To paraphrase Dickens, it is the best of times and the worst of times for the newspapers business. The worst of times: layoffs, more every day including downsizing at some of the country’s biggest papers. Just yesterday, the Los Angeles Times said it was cutting 250 jobs, including 150 in the newsroom, bringing its total […]
Blog
How to write blog posts that get comments
Blogs are supposed to be community endeavors. You write something. People read it and respond with their own opinions or experience. But how to get people to leave comments? First you have to get them to your blog. I’m working on that. But once they’ve arrived and read what they’ve come for, how do you […]
WordCount blog: 2008 Q2 report
The end of June marked the end of Q2 of writing this blog, which I officially launched in January to keep track of changes in the freelance writing and online news business. In the past three months, WordCount hit some major milestones. Here are a few: Best month ever – When I decided to write […]
WordCount post included in The New Writer's Handbook 2008
I’m happy to announce that a post from WordCount, my blog about freelance writing, will appear in The New Writer’s Handbook 2008, an anthology about writing scheduled to be published in August by Scarletta Press. The post, Asking the Hard Questions is a list of tips for conducting tough interviews. The New Writer’s Handbook 2008 […]
Lessons learned: WordCount's 100th blog post
What you’re reading marks the 100th post on this blog, WordCount, which I started as an easy and free way to post my resume and clips online where prospective editors could see them. Very quickly it evolved into a continuing examination of how online media is changing the business of freelance writing. I did a […]
Paging Dr. Sawaya: Milton is hip again
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the English poet, John Milton. There’s a lot of hoopla going on to mark the occasion: new versions of his epic work, “Paradise Lost” as well as other books. New biographies and studies examining Milton’s lasting effect on culture, high and low. You can read […]