Tag Archives: Writing

Writing

YES You Can Make Money Writing!

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Besides publishing books my goal was to get paid for writing magazine articles. But first I did my time. I wrote for local papers for free to get exposed and used to the tighter style of writing and meeting a deadline. The first time I was published in Our Canada, a national glossy magazine, even though it was unpaid I was thrilled. What I got out of it was book sales, a free subscription and a place to stay in Ontario. Being an RV writer, I started with RV Times also for free. Writing a series on our cross-Canada trips sold books, and created a fan base which continues to this day.

 I couldn’t join BC Association of Travel Writers unless I sold at least two articles per year because this is an organization of professionals. The first year I scrimped to sell two. But by the next year Snowbirds & RV Travel found me and paid for the 10 part series about our 2009 northern trip.

 This year after the BCATW gala, an invitation went out for three travel writers to go to Dawson City, Yukon all expenses paid. Yahoo!! I finally felt like I belonged among the other professional travel writers. No more writing for free, or at least minimally and only under special circumstances like for Powell River Living.

 Those four days in Dawson was the pinnacle of my travel writing career. I was treated like royalty by tourism and business people alike. Three of us were wined and dined, toured around, given gifts and taken to the Commissioners Ball. The 1898 style ball is formal with dresses being specially designed starting at $2,000. Do I ever have stories! I did my homework ahead of time, contacting the seamstress, the commissioner’s office and an editor for a Yukon magazine.In the photo below with my two other travel writer friends  at the Commissions Ball. If you can make out the little feather headpieces we’re wearing they were gifts from our Yukon Tourism host. Oh the perks!

Commisioners Ball

 Could you earn an income with your stories or enjoy what are called “fam tours”/ familiarization tours put on by tourism …YES You Can! Haven’t started yet? Start writing for free in local magazines to build up a portfolio of clips/tear sheets. Set a goal for when you’ll start selling stories. Writing is a job and we deserve to get paid just the same as the ad person does. Among the professionals, it’s a sore point when writers give their work away because it makes it harder for the rest of us to find editors that will pay. Start small, learn as you go, attend workshops, pick the brain of experienced magazine writers, study articles in magazines for content and structure.

 The Powell River Tourism project is the perfect place for locals to get their feet wet… or is that their computers working? Believe in yourself and your writing and you’ll go far. YES You Can Make Money Writing and have fun in the process! For the guidelines to this project go the Powell River Writers Conference site and the latest newsletter: www.prwriters.org

Travel journal notes

Great Northern Book Tour Journal Entries

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Greetings from the way far north!
We are at day 25 of our four month book tour/exploration of Canada’s great far north. We’ve been in Whitehorse, Yukon for four days and leave tomorrow for Dawson City. What a vast land this is where there are more caribou than people: 165,000 to only 32,000 people. All that contributes to expanses of quiet wild beauty.

So far we haven’t seen any grizzly bears but as we head farther north we are bound to. The Yukon river is an incredible green that the Yukon River Quest paddlers tackled yesterday. 170 paddlers in 77 boats set off from here destined for Dawson City on their 750 km quest.
We’ll meet them there.

As a travel writer many opportunities have opened for me. I am so priviliged to have the best of both worlds: write and travel while making an income at the same time.
Watch for articles in Sun Cruisers RV magazine, Whispering Winds, RV Times and anything else I can find.

RV Canada with Boo the Menopausal Van is getting lots of exposure thanks to the sign on Boo’s front: Boo the Menopausal Van. We’ve been stopped at gas stations to sell books. Flag ladies just grin at us as do anyone standing on the streets.
We are having such fun exploring and learning so much about Canada’s early literally ground breaking history. This is the land of gold miners and the famous Alaska Highway.
If you want to follow us sign up at: http://mytripjournal.com/rvcanadawithboo

When we get to internet we’ll be updating. We are following our dreams all the way to Tuktoyaktuk July 12. We will be standing at the Beaufort Sea sharing our blackberry wine with someone just like we dreamed it would months ago. Hard work,determination and courage is all it takes.
Keep following your dreams and never give up.

July 19 in Carcross, Yukon:

July 11 will go down in our history as a very memorable day. It was the day we took a river boat tour up the McKenzie 180km to the Arctic Ocean.We did see two grizzlies on the river’s shore and got wonderful pictures. Our dream destination Tukotoyaktuk which sits at 69 degrees north. By then we’d already crossed the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees by travelling up the northernmost highway in North America, the Dempster. It is 760km of gravel and spectacular scenery.

But I digress that’s what got us to Inuvik, NWT where we hooked up with Up North Tours, Kyle and the guys who are so accomodating and knowledgeable.

In Tuk with our guide Boogie,we took our Powell River water and standing in the Arctic Ocean we poured it and refilled it to take back home. We hauled our bottle of blackberry wine all the way up there but never got a chance to share it so that had to wait till we were back in Dawson City.

I could hardly believe I was standing there in this totally differnt world of cold, no trees, sewer and water lines above ground, 24 hour sunlight, hunting whale and polar bears as a natural way to feed families, and pingos. What an eye opener!

We flew back to Inuvik over the pingos which are giant pyramids of permafrost pushing through the ground. In Inuvik we had a private tour of the famous Igloo Church built in a style that defied tradional building by putting down a foundation which isn’t done because of the permafrost.

The day was capped off when we attended the Great Northern Arts Festival cultural ceremonies. Watching the drum dancers, throat singers and whip artist demo made us feel like July 11 was a perfectly rounded day of really seeing and feeling the far north culture.

But now we are starting to backtrack from Whitehorse to Watson Lake, we are discovering yet more beauty. We’re currently in Carcross, Yukon and the smallest and most northern desert in the world. Majestic mountains and blue lakes abound.

Everyday we meet new people, learn more history, inspire and be inspired. This has been a journey of rediscovery of what is really important to Dave and I: keep it simple and enjoy each other without distractions and stress. Once again, as we did in our two previous adventures we are rekindling the depth of our love for each other and this great land we live in…and life in general.

Teslin, Watson Lake, Liard Hot Springs and Yellowknife lie ahead and yet to unveil their beauty. This was my last journal entry for this trip. 115 days since we left home, we drove back into Powell River 14,493 km later. For more complete journal entries go to: http://mytripjournal.com/rvcanadawithboo

 

 

Writing

Is Self-Publishing For You?

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Have you dreamed of seeing your writing in book form?Does it seem so very far away? We’ve moved past the old stigma that said the only way to be a “real” author was to send out your manuscript endlessly until someone somewhere decided you were good enough to publish. Those days are gone as we’ve moved into the era of quick, quality digitally printed works.

This is my third self-published book in seven years so I figure I’ve learned a thing or two about the process. But let me tell you right off the bat: It’s NOT for the faint-at-heart or the uncommitted or the lazy. If this describes you, stick to writing for pleasure . . . nothing wrong with that. But if you’re willing to leap off the cliff of dreams coming true and have the faith you will grow your wings on the way down, then read on.

My first book “Lessons From the Potholes of Life”:I knew nothing about publishing and little about how to lay out a book so I hired a local desk-top publisher to do the whole thing. All I had to do was type and give him ideas and he made it look pretty. I didn’t know I needed an editor. I thought he did that . . . wrong! Although people loved the book, there are many errors in it and it wasn’t cheap to produce. But the worst was finding out he never kept the files. Now it’s out of print, I have no files from which to produce another printing . . .grrr!

Lesson #1: Always use an editor to clean it up after you’ve had several people read it for you. Always keep your files. You own them, not the person you hired.

Lesson #2: Shop around for the best publisher or print on demand company. Ask other authors for their experiences.

My second book “RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream:” By this time I decided I needed to learn how to format my own book , really self publish, which I did using onlyMicrosoft Word. I hired someone for the cover design and had the manuscript proof read before going to an editor. I produced a professional looking book that sold well in a niche market.

Lesson #3:Unless you have Photo shop or some other fancy program, hire a cover designer. It’s the first thing people see and can make or break a sale.

Lesson #4:Find your niche and work  it. Because I’m an RVer and speaker, I found my niche at RV shows and writing for RVers.

My latest book “RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van:”I’ve progressed to being able to layout photos in the book. I found a great editor, Lewis Mattox online because I joined Linkedin site. I networked with anyone I could talk to so I found an old school chum, Ole Neilson who does cover design.  In my writer’s group Susan Litke, a wonderful illustrator did the cartoon for the cover. Because I was looking for the best price for printing I met Craig at Island Blue Print who gave me a fabulous price, excellent service and quick turn around time.

Lesson #5: Network everywhere and all the time. Join a writer’s group. Go to writers’ festivals. You never know where your support or business link will come from. Hand out cards everywhere, and keep cards for referrals.

Lesson#6: Both RV books are 6×9″ , 240 pages and under 500 grams so they fit through the mail slot that keeps them under the parcel post rate. They ship for $2.78 anywhere in Canada. That would be closer to $8 if they were over. Besides it keeps the overall price down so I can sell them for $20, a breaking point where people don’t have to think too hard about purchasing.

Lesson #7:Once you start on the manuscript, set yourself a timeline with set dates to reach for. Without a goal date, you could wander around the forest of procrastination and fear forever. I set myself a time line that worked back from when we wanted to leave(June 1) on the book tour. I knew I had to have the rough draft of the book done before Christmas08 and I did. The result? My book will be launched Mar.19 at the Chilliwack RV Show, a full two months ahead of schedule. To be out from under the stress in a short period of time feels soo great!

Can you produce your own book? Of course you can if you really, really want to make your dream come true.

Publications

Lessons from the Potholes of Life: book by Barb Rees

 Lessons From the Potholes of Life is not only a very candid exposé of the author’s life, but it’s also a toolkit with exercises to help you dig for your own diamonds. Barb’s book will give you the courage to turn what appear to be boulders of coal into valuable diamonds.   Taken from 26 of her stories  that cover everything from teen pregnancy, divorce, widowed, nervous breakdown, child rearing, death, and in the end a successful writing career and marrying her best friend. 

Although out-of-print at this time, orders are being taken for future publication.  Until then, remember that no matter how deep the pothole you’re in with the world dumping crap on your head; if you dig hard enough you will always find a diamond at the bottom. It’s all in your attitude.
Happy mining!

ISBN 0-9687351-2-6

Life lessons