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: 

• Forum Freelance Fund Bursaries [Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma]
• Opinion: How Ottawa should spend its $50 million to support local news [J-Source]
• These journalists help deliver a community newspaper on the weekends [Poynter]
• Survey Reveals Canadian Freelancers Saddled With Unpaid Invoices [WWD]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• Unequal Rights: Contract Workers Have Few Workplace Protections [NPR]
• 6-Step Guide to Writing a Killer Project Proposal [The Write Life]
• 4 Tips for Breaking Into Branded Podcasts [The Freelancer]
• 40 time-tested tips for journalists that never go out of style [Poynter]
• Time is on your side: Building client relationships [Freelancers Union]
• Interviewing for career-spanning profiles [The Open Notebook]
• Paste Magazine is too indie to pay its contributors properly [Huffington Post]
• Should you compete or collaborate with other freelancers? [Forbes]
• Before you quit your day job, make sure you can deliver [Freelancers Union]

Recently on Story Board:

• Vancouver media mixer on April 18: Vancouver media workers, freelancers and journalism students, come out and join us for a free networking event on Wednesday, April 18 at Shebeen Whiskey House in Gastown from 6:00 until 8:30 p.m...
• 2018 Forum Freelance Fund competition for hostile environment training bursaries now open: The fund provides bursaries for Canadian freelancers to attend dangerous environment training courses. It provides bursaries of up to $2500 to Canadian freelancers. Foreign freelancers doing significant work for Canadian publications are also eligible to apply...

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.