On My Bookshelf: It’s What I Do by Lynsey Addario
An afternoon shopping at New York’s Strand bookstore is an exercise in both decadence and restraint. Like most book lovers, I’ve back and forthed my reading habits to acknowledge the portability and economy of an e-reader. My criteria for buying physical books have become more specific: art and reference books, and out-of-print titles are the […]
Infographic: How to Become a Successful Freelance Writer
After hearing me describe the process of deconstructing a magazine to identify the most freelance-friendly sections, and how to customize a story idea, a student stared at me, with her mouth agape. “That sounds like a lot of work,” she said. Well, yes. But anybody who spends any time reading how-to-pitch type guides quickly hears […]
What to watch: Movies for the media
This trio of films have all found audiences with the general public, but may have particular resonance with journalists, photographers, and related members of the media. Finding Vivan Maier “Finding Vivan Maier” is both an introduction to the work of the prolific street photographer, as well as a dive into who she was and why […]
On my bookshelf: Solrevolution
“My” new book has been published! I wrote the South African sections of Solrevolution, which has finally arrived from Sweden thanks to the South African postal strike ending. If Monocle were to create a coffee table book in Swedish about solar energy, this is what it would look like. Another post soon to come on […]
Coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz: What’s brewing?
US alternative weeklies were still in their heyday back when I began writing for a living. Shortly after I left my day job (i.e., went from part- to full-time freelancing), I pitched a couple of arts ideas to an editor at The Washington Blade, who in return asked if I would be interested in a […]
Mandela’s South Africa
Even when it’s expected, death still surprises. Prior to Mandela’s death, I had numerous conversations with editors about content that they wanted to have at the ready. It’s standard practice for news organizations to prepare obituaries of well-known people on file, but the preparations for Mandela were extreme. In the hours and days after the […]
Jerry Seinfeld: How to Write a Joke
The wronger it feels, the righter it is, says Jerry Seinfeld about joke writing.
How do you answer, “Who do you write for?”
Like most questions about freelace writing and journalism, the real answer here is, “It depends.” When sending a query to a new-to-me editor, typically my bio line lists a few credits tailored to the publication. If, say, it’s a enviro/science story, I’ll mention Discover and Ensia; architecture editors find out about Dwell; education editors are […]
Vanity searches and Danzy Senna
Whenever Google finds somebody with my name (such as me, or the real estate agent, or the OB/GYN, or the Chicago English lecturer) doing something new, a message alert pops up. The main purpose of this is to catch new articles when they are published online. Sometimes vanity searches turn up reprints or references, such […]
Screen saver
My annual visits to the optometrist followed a clear pattern: for many years, my eyes became continually more nearsighted. With glasses or contact lenses, vision was 20/20, and at some point the technology improved enough to render lenses thin enough to throw away the coke-bottle glasses of childhood forever. Great stuff for somebody who surely […]
Wole Soyinka turns 80
Over time, most interviews, be they phoners or even in-person, start to blur together. Some stand out in your memory because of a great conversation or odd location; Wole Soyinka was a bit of both. When I met him for lunch a few years ago, it was with a small group of other journalists, so […]
An even shittier first draft
Writing longhand is something of a luxury. It takes more time than typing just on the first draft, and at some point I then have to enter it onto the computer. The quality is often messier–an even shittier first draft, to paraphrase Anne Lammott–yet it’s usually a richer experience that somehow lets me make different […]
On My Bookshelf: New Life, No Instructions
Cherry red. Deep blue. When visiting New York, off-white with a thin seafoam stripe. Whomever designs veterinary surgical tape knows that when your dog comes out of the back room, the best response is, “Ooh, how cute you look, all bandaged up!” My dog, a red fawn Shar-pei, has always gotten a lot of attention, […]
Writing coach
https://rebeccalweber.com/coach/ As an experienced writing teacher, I demystify the processes of identifying goals, researching markets and editors, writing salable queries, reporting stories, and editing your own work. Depending on your needs, I might serve as a sounding board, give constructive edits as a first reader on a draft, or advise on how to develop your […]
Zakes Mda
For quite a few years, more people found my website searching for “Zakes Mda” than for any other term; this interview with him, originally published on the now-defunct Africana.com, has been cited in a number of scholarly works about Mda. I first picked up Zakes Mda’s novel She Plays With Darkness at the Grahamstown Arts […]
Rituals
Via InfoWeTrust.com I’ve been reading Mason Currey’s new book, Daily Rituals, with an odd sort of interest. It’s not dissimilar to the questions writers get about what tool they use to write. (I still favor the Pilot Razor Point pens from the 1980s.) The take-away is that the details of your schedule’s rituals and routines […]
New world headquarters
Nobody else photographs writers and their workspaces like Jill Krementz, although I also like the Guardian series and Pinterest collections. The view here at this rental is stunning, though weather permitting I prefer to get outside into the green rather than look at it through the glass. And if I’m writing longhand, I’m more likely […]
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