House (Not) Proud

It appears that my column House Proud might be on life support if not already actually deceased.

Stuff happens. Editors change positions, they get moved up, over and around and previous allegiances to freelance writers sometimes have to dissolve. I’ve experienced this before, once with Sun Media’s Business division when I used to write a column there. It’s okay. I’ve been writing House Proud for a few years and I’ve really enjoyed it, not to mention seeing it in print across the country, but this is a sign that it may be time to turn my extra-cirricular activities elsewhere.

I’ve written for many publications over the years, some of which no longer exist, such as Country Wave. It was an all-Canadian magazine out of BC that peaked at the height of the country music boom. For a few years I attended Fan Fair in Nashville on behalf of CW and spent the hottest days of the summer in a small room, interviewing star after star. Shania Twain, Tammy Wynette, various Judds, Vince Gill – if they were around in that time frame, I likely talked to them. I stockpiled interviews for future articles throughout the following year. It was a blast but also a grind and by the time Country Wave stopped rolling I was ready to bid it a hearty, “See y’all.”

Real Women Magazine in London was a heartbreaker. When it folded, owing money to several people including me, I was left holding a cover story for which I had spent weeks researching and interviewing. I pitched it elsewhere and sold it to Hamilton Magazine, they did a wonderful job with it and I was nicely compensated for my efforts.

Something else will come my way, or not, and that’s okay. After all, this is the writer whose one and only (for now) book was envisioned as an ongoing series but because of the break-up of a publishing partnership, and the deal I had signed, it died on the vine. I then signed on with the partner I knew to have him represent me as my agent and he did absolutely nothing in that regard, so I fired him and he didn’t even respond. None of those things broke my heart so the loss of this sideline certainly won’t kill me. Besides, I worked with the best print editor I’ve ever known during this column’s run and that experience is something to be grateful for.