Jeff Burgar
I like reading Alberta Outdoors magazine. Enough so in fact, I have a subscription going back many, many years.
I don’t agree with all the opinions. And really don’t care reading about fly fishing or hunting in the Rockies. But that’s general interest for you.
I noticed the magazine often has submitted stories and columns. This is along with the letters and comments most publications and websites, including this newspaper, welcome. Being a writing hack myself, I wondered what my own particular brand of wisdom would be worth out on the market.
As the common advice goes to budding novelists, “Write what you know about.” This should be very obvious to news reporters and opinion columnists. How else can one write a news item about a crime or an accident if one does not even know what day it happened?
Opinions? It might seem easier to write an opinion piece. After all, most of us have opinions.
And most of the time, nobody ever questions them. Although of course, there is other old advice:
“Better to keep your thoughts to yourself, and let people think you are stupid, than open your mouth and prove it.” Maybe that’s why so many meeting rooms of politicians around the world have silent members, glued to their chairs They only move to sip on a water or a coffee. And vote only after they have looked around the room to see how everyone else is voting.
This might be a survival instinct, passed down through generation after generation from the days of swinging from tree to tree. If that’s the case, why even run for office in the first place? Would it not be safer reading about politicians some place being fools, instead of yourself being the clown?
Ah, but there are those of us who just have some kind of inner, deep down urge to express ourselves. If not ‘cut from the same cloth’ perhaps coming from the same factory, one way or another. Creating music. Creating art. Going to the moon. Riding a motorcycle. Climbing mountains. Running a business. Running for office. Writing a song. Writing a book. Writing a column. With the caveat that “writer’s block” is not as silly as being afraid to ask a question in a meeting, or as dangerous as struck with paralysis on the side of a mountain.
Dolly Parton claims to often write 15 or more songs a day. Taylor Swift? Perhaps 250 total. One suspects, just like so many books or paintings, for both most are not earth shaking.
So how much would one of my own, personal knowledge, ‘probably not earth-shaking’ items be worth to Alberta Outdoors? That office told me: One year subscription (can be gifted or used to extend) and a T-shirt. The piece should be about 2,500 words or so, and have at least one or two quality photos. Cash value about $60.00 To compare, this column is about 500 words.
For sure, this small newspaper can match that small payment. So, we would love to have columnists with thoughts on just about anything, from sports to gardens to rainy days to cats and more. Send an email to letting us know you are interested