danaeris | Entries tagged with journalism

I just priced going to the Canadian Science Writer's Association's annual conference in St. John's Newfoundland, which is scheduled for the same weekend as Toronto Pride.

Plane + rented dorm room + conference registration = nearly $800

Pros:
-I'd get to network -- maybe if I went I would meet people who could hire me for day job or freelance work, and if nothing else, I might get a better idea of the shape of the Canadian industry
-I'd get to see Newfoundland for the first time
-Some of the events look pretty cool, like the tour of the four dimensional virtual reality facility
-I could write it off on my taxes to some extent

Cons:
-I'd miss Toronto Pride
-It would cost me $800, a hefty price tag no matter how well I'm doing for myself
-I'm a social creature, and exploring St. John's on my own might not be nearly so much fun
-Most of the events and tours are focusing on geology and marine stuff, which I'm not at all interested in covering

Conference admission goes up by $75 on May 24, so I have that long to decide. Ugh.

Current Mood: confused

The story of the freelance writer:
"Sure, we'll take a month or three to get back to you about that story idea, but once we've approved it, we need it tomorrow. Oh, and now that you've written it, we'll probably take a month or three to pay you."

Pitches I'm waiting on
PIMAC at the spec
W AQ story

Stories in the works
Star story about emotions, due Wed, probably about $315 CAD
W NEAT story, due Tues (yes, the story got approved; I just found out! Finally, a story in W!), no idea what kind of compensation, but I'd guess at least $200 USD
HEM story, due whenever, probably about $200 USD

Cheques I'm waiting on
AW - $300 USD
Star - $450 CAD

Stories about to be published
D sleeptracker story

However, I now have two deadlines from important clients. They're relatively short articles (200 words and 700 words respectively).

My schedule over the next week is to get up at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, work until 3, get picked up, go to the catskills, and return late Sunday. Monday, handing out candy, Tuesday, no plans, Wednesday, no plans, Thursday, I have to go to a dinner for work.

The house in the catskills has wireless, iirc. But I'm still not sure if I should still go. Do I really want to road trip to the catskills just to do more work? Might as well stay in town.

EDIT:
I called

pyat and arranged to go in at the usual time after all. If I feel differently about going away tomorrow morning, and

futabachan and A haven't left yet, I may still go. But at the moment I just don't know what I want so I'm going to err on the practical side and get enough sleep and enough time to do my work.
Edit
Argh. Can't call off going in early. SO TIRED!

Current Mood: exhausted

A number of journalists on one of my association email lists have recently discovered that Amazon is selling articles by them for download for $5.95 a pop without their knowledge. In most cases, the magazines in question have the same articles posted on their websites for free.

Most of these articles, so far, are sufficiently old that the writers don't remember what rights the contract for them included. But queries have been sent to some of the magazines to verify that they know what's going on. I'll post an update when I hear more.

In the meantime, you might want to check this out yourself, and see if your copyright, or that of the magazine you originally wrote for, is being violated.

x-posted to

journalist and

danaeris