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:

• Six Summer Reads to Improve Your Freelance Business [PWAC Toronto]
• I'm calling it: Podcasting is the future of journalism [The Tyee]
• CBC journalist takes to Twitter to find live-hit harasser [J-Source]
• Women and newspapers [Canadaland]
• Five freelance journalists win hostile environment training bursaries [Journalism Forum]

From The U.S. and beyond:

• Salon agrees to recognize union, starts negotiations on contract [Poynter]
• Why Your Article Pitch Was Rejected [Make a Living Writing]
• The best ways to be productive when you're working at home [Mashable]
• Ask a Freelancer: Help! A Client Owes Me $2,000! [The Freelancer]
• 24 Of The Worst Things You Can Say To A Writer, According To Twitter [BuzzFeed]
• There's a Facebook group to help journalists figure out their plan B [Poynter]
• Authors tweet hilarious advice on what NOT to say to a writer [EW]
• Does Your Freelance Writing Career Need to Grow Up? 4 Ways to Tell [The Write Life]
• 11 tools to automate your day-to-day [Freelancers Union]
• A former journalist created a site to help journalists find experts [Poynter]
• 10 Reasons Why That Other Writer Always Seems to Get Ahead [Freelance Writing Gigs]

Last week on Story Board:

• The Born Freelancer Looks Back Over 4 Years:  One of the greatest joys of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity. On the other hand, one of the greatest drawbacks of writing a regular column like this is that your work stays online indefinitely and is there for all to read for eternity...
• The 5-Minute Freelancer Q&A #22 -- Kayli Barth: In this regular feature, Story Board asks Canadian writers to share a few details about their work habits and their strategies for navigating the ups and downs of freelance life.

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.