Writing
Ernest Dempsey – Earn Extra Income Freelance Writing for the Web
Feb 19th
On February 19th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with fulltime freelance writer, proofreader, and editor Ernest Dempsey. He shared encouraging information on how you can get started in the fun and profitable art of freelance writing. In addition to having written 4 books, he is now the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing and also works as the country editor for Pakistan on the celebrated Internet news channel Instablogs.com. He shared with us on the following points:
Ernest Recommends for finding gigs: Writer’s World |
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| Karim Khan, pen named Ernest Dempsey, hails from Hangu, a small town in Pakistan. As a child, he enjoyed two things: The joyful company of his brother and Khan’s best friend, Shais; and making airy castles with lots of characters in his mind. At twelve, he started writing detective stories, horror, thrillers, and humor. He has a Masters degree in Geology and one in English Literature.He has authored four books including his latest The Blue Fairy and other Tales of Transcendence and, in just the last few years, seen the publication of his poems, essays, short stories, and literary reviews worldwide. Khan is now looking forward to completing his first novel. |  |
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Donna Kakonge – How to Turn Your Writing Career into Journalism
Nov 7th
On November 5th, 2009 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Toronto-based educator and print, radio, and TV journalist Donna Kakonge about how any writer can successfully refocus their work into the freelance journalism marketplace. She believes that you CAN break into the journalism business without having to have a specialist bachelor’s degree in the subject. Donna has been involved in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio Canada International (RCI) on and off for 15 years at the local, national and international levels of both television and radio. She has also worked for the Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel International, Vision TV, the BBC and various publications around the world. Key talking points of tonight’s talk were:
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| Donna Kakonge started writing seriously at the age of seven. Her grade two teacher, Mrs. Chen, had the whole class keep a journal. She wrote a story about dinosaurs that Mrs. Chen deemed “outstanding.” Ever since then, she has been hooked.She went to journalism school at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada where she graduated with the Marjorie Nichols Award for being the student with the most promise of becoming an exceptional journalist. She has also been nominated for a Gemini Award (the Canadian version of the Emmy) for work done with the Discovery Channel and has been part of a W Network project “Tell it Like it Is” that won a Hugo Award.Her education continued with a master of arts in media studies and communications from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her thesis was on the politics of black hair. She has written 31 books, one of them called What Happened to the Afro? that gives a different side to Chris Rock’s docu mentary Good Hair. She has also edited Being Healthy: Selected Works from the Internet and has a book called How to Write Creative Non-fiction is published by Lulu. You can find her books on Amazon.com and other fin e-tailers.She can speak both French and English, a bit of Italian and Spanish. She has received a Quebecor Documentary Fellowship from DOC Toronto. She currently teaches at Seneca College and Centennial College in Toronto. Her subject areas are writing and broadcast. |
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Alexis Niki – 101 Screenwriting Tips
Dec 14th
| On December 10th, 2008 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with screenwriting guru Alexis Niki Alexis Niki is a writer, producer, and script consultant originally from New York and now living in Paris, France. She started her writing career with a seven-year stint as a freelance script translator and film subtitler for customers such as Columbia Tristar and Warner Brothers. Alexis shared with us some key questions about how to get started as a screenwriter including: what is an adaptation, how are novels different than screenplays, what is the “concept” of a screenplay and why is it important, how to pitch your screenplay, how to register your screenplay, and success tips for screenwriters from her new book 101 Screenwriting Tips. |  |
| Alexis continues to provide script analysis, translations, and rewriting services directly to writers and producers who are preparing their projects for the US market. In 2007, Alexis wrote the book 101 Screenwriting Tips (published by LifeTips), a practical guide to screenwriting that has been described as “fun, informative, and to the point.” In November of the same year, she partnered with George Leclere, former Executive Director of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the current Director of the Banff World Television Awards, to write and develop ecology-themed stories for film, television, and the Internet. Two of these projects are currently in development.As a team member of international film association DreamAgo, she helps choose the scripts for DreamAgo’s annual screenwriting workshop in Switzerland. In addition, Alexis is on the development team of the newly-for med Pavaline Studios, New York. Alexis runs the Paris-based screenplay critiquing group Les Scénaristes, and she continues to work on her spec projects. She is also a certified Alexander Technique teacher. We are very pleased to have her on the line with us live from Paris for this transcontinental interview. |
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Suzanne Lieurance – Developing Your Passion of Writing as a Career
Nov 21st
| On November 20th, 2008 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Suzanne Lieurance about how to convert your passion for writing into a viable career as a freelance writer. In addition to being the author of more than 20 published books, Lieurance offers a variety of coaching programs via private phone calls, teleclasses, listserv, and private email for writers who want to turn their love of writing (for children and/or adults) into a part-time or full-time career. We talked about all types of freelance writing and what it takes to get started as a freelance writer, common pitfalls and mistakes to avoid, how much you can really expect to make, how to build your writing resume, and ghost writing. We also touched on some secrets for success in writing for children’s books. |  |
| Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime children’s author, freelance writer, and The Working Writer’s Coach. She teaches children’s writing for the Institute of Children’s Literature based in West Redding, Connecticut, and is the founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center. Lieurance has written articles for a variety of magazines, newsletters, and e-zines like Family-Fun, Kansas City Weddings, Instructor Magazine, New Moon for Girls, Children’s Writer, and many others. She hosts a talk show about children’s books, called Book Bites for Kids, every weekday afternoon on blogtalkradio.com. |  |