Archives
Write More Listicles
As journalists, we need to write for our readers. By this, I don’t mean that you should pander. Good reporting should challenge its readers. [...]
Find The Hard Interview
Interviews are the heart of what we do as journalists, but some people are harder to find than others. Despite our best intentions this [...]
Using Your Voice
More on journalism and writing. This time the subject is voice. Specifically, when do you use your own? The issue occurred to me while reading [...]
Spotting A Bad Argument
The Week has a columnist named Matthew Walther. He fills the role that many news sites increasingly reach for: that of the smart, conservative millennial [...]
Anatomy of a Pitch
What makes a good pitch? It's probably the single hardest question in freelance journalism. Before we can report a story, before we can meet people [...]
When You’re Stuck On A Pitch
I'm finalizing another post about the anatomy of a freelance pitch, but while writing it I had a thought. What do you do when pitch [...]
Is Puerto Rico Ready for Tourists?
Originally published in slightly edited form on The Street. I’m writing this to the white noise of Atlantic Ocean surf crashing against the beach. Down [...]
The Day I Decided To Do Better
For the first few years of my freelancing career my business practices were a little bit of a mess. That's not quite right. My business [...]
Stories From A Shithole
People aren't props. I had planned to post a different story today, but the news has caught up with me. Writing about tax collectors will [...]