I guess I can safely say I can put my Berlin Wall story behind me. This story really took over my life for awhile – tons of leg work, and tons of time trying to find someone to publish this!
This story started simply out of personal interest. I had been reading the history of post-war Berlin over the summer, and realized it would be the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down this year. So, good idea to write a story on this, right? As I quickly found out, a story “about the Berlin Wall” wasn’t exactly focused enough for a story, so I had to find my focus. And to find my focus, I first had to find my sources. At this point, it didn’t look likely that the story was going to come together.
But I was persistent. I called the Calgary German Association, who directed me to the German store Eidelweiss. There, the manager promised me she would see if any of her employees lived in Berlin during that period. I assumed this was a dead end.
I also contacted the dean of the history program at University of Calgary, seeing if there was any faculty he could direct me towards. I was hoping at best to get the academic historical perspective of what the Berlin Wall falling down. He gave me two names, although I quickly found out that they both were actually in Berlin for the semester. The two professors had different attitudes though: one was a definite “no, please don’t ever speak to me again.” And the other was more than happy to talk to me.
The logistics to speak with my German professor in Berlin was tricky, as she was globetrotting all over the world, and I had a deadline I was working with. Somehow, though, it all came together and I got a rather emotional account of a young woman’s view on the fall of the Berlin Wall, and how it affected her career from that moment. That interview was gold.
My work into finding the German community in Calgary actually panned out as well. Eidelweiss got back to me with a name, an employee of theirs who had recently moved to Calgary from East Germany, and had grown up in a communist police state. I went over to her house, where I spoke with both her and her companion, also from East Germany. Language issues aside, I had a wonderful time speaking to them about their experiences, and I found them to be the loveliest couple. I even got their pictures with some memories of their first time at the Berlin Wall. It worked out quite nicely.
My last interview I didn’t have to look too far to get. Carolina’s dad grew up in Czechoslovakia, and escaped the communist regime in 1968. Wow – fascinating guy. We spoke about his time growing up in Czechoslovakia, and visiting Berlin later in life.
So, I had all my interviews, and I had to put this together in a way that made sense, and hopefully would catch the reader’s eye as well. I think my first effort was good, not great, and it’s wonderful to go through the process of vetting, to see what other people see that you totally looked over. The story began to take shape, and I felt ready to put this forth for publishing in the Calgary Journal.
But they did not want it! It was too timely for the print edition, and the web editor felt that the issue wasn’t one that Calgarians would actually care about. I believe her actual words were: I don’t see why Calgarians should care now, 20 years later. I had a difference of opinion, to say the least, but I was someone attached to my story at this point.
Ron suggested I try publishing it elsewhere, Fast Forward or the Herald. I thought – how silly, but I’m not actually losing anything by trying. I emailed an editor at the Herald, who directed me to the right section for this story. And then I waited. The longer I didn’t hear back, the more I was sure they weren’t going to publish this. I even went so far as to give the editor an ultimatum. He got back to me after his time was up, and totally called my bluff. He told me he was still interested, and I committed to the Herald.
Late Friday night, I see I have an email from him, asking me to make some changes to the story, add some quotes. He had written earlier in the day, and I didn’t receive it until later in the night, but there was no mention of deadlines or when the story might be published. I was just kind of excited that things looked promising, and got up really early the next day and made the asked-for changes. Then, I looked at the paper, and saw my story staring up at me (from a teaser on the front page of the Herald!): Calgarians share their memories, page A16. I was a little shocked, as I had not expected that to happen. I was a little chagrined that I had missed my deadline for the changes my editor wanted, but mostly I was pretty ecstatic that I had been published.
This story was a lot of work, but at the end of the day it was worth it to see my byline, to know that people who have never met me are reading my work. I learnt a lot on this assignment. I think perhaps the most important thing is that it doesn’t necessarily matter how good of a writer you are (although it helps, for sure), it’s about finding the right story that people are going to care about. I was personally interested in the fall of the Berlin Wall, and as it turned out, so was the rest of the world. I was able to pick up on a timely story, and make it work for what I was doing. So I should just keep on doing that, I guess.
Next time, though, I want to be paid!
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