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Archive for December, 2009

James Chartrand, pen names and our backwards world

A lot of blogs I read have been talking about this post on Copyblogger: Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants. For the tl;dr crowd, here’s the gist: Female writer struggles to find writing gigs worthy of her skills and education, so after a process of trial and error, she chooses a pen name which happens to be male.

James’ blog is one I read fairly often, for a while, so at first this announcement felt kind of like a real-life episode of Coronation Street (not a bad thing, mind). Others have written about it quite well. For me, it got me thinking about pen names in general. Some of you may remember my own failed attempt at a pen name. Basically, I could never remember to use it, even though it was just my intials, “SK,” instead of “Samantha.” Part of the reason I chose that name was for privacy, yes. But honestly, another reason I chose it was because it was gender ambiguous. I was enchanted by the idea of someone reading my work with absolutely no preset gender bias. My little pen name experiment obviously didn’t last, but part of me wonders how my career would be different if it had.

Despite what I just said, to be honest, part of me is always a little upset when I hear of things like this. I have a possibly naive belief that, as a woman, I should be able to pursue any career I want and be treated 100 percent the same as anyone else. But I know that in some situations, including James’, it’s just not that easy. So while I wish that we could’ve seen her triumph under her given name, I do completely understand her decision.

Anyway, I just wanted to chime in along with all the other blogs in support of James now and in the future.

December 14, 2009 | 3 comments | View Post

Finding writing discipline

I received a spam comment that said, among other things, “not clear to me how often you are updating your site.” You and me both, buddy!

Anyway. Things in my writing life have been going pretty well. I have been doing a lot more social media/blog writing for my part-time job, and I’ve been realizing how much I enjoy writing about marketing! My work experience has been in the marketing & communications field, two related yet different areas. Communications was always the clear favourite for me, but there’s something about marketing that makes it fun to write about. Maybe it’s because I enjoy strategy so much, and that’s what a lot of marketing writing deals with.

artandfearIn fiction-writing news, I’ve been sticking diligently to a schedule of writing one hour per day, at least. I’m so bad at that when it comes to fiction writing. I’m on top of things with my freelancing, but forget about it when it comes to my own writing! I’ve known a lot of people who pursue their hobby/interest professionally, then find the focus shifts sharply away from their personal practice. It seems I’m no different.

My husband’s coworker lent me a great book that’s been helping me stick to my new discipline training. It’s called Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. Normally I don’t go in for self-help style books, but when it comes to writing self-help books, I can’t resist! It’s been a very rewarding read – so rewarding that I think I’ve kept it much longer than is polite to keep a borrowed book! Yikes!

December 11, 2009 | 1 comment | View Post

Elements of productivity

My friend Suzen recently wrote a blog post listing the elements that help her to be a productive artist. Artists often usually have more interesting lists like this, since their materials are often more varied – and cool – than writers’. That said, I was inspired by her post to write a list of my own elements of productivity. A couple of Suzen’s and my elements are the same, but we’ve been friends for a long time, so you know. It happens.

  1. Earl Grey tea/instant espresso – I can’t start my day without drinking a cup of tea or an Americano made with instant espresso. I’m not one of those people who physically can’t function – I just don’t see the point not having a cup of tea first thing in the morning. I might as well not bother waking up! Suzen was actually the one to turn me on to the instant espresso. I sometimes feel like a freak because I often find coffee they serve in random office worker cafes to taste better than that of award-winning, ultra-famous coffeeshops. This could explain why I like instant espresso. It’s not fancy, it does the job and I don’t need extra equipment to make it happen.
  2. CBC Radio One - I am such a nerd for the CBC, but I love their radio the best. I grew up listening to talk radio in general and am more naturally drawn to it than to music. And CBC Radio One is always so dependable and good. Though, I am still a bit sore over the fact that they changed the iconic intro music to the news that’s been a staple since I was at least in high school. It was so comforting and the new music is so bland.
  3. My chair – I do a lot of writing in the office in my apartment, but there’s something about the chair in the living room that seems to increase my productivity. It’s one of those Poäng Ikea chairs, black leather with a matching footstool. It’s just so comfortable, and it’s right by the windows so I can look outside and daydream/plan.
  4. A notebook – I am a hopeless collector of notebooks I fill only partway. Even so, I am always scribbling in one, whether it’s a list of article ideas or what I need to write that week. As a teenager, I was famous in my family for knowing exactly what each pile of junk in my room contained. Thankfully I’m not messy like that anymore, but I think that spirit has transferred into my collection of notebooks. I can’t throw any of them away now, because they all contain something necessary.
  5. Other blogs – The list of blogs on the right are not all writing blogs, or freelancing blogs, but they all have one thing in common – they help me to be a better, more productive writer. The more prolific ones inspire me to increase my output. Other ones inspire me to look at things differently, often serving to increase my productivity as well!

I also wanted to take a minute to suggest everyone check out a new book that’s just been released – You Are Among Friends: Advice for the Little Sisters I Never Had by Lindsey Markel. I don’t have a little sister but I bought this book right away. I’ve known Lindsey online for a few years and she is truly one of the most intelligent, warm, funny, courageous people around. I honestly believe this book can inspire not just little sisters, but people of all ages. Lindsey has a way of doing that often and I’ve always admired that. Anyway, go have a look!

December 4, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post
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