To keep business and tech writing fresh, avoid cliches
Enough already with the cliches. If you write about business, technology or niche subjects, you probably have to bat off the cliches like flies. OK, did you notice that both of those sentences included cliches? That’s how hard it is to keep them out of your writing. But you should keep them out, if you [...]
Guest post: Going freelance in a down economy
Going out on your own is scary enough, so why would any sane person do it in an economy like this one? Because a bad economy may actually be a good time to start a freelance career. At least that’s what Susan Johnston is hoping. Johnston is a Boston writer and creator of The Urban [...]
Writing is like a hike in the woods
Writing is like a hike in the woods. You know it’ll be hard, but you look forward to it anyway. Even so, when the time comes, it’s easy to put off, to turn over and go back to sleep or distract yourself some other way. Once you’re on the trail, it’s exciting. Everything is fresh, [...]
You are what you read
They say you are what you eat. I say, you are what you read. If you want to be a reporter, you have to read the news. That used to mean reading a newspaper every morning, or even two or three. Now you can get your daily dose of news online. I’m agnostic on that [...]
My 3 a.m. muse
My muse visited again the other night. I don’t know why she comes in the middle of the night, or when I’m in the shower or walking the dog. When she arrives, it’s usually to hand me an idea, sentence or opening paragraph for a story that I’d been searching for. If I’m in bed, [...]
A Few Words on Writing Short
There are no short cuts to writing short. It’s hard. It takes practice. Even Mark Twain thought so, as he famously said: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” There are, however, a few good reasons to try: FOB – A magazine’s “front of the book” [...]
Keyboard Yoga
Writing and yoga have a lot in common. To write or practice yoga, you have to tune everything else out so you can be in the moment. Writing and yoga require practice to maintain a certain level of skill – years of practice to be really good. You could argue, though, that students of writing [...]
Best Blogs for Writers
When writers aren’t writing, they’re reading about how to be a better writer, or be a better marketer of their writing, or about who else they could be writing for. That’s what I found when I asked freelance, newspaper and magazine writers and editors to name some of their favorite blogs for writers. It’s an [...]
The Myth of the Paperless Office
Computers were going to wipe out paper. That’s what we believed back at the dawn of the PC era. Twenty-six years later, people are still overwhelmed by the stuff. Face it, getting rid of paper completely won’t happen. It’s too big a part of our lives. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be as [...]
Asking the Hard Question – Top 10 Interview Tips
Not long ago, a writer in a freelance group I belong to posted a question on the group message boards. She had an interview scheduled with a subject who had a reputation for being grouchy and wanted to know how to prepare. It’s a great question. Reporters are thought of as thick-skinned hacks who can [...]
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