Category Archives: cats

10 Freelance Editing Perks

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1. Multi-tasking. New schools of thought label this as ineffective, that you don’t get as much accomplished as you think. If I can have laundry going while combing a piece for inappropriate commas then hallelujah.

2. Chores don’t feel like chores. I’m not a fan of sitting in front of the computer for hours so I chop the day into little pieces. A break is either a trip to the gym or an errand in the hood. I’ve never enjoyed grocery shopping so much.

3. No transit. Sure, I’d try to make the most of my time on buses, streetcars and subways – reading, sending emails, or revising. I could be in a fantastic mood after spending a day on the island with little friends, but after riding public transit an hour home, surrounded by grumps, I’d get off miserable and agitated. Now I only go downtown when necessary.

4. Pajamas. I do get dressed most days and walk to the office, a few steps from my bed. It’s knowing I don’t have to, and that I could stay in my underwear all day, that gives me an extraordinary amount of pleasure.

5. Take it, or leave it baby! I say this at the moment because I have a steady client for editing work, but I’d rather struggle a bit financially and have time to work on my fiction. No matter how bad it gets, I refuse to edit articles on subprime mortgage meltdowns (whatever those are?!)

6. Writing Improvement. At school we are taught editing as it pertains to textbooks, manuals, magazines, and non-fiction, but the skills do carry over to fiction. Grammar for Writers and Editors has been my favourite class so far. I thought I knew grammar – I knew nothing!

7. A Place for Perfectionism. It can infect all areas of one’s life and becomes annoying not only to you but to those around you. Editing is a place to focus this defect. As with story revisions, you need to know when to stop.

8. Strange Learnings. My goal is to edit fiction, other than my own, but in the meantime I’m working on all sorts of subjects outside my realm. Recently I’ve learned about cuddle parties, SEO, and Corey Hart’s upbringing.

9. Family Time. My kids, who just happen to have fur, like to have mum around. I never have to feel bad about leaving them alone for twelve hours a day anymore.

10. Introvert’s Paradise. Alone time an introvert needs and craves after extended socialization is the day-to-day. The catch now is recognizing the opposite – when to go out and connect with humans. This coin flip also makes me appreciate my time with others more.

There are challenges working from home, but the good stuff outweighs them by far.

First Reading Experience

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I did my first reading at the Dragnet Magazine 5 launch party. It was a journey getting there, not just the week leading up, but the years of dreaded public speaking.

I was extremely shy as a kid. In high school, I’d take a zero for papers rather than do class readings. When I did presentations in college, I turned beet-red, shook, and had trouble breathing.

In the first creative writing class I signed up for, the instructor told us we would be reading a page of our written dialogue in the second class. I dropped out immediately. Five years passed before I signed up for another.

After Dragnet accepted my story, an editor told me there would be a launch and asked if I would be interested in reading. I said I would definitely attend the launch but wasn’t sure about the latter (my polite way of saying no).

When they sent me the details, the event listing printed my name as one of the readers. What? I hadn’t agreed. How could they do that? I sat and stewed for a couple of days.

My friend Rob said, “When you have a book, you’ll have to do readings.” I knew he was right unless I wanted to piss off publishers. And my mum said, “You’re not going to pull that anxiety crap, are you?” which really got me mad because I’ve never seen it as something I had control over.

I knew no matter how long I prolonged it, there was always going to be a first reading. If it was a horrible experience, I would never have to do it again. If I fainted, puked, or peed on stage then at least I would be memorable.

I had another motivation: Annabelle, my cat of eighteen years, recently passed. I could see her look of disapproval if I didn’t do this. I would read for her.

I told Dragnet I’d give it a go. Now, it was on to the mental and physical training. I didn’t drink for a week to clear my mind. I didn’t talk about the anxiety – it had no voice. I went to the gym (“Eye of the Tiger” played in my mental tape player). And I practised reading my story twice a day.

The day of the launch, I had a few moments of nausea, but carried on, almost pretending it wasn’t going to happen. I did stop at the liquor store following an afternoon stint at the gym. My motto has always been “It’s better to have booze you don’t want, than to want booze you don’t have.”

Nadia Ragbar, who has two short fictions in the issue, cabbed with me to the launch. I met Jeremy Hanson-Finger (publisher), Andrew Battershill  and Jena Karmali (editors) – all lovely.

I wasn’t chugging beer or chain smoking. Friendly faces showed up, and there wasn’t a stage with bright lights. No bigs, right? Dragnet played their intense Theme Song Video. Then I was called to the microphone. I had worn my blue hoodie security blanket but took it off.

Apart from massive shakes, I thought it went well. My voice felt strong and clear, and I read at a good pace. Before I knew it, the story was over. I said “That was for Bubs (Annabelle),” but no one heard because they were clapping.

Will I read again, given the chance. Yes.

Personal Obsessions

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“It came as something of a shock . . . to discover that for over thirty years of writing my attention has turned again and again to the same unvarying gamut of sounds and images. I wish I hadn’t noticed this. In fact, it became an embarrassment and I began to wonder if I should file A CATALOGUE OF PERSONAL OBSESSIONS. And my agent was once heard to moan aloud . . . “Oh God, Findley – not more rabbits!“
-introduction, Dinner Along The Amazon, Timothy Findley.

I could relate to the discovery of recurring themes, images, character traits, and worse – repeated phrasing I was finding in my stories (had I written this previous, or perhaps it was in a draft somewhere that never came to fruition.) I don’t have thirty something years experience which makes it all the more worrisome. It got me thinking of other things that creep into my fiction over and over again.

Felines have a habit of wandering onto my pages, and yes, many of my human characters are named after cats that have passed.

Recently, I wrote the dialogue tag ‘whispered loudly’ and a bell sounded. I scoured previous stories to find it  and exclaimed,  “My characters shall whisper loudly no more!”

I thought ‘the rolling waves of nausea’ was rather clever when I first wrote it, but it resurfacing for a third time made me feel sick to my stomach.

Other recurring bits include bars and their regulars, basements and their stairs, meatloaf, and hockey.

“. . . writers are never through with the world they see and hear . . . because it is a world inside their heads, which is the ‘real’ world they write about.”

I suppose the familiar becomes a handle of sorts. There lies the honesty in fiction that is required to make it believable. Too many layers covering up truth kills a story.

Writing Paralysis

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This slump has affected my fiction, blogging, editing, and even tweeting. I knew I was in trouble when I stopped reading a few months back. My top ten excuses:

1.  Grammar Boy – kissing on fire escapes and park benches is more fun than writing, right?
2.  Work hours increase – who has time to write?
3.  The Cats – they need mummy and will not be ignored.
4.  NFL – need to study to achieve success in my pool.
5.  Tired – nothing new, always been an insomniac.
6.  L-I-V-I-N – I’ll write about it later.
7.  School – focusing on my editing career.
8.  Writing in my head – pen to paper is the challenge.
9.  Wrong mood – not that I know what the right one is.
10. Low-Grade Anticipatory Stress Disorder – made this up but sounds about right.

Now that I’ve shared this crap with the blogosphere I’m hoping it will get me back on track. What excuses do you dispense when you’re not writing or doing what you’re passionate about?

Writers and Cats

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”Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you’re feeling bad, you just look at the cats, you’ll feel better, because they know that everything is, just as it is. There’s nothing to get excited about. They just know. They’re saviors. The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have hundreds, you’ll live ten times longer than if you have ten. Someday this will be discovered, and people will have a thousand cats and live forever. It’s truly ridiculous.” -Charles Bukowski

Mum with kids that just happen to have fur.

Hemingway, Burroughs, Capote, Twain, Shaw, and other writers were also fond of felines. Photos HERE. 

Name that Character

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How do you name your characters? I sometimes use names of childhood friends, or names of cats that I grew up with (most had human names). I’ve also chosen names of characters from books I love (Paul and Marion from Sons and Lovers). Nicknames work well too. When I started writing I often had unnamed narrators and wonder if it is easier for a reader to identify with a nameless character. As a fan of Carver and Cheever, I like their oft used first and last names or collective last name for a family or couple.

I’ve used websites to look for names that were culturally specific and the white pages in the phone book are fun. A writer friend pulled out a book of baby names from his bag that he had been using for his upcoming novel. These can always be found at Goodwill or the Sally Ann.

Sometimes an entire story can be built around a strong character name. Other times, it can take many rewrites before realizing the name I’d chosen doesn’t work. I think my favourite character name that I’ve come up with thus far is Pinkerton Lewis.

Reading is Writing

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‘Everywhere I go I am asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.’
-Flannery O’Connor

When I began researching literary publications I would turn to read the author bios. It was MFA this and MFA that. I prefer the funny bios, and think mentioning higher education to be showy. I often wonder how I know how to write at all, given that high school classes are a blur and the college courses eighteen years after have been brief in discussing craft components. Reading is writing, or this is how I primarily learned to write – things that are interesting to me, and sometimes others. Of course, everything helps – classes, workshops, discussions with writers, books on writing. But, I do think too much academic study on the craft can quash one’s voice or vision.

My first publication bio reads: Julie McArthur lives and writes in Parkdale with her three kids/cats, Annabelle (Superbubs), Harold and Mona. I couldn’t resist the chance to immortalize my cats. Still working on a clever biography.