Can a journalist ever truly be objective? And, if not, what are they to do instead?
This article about journalistic objectivity is written by Vanessa Chiasson, a freelance writer based in Ottawa who specializes in travel and human interest stories.
Can a journalist ever truly be objective?
This question was at the heart of the annual Power and the Press lecture from the Canadian Journalism Foundation, held in May at Toronto’s Massey College (and available online via CPAC). I attended the lecture in person as I was hugely interested in what the keynote speaker, legendary American editor Marty Baron, had to say about the state of our industry.
Baron was most recently the editor-in-chief at the Washington Post, an experience he shares in his new book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post.
You may also recognize his name from the movie Spotlight. Baron held the top job at the Boston Globe during their landmark investigation of child abuse in the Catholic church.
As such, he is no stranger to having to make difficult decisions. Baron spoke passionately about the importance of objectivity, emphasising that journalists should never cease seeking it, even if perfect objectivity is impossible. More controversially, he also spoke about what he sees as the inherent conflict between being an activist and a journalist, citing both as important but reinforcing his belief that they should be separate roles. It’s interesting food for thought but where do freelancers fit in?
Baron’s editorial experience is unparalleled, but he has precious little experience as a freelancer. We exist as teams of one, with no copy editors, section editors, or editors-in-chief in the next office to temper our opinions and encourage multiple avenues of investigation. True, many of us report to editors via whatever publication we happen to be on assignment for at the moment. Their guidance is invaluable but it’s a much different relationship than a newsroom where you are supported by a broad team. When it comes to objectivity, we’re often on our own.
While Baron might advocate a separation of journalism and activism, freelancers rarely have the luxury of separating our personal and professional lives. We are encouraged to write about what we know. Editors put out calls for pitches that specifically target journalists with in-depth, lived experience in certain subjects. Read any advice for landing pitches and you’ll be encouraged to find an angle that puts you, the writer, front and centre. Write personal essays to shore up your bylines. Research-based work isn’t enough.
In some newsrooms, this tricky balance might work. Perhaps it’s the way things ought to work. End parachute journalism. Have people close to stories report on them—and rely on colleagues and editors to help you navigate the tricky dance of objectivity. But what can a freelancer do? Who will tell us we’re getting too close to a story or a source? Who will point out the gaping holes that we cannot see? And—let’s face it—how can we afford to be objective when time is money and publishers are routinely offering $200 an article or less?
Baron didn’t offer any advice for freelancers (which, to be fair, he wasn’t explicitly asked about, but perhaps you shouldn’t have to be asked about it when the number of freelancers is rising exponentially as newsrooms shutter at an alarming rate.) However, in a funny twist, his advice may prove helpful for freelancers.
Objectivity advice for freelancers
We can’t be perfectly objective. No journalist can. But we can sure try.
Here are some considerations for a freelancer who strives for objectivity in such challenging conditions.
- Set up your relationships for success. If you want to cultivate a meaningful relationship with an editor, keep them updated on your progress and solicit feedback as you go. Hand in your drafts early so they aren’t pressed for time and can edit more thoughtfully
- Connect with a trusted colleague. Swap drafts with someone you like and trust but who isn’t a carbon copy of your background and demographics. What does your city centre friend think is missing from your rural affairs report?
- Record and transcribe your interviews. With your source’s permission, record your interviews with a program like Otter.ai, which transcribes as you go. We can often only use a small portion of the material we gather, and plenty of rich, insightful quotes go unused. That material can be used on future pieces without the time commitment of additional interviews, leading to more robust, balanced work.
- Read and listen to diverse material. Put a call out with friends for recommendations on what you should consume. Can they suggest content that gets them thinking? Nuanced, well-researched material is often overlooked in an age of inflammatory talking heads, but it’s out there
The state of Canadian publishing, from a Wiley veteran
This article is written by James Gilbert. You can reach him at travelwriter.blog.
These are the excerpts from an interview I conducted with Matt Adamson, Senior Accounts Manager with Wiley Publishing, best known for their “Dummies” series of books. He currently manages a group of reps across Canada and the US that promote and distribute books by Wiley. Always technically savvy, Matt is looks to new technologies to collect information on his book sales and those of the publishing industry. Matt has had a long and distinguished career in the publishing industry. He has also worked with Oxford University Press as well as Cambridge University Press.
JG: How is the publishing industry doing?
MA: It’s doing really well. Not that long ago, about a million titles were being produced per year. Now with ebooks, self-publishing and print-on-demand, that same number is done every month. Even with all the media and streaming services available, books remain very popular.
JG: What is considered a successful book project?
MA: Five thousand books sold is considered a bestseller in Canada.
JG: Who buys books in Canada, what’s the demographic?
MA: Ten per cent of the population buys books on a regular basis. Their demographic is a true democracy. There is no one segment of the population represented more than any other. Ebooks carry 15 per cent of the market which rose to 34 per cent during the pandemic, then settled back down to 15 per cent.
JG: What’s getting published?
MA: Fiction is number one. Non-fiction books dealing with politics, war, biographies and history are down. Canadian history isn’t selling well at all.
JG: What are the hot topics in the publishing world?
MA: Social media for one. TikTok is driving the marketplace big time and it’s not just for kids as was once believed. People are looking for simple, curated content that will help them choose a book. BookTok, a sub community of TikTok, is a driving force in the marketplace and influencers are influencing purchases. If you have a following of 3,000 people on LinkedIn, publishers will notice you. They will seek you out and offer you a book deal. They want to work with people who are influencing opinions and potentially driving book sales.
Discoverability is a popular industry buzz word. Publishers need to know who the competition is and how well it’s doing. If you’re going to publish a book of blueberry muffin recipes, you need to drill down through the data on Google and find out who’s out there making similar books and how well they sold. Recently one of my sales reps started using ChatGPT to do this time consuming work and came up with some astounding results in mere minutes.
Of course AI itself is a hot topic because all publishers want to sell a book about AI. The problem is, AI and technology in general is moving at such an alarming rate, that AI books, if published in the traditional time consuming way would be long out of date before they hit the bookstores. Print-on-demand might be the only way to solve this problem since print-on-demand books can be revised fairly easily.
The other hot topic in the publishing industry is DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion). Black Lives Matter, The Me Too movement and in Canada, Truth and Reconciliation have been huge wake-up calls for what has been a pretty non-diverse (white, well-educated, middle/upper class) industry.
JG: Where are the profits in publishing?
MA: The return on investment in publishing used to typically be four per cent. Corporate expectations are much higher now. The biggest profits come from reprints. For example, Octavia Butler’s Parable of a Sower was originally published in 1993. It’s current Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Group edition was published in 2000, reissued in 2019 and that paperback reissue is now in it’s 12th printing. Publishers love this. All the leg work and investment is done. They just need to call the printer and ship the orders.
JG: How many pages and what physical dimensions should books be?
MA: Publishers prefer books to be in standard dimensions. Our new Dummies Guide to Sustainable Travel is 14cm x 22cm. (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches) or half a sheet of standard paper. We don’t do coffee-table books. The number of pages depends on the subject. The first draft of Barbra Streisand’s new autobiography was 1,200 pages. Her publisher got her to parse it down to 900 pages. It also comes with a hefty $60 price tag. I’m not sure how it’s going to do.
JG: Would her book have done better say, 15 or 20 years ago?
MA: Absolutely. There’s a generation out there that has no idea who she is. Barbra’s 80 years old now. A lot of her fans are no longer alive.
JG: As an author, should I consider getting an agent?
MA: Absolutely. If nothing else, a meeting with an agent can help you decide whether your project is feasible or not, that is, if book is going to sell.
JG: What does an agent do other than negotiate a deal?
MA: Agents find the appropriate publisher, get them interested in the author and proposed book, arbitrate expectations, negotiate the terms/contract, organize payments, track royalties and track sales.
JG: Do publishers still give advances?
MA: They like it when they don’t have to but depending on the author and subject of the book they do provide advances.
JG: Authors complain that their publishers do nothing to help with book sales. Who is supposed to do the marketing aspect? Does the agent ever get involved?
MA: Publishers are supposed to market and sell the book. But with the rise of social media authors are asked and expected to do participate more and more. The agent would get involved if things are not going well on the marketing and sales front with either the publisher or the author.
JG: Are there budgets for advertising?
MA: When someone like Michelle Obama writes a book there is no advertising budget because the book sells itself. If a little known scientist writes a book on astronomy, we’ll allocate $30,000 for advertising.
JG: Other than writing the book, what are the writers responsibilities?
MA: Writers complete the manuscript on time, make the changes as suggested and discussed with the editor, may be required to pay for a finished index, may be required to pay for an initial outside edit before the manuscript is submitted. The writer also would usually agree to participate in marketing efforts with the publishers publicity and marketing staff.
JG: What advice do you have for a new writer?
MA: Develop a social media presence. It helps to appear as the expert on your favourite topic that you’re going to write about. Practice writing in different styles, whether it’s advertising copy or prose for a piece of fiction. Write every day.
Consider self-publishing. Your book will get out there much faster. Amazon has a really good platform for self-publishing as well as print-on-demand. You can decide on your own pricing and if your book’s a runaway success, you can raise its price!
Having a website is a good idea because a publisher will have their staff check out your writing and more importantly, check your following and engagement to see if you have any presence.
Daily updates to your website and maximizing your SEO (search engine optimization) set up are vital so Google can find you (discoverability). Google tends to ignore stagnant websites. It can be as simple as adding the current date and the word updated to a post on your site. AIOSEO and Yoast are popular plug-ins for search engine optimization. They’re relatively simple tools you can use to boost your site’s chances of being found. Both plug-ins tell you right away if your updates have helped or not.
Watermarking any of your own photos is also important as AI is now in the habit of stealing content from websites. Watermarking can easily be done with free utilities like Watermarkly or Batchwatermark, which add a fully customized and subtle copyright mark to your photos.
Using filenames for your photos that are more descriptive also helps Google find you. Instead of naming your photo “Waterfall 1,” use the specific location in the filename like “Coppermine Falls Blow Me Down Newfoundland Canada.” With WordPress you can also add a caption to each photo, a description as well as an alt text description, which adds another element increasing your site’s chances of being found. Google can also read text in your photos. If your photo shows a sign for Bob’s Restaurant, Google will read it and then becomes another search element.
Using an AI tool like ChatGTP is a great way to generate hashtags specific to Instagram and TikTok. AI can also generate keywords and longtail keywords for your website. Just write a specific prompt asking for keywords. For instance,
You’re an SEO expert tasked with finding keywords and long tailed keywords for a Newfoundland travel book. Please provide me with 20 keywords and 20 longtail keywords for my book’s website (travelwithme.com).
Keywords will be simple: Newfoundland, travel, vacation, etc. Longtail keywords will be more descriptive: travel adventures in Newfoundland, travel stories about Newfoundland, etc.
ChatGTP 3.5 is easily accessed via Microsoft Bing. Copilot is the official name of the service. Just click on the blue and green logo in the top right hand corner of the screen and you’re in.
JG: If Matt Adamson wrote a book how would he go about getting it published?
MA: If I was an author I would:
- Look for a publisher who publishes books I like or admire (content, cover design, price, availability/distribution). I want a publisher who has published a book that in some ways is similar to what mine might be in terms of subject, cover, paper, look, price
- Prepare a sample chapter, table of contents, working title
- Prepare a short summary of the book and its appeal to potential readers. The summary would include who these potential readers may be: geographic, demographic, profession, This doesn’t have to be detailed as it is very subjective. People who bought X book may like my book type of thing
- Prepare an up-to-date CV and samples of my writing (the latter to be made available on request)
So there you have it, the good news is that the Canadian publishing industry is alive and well. If you’re writing falls into a popular genre, you could find yourself with an agent, a book deal, a newly published book and a travel schedule taking you across the country to promote your work.
Webinar: Contracts and Negotiations for Freelancers
Join panelists and long-time freelancers Paul McLaughlin and Don Genova with moderator George Butters to talk about trends in recent contracts for media freelancers, the new twists AI has added to the already difficult topic, and how you can get what you want from negotiations…or know when to walk away.
Ask your questions about this important part of a successful freelance career to a trio with more than 100 years experience in everything from handshakes and email agreements, to multi-chapter paper dumps.
Contracts and Negotiations for Freelancers
- Online: Thursday, September 26, 2024
- 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time
- $5 for CFG members, CMG, CBC and CWA partners; $10 for CFWF, FBCW, SCWES, TMAC, WFNB and WFNS partners; $20 for members of the general public
You can register for this webinar right here.
Learn more about the cost and benefits of membership in the CFG on this webpage.
The link to the Zoom webinar will be sent to you via email about half an hour before the start time.
Please check your spam or junk folders if you can’t find the email, and contact organizer@canadianfreelanceguild.ca if you haven’t received the link 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. This webinar will be recorded and posted to the CFG Video-On-Demand site. Once posted, all paid registrants will receive a link and instructions on how to view.
Webinar: CFG Books and AACB Present: Author Mark Kearney and Al Christie
Author Mark Kearney’s latest book explores the life and times of Al Christie he describes as Hollywood’s forgotten pioneer.
In discussion with Crystal Fletcher of All About Canadian Books.
We’ll find out more about Mark’s latest book, and not just what’s between the covers: the publishing and promotions journey, the challenges in reaching audiences in Canada and elsewhere, and the required hard work needed to promote and sell a book—in all its forms—in our modern digital world.
CFG Books and AACB Present: Author Mark Kearney and Al Christie
- Online: Tuesday, September 24, 2024
- 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time
- Free to attend
You can register for this webinar right here.
Learn more about the cost and benefits of membership in the CFG on this webpage.
The link to the Zoom webinar will be sent to you via email about half an hour before the start time.
Please check your spam or junk folders if you can’t find the email, and contact organizer@canadianfreelanceguild.ca if you haven’t received the link 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. This webinar will be recorded and posted to the CFG Video-On-Demand site. Once posted, all paid registrants will receive a link and instructions on how to view.
3 tips for making freelancer conference season a financial success
This article on freelancer conference season is written by Becky Zimmer who is based in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. She has experience in farm, community, small business and sports reporting.
Sing it with me now: It’s the most wonderful time of the year. And by that I mean freelancer conference season, not Christmas…or back to school if you can see the Staples commercials from the early 2000s.
However, I am fairly new to this side of the job, previously sticking to my little piece of Saskatchewan before some of these important doors started opening up.
When I took my first voyage to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress back in 2022 in Denmark, I only had one goal: just make it home.
Back then I was working full time as a news editor, had three weeks of vacation time to visit some sites and meet some international farm writing colleagues and had received two bursaries to help me do so.
Budgeting was not an issue, and I had no reason to look for potential freelance opportunities beyond the three stories my company wanted for their farm website.
How to make conference season a financial success for freelancers
This year it is Switzerland on the docket for the Congress. As a full-time freelancer with a focus on the Canadian agriculture sector, I will be going for six weeks with some time to explore more of the Swiss countryside and the United Kingdom to boot.
Even with two bursaries to help pay my way, there will be no big name, or small name for that matter, media company footing the bill for a month and a half of exploring. Instead of just surviving, my goal this time is to at least financially break even.
So how do I make this a reality? Here are three ways I’m making this conference season a financial success.
Building that networking
For such a solitary job, we are not solitary people devising great content and articles from a magic transparent bubble.
The best of us have mass global networks of people that we can email, phone or randomly bump into throughout the year. These are people who want to see you succeed and people you would help at the drop of a hat.
Ask the questions, bounce ideas off of them, tell them about your plans and see if they could help you with potential contacts or recommend places to see.
Be clear on what you need and when you’d need a meeting or an email response. Be specific about what you’re working on or what you’re looking for.
And like any human interaction, be patient and respectful. Some people have the best of intentions when it comes to wanting to help, but the timing might not be right for them to give you their full attention for a few days. We are all busy, career-driven people, and the vast majority of the time, they have a darn good reason for being too busy to lend a hand.
Be gracious nonetheless. They may be able to help you at a later date, but they are only human after all.
No matter what happens, be sure to return the favour the best you can too.
Transferable skills
The great thing about media and communication jobs is that those soft skills that we have been developing for the past decade can be used over the pond.
It can be intimidating since you don’t “know” anyone there, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try to connect with people without a formal introduction. We’re not in Bridgerton for gosh sakes, even though sometimes our brains make it feel like it.
While being introduced from one colleague to another can make things easier, can make that name on the email jump out at a person and put a face to the name, that doesn’t mean that that is the only way to build those bridges.
Take the time to look up possible connections and send them an email, the more specific the person and position the better. As an ag journalist, commodity groups exist around the world and aren’t to difficult to find.
Some websites only offer a basic info at company dot com kind of email, but even those can produce results.
Other resources at your disposal: LinkedIn and other social media platforms for both potential organizations and people, personal websites if you have some idea on specific whos’ who of who you want to speak with and even email database websites, although these are often subscriptions you have to pay for.
Focus
When we freelance, we usually keep ourselves open to new opportunities, willing to explore subject matters beyond our usual scope, and take those curiosities we have an run with them. There is very little I won’t say yes to. I know how to cold call, I do my research, and I ask both the tough and easy questions to make sure I understand the subject and the people speaking on it.
Especially as a rural and agricultural reporter, there are always challenges and issues to write about, especially when you’re able to see issues from the lens of another country.
But sometimes you need to focus your efforts.
By no means am I saying to stifle your creativity or ignore interesting leads, but create a system.
Make some choices on what you want to look into at this point in time.
Have a section of your notebook for other ideas that you want to look into later.
Talk to other organizations or clients on what they’re looking for and see if you can work that into your focus list.
No matter where you end up, whether it’s down the road or on the other side of the world, happy conference season to one and all.
How to Procrastinate Procrastinating, Part 2
This article is part 2 of 2 exploring procrastination avoidance. It’s written by Dr. Nadine Robinson, DBA, International MBA, B. Comm., a freelance writer, professor, and keynote speaker based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Nadine is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and the Canadian Freelance Guild. Join her on her adventures by following her @theinkran.
An unknown author said: “Procrastination taught me how to do 30 minutes of work in eight hours and eight hours of work in 30 minutes.” As the quote says, some procrastination can help us write well in a short amount of time, but for other tasks, it can waste a lot of precious time.
In part 1, we went into the importance of unpacking why we procrastinate, and changing our thinking about the tougher tasks, including using positive self-talk. In this piece, I’ll focus on my favourite procrastination avoidance tips. In no particular order, I:
- Make myself accountable to goals I set
- Use productive procrastination
- Do one “hold your nose” task a day
- Gamify work, through challenges and rewards
Make Yourself Accountable to Someone
I love working from home for the short commute and the comfier clothing, but an unstructured work day sometimes gives me too much freedom to flow between personal and my professional to-do lists. Without a boss looking over my shoulder, I feel less accountable. Now I have a couple of friends who I can call or text when I’m stalling. If they are tight on time, I simply ask them to tell me to: “Get to work!” Otherwise, they ask me what’s on deck for the week, and offer to follow up later in the day or week, depending how stuck I am.
I rarely need a follow up once I have committed verbally to my plan out loud. Sometimes, I don’t even need to have an accountability buddy, I simply have to state my plans out loud. There is academic research that points to this aloud approach working, and I am also living proof. That said, as much as crossing an item off a to-do list makes me mildly giddy, if I get to text my friend to let them know that I’ve achieved a milestone, it’s even better because I typically get a “congratulations” message back.
Productive Procrastination
After writing the heading for this section, I got a call asking if I wanted to go to the gym. Of course my answer was yes, as that allowed me to delay writing (and working out is important, right!?). The difference here is that there are some forms of procrastination that I’ll call productive, as they end up helping us, if used strategically.
Looking to delay writing an article about procrastination? Go to the gym. Are you avoiding sending that pitch email? Make a healthy dinner. Don’t want to open the email from the editor that you recently pitched in case it is a rejection? Do the dishes. Or, in trying to keep it in the work realm, if you don’t want to send a pitch, do some research on another article, or set up an interview, or ask a generative AI bot for interview questions.
As long as your productive procrastination isn’t ‘paint the house’ or read War and Peace it can serve a couple of good purposes. Firstly, you need to do the other thing regardless. Also, in crossing one item off the list, the dopamine released by your brain typically fuels the desire to cross off another task (often the one I was initially avoiding).
Hold Your Nose and Do It
Some work stinks figuratively. It’s natural to want to avoid it. Eat That Frog, a book by Brian Tracy, suggests that you do your toughest task first everyday. That way, if you get nothing else done all day, you’ll have still accomplished something important. I’m not partial to the analogy of eating a frog, let alone a live one, so I call them “Hold Your Nose” tasks. If the work stinks, plug your nose and follow Nike’s tagline of: “Just Do It.”
I made a commitment to myself to do one task that “just stinks” every day, but if they are really emotionally challenging, I will settle for at least three a week. Doing this for a month would mean that somewhere between 12 and 31 uncomfortable tasks were completed. Contrast this to delaying some of these tasks for weeks or months, and you can already see how much you can advance your business and take control of your life. Plugging your nose and getting a task done that you’ve put off for weeks will make you proud of yourself and will free up your mind from worrying about them for weeks to come.
The Seinfeld Strategy is taking this one step further. It involves posting a visible and prominent wall calendar, and x-ing off a square each day that you employ the new strategy. The goal of which is then not to break the chain, once you start. It’s accountability to the wall, and yourself every time you walk past it. Habit research shows that people who start a “streak” of any given task are more likely to continue it, which leads to the next topic.
Gamify Work and Challenge Yourself
If you use Duolingo to learn languages, or you use Snapchat regularly, you are already familiar with the concept of a streak and how it can motivate you to complete certain actions. I don’t like to fail, so I am now on day 497 of my language learning streak, and day 15 of my do one “Hold Your Nose” task a day.
It’s fair to say that I love a good challenge. To use this to my advantage, when I’m avoiding a task, I compete against the clock by setting a timer for an hour to see what I can accomplish. The Pomodoro method is similar in that you repeat cycles of 25 minutes of work, followed by a five-minute break that is used as a reward and to clear the mind.
The side benefits of this gamification of work are that I get more done in one hour than I normally would, and I keep going on the task that I was prepared not to start before I set the timer. I also tend to do less editing when I’m in “challenge mode,” which links to my love of the adage: “Done is better than perfect.”
Not unlike the Pomodoro method, gamification requires a reward. I often pair the timer “game” with whatever I’d rather be doing. I tell myself: “finish one hour of writing, and you can make a healthy lunch, or check social media, or watch an episode of Ted Lasso, etc.” Similarly, a streak of one month of daily “Hold Your Nose” tasks should be rewarded with a small purchase, outing, or perhaps a movie night.
And while these were the four main procrastination avoidance strategies that worked for me, if those aren’t your hot buttons, go back to the list from part 1 and do something else. The wonderful thing about all of these ideas is that you can start to employ them right away, to help you move towards the life you want and deserve. And when it comes to any fear of rejection, I’ll leave you with Marianne Williamson’s words:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? …Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do… As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.
So, let’s get writing, and shining!
Balancing freelance work with creative projects
by Robyn Roste
One damp, dreary winter’s night I sat in bed staring at my phone. I felt the same as usual—bored and listless. On paper everything was great, my days were filled with work, friends and activities. The problem? I fell into bed each night drained rather than energized.
I did a quick review of my average day and realized I was stuck in a passive routine. Each morning I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for work. I spent my day pouring myself into my job before going to the gym or out with friends, followed by watching television until I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
Even though I loved my work, I was in a rut. I needed something that would fuel my creative spark and refill my energy.
The problem with work
No matter how amazing the gig, over time everything becomes a job. At some point in my work life I had set aside my personal projects, not realizing it was those creative exercises that gave me drive and passion. I was relying on work to energize me but it was doing the opposite.
How to Procrastinate Procrastinating, Part 1
This article is part 1 of 2 exploring procrastination avoidance. It’s written by Dr. Nadine Robinson, DBA, International MBA, B. Comm., a freelance writer, professor, and keynote speaker based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Nadine is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and the Canadian Freelance Guild. Join her on her adventures by following her @theinkran.
Have you ever spent three weeks avoiding a task that only took you 20 minutes to complete? And when you were done you laughed at yourself for being so anxious for so long about something that wasn’t that bad? What’s worse is that you also probably worried or stressed about the task 10 times longer than it took you to complete it?
Overcoming our human desire to sometimes put off work, called procrastinating, all comes back to Sir Edmund Hillary’s quote: “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
On my journey to conquer Mount Nadine, I realized that while everyone is prone to procrastination, freelance writers, who are drawn to a world of deadlines, are often some of the best put-er-off-ers out there. I crave the last minute rush to shift my brain into high gear, and I feel like I do some of my best writing last minute. Academics call this purposeful delaying of work “active procrastination.” I don’t see active procrastination as a problem, since it is thoughtful and purposeful.
On the other hand, there are plenty of freelance writing-adjacent activities that I don’t like, and avoiding them due to some negative association is called “passive procrastination.” Whether it’s me not wanting to have a talk about my business and personal finances, or needing to draft a pitch or a book query that I’ve been putting off, I needed some help.
Strategies to Procrastinate Procrastination
Through a number of online searches, and viewing generative AI bots’ results, I boiled down the majority of passive procrastination avoidance advice to this list:
- Recognize that you are procrastinating
- Stop making mountains out of molehills (no task is as bad as you think)
- Make your work environment distraction-free (move your phone)
- Chunk tasks into smaller bits that are achievable
- Set goals and deadlines
- Create a routine to support positive work habits, consider:
- The Seinfeld method, crossing off squares on a wall calendar—don’t break the chain once you start
- The Pomodoro method: repeating cycles of 25 minutes of work, followed by a five-minute break
- The two-minute rule: doing tasks immediately if it will take two minutes or less
- The Eat that Frog (Brian Tracy) method: Do the worst, hardest thing first every day
- Embody “done is better than perfect,” and don’t start editing before getting a draft done
- Use productive procrastination
- Share your goals with a friend or colleague and be accountable to them
- Reward your progress
I’ve used all of these methods to varying degrees, and I’ll go over my favourites in more detail in Part 2. But to begin the process, I needed to start with some introspection, as current research is pointing to the importance of positive self-talk in minimizing procrastination. I set out to unpack why I procrastinate, and I did an overhaul on my thinking about the tasks I was tending to avoid the most.
Unpack Why You Procrastinate
We all have parts of freelance work that make us feel like we’re trying to put two north magnets together. For me, I dislike pitching, and then later opening the emails from the editors I pitched. When diving into why I was procrastinating, insecurity and fear were at the source. The anxiety of being told that “they” don’t want me and my writing, or that my writing is no good, can be debilitating. This is the same reason that I shelved a book that is 70 per cent done.
Statistically though, I have quite a good rate of acceptance for my work, and I have to remind myself, “What if they accept your pitch?” And as Wayne Gretzky once said: “You will miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.” Every pitch you don’t make will shield you from rejection, but it will also keep you from success.
Another reason for procrastination can be medical. For people living with ADHD and depression, you, like me, may need professional help to develop sound strategies or consider medication to address procrastination and other symptoms. This is nothing to be ashamed of, as some of us are simply wired differently.
As someone living with depression, I am also kind to myself when the black dog shows up. I forgive procrastination and do my best to get back on track as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it can be too easy to get in a delay death spiral, guilting myself for not starting sooner, causing me to avoid the task further.
Thinking Differently About Unpleasant Tasks
There was a quote attributed to David Barr Kirtley that really hit me (pun intended): “Wanting to be a writer and not wanting to be rejected is like wanting to be a boxer and not wanting to get punched.” If you’re going to write, unless you never try to be published, you will face rejection. Research now shows that positive self-talk, and being kinder to ourselves helps not only in dealing with rejection, but also in reducing passive procrastination. (Positive self-talk has also been linked with reporting lower anxiety, and higher satisfaction with life. [source])
Earlier this year, while submitting articles for an award (a task that gives me great anxiety), I caught myself thinking: “There’s no point…last year I wasn’t shortlisted.” Negative self-talk can become self-fulfilling, so I quickly refocused. I reminded myself that my articles are like Picasso’s paintings, and the judges were probably looking for a Monet. It doesn’t make my work any less important, and it’s not a reflection of my talent.
Don’t tell yourself that you are a bad writer when in truth most rejection probably has nothing to do with you or your skills. Zig Ziglar, the sales guru and author, said of rejection: “You’re one ‘no’ closer to a ‘yes’.” To reframe negative to positive self talk, remind yourself instead of the times when your pitches were accepted, and when you were published.
For me, procrastination has always been rooted in fear, and I’ve definitely self-sabotaged with negative self-talk. The most profound difference for me in finding happiness with my chosen freelance writing, which is steeped with rejection and deadlines, was adjusting my thinking about my least favourite tasks and being more self-compassionate. As I climb the mountain to conquer my procrastination, now I lean into Erin Hanson’s prose:
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask “What if I fall?”
Oh but my darling, What if you fly?”
Webinar: The Battle of the Bots—Best Bets for Freelancers
As if having to learn how to use ChatGPT wasn’t enough, a new A.I. tool seems to launch every 15 minutes.
Some are free, some are freemium, some are hellishly expensive.
If you create or manipulate words for a living, join our A.I. team for The Battle of the Bots and find out which of the popular chatbots might work best for you.
For instance, a LOT of freelancers are looking for the best tool for creating transcripts. We’ll sample a few.
Register today, and keep the bots at bay.
Our Presenters
Dr. Nadine Robinson first learned about ChatGPT from her college students, and works hard to stay one step ahead of them.
George Butters uses multiple bots daily to speed up routine tasks for the Canadian Freelance Guild, and works hard to reign in rogue virtual assistants.
Which one is best for…?
- Online: Tuesday, May 28, 2024
- 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time
- $5 for CFG members, CMG partners, and CWA partners; $10 for FBCW partners; $20 for members of the general public
You can register for this webinar right here.
Learn more about the cost and benefits of membership in the CFG on this webpage.
The link to the Zoom webinar will be sent to you via email about half an hour before the start time.
Please check your spam or junk folders if you can’t find the email, and contact organizer@canadianfreelanceguild.ca if you haven’t received the link 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. This webinar will be recorded and posted to the CFG Video-On-Demand site. Once posted, all paid registrants will receive a link and instructions on how to view.
Find Your True North: With a Little Help from Douglas Gibson, “The Cartographer of Canadian Publishing”
This article about The Cartographer of Canadian Publishing is written by Sheila Pinder, college course facilitator, proofreader, school principal (occasional) and aspiring novelist.
Douglace Gibson, Canadian editor, publisher and writer.
Writers, have you ever questioned yourself? Wondered if you’re writing for the proper audience, in the right genre, market, format for you? Could you, should you, change direction? Would it help you to know that even the late Alice Munro struggled with the same insecurities? On May 9th at Wolf Hall in London, Ontario, I had the great good fortune to speak with Munro’s former editor and publisher, Douglas Gibson.
Gibson was joined on stage by his friend and fellow author Terry Fallis, who introduced his mentor as “one of the great legends of Canadian publishing—he also edited me.” Fallis is a two-time winner of The Leacock Medal for Humour, and the author of nine national bestsellers, the first six of which were edited by Gibson. From his role as a junior editor at Doubleday Canada, Gibson was recruited to fill in temporarily for his boss and remained head of Doubleday’s editorial department until he moved to MacMillan and finally settled at McClelland & Stewart where he edited for the likes of W.O. Mitchell (whom he refers to as simply Bill).
“Bill was a larger-than-life character,” perpetually reworking his last manuscript and the final chapter in particular. “It should have been easy enough except that he was very very slow,” Gibson says. Mitchell would send in messy, hand-written work that was frankly “disappointing. Finally, he sent in the final chapter. Now, editors have to be honest with their authors. In this case, the honesty was very difficult for me.” Gibson visited Mitchell in person, to gently advise that “Bill, I’m no good to you if I’m not honest with you. This last chapter just isn’t good enough.” Bill replied, “Oh, [heck] I know that. That’s why I’m rewriting it now.”
Gibson recognizes “the uncertainty, the insecurity that affects so many writers.” From Morley Callaghan, who insisted that Gibson come straight to his home to read his newest manuscript over “right now, yes, now,” to “the last upper Canadian, Robertson Davies, who as you know looked like God, but was breathing hard before a performance while I was pacing, so I asked him “Butterflies?” and he said “oh yes, always” and then came gliding onto the stage like a galleon,” to Alistair MacLeod who “was writing wonderful short stories but at the rate of one per year,” and ultimately delivered the manuscript for his first novel, No Great Mischief “literally page by page,” we all need a compass to keep our true north in sight.
Douglas Gibson even helped Alice Munro to stay on course. “The first time we met,” says Gibson, “at that point, she was a great short story writer. And everyone, I mean everyone was convinced this was a terrible mistake. They told her she should write a novel. No more short stories. So, she stopped writing short stories and found she couldn’t write anymore. I said to her, ‘Alice, you’re a great short story writer. You must keep writing short stories. And I will keep publishing them forever more.’”
And when she won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, it was Gibson and his wife who travelled to “the heart of Stockholm” on Munro’s behalf, “where everyone, even the cameramen, wore white tie and tails and the windows of the bookshops were filled with Alice Munro titles.” Thank goodness Munro found and followed her true north. Today, she is “revered worldwide as master of the short story” (CBC News—May 14, 2024). Tragically, she passed away at the age of 92, on the very day these words were written.
Fallis notes that “Doug had a unique relationship with his writers.” He called, cajoled, visited their homes, and wrested words on crumpled sheets of paper from their very hands. Perhaps it was a sign of the times, or perhaps it’s testament to the man himself that Gibson “took the wide ranging view of things that editors could and should do. By temperament, I would want to continue to do things the same way.”
Whatever you write, follow your path. Find your north. And if you’re anything like Gibson, along the way you’ll help another weary traveler to find their own.
