6.03.2005
Buddy, can you spare a clip?
A few of you already know that this blog is an attempt by me to seek notoriety and riches. And we're making progress. My Google ad revenue is already pushing $3.
But let's say, for the sake of argument, that the riches thing falls through. I still hope this blog will help me snag a few newspaper and magazine writing assignments and justify a trip to South America later this year or early next year.
There's just this little matter of "clips." Editors typically demand to see clips -- examples of recent articles you've written -- so they know you can write something they'd actually want to publish. And I don't imagine a brochure on mutual fund investing (typical of what I've been writing the past 15 years) doing much to quicken the pulse of a jaded newspaper editor.
That's where the blog comes in. It's my shortcut for getting past this clip dilemma. I'm hoping this blog will (1) convince prospective editors that I can indeed write and (2) that I have a peso of familiarity with the subject.
A third purpose for the blog just struck me today: that I can solicit story ideas from you, my dear readers, and also try out some ideas on y'all before crafting my pitch letters to the media elite.
So are you game for some open-source journalism? I should be ready to post a slew of story ideas over the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, I'd like to ask you:
But let's say, for the sake of argument, that the riches thing falls through. I still hope this blog will help me snag a few newspaper and magazine writing assignments and justify a trip to South America later this year or early next year.
There's just this little matter of "clips." Editors typically demand to see clips -- examples of recent articles you've written -- so they know you can write something they'd actually want to publish. And I don't imagine a brochure on mutual fund investing (typical of what I've been writing the past 15 years) doing much to quicken the pulse of a jaded newspaper editor.
That's where the blog comes in. It's my shortcut for getting past this clip dilemma. I'm hoping this blog will (1) convince prospective editors that I can indeed write and (2) that I have a peso of familiarity with the subject.
A third purpose for the blog just struck me today: that I can solicit story ideas from you, my dear readers, and also try out some ideas on y'all before crafting my pitch letters to the media elite.
So are you game for some open-source journalism? I should be ready to post a slew of story ideas over the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, I'd like to ask you:
- Of all the items you've seen on this blog, which postings seem to have the greatest article potential?
- What South American tidbits have you run across elsewhere that might make good feature or travel-article fodder?
- If you answered either of the above...in what kinds of publications might you expect to see such an article? Go ahead and name specific publications.
