Striking Screenwriters Having an Impact

OK, time to remind oneself I support the Hollywood writers' strike. (Grumble.) I do, I really do. (Grumble.) I'm not a huge TV watcher, but I'm really starting to miss this season's hot new drama — and my newest fave — Cane. The show is about the trials and tribulations of a rich and powerful Cuban-American family, and I was hooked from the very first episode. New episodes of Cane have been noticeably absent, along with those of most other intelligent, well-written shows, for several weeks now. In their place: reality shows, tired re-runs, third-rate movies, and other drivel. Surely viewers are revolting. I'm surprised there haven't been riots in the streets.

With two fizzled awards shows and pending Oscar disaster, Hollywood screenwriters are demonstrating the strength inherent in being able to collectively withdraw labour. This dispute is about the same issues that continue to concern Canadian writers. Movies and television make billions of dollars for producers and investors, and secondary digital uses such as DVDs and Internet downloads add to the windfall. Writers want the right to share in the profits generated by material they have created — a not unreasonable position. Industry executives aren't budging and negotations broke down in December. The strike's economic costs, both direct and trickle-down, are skyrocketing daily. With the Oscars pending, pressure is surely mounting for all parties to kickstart the stalled bargaining process. They writers will win this thing. They have to.

Test Your Vocabulary and Help Others Too

Came across a site a couple of days ago that, as a writer and avid Scrabbler, I couldn't resist. FreeRice lets you test your vocab skills and donate food to the hungry at the same time. Each word you get right is worth 20 grains of rice.

You gradually work your way up the levels, with the top score around 50. I hovered between 44 and 47 most of the time, and quit when I hit 48.

Can't believe how many words I've never heard of! Give it a try. Great fun.

Major Victory for Canadian Freelance Writers

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for freelance writers in Canada. The long-awaited Supreme Court decision in the landmark Heather Robertson vs. Thomson Corp. dispute finally came down — in writers' favour. It's been a long time coming. Canadian freelancers have been waiting ten years since Robertson first launched her $100 million class action lawsuit on behalf of an estimated 10,000 Canadian freelance writers against Thomson newspapers for copyright infringement.

Financed out of her own pocket, and helped by donations from writers, Robertson took Thomson to task over the unauthorized duplication of two articles she wrote for the Globe & Mail. These were reproduced in various online databases and CD-ROMs, along with the work of thousands of other writers (including yours truly), without her knowledge or consent.

The issue of electronic rights has been a contentious one that has profoundly impacted the livelihood of freelance writers. The heart of the conflict has been whether freelance material is covered by Canadian copyright as individual works, and thus owned by the writer or — as publishers claim — as part of a collective work owned by the publication.

Canadian writers have watched developments in the US (such as Tasini vs. the New York Times) with interest, waiting on tenterhooks as this case worked its way through seemingly infinite appeals. Debate in all of these battles has tended to center on whether online databases merely constitute a form of archiving, as publishers argue, or whether they represent a new distribution medium. These articles are re-sold on a subscription or pay-per-download basis, and creators argue that they should have the right to share in profits generated from subsequent uses of their work.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced its ruling, in a split decision in favour of writers (except on the CD-ROM issue, which they ruled was a different matter). For more information, see the PWAC web site.

Need Inspiration? Check These Journalist and Author Blogs

To prepare for a recent talk for my local PWAC chapter on why writers should care about blogging, I dug around to see how other writers, journalists, and authors approach blogging. I found that some authors use their blogs to aggressively promote books sales or to publicize their freelance writing services and other activities. Others use their corner of the Internet to create dialogue, promote columns and articles, and build relationships with readers. Here are a few examples, along with sources of more blogs by authors and writers (as opposed to blogs about writing).

• Greg Bear
  Hugo and Nebula award winner science fiction author Greg Bear seems to enjoy using his blog to converse with his readers.


• Daisy Dexter Dobbs
  Romance author Daisy Dexter Dobbs is a prolific blogger who enjoys interacting with readers. Her blog is also a good source of other writer blogs.


• Lynn Viehl
  Viehl uses her blog to sell current books and to promote upcoming titles. Great source of links, though Viehl could tell us more about herself.


• Seth Godin
  Well-known tech pundit Seth Godin uses his blog to promote sales of his various books. He has a blog, All Marketers Are Liars, devoted exclusively to his upcoming book by the same name.


• Tess Gerritsen
  Medial thriller writer Tess Gerritsen uses her blog for self branding purposes. In one post, she admits she still struggles to overcome the label "romance writer" and laments the pigeonholing created by labels in general.


• Crawford Killian
  There is perhaps no more prolific blogger than author and web writing guru Crawford Killian. He maintains no less than ten blogs, all of which are accessible from the one linked here. He uses his blogs to promote his books and provides an excellent collection of writing-related links. His blog, Ask the English Teacher, is a good source of links and information on grammar and web writing.


• Terry Glavin
  Author and journalist Terry Glavin uses his blog to promote his books, columns, and essays.


• Colby Cosh
  Canadian sports columnist Colby Cosh claims his blog has been visited more than one million times since its advent in 2002. It features odd headlines from around the world and an interesting blogroll highlighting Canadian journalists and bloggers.

More Blogs By Writers, Authors, & Journalists

• The Author's Dilemma: To Blog or Not To Blog
• Authors' Blogs (massive alphabetical list)
• Cyber-Journalist Blog List (scroll down for independent journalist blogs)
• The Writer's Life List of Writers' Blogs

PWACers who want to get started blogging will find links to everything you need in this blog or on WebLens' blogging tools page. Just explore the categories at left above, or type the term you want to know about (RSS or social bookmarking, for example) into the search field above to pull up posts on that topic. If you'd like a presentation on blogging for your PWAC chapter or writers' group, please contact me through the comments feature on this post.