Writing Without a Net (Tightrope Workshop 6): Earn a Living as a Professional Writer

Are you interested in making a living as a professional writer and editor? Workshop leader Suzanne (Sue) Bowness has been doing just that for over eight years, writing for a variety of magazines and newspapers, including most recently the Globe and Mail, University Affairs, and Profit Magazine, as well as several corporate clients. In this introduction to the world of freelance writing and editing, you’ll learn how to start and grow a freelance writing business, with tips on everything from how to do business as a sole proprietor, to developing a writing niche and clientele, to writing effective query letters, to networking and developing a profile as a writer. Using samples and writing exercises, this workshop will guide you through the basics that you'll need to get started in developing a writing career, or to make the transition to working as a freelancer.

Suzanne (Sue) Bowness is a writer and editor whose poems have appeared in the Literary Review of Canada and Pagitica. Her play The Reading Circle won first place in the 2006 Ottawa Little-Theatre One-Act Playwriting Competition. Her debut poetry collection, The Days You’ve Spent, is forthcoming from Tightrope Books in spring 2010. She is pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Ottawa with a focus on nineteenth-century Canadian magazines.

Refreshments will be served.