Tuesday, September 27, 2011

SARAH RICHARDSON CHAT



I recently got the chance to ask one of my fav designers and tv hosts some questions about work and motherhood. Sarah Richardson seems to have it all and do it all effortlessly. Check out my article at Urbanbaby & Toddler magazine


**first posted March 25, 2009 at www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com

Saturday, September 24, 2011

GREAT FINDS #2

I just stumbled over this site. I am loving it and learning a lot.

Check it out!
http://www.problogger.net/

**first posted August 8, 2008 on www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com

Writing...and writing... and writing

 So I am going to try it again this year. What are you going to try you say? Well, I am going to try to write a novel in a month, or at least 50,000 words in the month. It is all for National Novel Writing Month. I will start on the first day of November and finish on the last day of November. I have a few ideas that I am excited about so check back here often over the course of the next few months and of course during the month of November. I will be update the journey as I prepare and write.


This is how I felt after I finished NANOWRIMO  the first time! **posted Dec 3, 2009 on my other blog http://frecklesthemom.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-did-it.html


So I have been absent lately. There is a reason, it isn't because I was being lazy, just the opposite actually. I found out about this thing, it is a writing challenge. November was dubbed National Novel Writing Month. I have long dreamed of writing books, novels, children books, you name it. I have spent my working career writing but nothing as interesting as a novel. I write news. So when I heard about this writing challenge I was intrigued. So I registered.


What did I register for you ask? Well, the challenge was to writing 50,000 words in the month of November. It is considered the equivalent of a small novel. A whopping 50,000 words. A lot right. Right! It is a lot of words for anyone but when you factor in the fact that I am a Mom to two little girls, a wife and a full time radio news journalist and freelance magazine writer it is a seriously huge amount of words. I wasn't sure how I was going to find the time to write but I committed to doing it. I was up for a challenge. I love to write and heck I needed to put my money where my mouth was. I have long said I wanted to write a book, so what was stopping me. NOTHING. So, I just started to write.

It was hard. I found it difficult to get things going but once things got rolling the story just flowed. For a while anyway and then real life started to creep in. The writing stalled as my other responsibilities were calling. As the month continued I realized I was quickly running out of time. There was a deadline that was fast approaching, 50,000 words by midnight EST November 30th.
The last week of November was on top of me and I was no where near being done. I was only at about 20,000 words. I needed to haul ass. And I did. I got to work and just let the ideas flow, I would have to worry about quality later. It was all about quantity. I was worried that I wouldn't get it done but I did. Thirty thousand words in a week. Amazing.

It was hard. There were days that I struggled with what to say, or what to write rather. It was hard to make the time to just sit at the computer, uninterrupted and just write. I loved doing it but there is no doubt that writing a novel is work. There are a lot of people who say they have always wanted to write a book, but that is certainly easier said than done. It is hard work.

What now? Well, I have a few other things that need my attention, things that I was ignoring while taking on this writing challenge. And then? I will revisit what I wrote and continue on the journey to write a novel. I will keep you posted

Friday, September 23, 2011

Old post - Another Find

ANOTHER FIND

In my quest for knowledge, about stuff in general and blogging in particular, I have discovered another great resource. Tina Su is a successful blogger, which is great but her blog/website is a great resource for life in general. Check it out and you will see what I mean. It is great reading!

http://thinksimplenow.com/

**first post August 15, 2008 on www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Old Post - Things I Love Thursdays

TILT: THINGS I LOVE THURSDAYS

I found this blog. It makes me smile. http://www.galadarling.com/. I discovered her after finally signing up for twitter.

She has this thing called Things I Love Thursdays. WHAT A GREAT IDEA.

*first posted November 6, 2008 www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hockey or Election Coverage?



October 6th there is a provincial election in Ontario. It is also the opening of the NHL Season and the first game of the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A real conundrum for some people. What to do? What to do?

Well, according to an online survey done by the Toronto star a vast majority of Star readers will be watching the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and perennial rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, followed by the Vancouver Canucks playing host to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hockey is king in a hockey town.

It got me thinking. Does this mean people don't care about politics and the election? Or is it just that people don't care about the Election coverage that every single news outlet in Toronto will be airing?  I think a bit of the first and a lot of the second. I think the poll results should really speak volumes to newsrooms everywhere about how they package election results. Do viewers/audiences really want hours and hours of results?

I think the answer is NO! In the day and age where people, many people, turn to the Internet - Twitter, Facebook, Google + , email,  smart phones - to get all the news that affects their lives I think this idea of hours of packaged election results coverage, with numbers, multiple reporters, analysis and multiple news anchors is getting old, fast. I think there is a need to give election results but it needs to be in a prettier package - a package that is more efficient, has a faster delivery, more information and less fluff and filler.

Old Article, New Post

As I have mentioned, I am a freelance writer as wells as Mom and Radio News Editor. This is a link to an article I work for ParentsCanada magazine. Check it out.


http://www.parentscanada.com/developing/pre-school/articles.aspx?listingid=208


**posted March 27, 2008 at www.frecklesthemom.blogspot.com 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Who I am ....

I hope through this little piece of the Internet to show you who I am, the work I do and industry that I work in.

I have been in broadcast media for about 15 years. I first started at a little multicultural station here in Toronto called CFMT, currently known as OMNI. I was able to really get my feet wet with the crew at CFMT. They let me learn, grow and make lots of mistakes. It is also where I met someone who would become a great friend and mentor. He was (and still is) a great writer and was kind enough to teach me what he knew and that is a very special thing in this business. Often times people are afraid to show newbies the robes, afraid to teach someone what they know, afraid to share their lessons, tips, tricks and advice with the new kid on the block but my friend Terry Auciello took me under his wing and helped me become the journalist I am today.

After CFMT I moved up the ladder, landing a job at CityTV in the newsroom. I was hired as an assignment editor and I was more than a little thrilled. It was the newsroom to be in. It was full of great talent, people who were skilled, smart, edgy and talented (yes, I know I said it twice but I wanted you to know how I feel about the folks down in that newsroom). CityNews was a leader, was a trailblazer and was copied but never duplicated. I was able to learn a lot from the folks there and I was able to move up quickly. Soon I found myself on the writing desk, writing news copy for CP24, the all news channel, and then CityNews at 6 and 11. Before long I was producing news on CP24 and then I became the news producer for the weekend CityNews at 11.

I worked with some fantastic people in that newsroom, meeting some people who will be friends for life but it couldn't last forever and before long I was off having babies. I left the news business to have a family. I was away from the newsroom for nearly three years. I returned to broadcast news and found myself working in radio, a foreign beast for me. Not long after my short stint in radio news I landed a gig at CBC, working in the Newsworld newsroom ( now known as News Network) on the morning show. Getting up at 2:15 a.m to be at work for 3:15 a.m. can kill brain cells if you do it for too long and so that was a short gig. I lasted a year before I realized I was turning into a zombie so I returned to radio news, becoming the evening show editor at 680News, Toronto's all news radio station - the number one radio station in the country. And that is where you will find me five nights a week....listen closely and you will even hear my name every so often!

I hope that in the space I can talk about my work, about the work of my broadcast friends and colleagues and about all things media!
So this is something I have been thinking about for a long time. This is going to be a place to talk about all things media... traditional, social media, citizen jouralism...any thing and all things media.