Maybe you dreamt of what life would be like as a full-time freelance writer or perhaps your friends and family think you have loads of free time during the day. There are a lot of lofty and picturesque expectations out there, so real life doesn’t always stand up to the real thing. Here’s a look at an honest day in the life of a freelance writer.

A quick but polite “No thanks,” from a magazine editor. A short and rude “No way,” from a popular blog. Crickets on your short story submission. Rejections will stack up quickly during your writing career. While rejection letters may feel like the equivalent of Bobby sticking a ‘Kick me!’ sign on your back in grade school, they’re a non-negotiable part of being a writer. Even if you’re tempted to never pick up a pen again after your latest rejection letter, there’s still a place for your work o

Before getting to the biggest freelance question of all (‘How much should I charge?’), you have to decide how you would like to charge your clients. There are four common ways of pricing your work: per word, per hour, per project, and monthly retainer. Each method of pricing your freelance writing work has its pros and cons to consider.

Named after the beautiful trees found here, Maple Grove Park offers a quick spot for relaxing in the middle of the city. Maple Grove takes up just one city block in Kerrisdale and offers a variety of things to enjoy. Most noticeably, there are half a dozen massive tree stumps throughout the park. They’ve been purposefully retained since 1913 as a reminder of the temperate rainforest that used to cover the area.

When pictures of Redwood Park’s famous fairy houses showed up on my Instagram feed, I knew I had to visit it for the Explore Your Parks series. I quickly learned that this park, located near Highway 15 and 16th Avenue in Surrey, also has quite a bit of history behind it. Redwood Park was originally property that belonged to one of Surrey’s early pioneers, David Brown. He gifted the property in 1893 to his sons, David and Peter, for their 21st birthday.

With so much going on in the Lower Mainland, it can be easy to overlook the abundance of parks we have. So we’re kicking off a new series called Explore Your Parks, where I head out to a new park every month and let you know what it has to offer. First up, I visited Rocky Point Park in Port Moody. Located at the east end of the Burrard Inlet, this park pretty much has it all. One of the first highlights is the recreational pier to stroll down which gives you lovely views of the inlet. If you sp

We’re all trying to eat a little better. But live a little and indulge in these sinful Super Bowl snacks this coming Sunday. Even if your team isn’t playing, Super Bowl Sunday is always the best Sunday of the year. It’s the perfect day to hang out with your friends, yell at the refs, and place a ridiculous amount of prop bets. More importantly, it’s one of the best days of the year to stuff your face full of food. We came up with a list of healthy Super Bowl snacks, for those who want to stick

Looking to cut down on the amount of meat you consume, or just want to make the vegetarian in your family smile? Joining the Meatless Monday trend is your answer! Try any one of these easy vegetarian meals for a Meatless Monday dinner. They’re so flavourful that you won’t even miss the meat!

No matter how long you’ve been a freelance writer, I’m willing to bet all the Oreos in my cupboard that you’d like to become a better writer. It’s a natural (and necessary) instinct to want to increase your writing skill level. After all, better writing means landing better clients, and better clients mean better money. Now we’re talking! So how do you become a better writer? Here are some different ways that have proven to be successful. So, take a look and give one or more a try.

Brian Flowers may have gotten some doubtful looks when he was in the planning stages of his local business idea back in 2012, but now that his board game cafe has been open for a year, he mostly sees faces of awe and excitement. Table Top Cafe opened on Oct. 26, 2013, but Flowers said getting the café ready to go came with initial challenges. “There are so many ways different situations could have gone that would have ended my little dream before [Table Top] was even open, but becoming an entre

If you go through the intersection of 100 Avenue and 112 Street, you’ll see a ghost bicycle leaning against a light post on the southwest corner, a heartfelt memorial to an Edmonton cyclist who was recently struck by a garbage truck and killed. Painted all white, a ghost bike is a memorial placed at a site where a cyclist was killed on the street. Ghost bikes were first created in St. Louis, Missouri, back in 2003, and to date, ghost bikes have been placed in over 200 cities or locations worldw

Back in February, Farrow Sandwich announced that they would soon be holding their very first pop up event, and then kept our mouths watering in anticipation by giving us sneak peeks on Twitter.  On Sunday, March 16, Farrow Sandwich ran their first pop up inside The Three Boars eatery in the Garneau district. I arrived at the pop up just before noon, and the porch was full of people lining up to get their hands on the new sandwiches.  Almost everyone looked university-age, and a majority of them