Passing Up Beijing

And, once again, I’ve turned down an assignment to travel abroad for an article. This time  it’s a four-day trip to Beijing for a travel magazine.  Thing is, while I would really like to visit China all expenses paid, I do know my own bandwidth. Taking time off to go on this trip means I sacrifice time and effort from some of my current projects, and the opportunity cost is a bit too high.

From Wikimedia Commons ©Allentchang (squared by Juan Pablo Arancibia Medina)

I’ll be going there anyway with my wife in October. We’re tagging along with her dad’s office trip. That one will be a vacation, not a working trip, and that’s certainly a better way to enjoy a strange land.

Now I have a month and a half to decide which of my many film cameras to take!

Wisdom Trumps Tyranny of Neglect

Alas, dear blog, I’ve been neglecting you.

Just too much has been going on lately and the opportunity to write here, a non-profit blog, has yet to emerge from the economic labyrinth of supply and demand. The realities of urban life dictate that I focus all my energies on tasks that, ultimately, put food on my table, film in my cameras, and pretty dresses on my wife.

So, just a few choice words to tide you over. Something picked off that wonderful source of reliable information called Facebook. I offer no context, save that this gem was written by beloved food critic and author, the late Doreen Gamboa Fernandez. Here you go:

“Write in white heat, edit in cold blood.”

Stella Kalaw © 2002

Thanks, Kage!

Forever On Managing Editor Mode

Despite being “officially” outside the publishing world, I can’t seem to shake being a managing editor.

See, one of the major duties of a managing editor is to hand out assignments to writers, photographers and other contributors, based on their particular strengths and specialties. I’ve been doing this professionally since, hmm, the turn of the century (seems so distant haha).

Over the years, I’ve built up a considerable network of talent, people whose work I am familiar with, folks I can trust to deliver, creatives who are easy to work with. I’ve got them all listed on my phone and telephone directory (yes, I still keep a physical one, black and compact and full of numbers of famous people). Whenever someone asks if I know, say, a writer who can do a quick restaurant review or a photographer who can cover an adventure race, I’ll give a recommendation.

It’s a three-way win situation. The folks I recommend – the freelancers and the career folks who sideline – they’re quite appreciative when I throw work their way, especially when the job is exciting. The publishers and editors are happy they’ve got one less thing to worry about. I get karma points with everyone. Good vibes everywhere.

In the last month, through recommendations I’ve indirectly farmed out writing assignments to Bali, Vietnam, Thailand and India to some of the folks in my black book. They assure me I’ve got their votes for Managing Editor of the World.

Now if only someone organizes such a competition…

On the Demise of the Phone Booth

Good point.

Other sentiments on the state of publishing, funny eavesdroppings and industry chitchat at the website Overheard in the Newsroom, which I just discovered today. It’s a lovely place to spend a few minutes when you’re wondering how to start an article on finding work outside the publishing industry.

Via the always excellent Boingboing blog.

Discipline in Creativity

Just a short post before I start my workday .

Spotted this in my high school classmate’s* Facebook page, a list of rules written by Sister Corita Kent, who was a nun, artist and educator. She was chairman of the Immaculate Heart College art department, where she drafted this document.

Sister Corita's Rules

I love how these rules set the stage for controlled creativity, work and discipline being emphasized. Sometimes, those of us in a creative enterprise or effort (including putting together a magazine) tend to insist that art be inspired by the whims of our muses. We don’t write when we need to. We don’t illustrate until the last minute. We lay pages out only when we feel like it (or it’s the day before the files need to be sent to the printer).

I also love how she quotes John Cage: his wiki is here.

Do go over Sister Corita’s rules and take from them your dose of wisdom for the day. Rule 8 is my favorite, at the moment, at least. What’s your favorite rule?

*(thanks, Bing!)

Turning Down Travel Assignments

When I put on my consultant or managing editor hat I don’t get to write as much as I’d like.  See, a managing editor’s role is to put a magazine together, making sure all assignments are parceled out, all articles are plotted on the page plan, all shoots are coordinated, all deadlines are met.  There’s hardly any time to sit down and write your own stories.

Whenever I have the chance, I do travel writing on the side, mainly to keep me curious.  Not to satisfy my curiosity; to KEEP me curious.  It’s when I find myself outside of regularly scheduled programming that I notice things I’d never noticed or even thought of before, which leads me to want to find out more.  And a good writer always follows his leads.  Travel writing offers me the opportunity to flex the writing muscles while at the same time enjoying something that I really love doing.  Because travel writing is my alternative to the daily crush of the day job, I’ve never sought a permanent position in a travel magazine. You don’t want your play to be your work.

Since I have to balance everyday life with these excursions, I’ve had to turn down some really choice travel assignments. Sometimes I just want to kick myself for all the opportunities I’ve had to turn down over the past few years. For some cosmic joke of a reason, travel assignments always fall on dates that conflict with my schedule. I’m either out of town, closing a magazine, working on a project, attending my own wedding, the list goes on. I’ve missed the chance to go to places like Guam, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore (for a cruise around the region), Cebu and Bohol, Camarines Sur and Batanes.

The latest I’m passing on is a trip to Chiang Mai and Bangkok for Songklan, the Thai new year water festival, offered to me just a few days ago. It’s another missed opportunity but this time I don’t mind as much.  I have other plans which, for once, does not involve work.  Chiang Mai will, like Guam, Ho Chi Minh City, and Singapore, have to wait another time.

Incidentally, I’ve got two restaurant reviews coming out in the next issue of asianTraveler. You may want to pick it up.

Not this issue. Next issue.

What Sort of Woman Reads Playboy?

Interesting story on the Chicago Reader website on Peggy Williams, a 44-year old woman with enough collected issues of Playboy to fill a one-bedroom apartment.

While my own magazine collections come nowhere close, I do understand her passion for magazines. I’m a completist at heart but budget and scarcity factors keep me from filling up every nook and cranny of my flat with glossy mags.  What I find interesting is her take on the current direction of Playboy, its shift from film to digital photography and its general decline in quality.

Incidentally, I was offered, several years back, the managing editor position at the local franchise of Playboy. While the offer was tempting (imagine that on your resume!), I was also about to get married at that time, and working around strange naked women all day would be hard to explain to my mother-in-law.

What Sort of Woman Reads Playboy?