Junot Diaz wrote one of my favorite books, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” He won a Pulitzer for it a few years ago. In this essay, he writes about his struggle to write it. He worked on his book for five years before giving up on it. Then, months later, he dug it out again and spent two more years on it (and it’s not a long book).
Somehow I find it comforting that the best writers struggle, too, that their words don’t flow effortlessly from their fingers. And I love how his essay speaks to the power of persistence and to the irresistible urge to create.
In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. – Junot Diaz
Two years ago, I did a job shadow with my cousin, then an editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I peered over the desks heaped with papers and notes and old food containers. I strained to hear the hushed but intense discussions between writers and editors taking place in the corners. I was nearly run over as the crime reporter and accompanying photographer flew by to cover a breaking news story.
That day was when I looked around and went, “Yeah, this is DEFINITELY what I want to do.”
Of course, even just two years later things are already different. I had never heard of Twitter as of my senior year of high school, and Facebook was just somewhere to post photos and “poke” the cute guy in your homeroom class. No one I knew had a touch screen cell phone and get this- you couldn’t even use your iPod to take video!
I had the pleasure of visiting Hearst Corporation in New York City over fall break. The Hearst representative I met with immediately asked me if I had a Kindle, as he had just left a meeting where they had been discussing the development of an interactive tablet for their company. Today it was released that their Skiff E-reader device is planned on being released in early 2010. ”We are going to create an entity by publishers, for publishers,” says Kenneth A. Bronfin, Hearst’s media president. The induction of the E-reader will surge readership and profits, as unlike the Kindle and other competitors, it will offer advertising. The service provided by Skiff will also allow Hearst publications to be accessed and downloaded in an online store format similar to Kindle’s. Amazon’s interactive reader has been criticized for not being convenient or a great experience for its consumers. Therefore, Hearst’s promising new E-reader service is sure to give Kindle a run for its money. (more…)
I just finished reading The Jackson Sun’s Tom Bohs’ clever analysis of the trend towards citizen journalism. With a humorous account of professional journalists’ competition — the guy at the coffee shop with a camera phone and a police scanner — he illustrates that these “citizen journalists” aren’t really a new phenomenon, and can even be useful to us, the professionals (makes me smile to say that).
Bohs notes that “good journalists, the paid kind” should use the occasional tweet or web posting as a starting point for a more in-depth and researched story. This is simply another manifestation of the way it’s always been: “This has been happening since journalism was invented. It’s called working your beat.”
Developing sources, whether they be online or ” in a dark alley”, is essential to being a well-informed reporter with your finger on the pulse of the world around you.
While he still acknowledges the danger of amateur news reports flooding the Internet, and by consequence dominating the more credible sources, I found his angle on amateur journalism refreshing.
*Do you think that citizen journalists are going to replace us? Are they merely another resource for us to utilize?
Here’s a demo of Sports Illustrated for tablets (tablets being bigger than iPods but smaller than laptops). Fascinating. Also interesting are YouTube users’ comments about the idea.
It plagues us all. Writer’s block kills more mojo than Kanye West, and unfortunately, you don’t need to be T-Swift to fall victim to its evils.
The best ideas come when you’re not staring at a blank computer screen–driving down the freeway, sipping on orange soda, watching Mad Men, etc. But when there’s just not enough time to take a jaunt in the woods in search of your elusive thinking cap, here’s some alternatives. Special thanks to Ivan at creativebits.org.
Examine your subject wearing pink glasses.
Write down 21 objects that the subject reminds you of.
Look at your subject as if you were a priest/astronaut/vampire/prostitute.
Take off your shoes.
Put the subject name under-water.
Write the subject on a bun.
Smell a flower or tea leaves.
Pray like a ninja.
Make a paper plane.
Think of a matching car for your subject.
Relax. Get up, walk around. Scream if you need to.
Undoubtedly you’ll come up with something. If all else fails, start surfing the Web. Just stay off YouTube, and/or anything that involves music awards, rappers, and deely-bopper country singers. Godspeed, brainstormer.
James Poniewozik, rapidly becoming one of my favorite bloggers, recently posted about the respectable media’s response to the recent Tiger Woods frenzy. And I think what he has to say is pretty darn fascinating.
Poniewozik says:
“…the “serious” news outlets can’t just wholeheartedly revel in the human filth of the story. Not just for high-minded reasons, either: there are cold business reasons. As with so many things today, traditional media are caught between a newfangled audience, with new expectations, and an old-fashioned audience that expects old-fashioned standards of propriety.”
Poniewozik hits it right on the money. Newspapers and broad magazines (Time or Newsweek) attempt to cater to all audiences. In years past, this wasn’t a hard task with the limited ways of receiving information. In the past, a story this thick with rumor would have broken much slower, with only facts being reported instead of a feeding frenzy of speculation.
Poniewozik points out the essential problem here:
“Fail to satisfy the newfangled group, and they’ll quickly click elsewhere; fail to satisfy the old-fashioned group (who don’t want celebrity news on the front page, or news coverage with a point-of-view), and they cancel their subscriptions.”
Later in the post, he mentions the problem of money that newspapers face. After all, when people want to read about Michael Jackson’s death, why not plaster your paper with it? (What possible connection does Michael Jackson have with Duluth, Minnesota? Seriously! And notice how Fawcett is just sort of shoved in the corner).
So what do you guys think? Is it ethical to plaster your front page with sensationalist news, or do you only print the facts at risk of losing money?
Dilemma number one: Whether or not you should clean up your social media sites, Facebook profiles in particular, before applying for new jobs. This is something we will all face within the next year or two. It might not be on the top of your to do list, but employers are beginning to look at these things increasingly more.
The article references a recent study by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com which found that 45 percent of employers questioned were using social networks to screen job candidates. This is more than double that of last year.
Many of you have probably read this type of advice multiple times, however, it’s becoming a trend for employers to Google job candidates in order to see if they can find any dirt on them. So if your display picture is of you with two beer cans in hand, you’re probably not going to land the job—sorry.
How to solve dilemma number one: clean it up.
The second of the dilemmas is dealt with within the workplace. If your job is encouraging you to use social media sites, however, you’re a bit hesitant, what should you do? Keep things private. Be sure to separate your social media sites used professionally and your social media sites used personally.
Both of these dilemmas are things we will ourselves be dealing with in the near future. The article ends with one good rule of thumb: “Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” Always remember this.
For more interesting information regarding social media, view Wortham’s other articles—there’s certainly one out their that applies to you.
In regards to these two dilemmas, what do you think? Have you already starting cleaning up your Facebook profiles or don’t you think it really matters?
Junot Diaz wrote one of my favorite books, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” He won a Pulitzer for it a few years ago. In this essay, he writes about his struggle to write it. He worked on his book for five years before giving up on it. Then, months later, he dug it out again and spent two more years on it (and it’s not a long book).
Dilemma number one: Whether or not you should clean up your social media sites, 
