Experience matters
Sometimes older really is wiser – especially if you make an effort to keep up with times too.
Best of WordCount: inspiration for writers
During the 3rd annual Blogathon I’m using Saturdays to re-run some favorite posts. Today’s edition is on inspiration, the ‘aha’ moments writers long for.
WordCount Repeats: 7 steps to cutting a story that's too long
While I’m away from my keyboard this week, I’m re-running a few posts that didn’t get the attention – or web traffic – they deserved the first time around. I’ll return with fresh insights on the business of writing next week. – Michelle Rafter Some stories take on a life of their own and before [...]
10 things J.K. Rowling taught me about writing
I came late to Harry Potter. I’d seen the movies but hadn’t picked up the books. That is, not until May when my 8-year-old started reading them. I figured I should too, to help him with the scary parts. I got hooked. I read at lunch. I read instead of watching TV at night. When [...]
Freelance link love for week of May 24
Here’s what I’ve been reading about freelancing, writing and the online news business I’ve been reading this week: On writing: How do you learn to write – From a literary agent, writer and book editor. 5 tips for citizen journalism from ProPublica’s new ‘crowdsorcerer’ 16 things you learn in j-school – Journalism basics You don’t [...]
WordCount weekly online news roundup for April 3
This week’s highlights from the freelance and digital news biz: HuffPost invests in investigative news – Everybody’s favorite we-don’t-pay-contributors news aggregator Website is turning over a new leaf, big time. The The Huffington Post is launching an investigative news team with a $1.75 million starter budget and advice from well-known online news guru and NYU [...]
Stalking the reluctant source – 10 secrets to getting anybody to talk
You had the idea, wrote the query, got the assignment, negotiated the contract, worked out a deadline and did the research. Now all that’s left is interviewing the source. What’s that, the source won’t answer your email or phone calls? Don’t they realize what you’ve had to do to get this far? Unfortunately, just because [...]
If you're upgrading your writing career, j-school isn't the answer
Twice in the last week I’ve encountered writers or bloggers who’ve run into a bad patch in their careers and are wondering if it makes sense to go back to school and get a master’s degree in journalism. Bottom line: you don’t need a degree to get work as a writer. Even if you have [...]
Top 10 things writers want from PR people
It’s popular for writers to look down on PR people. The stereotypical media relations representative is inexperienced, doesn’t know one publication from another, hasn’t a clue about how the news business works, and actually makes it harder to get through to a source. While that’s an exaggeration, it’s still true that in many cases the [...]
How to handle rewrites without wanting to kill yourself, or your editor
Rewrites aren’t high on my list of favorite work-related activities. The fact is, I hate them. Especially when an editor sits on something for a couple weeks then ships it back with questions. It makes me want to fire off an email saying “That was so five stories ago!” But rewrites are a fact of [...]
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