Re: 'our Sean' in the news
Hi Sean,
Don't be surprised about what newspapers do to your writing. I have
been doing a weekly gardening/nature column in the Parksville/Qualicum
Beach News for several years. The editor liked longer articles so if
there was room - fine. But when space was needed for ads, he cut my
articles in the most gruesome way. About two years ago, I objected -
mainly because he knows nothing about horticulture.
I solved the problem by making sure my column doesn't go over 750
words - now, he always needs all of it. My biggest problem is the
stupid, unrelated, embarassing, and even untrue headings he puts on the
articles. Sometimes, I just wince! I send the articles in with
appropriate and even catchy headings but he just has to show his
editorial privileges and change it. Editors are like that.
About getting paid - columnists get paid very little - it has to be a
labour of love. I am the highest-paid columnist on the paper at $30
per article. You have to do typesetting etc. to make a living at
working on a newspaper.
I enjoy writing and sharing my knowledge and it is a vehicle to teach
people about native plants and wildlife, biodiversity and
ecologically-friendly gardening etc. I also use the "free" publicity to
conduct my annual Hummertrack study on the return of the Rufous
hummingbird each year. We are tracking them from Mexico to Alaska.
About 150 to 200 people report to me each year, so hopefully we will
learn something after a few years.
Diane Pertson
Otter Point Haven otterpt@macn.bc.ca
Nature Notes from Vancouver Island
http://zapbc.com/nature.htm at
Parksville & Qualicum Beach Online http://zapbc.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Sean A. O'Hara <sean.ohara@poboxes.com>
To: <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 4:24 PM
Subject: 'our Sean' in the news
> At 11:27 AM 7/9/99 -0700, Kay Dreher wrote:
> >Have you noticed that Sean currently has a Mediterranean gardening
series in
> >the Berkeley Voice? I feel quite a proprietary sense of pride - our
Sean in
> >the news.
>
> Hi Kay -
>
> Thanks for noticing. Actually, I was prepared to ask them if I could
> re-write that article before they printed it, but they beat me to it!
It
> was written a while back for a special 'garden section' but was not
> included. Instead, the 'Real Estate' editor took it up. It looks
like
> it will now be a 3-parter (second installment still didn't finish it
off!).
> They took lots of liberties with the text and changed some other stuff
I
> wished they hadn't - amazing how little control you have over this
sort
> of thing. They also mis-printed the web site URL! But it is nice to
have
> the chance to get some of these ideas out there to the general public.
> My main reason for writing the piece was to promote the Mediterranean
> Garden Society, our e-mail discussion, and the web site. I received
> nothing in return. I wonder if they'd like further articles in the
> future?
>
> Sean O.
>
> Sean A. O'Hara sean.ohara@poboxes.com
> h o r t u l u s a p t u s 710 Jean Street
> 'a garden suited to its purpose' Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
>
