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: 

• Reform spirit drove writer Heather Robertson [Globe and Mail] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• Clustering or brainstorming your way to writing success [Six Figure Freelancer] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• Unpaid interns dropped from Rogers-owned magazines [Toronto Star] (via @CDNWritersGroup)
• Atlantic Journalism Awards magazine finalists named [Canadian Magazines]
• CJF accepting applications for new Aboriginal Journalism Fellowship [J-Source]
• Rogers Publishing latest company to end unpaid internships [Canadian Magazines]
• Are unpaid internships worth it? [J-Source] (via @AlisonGJ)
• How digital journalism has changed over the past 15 years [J-Source]
• "Immoral at best, illegal at worst": former publisher of The Walrus on industry's unpaid internships [CBC] (via @CDNWritersGroup)
  
• Remembering Heather Robertson [J-Source]
• Crackdown on unpaid internships a positive step, but the collective struggle must continue [J-Source]

From the U.S. and beyond:

• The 4 levels of a balanced freelance portfolio [Freelancers Union]
• Here Is Exactly Why You Wish You Were Self-Employed [Time] (via @freelancersu)
• Why I quit my day job to grow my side business [Freshbooks] (via @LuigiBenetton)
• ‘Write What You Know’ — Helpful Advice or Idle Cliché? [New York Times] (via @twuc)
• 'This American Life' Considers Self-Distribution on Radio [New York Times] (via @mediagazer)

This week on Story Board:

• The Unpaid Internship Conspiracy: I won’t lie: when John Macfarlane called me in May of 1993 and offered me a four-month internship at Toronto Life, the magazine he then edited, I was overcome. I said yes as calmly as I could, hung up the phone, put my head in my hands and stayed like that for a long while, paralyzed by a mixture of relief, gratitude and elation...

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.