November 29, 2007: PWAC member wins prestigious Quebec award
PWAC extends hearty congratulations to Quebec member Julie Barlow and her partner Jean-Benoit Nadeau for winning the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction at the annual awards ceremony of the Quebec Writers' Federation.
Barlow and Nadeau's book The Story of French received an excellent review in The New York Times last year and has become an international bestseller, with a French-language version just released.
Well done Ms. Barlow.
November 26, 2007: Pay the Writer gear
Inspired by the Writers' Guild of America strike, and just in time for holiday shopping, PWAC is offering some simple, strong, pro-writer messages for you to wear all over town. Whether you happen to be visiting a picket line or just picking up a few things at the supermarket, you will look fabulous in PWAC.
Our basic message is simple and clear:
Pay the writer.
This catchy motto adorns a number of new PWAC shirts (men's and women's), and our fabulous new Pay the Writer coffee mug. Now you can send a message of solidarity even as you enjoy your favorite hot beverage.
If you like to get a little wordier, you might want to try some of our business model gear. The message:
Working for free is a terrible
business model for people who
need to eat and pay bills.
PWAC's business model message can be found on our fabulous new bumper stickers and baseball jerseys (men's and women's).
Finally, join in the effort to bring fair, strong copyright reform to Canada with PWAC's strong copyright line of shirts (men's and women's):
PWAC's new pro-writer, strong copyright products are all for sale at the PWAC online store, where you will also find an assortment of PWAC logo gear. All sales benefit your association, and therefore you.
The life of a writer is filled with uncomfortable moments during which s/he must explain that working for free is in fact a terrible business model for people who need to eat and pay bills.
American writer Harlan Ellison, one of the original Star Trek writers, provides a number of choice words on the subject in this YouTube video excerpt from the film Dreams with Sharp Teeth:
WARNING: Pressing play will release some profanity into your world.
Thank you to PWAC member Allison Hoyt Finnamore for the tip on this.
November 20, 2007: Canada's new copyright law on the way
The rumours out of Ottawa for a while now have been that new copyright legislation is on the way. Yesterday, CBC.ca reported that the bill may be only weeks away.
The Creators' Copyright Coalition, an umbrella group of creator organizations has been working on a position statement regarding any new legislation, and PWAC will be signing on and making the statement public in coming days.
As anyone who has delved into it knows, copyright law is extremely complex and involves a number of competing interests. Obviously PWAC's primary concern with any new legislation is that the primary rights-holders, the original artists (in PWAC's case professional writers) maintain control of, and the ability to profit from their copyright protected work, even in the digital environment. As well, PWAC would prefer a law that demands respect for copyright without unduly limiting access to creative work, in any environment.
November 15, 2007: Daily Show writers explain the value of digital content
The Writers Guild of America strike, which has seen writers actually walking (on picket lines) instead of sitting in chairs all day, may do more for the profession than just an across-the-board increase in blood circulation and general health. It may finally put to rest the fallacy that digital content cannot be valued, and therefore must be packaged off for free in all-rights agreements.
Check out this amusing little video from the picket lines in New York, where writers for the Daily Show do the math:
November 15, 2007: Access Copyright sues Staples for copyright violations
An article in today's Toronto Star outlines Access Copyright's latest legal action -- a $10 million lawsuit against Staples/Business Depot that cites unlawful reproduction of copyright protected works at Staples' in-store photocopy shops.
From the article:
The publishing organization said today that its lawsuit contains the largest claim to arise from copyright infringement of published works in Canada.
November 15, 2007: Globe columnist highlights writers' issues
In a piece in yesterday's Globe &Mail, columnist Barbara Ehrenreich argues how the American writers' strike highlights the overall lack of wage-respect for writers.
For print writers, things have gone steadily downhill. The number of traditional outlets -- magazines and newspapers -- is shrinking. Ms., for example, publishes only quarterly now, Mother Jones every two months, and Mademoiselle has long since said au revoir. You can blog on the Web of course, but that pays exactly zero. As for benefits: once the National Writers' Union offered health insurance, but Aetna dropped it and then Unicare found writers too sickly to cover.
Date: Tuesday, 27th November 2007
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Venue: Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Cost: $40* = PWAC members, $50* = Public, $75* = Show on the Day
* + GST
The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) is delighted to offer a half-day seminar on business writing presented by freelance writer and
PWAC member Paul Lima.
Studies show that effective, productive writers spend 40% of their time planning projects, 25% of their time writing, and 35% revising and editing;
inefficient writers spend more time overall on projects and tend to be less satisfied with the results. To become a more effective and efficient writer, you need to harness the writing process. This business writing seminar will introduce you to the five-stage writing process:
* Planning
* Research
* Outline
* Creation
* Revision/Editing
You will then be shown how to quickly apply the process to writing email by answering five simple questions. And you will learn how to apply the power of the process to proposals and reports. To make you a more effective and efficient writer, the workshop also includes practical, engaging and
creative writing exercises that will help participants:
* focus on their purpose
* create detailed outlines
* properly structure emails and reports
Writing Process Participants Speak
"Since I attended your Harnessing the Writing Process seminar I have written two direct marketing packages and am working smarter and faster. By focusing on one task at a time, I no longer panic about what I haven't done yet. I'm also making more use of [outline] headings to structure my documents so that I spend less time skipping between points and getting frazzled. Thanks again
for the valuable info!" - Elizabeth Cockle, Communications Specialist
"You freed 512 megabytes of RAM. I was holding it all in and you had me pull this outline out of nowhere. Everything I need to know is down on paper. Now that I know what I'm going to say, I have brain power left to think about how I'm going to say it. It's all over but the writing, and the writing is no longer intimidating." - Partner, Accounting Firm
"I have heard nothing but good things a about the writing process seminar you ran. You were one of our more popular presenters." - Cy Williams,
Administrative Assistant, Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres (OAYEC) .
Who Should Attend:
Anyone who writes business emails, memos, letters, proposals or reports and wants to become more effective and efficient. Anyone who only discovers that information is missing from email messages when they clean out their sent folder. Anyone who feels recipients of email messages or other documents do not respond as quickly as expected or as expected. Anyone who wants to communicate more effectively when writing business correspondence.
Instructor:
Paul Lima has been a professional writer and writing instructor for over 25 years. Since 1988, he has run his own communications writing and
training business. An adult educator and member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, Paul has developed and taught business writing,
copywriting, media relations, media interview preparation and other business communications courses and workshops for corporate and non-profit clients, University of Toronto students and for members of various writers' associations.
November 05, 2007: American writers striking on new media issues
This morning marked the official beginning of a strike by members of the Writers Guild of America against producers from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
As reported widely, the central issue in this dispute is re-use of written material in new media applications, such as online downloads and DVD use.
For the latest word on strike details as it continues, may we recommend checking out the Writers Guild of America site.
