closetbiker

I've been reading here but I haven't been very active on the boards lately. Part of this has been since my recent trip to London, I've been doing a lot of catching up at work and home, part is dealing with the time change, and the jet lag has been harder than usual.

Anyway, I was wide awake and up at 3 am a day after I arrived home passing the time by going over the stack of newspapers that has accumulated over the week I was gone. I missed bike to work week when I was in London and I noticed a few stories on it. A local papers reporter did 2 feature stories on his participation in the event and I felt it did cycling no favors. He basically was scared to ride on the roads and felt cycling just didn't fit his needs. Fair enough, but it wasn't exactly the promotion of cycling that bike to work week is trying to achieve. Since bike to work week is followed by bike month (and considering I usually reply to letters or articles painting cycling in a poor light) I sent in a letter to the editor about the pieces.

I receive an email from the author wondering why it was forwarded to him and asking if I want it submitted as a letter to the editor. Of course I said yes and I mentioned I've long lamented the recent phenomenon of fear of cycling. I also asked if this was a 2 part thing for bike to work week or are there going to be more articles on cycling, because it kind of looked like it was going to continue. He replied saying it was not going to be regular column. It was just for bike to work week but he wanted to point out that the city could use more bike lanes. He only rides in bike lanes and there aren't enough of them to get around town. Of course I had to respond to that, explaining that riding on the road is the way I get around.

That was that, but the next day as my wife and I came home from some errands, there was a message on our answering machine. It was the editor of the paper. They were looking for somebody to write a cycling column for the summer and wanted to know if I'd be interested in writing one.

I gave her a call back, we talked about particulars and the funny thing I thought was, the editor had read the many letters I have written to the editor of the many newspapers I had submitted them to. She liked what I had been writing and thought I was the man for the job. I've never written outside of letters and on message boards but I thought, I'll give it a go. I'm always reactive rather than pro-active so this gives me an opportunity to do something different.

I wrote 2 columns this past week and submitted them to the editor. She emailed me back and said, "These are great, Brad, very much what I was hoping for." and then asked me to come in this morning for a head shot to go with the column. So, I guess I'm a columnist now.

You can bet I'll be doing a column on our all ages, mandatory helmet law.

benjdm

Congrats!

st0ut

mmMM now we have a mole baw haw haw haw haw

maddmaxx 

Out of the closet?

Bekologist

an anti accomodation, anti helmet columnist in Vancouver BC.

yippee.

closetbiker

Not anti-helmet, pro-choice. And, haven't I worn one longer than you bek?

I plan on doing a column on bike lanes, bike ways and multiple user paths as well as one on our right to use the roads.

closetbiker

and into the fire?

I'm sure the responses are going to be different than the ones I get here.

I'll have to find out the best way to handle them.

maddmaxx 

I wish you well because getting good information on to JQPublic can only be to the benefit of all.

Joe Gardner

Very cool!

Speedo

Best of luck!

Just think of what this could lead to. Your column becomes incredibly popular leading to an explosion of cycling transportation in Vancouver. Then, national and international syndication. An invitation to write a screen play for an indy movie that's a sleeper hit. Off to Hollywood as a writer, and then your directorial debut. You'll be hangin' with the stars in no time!

Better keep us posted...

Speedo

closetbiker

Yeah, the thing about it that I find amazing is that I was personally solicited, having no writing experience. From what I understand, getting a job writing is extremely difficult. This landed in my lap.

The paper is part of a large national chain and has a circulation of about 50,000 that is distributed exclusively in my home municipality. Other papers in the chain are distributed provincially, and nationally.

There used to be a local columnist who had a cycling column in our provincial paper, but that circulation was over a million so one could argue there was a large enough group of cyclists reading the column for it to be there, but in this instance, I think the editor has made a decision that cycling is an important issue and it should be presented to people who may not be cyclists. Times have changed.

I'm looking forward to addressing an audience that are not cyclists and offering a viewpoint they may have not considered before.

RobertHurst

I'm looking forward to that particular column or columns. You have been sharpening that axe for some time. Congratulations Closetbiker.

Robert

JohnBrooking

Let us know if your columns will be posted online so we can follow them. Especially if they have a comments section...

closetbiker

oh dear...

closetbiker

Yeah. The first 2 columns wrote themselves in minutes, but then I edited them for a week.

I had a bit of a talk with the editor about helmets during my head shot shoot because she asked if I had a helmet with me so we could shoot my pic with the helmet on. I think she was open to my thoughts. I guess I'll find out when I submit my column on it.

There's so much I could write on helmets it's going to be a question of just how I'm going to present it in (about) 500 words. I think it's going to be the last column because I want to build trust before I put it out there.

meanwhile

PM me if you want a zip of my helmet research. I think an issue that really needs making is that most helmets sold today aren't effective. If people choose to wear a helmet, they need to understand how to choose the right helmet and wear it correctly.

invisiblehand

Congratulations. It should be a lot of fun.

Bekologist

the editor wanted your headshot to include you in a helmet!! that's rich!!


have fun with your column, closetbiker.

chipcom 

This is THE effective helmet and perfect for CB's head shot!

closetbiker

Yeah, I actually laughed when she suggested it.

Luckily, she had a cycling column in Ottawa back when Ontario was trying to pass an all ages mandatory helmet law, so she was familiar with the debate and agreed that education is far more important than helmet use.

I'm having fun now and enjoying the prospect of a different kind of scrutiny of what I write.

st0ut

are you allowed to use the pronoun cager?

Bekologist

closetbiker:

Some suggestions from someone who has been an editor of a 15,000 run community newspaper (yours truly) as well as a columnist - albeit not about bicycling...


if you want to keep your editor happy, submit an editoral 'forecast' - a lineup of potential future columns.

This also helps the writer work on multiple columns simultaneously, gathering quips, comments from others, and developing a POV that doesn't get muddled by the singular human perspective.

submitting repeated single issue essays is a quick path to the editoral dustbin.

Utilizing a corkboard and index cards is a great way to flesh out a years worth of monthly columns before you sit down to write them under deadline.

closetbiker

Already done.

One of the first things I thought might be difficult is the continuous production of topics and ideas that would get the attention of readership so I sat down and wrote up a bunch of topics I thought would be relevant and I could write about.

It was easier than I thought but then I wondered if the editor had ideas already in mind and wanted me to write on them.

Turned out, she liked my ideas and the column is only for the summer anyway, so if I have any problem, it'll be keeping my thoughts into the space provided.

closetbiker

My daughter called me at work today because the paper came and they ran the column.



They call me, The Spokesman.

here's the link from the paper

https://www.canada.com/richmondnews/n...8-91bc2b2595fb

It's just an intro piece to set things up.

Bekologist

mind cut and pasting your article to the forum?

your column is no longer available at the richmond news website.....