The lighter side (sort of)

A daily read hereabouts is Dilbert. Two strips this week -- Tuesday's and Wednesday's -- highlighted the plight of deadline-driven writers, and not just those whose work appears in newspapers and magazines. Yes, I make a sincere effort to deliver top-notch writing to those seeking my skills. Dilbert reminds us there are limits, especially when a client's expectations exceed the time available for delivery. (And yes, I've been micromanaged per Dilbert.)

An additional take on what some organizations expect writers to deliver -- and at what price -- comes courtesy of Harlan Ellison.

Singin' out loud

The past three months have been busy ones for me: The latter half of August saw me clearing up a number of small assignments to make room for a 20,000-word ghostwriting project regarding uranium exploration. Side-by-side with that was some research for anew publication the Globe and Mail is issuing as well as my regular weekly work for Business in Vancouver.

September brought trips to Toronto, Holland and the Baltic states, namely Latvia and Lithuania. The break was good, and I have spent a lot of time since returning mulling what I saw and working to not let life here catch up with me too quickly. No sense wasting a good vacation for the sake of being busy.

One of the highlights of my visit to Latvia was a concert at the Dom church in the heart of the historic centre of Riga. Walter Owens from Chicago had spent a week in Latvia as part of Sing Gospel, Latvia! working with local singers who treated a packed house to a rockin' gospel music concert. I just had to see if there was a unique Baltic spin to this distinctive American genre. Judge for yourself: