A Memoire: How a Newspaper Influenced My Writing Life
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009
by Carolyn Tytler
My first memory of our community newspaper, "The St. Catharines' Standard", was a huge headline: THE WAR IS OVER. The paper was on the hall table and I saw it as I came in from school. The year was 1945.
I had two simultaneous thoughts: "Well thank heavens!" and "Hey, I read that all by myself!" It had become a family ritual to gather in the living room, every evening after supper, and listen to the news on the radio. I didn't understand all the details, but I knew war was bad and many soldiers were being wounded and killed. It was hard to believe the war was over, but if it was in "The Standard", it had to be true.
It was helpful too, during my teaching career. The children brought in items for "Current Events" periods. They entered various contests such as those calling for the best Father's Day and Mother's Day stories and thereby improved their writing skills. In the higher grades, we worked on crossword puzzles to improve knowledge of spelling and vocabulary.
During those years, I seldom retired for the night without consulting the paper to see if anybody I knew had been "hatched, matched or dispatched". Little did I know that "The Standard" had yet to play its most significant role in my life.
The first year of retirement was more difficult than I had expected. To go from being extremely busy, to having nothing to do is not as easy as you might think. You can only read and knit for so long, and housework never did appeal to me. If I cooked anything tempting, I ended up eating it, and more weight was something I definitely didn't need.
Who would have believed a newspaper could come to my rescue? One evening, in the front section, the editor announced a competition to choose twelve writers from the community to become "Niagara Voices". Those chosen would submit a column a month for a year. The writers could choose their own topics and would be given a by-line. They would also become a member of the Editorial Board and have an opportunity to learn just how a newspaper was produced.
Well, that contest was the most exciting occurrence in my life since my retirement party! I was almost afraid to try, I'd probably never win, but I had to try.
Wow! Seven hundred and fifty words seemed like so many, and they wanted two sample articles. It was a major undertaking. It took me almost a month to complete the final drafts and e-mail them in.
Then the waiting began. I was alternately hopeful and dejected, but in general my mood improved. I had something to look forward to, (maybe).
One Saturday evening, I opened the paper and there was my name with eleven others on the editorial page. I'd made it! I was a Niagara Voice!
With that, a new phase in my life began. I found out I could write. At our monthly meetings in the board room, our group learned how a newspaper is produced. We met the editor, the columnists, photographers, the sales manager, the staff in the news room and other interesting people. We had our picture taken and it appeared with each column.
The first time someone said, "I enjoyed your column in The Standard," it felt like Christmas morning!
Once I got started, I couldn't stop. I wrote for the Buffalo News, the Globe and Mail in Toronto and I was a Niagara Voice the second time, two years later. The pay wasn't great, but I didn't mind. I was having so much fun, I'd have done it for free.
Then I discovered an Internet writing site. You could write articles and get paid according to the number of views. Of course, the more articles you write, the greater chance you had of touching on a topic to interest a new group of readers. However, "The Standard" had still one more gift to bestow.
Our mentor there had been Kalvin Reid. Besides his other duties, he wrote an editorial every single day except Sunday. I was astounded at his ability. During my "Niagara Voice" time, I spent days, editing, revising, and polishing just one article. To be able to write one a day seemed almost superhuman! I never forgot Kalvin's proficiency, and it became a benchmark toward which to aim.
This is my five hundred and second Internet article. Believe it or not, the majority of them have been written in one day. Of course, they lack the in-depth knowledge or as professionalism of Kalvin's work, but I think they're all right for a late-blooming wordsmith whose memories extend back to the days of World War 2.
My newspaper, "The St. Catharines' Standard" has certainly played a vital role in my writing life. In fact without it, without Kalvin Reid and all the friendly and talented people I met there, I probably wouldn't be writing at all. I'd be just another bored and boring senior citizen, reading and knitting, cleaning and cooking, and who would ever wish to be relegated to that unhappy fate?
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