Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Oct 16-21

Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada:

• CAJ urges respect for journalists covering shale-gas protests in N.B. [CAJ]
• Rob Ford’s radio show should be killed, Councillor Paul Ainslie says [Globe and Mail] (via @sladurantaye)
• CBC annual meeting: How is radio changing? [J-Source]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• Media entrepreneurs: Five myths can stop you before you start up [Poynter]
• Bora Zivkovic resigns from Scientific American [Scientific American] (via @jayrosen_nyu)
  
• Why does creativity seem to come and go? [Creative Something] (via @freelancersu)
• Have you lost that writing feeling? Is it gone, gone, gone…? [Poynter]
• Why you should write for free — and like it [The Renegade Writer] (via @freelancersu)
• 7 Ways to Finish Difficult Writing Projects [Work Awesome] (via @freelancersu)
• Twitter’s changing its direct messaging policy, some journalists are ready to take advantage [NiemanLab]
• Five ways to improve your freelance confidence [Emma Cossey] (via @freelancersu)

This week on Story Board:

• Opportunities and Pitching — Tips from the Freelance Survival Series: Learn to sell yourself, accept all paying work, and approach new publications with your eyes wide open. Those were a few of the messages that came out of the “opportunities and pitching” session at last month’s Freelance Survival Seminar in Toronto…

Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.