Recommended reading for writers for Aug. 19

To do great writing, read great writing. Here’s the great writing I’ve been reading this week:

It’s been five days since I got back from vacation and between blogging here and at SecondAct, and doing umpteen loads of laundry (read this post if you want to know why), I’ve been catching up on what’s happening in the freelance, writing and media business. Here are links to some highlights:

Writing

A Victim’s Tale: What it’s like to be on the receiving end of a press error (CJR) – Regret the Error blogger and CJR columnist Craig Silverman talks with an Akron, Ohio, man about how the local paper mistakenly reported that he’d fired a shot at a burglar rather than the other way around. “I’ve still got some faith in the paper, less than before, perhaps. But I wouldn’t trust that reporter to give correct movie times,” the man tells Silverman.

• Do Writers Read Differently than Non-Writers? (Jenny Hansen’s Blog)
• Writer Faster: 12 Top Tips for Freelance Writers (Productive Writer)
• Blog Burnout (Oregon News Incubator)

The Media Business

Why Do You Like Bad News? (Gizmodo) – The age of social network “Like” and “Favorite” buttons has created a paradox of people giving positive feedback to negative news. So be it, writes Mat Honan in this exploration of the nuances of non-f2f communication in the social media age. But “after you click that easy dumb little button, write a reply,” he says. “Say something. Use your human capacity for language. You don’t even have to say much. Just a little text. If you don’t know what to say, you can just say ‘sorry.’ It’s enough.

• How the Los Angeles Times is winning with social media (The Next Web)
• YourHub ‘s sobering case study about what happens when newspapers plunge into hyperlocal (Romenesko)