Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Procrastinator's Haiku

Work and more work is keeping me a bit too busy to do extra writing. However, in an attempt to perhaps fire my engines, or try the group critiquing process again (I've had twenty years of it and took a break), I've decided to attend my writer's group again, Helix.

We have somehow moved into summertime email banter about Tesseracts 12, matriarchs, buttering tiny women (odd dreams), SF conventions and various sundry comments. Which included an odd haiku by Casey Wolf.

So I responded with:

Thinking of writing
The navel grows a forest
My book is not done

To which she replied:

thinking of writing
i read email and have baths
small ant burrowing

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

CBC Takes All Rights

It's a shocking thing that CBC radio (and I presume TV) is now taking all rights should you write anything for them. I noticed this first for contest entries. But checking out Radio One's program "This I Believe" they also say: By clicking on the "submit your essay" button below, you are transferring to CBC all rights, including copyright, in your essay and are waiving your moral rights in the essay. As owner of copyright CBC, and third parties authorized by CBC, will have the exclusive right to make unlimited use of all or part of the essay in any and all media in perpetuity worldwide.

So, first they aren't paying for these pieces. Fill our programming for us for free. After all, it is our national radio station. By writing something for CBC, you're volunteering it. Yet, many artists donate or volunteer their works for a particular show or event or book. So what's the difference?

Here, CBC wants you to not only give your work for free but also give up all your rights, forever. The owning of copyright is a complicated thing and there are lawyers and agents who specialize in the fine print. But basically, by transferring all rights it means that you can no longer use that piece of your writing in any way. You cannot send it to be published or shown anywhere else. You really can't even asked permission since CBC now owns it completely. Take a person who sells a sculpture. Someone else owns the sculpture but the artist might still have prints or photos of the sculpture sold or put in books. In the case of writing, many writers make a living from reselling their pieces to different publications.

Although in most cases of publishing one sells specific rights (and often specific media rights such as electronic or print publication) for a limited time, there are cases where you sell all rights. But should you sell a book to a publisher the rights give that publisher the exclusive right to publish your book for a period of time, compensating you as is laid out in your contract. If you sell to a magazine, you are paid for the piece, by article, word count or column inches and can after a time, resell that piece to other publications.

There are first world rights, English only rights, print only, first North American, and a motley assortment of many other combinations, often with a nonexclusive right to put in a print anthology (if you sell a short story to a magazine), which only gives that publisher the first right to ask you if they can put it in but you have the right of refusal.

In most cases rights revert to authors as per the contract, and the majority of authors will not write something in which they do not retain writes. I have never sold anything where the rights did not revert to me. Exceptions are for anything you write while in the employ of a company. In that case, they own it but you can still get writing credit for it and have your moral rights.

Moral rights are the most important to keep and it's shocking that CBC has resorted to such tactics. This means they can take your piece and alter it, making it unrecognizable, printing pieces out of context and otherwise changing your words, and you will have no recourse. If I was a painter and sold a painting of a house to someone and waived my moral rights, they could then paint in a dead dog and a person dismembering someone else and I could say nothing. I'm not sure but it's possible moral rights might also mean your name is no longer attached to your work. In the above example you would probably be happy if they left your name off but anyone who takes your moral rights can destroy what you've created and say you made it.

Of all rights, moral rights are the most important and the most worrisome when a big corporation like CBC is stealing them from anyone who writes for them. When moral rights go missing it's immoral. Any artist, whether writer, painter or jeweller, as well as any person who appreciates any form of art should take a stand and write to the CBC showing their concern.

I ,for one, cannot sit by and morally let this happen. I will bring it up with any writers organization that I'm affiliated with because it is reprehensible. On top of that, there is no reason that they need moral rights if they're above board. It lowers my opinion of a media body that did have good programming but now I find it's suspect. I'm not a copyright specialist and I'm sure a lawyer could give more depth but I understand my basic rights and CBC is trying to take them all.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Musings from Tibet

I posted a while ago about my anger at China's overthrow of Tibet and the World's blind eye to it. I also think that trying to boycott Chinese items, though it would be very effective would be very hard to accomplish as they are pervasive from ingredients in toothpaste to cars and electronics.

However, following is a post that was made to another list I'm on. Angela McDonald has spent quite a lot of time living with people in Tibet and teaching English to the monks. She posted several entries. This was one of her last jsut after she left Tibet. She sent it July 7th. I have posted this with her permission.

***
Back in India, and happy to be home. Again here with my friends, people who speak english, and of course, my beloved cows. It was very difficult to leave Tibet, but at the same time, in some ways I was ready to leave. I loved it there very much, but I'll admit that it was a very intense experience, and after 3months, I was feeling the need to go some place relaxing to re-cooperate a bit.

Before I left Tibet, Jinpa and I traveled around for about a week before finally arriving in Beijing whereI flew to Delhi. It was a lot of fun, Jinpa is great. We went to a few different places in Tibet, then into China. Poor Jinpa, it was difficult for him to travel with me in Tibet because as a monk, its not exactly socially acceptable for him to be wandering around alone with a woman (as the most common way for monks to stop being monks and become lay people is to have sex). Especially since he had taken off his monk robes to avoid extra attention from police (or other people for that matter). We did run into a friend of his from Labrang monastery one time. His friend looked at Jinpa, then looked at me, and then got avery concerned look on his face and whispered to Jinpa, "Are you still a monk?" Jinpa laughed and assured him that he was. I'm hoping that no rumors circulated in Labrang about that. Oh, the scandals I create...... ;-)

I'm glad that I got to travel around Tibet at least alittle. I think my favorite place was Rekong. It is known as the art capitol of Tibet (and I really love art as many of you know), and the monasteries were just incredible. The landscape was also wonderful as the mountains were filled with forests and rivers, so it looked a lot like Oregon and Dharamshala. Made me feel a bit homesick. Labrang is beautiful, but its basically all grasslands, there are very few trees.

We also went to Kumbum monastery which, though beautiful, was actually rather depressing. It was once one of the greatest monasteries in Tibet, but now it is only a Chinese tourist attraction. There is very little monastic activity there. The monks didn't even really speak Tibetan, they mostly just spoke Chinese. I asked Jinpa what language they taught Buddhism in at that monastery and he looked at mestrange and said "Tibetan of course!" But when I pointed out to him that the monks barely spoke Tibetan he leaned down to me and whispered "the monks at this monastery don't really know much about Buddhism anymore." Almost all of the monasteries in Tibet were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (I saw ruins of them all over Tibet), but the Chinese are actually allowing them to be rebuilt now, mostly for tourist purposes. They are still trying to restrict monastic activity by putting limits on the number of monks admitted, imprisoning and intimidating many monks, not allowing certain teachings, etc but they discovered that they could make money on the tourism from the monasteries so they are allowing them to be partially rebuilt. Its very strange, and makes me really sad tos ee. Also, in many of the monasteries the tour guidesare Chinese (not in Labrang monastery, the tour guides there are all monks, including Jinpa) who don't reallyknow much about Buddhism or the monasteries, but instead just make things up to tell the tourists. Jinpa listened to the tour guides as we went to different places and many times I heard him whispering under his breath "that's not true." I was amazed to see just how much the Tibetan culture was perverted and changed by Chinese influence. It was reallydifficult to see.....

It was hard to pry myself away from Tibet. Saying goodbye to mother and father in Labrang was reallydifficult, then having to say goodbye to Jinpa in Beijing was hard again. But I am confident that Iwill be back there again. Jinpa and I are plotting to get me back there next year to really study Tibetan language, and he and I have several projects we want to do together (teaching english, writing books, etc) when I return. So many things to do.....

And now back to India! The first few days here were strange, there is always a little culture shock when I switch countries. I had to get used to things like running water, toilets, pants, answering to the name Angela, and eating good food again. Its been nice, but I still find myself occasionally in the market looking around for a field to pee in. Then I remember where I am and instead I just go to a bathroom. Weird.....

I'm still basking in the small glories of life such as toilet paper (but I still find myself rationing it ands tuffing napkins in my pockets at restaurants), showers, tampons, people who speak english, peanut butter, etc. But things like tsampa, yogurt, and milk are really disappointing now. You win some, you lose some. But its funny how much you appreciate small things like these after you go without them for so long.

I've had back luck on weather. When I left India in April it had just fully turned into summer and was hot, sunny, and absolutely beautiful. Then I went toTibet and it was snowing. It continued to snow off and on in Tibet until I left, and when I got back to India, the monsoon season had started. Its still nice and warm here, but there is torrential rain every day (and lots of awesome thunderstorms) which means that everything is in a constant state of dampness. Everything in our house is completely moldy yet again,and the cement walls are literally deteriorating from it. There is not much point in doing laundry as it takes about 4 days for anything to dry, and at that point it is also moldy. If you make laundry a 24 hour job for a few days you can get it done quicker, but that means taking laundry in and out of the house (and hanging it on the line outside) every couple hours between the rains. We're to busy for that, so I'm just getting used to everything smelling like mold.

As soon as I came back, I was practically mobbed by my friends who were anxiously awaiting news and pictures of their families. It's been fun to show everyone pictures of Labrang, and especially of their families, as many of them have not seen pictures of their families for many many years. All of Shedhe's cousins came up the day after I arrived and they were practically bouncing up and down when they saw me. It was very cute. I had so many things to bring here that when I left Labrang I left most of my clothes there and just packed my bags to the brim with all the things for people here. I must have been quite a sight getting into the airport, I probably looked like an overburdened animal (I'd say a loaded yak, but I don't have a big wood ring through my septum and really I'm just not quite that big).

Yesterday was the 73rd birthday of H.H. The Dalai Lama, and there was a big celebration at the temple. Shedhe got me to dress up in the fancy nomadic clothing that his mother sent with me from Tibet, so I again became a blonde haired blue eyed Tibetan nomadwalking through the streets of India. Always an odd sight. But it was fun to wear a chupa again, though I didn't wear it for long as that thing is made of wool and it's hot here! Today, the Dalai Lama started a 7 day teaching which is wonderful as always. I love being here for his teachings and getting to see him. Never experienced anything else like it, I feel very blessed to have this opportunity.
All in all things here are good. Getting settled back in, and having a good time relaxing. Of course, it didn't take me long to pick up new students, and as soon as the teachings are finished I'll start studying Tibetan language and Thangka painting again I hope. There are just to many things here to learn, I feel like a kid in a candy shop.....

Take care, Angela

Friday, July 13, 2007

Why is it Opulence for Everyone but the Writers?

I recently wrote some articles for Opulence magazine, all about having money and spending it on high-end lifestyles, enjoying the riches, buying quality items. Opulence magazine began in Calgary, by ClearQuest Media and then expanded to Vancouver and is now expanding to Edmonton. This comes as a writer beware letter. I put out the below letter on Sunday July 8th. To date, thirteen writers have contacted me. One said she was never paid.

"I sent out my email on Sunday and already have had ten people respond. I’ve talked with some of you and I believe (Writer's name removed as this is now public) may know of a few others who have had problems being paid on time by ClearQuest. When I first wrote for them (last fall) I decided I would only write a few articles, then make excuses until I saw if they paid or not.

The only other time I’ve been ripped off it’s been by a high-end magazine for the rich, ironically. I was concerned from the moment I saw a contract that said they would pay ninety days after publication. Not on acceptance and not in thirty days. And their rate was lower than standard. But I wanted to build up my magazine credits specifically so took the magazine as a good place to start.

Communication was sporadic and varied, and in the course of writing a couple of articles for the Vancouver edition the editor changed three times, with confusion happening of course. One article was changed without me being notified at all. The others pretty much ran as I wrote them.

In all, I was owed two cheques. The first one came six months after publication, and only when I threatened to contact my lawyer did they send the cheque. The same has happened with this last cheque. Since I was not receiving any answer to my emails to Sandy, Jonathon and Shauna, I went for a two-step strategy. This was after the monthly invoices where I tacked on a 15% compounded late fee (the first late cheque I did 10%). My first step was to then contact all the writers from the emails Jonathon sends out and find out if it was as I expected.

I knew this would cause a ripple and let them know that I was stirring the hornets nest, that soon all the CQ writers would be rebelling if they weren’t already. I then sent a second letter later on Sunday stating that since I had heard from quite a few writers having troubles that I had no choice but to start legal proceedings this week if I didn’t hear from CQ immediately. Monday, Sandy emailed me and told me my cheque would be FedExed. Today I received it. Each time, the late fees were paid. I’ll give them that.

I put this rather long message here because some of you have told me you’ve had problems for two years, that CQ has said they’re restructuring, expanding, reorganizing, growing, or stretched too thin. Some have heard that the manager and editors are living up to the name of the magazine. Almost everyone has had to nag and bully to get paid the meager amount CQ allots to its writers. Etc.

Because I am now paid up, I’m quits with them. I don’t trust them and won’t write anymore. However I believe strongly in writers rights and I don’t think they should be allowed to do this to every writer who comes along. A couple of people suggested doing a petition and either presenting it to CQ or to their advertisers as that would embarrass them most. I will happily sign any such petitions, whether they go to PWAC or some other site. I’ll be posting to my blog too.

Several things that I think CQ should be made to change:

  • Up their pay rate for the grief they’re causing. If they can expand into Vancouver and Edmonton, then they can afford to pay their writers more. Why is it Opulence for everyone but writers?
  • Change their contract to an industry standard of payment within one month of acceptance.
  • Better communication with writers and accounts department
  • Clarity of contracts for writers and editing of articles
  • Make them aware of writers’ rights, give them brochures, or whatever from PWAC so they have no excuse in the future."
It's a sad thing when a publication does not exist without its writers and yet over and over, everyone gets paid before the writer, and often better. The JK Rowlings and Stephen Kings are few and far between.




Friday, July 6, 2007

World Fantasy Convention Part 2

World Fantasy, because it is made up of editors, publishers and authors, tends to have good panels on the professional aspects of writing. Very enlightening from various viewpoints. I can't remember how many tracks there are at once, but it's not as many as the larger fan conventions.

WFC holds about 600 people and maybe three or four tracks at a time. I never tend to make it to too many. When I went to New Orleans, like everyone else, I went to the French Quarter and shopped. In the evenings it was going for dinner or going to the parties to schmooze and get free booze and snacks. So I tend to only get to a couple of panels at most.

When I went to WFC in Montreal, it was at the end of October (as it always is) just after September 11, 2001. I'm sure it was one of the few WFCs that did not cover it's costs. Many publishers and attendees pulled out because of the rampant fear at that time. This made it quite a small convention. Surprisingly Montreal had no snow but it was a bit crisp at night.

Rhea and I arrived about 11 that night and my friend Melanie was already there in jammies. When we got up to the room I said, "I don't know what you guys are going to do but I'm going down to have a drink at the lounge." The three of us went down and I noticed San Francisco bookstore owner Allan Bates (sp?)who I'd met before at a convention.

The lounge closed an hour or so later and he said they were going down to a pub so we joined them. There were about seven of us and it turns out Montreal pubs have a soft closing. We were there till four or five in the morning. And that set the flavour for the whole convention. There wasn't a night I went to bed earlier and I recall on the last night a group of us wandering about and sneaking glasses of booze out of some pub when they closed down.

It was at one party where of course the booze flowed that we were standing around talking and I think I splashed UK writer Graham Joyce, with a bit of wine, accidentally. Then I had water and fellow Canuck writer Brett Savory (it's his fault, really) said I should poor my water on Graham, so I did. It established a friendship for the convention, or at least a camaraderie with the Brit writers. I also met agent Chris Lotts there and still chat with him time to time but book agents are very busy. I met Tina Jens, one of the Twilight Tales founders at one convention too. It's a great benefit meeting similar thinking minds and establishing friendships that span countries.

There have been conventions that have been nothing but calm as well. It can vary a lot. But you always meet new people and I like the smallness of WFC for that intimacy of getting to know people. It was at one WFC autograph signing that I had my arms signed and freaked out Harlan Ellison (See June 3, 2007 entry). If I don't get to one this year, it will be time next year. I believe the last one I was at was in 2004 in Tempe. http://www.lastsfa.org/wfc2007/