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Writing at Work
Enjoy these tales of work-experience woes and joys.
David Carson passes the South Park test
I clearly remember my first elevator ride to the sixth floor of Central 1 Credit Union. My palms were sweaty and there were perspiration beads on my neck that threatened to burst -- my underarms were not far behind. My mind was working in overdrive as I role-played last-second scenarios and tried to imagine the types of questions I was about to be asked. Read more.
Helen Clay tackles the challenges of freelancing
Freelancing seems like the ideal career to me. No commute to an office, the freedom to set my working hours and days, and a quiet environment. So when it came to choosing an internship placement in the summer of 2009, I figured I'd go with a freelance position. Read more.
Tanya Colledge discovers the true meaning of corporate citizenship
Corporate citizenship. Engaged leadership. Those are terms I've heard floating around the business community quite often -- companies wanting to appeal to their customers, employees, and stakeholders by encouraging growth and development in their communities. Read more.
Kieron Donovan navigates the waters at Anvil Press
My internship at Vancouver publishing house Anvil Press was an eye-opening experience. Not only did I learn how a small independent publisher operates, I also gained a fair amount of knowledge about office politics. Read more.
Cynthia Elcheshen chronicles the history of Mole Hill
The houses on Mole Hill sit atop the highest point in Vancouver's West End. They are tucked between St. Paul's Hospital, Nelson Park, and countless high-rise apartments that make up the landscape of one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in North America. Read more.
Janel Johnson follows the subTerrain paper trail
Before my internship at subTerrain -- a literary and visual art magazine -- I accepted the conventional wisdom that the age of paper was over and traditional print magazines were dying. Ditto for Canada Post. Read more.
Albert Leung finds himself in a conservative context
Stepping off the SkyTrain, I find it's a foreign platform to me; it's Scott Road Station. The phone rang last week, and the executive director was on the line to inform me that the start of my internship would be sooner than expected. Read more.
Romana Osborne listens to the girl she once was
You know that fear? The little seed of doubt you feel when you start questioning whether you're doing the right thing? You worry that you might not meet your goals, or worse, you might let yourself down? So when the internships were posted in spring 2009, I began to apply for everything that looked promising. Read more.
Vicki Stratton enjoys the main Event
You'd think I'd won a lottery. I whooped and danced around like a giddy kid. But it was no lottery win -- my first non-fiction submission to a writing contest had made the short list. It didn't win, but that didn't matter. Read more.
Kristin Tracey manages her writing disease
I remember the day, in first grade, when Dick and Jane infected me. The infection was not your average head cold -- stuffy nose, annoying cough. It was a disease. The disease manifested itself in an obsessive reading and writing habit. Read more.
Kim Van Haren sits down on the job
Working as a writer often means sitting motionless in front of a computer screen for most of the day. Except for typing, the rest of your body remains stagnant, sedentary. This lack of activity can have repercussions. I speak from experience. At alive magazine, within the first week of my internship, my body went on strike. Read more.
Rebecca Vaughan thrives as a communications intern
My boss warned me that in communications, you end up doing all sorts of things you never thought would be part of the job. She was right -- aside from my writing duties, by the end of my internship I'd swung a hammer (in a skirt and heels,) helped organize two barbecues, and worked with a giant mascot. It was all part of working as a communications intern at the City of Pitt Meadows. Read more.
Amy Wood insures her future
Just over two years ago I began my employment as an insurance agent. I had no real intention of staying in the insurance industry for more than a split-second in my time as a working woman; however, I got this crazy idea to go back to school and had to fund it somehow. Read more.
Last updated September 2010
