lot of report writing, I found the material useful. It started with a review of research report components followed by a comparison of the writing process as opposed to creating a final product for the target readers, and then got into the nitty-gritty of revising for coherence.

I found Wegner to be a knowledgeable and stimulating presenter, and would recommend the workshop to anyone interested in clear research and writing.

'Fearless Freelancing' Guru Invigorates EAC Meeting

Speechwriter Colin Moorehouse gave a rousing talk at an Editors' Association of Canada meeting in Vancouver tonight.

Moorehouse runs the Fearless Freelancing website, on which he provides advice to freelance writers.

He said most editors undersell their services, often because clients do not understand or appreciate what they do. He pointed out that you are saving clients time, and time is more important than money. So the key is distinguishing how you help people solve problems that are frustrating them.

If you're a writer or editor, and you have a chance to hear Moorehouse speak, don't pass it up!

Open Source Media - Blogs Rule!

I ran across the Open Source Media site the other day. Its goal is to collect the best in blog reporting.

"At Open Source Media, we believe... that freedom, openness and transparency in media is an inevitable result of the technological advances that have given every citizen the chance to breathe deeply of the news, thought and opinion that hovers in the ether between us... the phenomenon of blogging... (is) the modern equivalent of the Gutenberg revolution, a way of putting not just published material in the hands of the public—but publishing itself."

I'm doing a paper on the effects of blogging on traditional media and corporate public relations for a media theory course I'm taking in my Master of Arts in Applied Communication program at Royal Roads University.

This supports my thesis that blogs are changing traditional mass media.

Going Back to School

I'm heading off to Victoria tomorrow to start my Master of Arts in Applied Communication program at Royal Roads University. The online distance-education program starts with an intensive three-week residency on campus, so I will likely be updating this blog even less often than I usually do.

Looking forward to being a student again, but a bit nervous about how this will fit into continuing to run my business over the next two years while I'm hitting the books. While the program is designed for people who are working full time, they say to expect 20-25 hours a week of study time.

Overall, I'm excited, though I hate to miss a good chunk of the salmon spawning season in Byrne Creek!

Accepted for Communication MA at Royal Roads

I was accepted into the Master of Arts in Applied Communication at Royal Roads University about ten days ago. I didn't blog about it, because it's still sinking in.

I'm really looking forward to the program, however it will be a big change in lifestyle for the next two years starting Oct. 17. The program is designed to be completed while working full time, with the courses said to take about 22 hours per week.

Each year of the two-year MA starts with an intensive 3-week residency on the beautiful Royal Roads campus in Victoria, BC, while the rest of the work is done online.

It's exciting and a bit scary going back to school after a 20-year hiatus. I aim to apply what I learn to growing my business, and anticipate making new friends and contacts.

Copy Editor in Deep Doo-Doo?

Of several errors in Jacob Richler's "The Scooter Diaries" article in today's National Post, the following one takes the cake:

"... I like Vespa's style -- because the first image the brand name conjures for me is a young Jean-Paul Belmondo, helmetless, tearing down some street in Rome with an unfiltered cigarette dangling from his lower lip and a babe hanging onto his waste..."

Yuck!

Review - The Canadian Writer's Guide

Review - The Canadian Writer's Guide, 13th Edition

This "Official Handbook of the Canadian Authors Accociation" is a collection of bite-sized articles on a wide variety of topics of interest to aspiring and published writers.

Ranging from prose to poetry, from the business of writing to finding an agent, it can be read cover to cover, or flipped through at leisure to find topics of interest. Articles range from a page to four pages in length.

It also contains extensive listings of writing groups, contests, and private and governmental funding sources.

Busy Summer Sees Blog Wither

Yikes, this blog has gone from near-daily posts to only nine so far in the month of August, and several of those have been rather short.

If I do have any "fans" out there, don't worry because in a way this is a good sign, for we've been very busy with work this summer. July and August both entered the list of top-ten earning months for our little company since we started it in February 2000.

It's nice to feel wanted, however we're back in the old home business dilema -- when you have plenty of free time you have little free cash flow, and when you're making money, you have no free time.

We have prevailed upon our major clients for a one-week camping vacation this autumn, and while we need the break, I also feel guilty as a few smaller clients are quite dependent upon our specialty of on-demand, fast-turnaround translation and editing.

I need a clone, or another translator-editor team I can trust to work to same-day in/out deadlines on occasion, using a variety of different style guides.

That's the other home business dilema -- at what point are you regularly earning enough to subcontract work out? Some months the hours pile up like crazy, however other months we've got plenty of time for streamkeeping activities and other volunteer work.

Well, the queue still has several items stacked up, so enough ruminating. Back to work.

Trying Open Office

I've been gradually trying out Open Office for word processing and spreadsheets. It saved my bacon the other day when a client sent me a file that kept crashing Word 2000.

I opened the file with Open Office Writer and started working on it. However, I soon discovered that I wasn't up to speed on OO, and I really needed to pump out the job quickly, so I saved the file and tried opening it again in Word, and voila, no more crashes.

One thing I've noticed that I miss in OO Writer is indication of cursor line and column position on the status bar. I get a lot of work editing newspaper articles, and I need to know these stats for headline length, etc.

I searched the OO website, and discovered that OO Writer can't do that, yet. However my search didn't turn up if the team plans to add the feature. I hope they do!

Free Writing at EAC Session

We arrived home in Burnaby last night after a couple of days camping on the road back from the Editors' Association of Canada conference in Calgary last weekend.

I'll post a few entries over the next day or two about our travels, however first I'd like to share a free-writing excercise from the conference. We were asked to write "to" a thing, keeping our pens moving non-stop as soon as they hit the paper. I chose computers.

To computers: You seduced me with your power, the magic of green or yellow characters dancing across a screen. You let me combine work with play, and even let a bit of that adolescent hot-rodder continue to express himself into middle age with gigahertz instead of horsepower, graphics cards instead of mag wheels, oodles of RAM instead of Edelbrock intake manifolds. You have made me dependent upon you to put a roof over my head and keep it there. Without you, my business would die. You make me uncomfortable because while initially you empowered me, I am now almost totally dependent upon you. That's why I'm eagerly looking forward to spending three days camping on my way home, far out of WiFi and cell phone range, isolated from email and clients. Three days of freedom before I am bathed in the glow of your screen again, mesmerized.

Editors' Association Conference - Report 2

The Editors' Association of Canada annual conference continued today on the SAIT campus in Calgary.

I attended several useful sessions in the afternoon, followed by the annual general meeting, which was run efficiently, yet with humour.

As with any non-profit association, there were calls for volunteers, however as this is my first year in the group, I kept my head down. I already volunteer with the Stream of Dreams Murals Society and the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers, which is enough. :-)

We just got back from a great banquet, which was enlivened, or disrupted, depending on one's point of view, by the sixth game in the Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately, Calgary lost in double overtime, so there was no point in heading downtown after the banquet....

We enjoyed interesting conversations with many people, and look forward to a couple more sessions before the conference winds up tomorrow afternoon.

Editors' Association Conference - Report 1

We went to the opening reception for the Editors' Association of Canada annual conference yesterday evening on the SAIT campus in Calgary.

It was my first conference, and it was interesting to start putting faces to some of the names that appear from all over the country on the association mailing list.

My wife and I met many friendly and vocal people.

This morning Alberta Lieutenant-Governor Lois Hole gave a rousing keynote address on the importance of public education and libraries. It was an inspirational speech, ending with her saying she looked forward to the day when teachers and librarians were rewarded as well as hockey players. :-)

(Editors were later assured there would be a TV in a corner of the room with the volume off during tonight's banquet, which coincides with game 6 -- Go Flames!)

The first session I attended today was "Can Editing be Taught" with a panel made up of Kathy Garnsworthy, Maureen Nicholson, Frances Peck, Rosemary Shipton and Ruth Wilson.

It was entertaining and informative, with the conclusion being "yes and no." Some skills can be taught -- the craft side of the profession, however others may be innate -- the art side.

I look forward to more sessions this afternoon.

Silly Error Appears in Maclean's Japan Story

Why do western newspapers and magazines continue to publish cutesy stories about Japan without checking facts?

In the April 26, 2004, Maclean's, Steve Burgess writes: "Such unusual touches and jarring cultural snapshots have caused westerners to put Japan under a microscope for years." OK, one would assume that he would then have a passing acquaintance with his subject.

However, he later states: "Japanese writing features three different sets of characters. One of them is reserved exclusively for spelling out things that are not Japanese, such as the signs of foreign-owned restaurants." Not true.

If you look at the main photograph accompanying the article, it shows several Japanese companies displaying their names in katakana, the script that is supposedly reserved only for foreign words, or even in English characters, for huge outdoor advertisements.

I have beside me a Japanese-language catalog from electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera from my last trip to Japan a few months ago. The Yodobashi Camera logo is in katakana. Inside the catalog names of leading Japanese companies including Sony, Nikon, Canon, etc., are rendered in katakana, or simply in English characters.

Better take another look into that microscope!

Eight Step Editing with Jim Taylor

I attended Jim Taylor's informative and entertaining "Eight Step Editing" workshop today that was put on by the BC branch of the Editors' Association of Canada.

It was well worth the $90 fee. I won't steal Jim's thunder, I'll just say that anyone who has to write or edit anything would benefit from this workshop.

Jim has an excellent 76-page booklet that he hands out to participants, which contains plenty of excercises that are done in the workshop, and at home.

He puts on an excellent presentation, full of humour and wit, and leaves participants begging for more.

Highly recommended!

Review - Start and Run a Copywriting Business

Start and Run a Copywriting Business
by Steve Slaunwhite

Another how-to book in the Self-Counsel Press small business series.

Our business is mostly translating and editing, however I found this book a valuable read. Much of it applies to any freelance creative business.

Lots of good tips on setting rates, getting organized, marketing and promotion, and dealing with clients.

Those Pesky Bits and Bytes

The National Post screwed up bits and bytes in the Feb. 26 paper in an article on broadband ISP download speeds.

They took the data from broadbandreports.com which clearly states that it is measuring kilobits, however somehow all the references in the article became kilobytes. They further screwed things up by defining kilobytes per second as "kbps" which in fact is kilobits per second.

There is a good explanation of download "speed" on the broadbandreports.com site.

The Business of Writing & Editing

I gave my wife the best Valentine's Day present she's had in years -- the whole day to herself, while I attended an Editors' Association of Canada workshop :-).

John Vigna presented "Thinking Like an Entrepreneur: Growing Your Writing & Editing Business." As I recall, John has been running a writing and editing business for about three years now, and appears to have picked up a lot more business sense in that period than some of us who have been toiling away on keyboards for much longer.

Business plans? Managing cash flow? Marketing? Networking? All topics I suspect most creative types don't like to think about, yet that are crucial to success.

John told us about how he'd had a stellar rookie year, with gross sales that far surpassed his expectations, and then how in his second year he'd slacked off on his marketing and soon found himself pinching pennies.

By focusing on marketing basics, he pulled himself back up, and during the workshop he ran us through those basics, plus a number of excercises to see how we were doing, and where we needed to improve our business skills.

I can relate to John, as we too started out strong, had a stellar second year, and then became complacent, only to see sales slide for two consecutive years.

So it's back to the basics. We have to write a new business plan, and update it regularly. We have to devote more time to marketing instead of waiting for work to find us.

What a great way to spend Valentine's Day! My wife, who is also my business partner, got the day to herself, and I came home charged up with new plans for making money. How romantic :-).

The Discipline of Working at Home

There was a business tip from local publisher and internationally known speaker Peter Legge in the Vancouver Sun the other day.

He pointed out that if you get up an hour earlier every day, that gives you 365 more hours a year, or 15 extra days per year, to accomplish your goals. Well, duh. But the simple math got me thinking -- and feeling guilty.

My wife and I run a home-based translating and editing business, and if there are no pressing deadlines, it's seductively easy to roll over for another hour when the alarm goes off. With no commute, and no fixed starting time, it's also easy to watch some 1 1/2-star movie on the TV past midnight.

We talked about this, remembering with amazement the days when we had full-time jobs in Tokyo and got up at 6:00, made and ate breakfast, packed lunches, and trotted out the door at 7:15 to catch the train downtown.

What's happened to us? Wouldn't we like to have 15 extra days a year? Hell, with our present level of discipline, we could shoot for 30 extra days a year!

I used to scoff at all the tricks people who work from home say they use to maintain discipline and to remain focused on work. I now realize we've been in a long, slow, nearly imperceptible slide that has accumulated over the years.

So it's back to business.

When the alarm goes off, I will get up.

Thanks, Peter.

Creative Rates vs Trade Rates

A plumber paid us a two-hour visit today, and the labor charge came to C$162.50. That's C$65.00 for the first half-hour, and then C$65.00/hour for the balance.

I don't begrudge paying a professional tradesperson to do something that would likely take me two or three times as long to accomplish, and perhaps with questionable results. What gets my goat is that while the average person swallows paying a plumber or car mechanic such rates, quotes for translation or editing that are anywhere near that hourly figure draw gasps of surprise.

I know a plumber has years of training and thousands of dollars worth of tools. So does an editor. I have a total of seven years of university, and thousands of dollars worth of computers, software, and reference books.

Dealing with companies or other people in the trade is fine, and in the end I gross at least as much per hour as the plumber does, and on many jobs even more. It's the calls from Jane Public who needs help with a resume that irk me. Why would she think she could pay me less than, say, an electrician?

Part of the problem is the hundreds of less-than-professional editors and translators out there who are willing to work for a pittance. By selling out for 8 cents a word for translation, or $15.00/hour for editing, they demean our craft.