Long weekends like the four-day Thanksgiving holiday that starts tomorrow when nobody’s in the office are great times to work on projects you can’t get around to when you have story deadlines and editors breathing down your neck, projects like crafting queries to new or not so new-to-you publications. To help get the query juices […]
Archives for 2008
Road trip
I’m on the road today, visiting editors in southern California and then taking a few days off. While I’m gone, please enjoy this rerun of some popular WordCount posts about visiting and working with editors. What editors want from freelance writers 4 ways to bring good karma to your freelance writing business Top 10 qualities […]
Guest post on The Golden Pencil
I’m the special guest blogger today over at The Golden Pencil, a b5 Media blog for freelance writers that’s run by host Jenny Cromie, who recently took over the gig. My Q&A covers a variety of topics, including how I got into the freelance business, how the current economy is changing the freelance landscape and […]
WordCount recap – weekly news from the digital media biz
I’m starting what I hope will become a WordCount Friday feature, a recap of news and commentary on freelancing and the media business as reported by other blogs and news outlets this week. Happy reading: The case for independent news sites as profit-makers – David Westphal, a senior fellow at USC’s Annenberg’s Center on Communication […]
Why good writing is all about context
More and more these days, good writing is all about context. When news cycles are measured in minutes or hours rather than days, unless you’re the one doing those news stories, your work as a writer is putting what’s happening into context. That’s especially the case for many bloggers, whose raison d’etre is commenting on […]
How to make money writing about the financial crisis
You’ve heard the expression, follow the money. Well, the silver lining of the U.S. economy sliding into the dumps is there’s plenty of work for business writers who know a mortgage-backed security from an adjustable rate mortgage. If you don’t fit that description now, you could. American University and Arizona State University’s Donald W. Reynolds […]