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Holidays are times when friends and family gather together. Because of world events, this year the gathering is likely more poignant than most have been. I was fortunate to meet a very interesting holiday visitor to Atikokan. Bonnie Schiedel, a consulting editor for Chatelaine was here visiting Dave and Mary Elder with her partner, their son Darren. She and I spent a pleasant hour on Sunday morning talking about her work.
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Bonnie and Darren live now in Ignace, having moved there from Fort Frances. Previous to Fort Frances, she lived in Toronto. When Darren obtained a full-time job with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ignace as Area Biologist, Bonnie moved north. Bonnie, who grew up in Paradise Lake, a very small community near Kitchener-Waterloo is no stranger to the north, having visited frequently and camped in Quetico.
Over the years since she graduated with a history degree from Guelph and a post-graduate course in book and magazine publishing at Centennial College, Bonnie has contributed to numerous national magazines, such as: Chatelaine, Cottage Life, Today's Parent, Travel & More, Marketing magazine, Quill & Quire, Realm and Reader's Digest. She began with a six month internship at Chatelaine and was subsequently hired for the summer. She has worked in various capacities at the magazine ever since, learning on the job all the while. We spoke about the ease of doing what she does using communications technologies and services such as dial-up modem to Chatelaine's server, email, Purolator courier, fax and the Internet. She allows that she couldn't do the freelance writing from Ignace without these. Bonnie also stressed the importance of having a good local library as Ignace does. Even when she was working in Toronto, she did the majority of her interviews by phone, so it was always interesting for her when the stories were published with a photograph of the interviewee – it was usually the first time she would actually see the person she had spoken to. Bonnie also mentioned that many publishers like to receive articles with a perspective from outside of Toronto, something she can now provide easily from Ignace. She spoke enthusiastically about the path her life has taken. Free-lancing, while the income can be inconsistent, is highly creative and provides many instances of inspiring and courageous stories which she enjoys writing. And one never knows where the spark of a story will come from. She saw an article about an injured blue heron at Ishkibble Beach outside of Thunder Bay. She ended up writing an article for Cottage Life about the rehabilitation efforts extended to the bird. Her work is home-based and because five hours' work at home is roughly equivalent to eight hours' work at the office (more interruptions at work than at home), she has free time to volunteer, to take walks and generally enjoy the placid pace of life in small town Northwestern Ontario, and still work and contribute on a national scale. She and Darren make the occasional trip to Thunder Bay for a concert and such. And visiting Atikokan is great fun too, to see Darren's parents, to have a coffee at Hava Java, and poke about in Wildwood Country. On the first of July this year, they participated in Atikokan's Canada Day Canoe Parade and won the Natural Heritage prize for a canoe decorated with shoreline plants and wildflowers. The prize? Two cans of pea soup and a bottle of lemonade. She has an article in the November issue of Chatelaine about work/life balance. She is also featured in the article because of the changes she has made in her life in moving north. From the sounds of it, Bonnie has creatively constructed a balance in her life that nourishes her and yet allows her to be far from the hectic pace of downtown Toronto. |
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