Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?

From Canada:

• Ten ways to build a new Canadian media ecosystem [J-Source]
• Canadian freelancers turn to the US market to secure higher-paying gigs [Magazine Awards]
• Year-long Chronicle Herald strike continues as contract talks break off [J-Source]
• Nominate a colleague for the NMAF Outstanding Achievement Award [Magazine Awards]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• 7 ways to handle a freelance client who won't pay up [The Write Life]
• Twitter rolls out three new ways to fight abuse [Nieman Lab]
• Would You Call Out a Bad Client? This Freelance Writer Did. It’s Glorious. [The Write Life]
• 13 Productivity Apps to Help Keep Your Writing Goals on Track [The Write Life]
• 3 lessons for freelancers over 40 [Freelancers Union]
• 7 Mistakes Every Freelance Writer Should Avoid [Mediabistro]
• Mother Jones is named Magazine of the Year in U.S. National Magazine Awards [Canadian Magazines blog]
• 99pi wants your pitches! Here’s how to do it [Freelance Cafe]

Recently on Story Board:

• The Born Freelancer on the Sanctity of Deadlines: Douglas Adams, the late great British author of the SF humour classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy used to talk about the whooshing sound of deadlines as they flew past his head. For the vast majority of we mere mortal freelancers, deadlines are sacrosanct...
• Webinar: “The Savvy Freelancer’s Guide to Contract Negotiation”: Negotiating contracts is one of the most challenging parts of freelancing. To help you out with that, CMG Freelance has planned a webinar called “The Savvy Freelancer’s Guide to Contract Negotiation”...

Spot a story you think we should include in next week's Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.