Archive for March 22nd, 2007

the CBC and the alphabet

Mar 22, 2007 in Media

Horton Hears a Who! film 10 Items or Less dvdrip Final Exam full movie The Clan of the Cave Bear divx Judge Dredd movie download 200px-stqalien.jpgEveryone’s favourite Iranian Canadian broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi is hosting the new CBC radio afternoon arts show.

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A couple of notable things about the show is that it’ll replace Freestyle, a show that I think is a waste of time and radio frequency. It will also be named  after everybody’s favourite omnipotent Star Trek alien…. Q.

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My friend Tori Allen will be working on the show and she always has good taste so there is hope for this show after all.

It’s also the second show on CBC named after a letter of the alphabet (the other being late night, alternative culture show Zed).

All I have to say is. Y. O. Y.

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Freelancer? Read this!

Mar 22, 2007 in Writing

One of the questions I get often is “Ron, I want to write for magazines. Where do I start?” There’s the usual advice:

1) Read the damn magazine

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2) Know the damn magazine

3) Pitch to the damn magazine

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Well D.B. Scott over at Canadian magazines has come up with a list of Writer’s Guidelines. So now, you can read the guidelines, figure out what exactly the magazine is looking for and pitch accordingly. Oh, publicists, you might want to read this too. Just in case you have to pitch your stories to these places.

Why not buy a first book!

Mar 22, 2007 in Books

My next books column in This magazine looks at Michael Ondaatje’s new novel, sort of. I never actually read the book (it hasn’t come out yet). Instead, I use my column to tell my readers to ignore Ondaatje’s new book for a little while and give some new novelists a chance.

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So in the next few months, while you’re slowly building a list of book to take the beach/cottage/summer vacation consider the first-time novelist. There are plenty of good first-time novels on the market right now. Below, a short list. The first three were the subject of my recent column and will be available at your local bookseller soon:

Anthem of Reluctant Prophet, by Joanne Proulx
Missing the Ark, by Catherine Kidd

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The Milk Chicken Bomb, by Andrew Wedderburn
Lullabies for Little Criminals, by Heather O’Neill
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The Band from Hell buy , by Kyo Maclear
The End of East, by Jen Sookfong Lee
Bang Crunch, by Neil Smith

Im Not There I’m sure there are many, many more. These are some of the books that have caught my eye for one reason or another. Buying a first novel is a good idea in so many ways. It helps a young author get their footing as writers, lets you discover a new talent and sends a message to publishers that they shouldn’t be driven by blockbuster books and safer authors.

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