Interview me – Catherine Novak (WordSpring)
Catherine Novak invited me to speak at the next Social Media Club gathering (fourth Tuesday of the month, at the University of Victoria, British Columbia). We were talking about the fact that Victoria Klassen had recently answered my questions (remember my Interview Me responses?). Catherine asked me to interview her and I was delighted to do so. Here are her answers:
You have mentioned that you’re the mother to teenagers. What do you find is the most challenging part of being a parent?
The MOST challenging part? Is knowing now that they are old enough to take responsibility for themselves. I’m no longer saving their lives on a daily basis, and it’s time for me to step back and watch them fall flat on their face a few times. But I’ve had to balance the stepping back from managing their lives with some real stepping in and making time for my kids and stepkids when they want to talk. Just because they can make their own lunch, doesn’t mean they don’t need me as an emotional sounding board. And that segues into the next question I’m going to answer, which is #4.
You are traveling back in time, and re-starting high school – what would you do differently, and why?
High school years are when most of us start to cement our identity. I had the bad luck (or so I thought at the time) to move to a new town at the start of high school. I didn’t know a soul, and as a somewhat introverted, perceptive kid, saw those groups of youths standing and talking in a tight circle as people who were shutting me out. Looking back, I don’t think that their body language was anything close to intentional. I wasn’t shunned, just invisible. So if I could do it again, I’d look at it as a real opportunity for freedom of expression. I could have been anything I wanted, instead of trying so damn hard to fit in. And perhaps that was the result, anyway. I spent lots of time on my bicycle, exploring Kelowna’s back roads. I found my musical voice. I went on a spiritual quest that continues to this day. I just would have done the same things with a happier heart. Thank God those years don’t last forever.
Writing is such an under-valued profession. What do you tell prospective clients when they want to engage in a project with you so that they realize the importance of good writing?
Do you think so? Some copy writers make easy six-figure incomes. Still, I know what you mean. “Wordsmith” is about as good a compliment as you can expect to get in this profession. “Hack” has incredibly demeaning undertones. The need to hire a good writer is usually an afterthought. You are much more likely these days to hear a business owner stress about needing a good web designer. And yet – any search engine optimizer will tell you that “content is king”; that’s true now more than ever, since Google ranks sites depending on keyword richness in the content, not metatags and so on. The thing is, we confuse being able to write well with being able to write, period, and it’s because written communications are a big part of our everyday world.
In addition to having a degree in English, I took a post-baccalaureate program in Teaching English as a Second Language. I tell my clients that if I can create a message that is clear enough for non-native English speakers to understand it, then it’s going to be clear to native speakers as well. When you understand the mechanics of how this language fits together, how to make it active and engaging, what makes words sing – the importance of melody and rhythm in words as well as in music – you can make even highway permit procedures stick in the mind of the reader. And yes, I did work on transcribing highway permit procedures to the Web!
If you were to live in another Canadian city which one would you choose and why?
I would be willing to try Winnipeg. I’ve been there a couple of times in both winter and summer – the people are friendly, and will tell you if you really should be wearing a toque for the cold weather. The cultural scene is incredible, with plays, artists, musicians, and lots of venues. I would move there FOR the weather. The most amazing rainstorm I’ve ever experienced was in Winnipeg. Its cold is a dry cold (now there’s a Canadian expression! A dry cold does not get into your bones the way the damp coastal cold does). You can see the weather coming from miles away. Louis Riel lived there, and fought hard for self-determination of the Metis people. There’s the Franco-Manitoban community, and I’d like to explore that. It’s big, but not egotistically, “world-class” big… not that there’s anything wrong with that, and if I lived in Vancouver again, I’d like that world-class feel. Winnipeg has a mennonite college… I have an affinity for a religion that espouses peace, simplicity and equality (at least on its liberal side). I have just enough friends in Winnipeg that I wouldn’t be starting from scratch. :-).
What is the best decision you’ve had in your life and why?
It’s not so much a single decision as a philosophy. And that is to listen to my inner voice and go through the open doors. When I use those two prime directives together, I have made the best decisions. Like the decision to be with the man who is now my partner. Or the decision to take a deep breath and let WordSpring come back into being – as a company I’d let it sit dormant for a couple of years, but now it is a vibrant entity and I’m scrambling to keep up with the growth.
