Avoiding Data Disasters
At my old newspaper, the main frame computer that ran all the newsroom writing terminals used to routinely freeze at 4 p.m., right when reporters were on deadline. When it happened, everyone popped up from their cubicles like Punxsutawney Phil on GroundHog’s Day. If you were lucky, whatever part of the story you’d written was [...]
Make Headline News
Want a quick way to an editor’s heart? Write your own headlines. Make it a practice to send a headline – and a deck too if a publication uses them – with every story you submit. Whether an editor actually uses your headline is beside the point. Writing headlines is good practice. And it shows [...]
Go Web, Young Man
Newspapers see the future, and it’s digital. The latest evidence: earlier this week the New York Times Co. and three other investors sank $29.5 million into Automattic, the company that makes WordPress blogging software runs the WordPress.com free blogging Website. (Disclaimer: I use WordPress.com to create and host this blog.) According to a news report, [...]
Web Editor Up for LA Times Top Job – A Good Thing
It’s the worst of times at the Los Angeles Times. James O’Shea, the paper’s editor in chief resigned last week after a budget dispute with publisher David Hiller. This comes a month after real estate mogul Sam Zell took control of the paper and the rest of the Tribune Co. It’s the latest skirmish in [...]
More than One Way to Make Freelancing Pay
In one episode of Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw character lands a freelance assignment for some incredible amount, like $4 a word. As a real-life freelance writer, I’ve never made $4 a word, or even met anybody who does. I’m not sure rates like that exist. Even $2 a word sounds [...]
Adaptations
The venerable PBS Sunday night miniseries Masterpiece Theater is mounting a Jane Austen retrospective, airing new and old versions of made-for-TV movies of all of her novels. It’s a big deal for Austen’s legion of fans, but let’s hope the first production isn’t representative of things to come. The version of Persuasion that aired on [...]
Outsourcing
I write a lot about outsourcing, the kind companies do to dispense with non-essentials and focus on what they make or sell. As an independent contractor, I know a thing or two about outsourcing from personal experience. The more things I don’t have to do in my non-work life, the more time I have for [...]
When the Words Won't Come
For writers, words are our product. When writer’s block strikes, it’s like the factory shutting down. It’s especially bad news for freelance writers, because when the words don’t come, the checks don’t come either. So just like factories, we can’t afford a work – or a word – stoppage. As a result, people use lots [...]
Tech in the Columbia Gorge
Hood River, Oregon, is a special place. People visit because of the world-class windsurfing, apple and pear orchards, B&Bs and micro-brewed beer. It’s a picturesque town nestled on the banks of the Columbia River, with an old-fashioned downtown that’s home to lots of new coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques. Skiing on Mt. Hood is only [...]
Research This: Del.icio.us and Google News Alerts
I’m late to using Web 2.0 Internet research tools, but they’re just so danged good I can’t not share. Two of my latest discoveries are especially good for research, Del.icio.us and Google News Alerts. Delicious is a social bookmarking site that lets you tag and store Web pages on their site. You can share pages [...]
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