An interview is only as good as the prep work you put into it. Have you ever picked up the phone without having done any background research on your source, thought of questions or figured out how the person will fit into your story? Sometimes it happens, especially if you’re covering breaking news. But more […]
Happy anniversary to me
This month marks the first anniversary of re-launching my freelance writing career – and what a difference a year makes. In the past 12 months, I’ve written for close to a dozen magazines and Websites, reconnected with former colleagues I hadn’t talked to in years, discovered LinkedIn and Facebook, started this blog, joined a writer’s […]
Portland is for word lovers
Portland has a lot of nicknames. Stumptown. The Rose City. Rip City. Bike Town. Tree City. But come Nov. 8, the best name will be Portland is Wordsville. That’s the day the annual Wordstock literary festival begins and Portlanders renew their passion for words. Now in it’s fourth year, Wordstock is a two-day celebration of […]
Make it easy for readers to understand the hard stuff
The current financial crisis has been tricky for even veteran business writers. How do you explain difficult concepts like collateralized debt obligations or the London interbank lending rate in language that the now-famous Joe the Plumber will understand? It’s not easy. But it is possible, as a handful of writers have shown, including some with […]
The WordCount Bad Economy Survival Kit
On Thursday when I got the Industry Standard’s weekly e-newsletter, which always runs 1 or 2 predictions at the very top of its other news stories, and read their guess that the Dow would fall below 9,000 this month I thought “No way.” Then it happened. That very day. For the first time since 2003. […]
10 things writers can do right now to feel better about the economy
There’s nothing you can do about the Wall Street financial crisis or the $700 billion bail out package that Congress is debating as I write this. You can’t control the economy, or the price of gas or who’s going to win the presidential election in November. In the face of so uncertainty, it’s easy to […]