Cindy McKay, editor of the new farm women's magazine Hearts of the Country holding the premiere issue.
Farm woman Cindy McKay launched a magazine for country women at the 2008 Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference in Brandon. In the mid 90s Cindy was a young farm wife with four children when Grainews expanded their farm women’s section into a pull out and eventually a stand alone publication.
“I enjoyed the great information that publication provided. It was a valuable tool in my life as it not only covered issues of child care but farming tips and suggestions along with stories of rural women who had started home based businesses. There were simple crafts that I felt confident to do. Because husbands who love their jobs (which includes most farmers) tend to be workaholics, the publication was a good way to find out how to deal with living in that environment,” said McKay.
At that time McKay became interested in freelance writing, but the publication subsided before McKay could submit articles to them. A few years later McKay became involved with the Lake Winnipeg Writers Group in Gimli. At the time she was taking a writing course for children’s articles; members of the group Roger Newman, Nancy Hall and other writers who had experienced success in the freelance world were very helpful to her.
“John Clark the person who started Grainews and instigated the farm women’s paper came to one of our meetings. I drilled him on the whole thing and discovered that when the newspaper changed hands they decided to drop the publication for country women. Clark told me I should start up a magazine for women. I thought, ‘Yeah right, I don’t know how to start anything like that,’” said McKay.
The Interlake Spectator offered McKay a job as a reporter where she learned a lot about writing, editing, layout, and design from her colleagues.
“While working at The Spectator, I saw some fabulous work being done by both rural women and rural organizations, both volunteer, municipal and school board. As a writer we ask a lot of questions when we travel to other areas and when I learned about issues my sister’s community were dealing with. I got thinking it would be great to share ideas on a national level so we could learn from each other,” explains McKay
Society, in general, places a lot of weight on women for traditional responsibilities, but when you add chores, a large geographical area and weather conditions, you add stresses to the ordinary that take the extraordinary to manage. Success depends on networking and currently there is not one publication on the market today that fits that bill for Canadian country women.
“I was looking on the internet for a market for a story proposal when Ryerson University popped up with a course called ‘So You Think You Want to Start a Magazine?’ It was an affordable, weekend course which I decided to attend. A faculty member suggested if I was serious about starting a magazine that I should attend the School for Professional Publishers in April 2008,” said McKay.
McKay started doing market research at the Farm Women’s Conference in 2007, rural fairs, etc. Response was highly positive. The Premiere Issue was launched at this year’s Farm Women’s Conference.
“The magazine comes from something that has been driving me since the first seed was planted by John Clark. Fate kept pushing me in this direction, even when I made a decision to work one more year and pursue the magazine after that. Gwen called to say I would receive a bursary to attend Publishers’ School. I was honoured Magazine Canada would offer me both courses on a bursary. I expressed my concern to a faculty member about the upcoming recession that was being whispered about. He said the most successful magazines were born out of recession. After returning from the course I knew I could no longer work on the magazine and the newspaper. It was time to give the magazine my full attention. This is a huge decision as it means the loss of a steady income in a still uncertain post BSE world. The magazine will be on the newsstand in January,” said McKay.
