I haven’t had a newspaper subscription since the early nineties. I occasionally buy the local paper, but it is usually because I want the car or the grocery ads or because I have some time to kill in a restaurant. I certainly don’t buy the local paper looking for journalistic excellence. For the most part they run the same AP wire stories that everyone else does, and their local coverage consists of mostly basic police/court coverage, business stories, road construction updates and reasonably good coverage of the sports scene. None of these are things I can’t do without, and I can find any of it on their online version when I bother to go to their site, which I rarely do. For the record, I also don’t bother to watch the news, local or national, on television.

New News Sources

I am, however, far from uninformed. I read the news just about every day, spending at least ten minutes and as much as an hour reading. For several years now, however, I have done almost all of my reading online. Google News is my primary source, but I also subscribe to feeds from a number of specific publications and quite a few blogs. I would subscribe to my local paper’s news feed, if they had one. The weekly paper does, but the two daily papers have yet to figure out the technology I guess.

A Very Long Decline

Print journalism is in the middle stages of what I expect will be a very long decline. Newspaper readership has been dropping for many years now, but over the past couple years that drop has been accelerating. There is no reason to expect this drop to end any time soon. Sadder yet, newspapers are having trouble online as well. People aren’t just leaving their print version behind, they are leaving their online versions behind too.

An Outdated Model

The biggest problem is the lack of real journalism. For years now, newspapers have been getting by on wire feeds from AP, Reuters and a variety of smaller news services. Back before the Internet, this model worked because a person in Tucson wouldn’t have access to a newspaper in San Antonio, so it didn’t matter if they ran the exact same stories. Now, however, all that duplicate national and international coverage can be accessed by anyone anywhere. Why read your local paper’s limited international section when you can access the news from anywhere in the world through the web. With Google News and other news aggregators, it is just as easy to find out the news in England from England as it is from your local paper. As for that AP article, it is repeated so endlessly online that you are bound to catch it too, if you bother to look.

Raw VS. Canned and Bland

Print journalists endlessly deride bloggers, and some of their criticisms are valid. Many, though by no means all, bloggers have less news experience and greater political and personal bias than newspaper reporters do. They make up for those shortcomings, however, by being more timely, more passionate, and more detailed in their coverage. The world of journalistic blogging (there are many blogs that have nothing to do with the news) is uneven, but when it is good, it is far better than the canned, bland news stories that the newspapers reprint.

Decline and Rebirth

Newspapers are going to continue to decline in readership and relevance as long as they continue to follow the old model of wire stories and short, uninteresting local articles. The only reason to pick up a newspaper (or visit a newspaper’s website) in Fresno is to find out what happened in Fresno. Only newspapers that invest heavily in local coverage and allow their writers to spend more than 300 words on an article will be relevant as the years pass. That probably won’t happen until the giant corporations that own most newspapers lose interest in these unprofitable entities and move on to other media. It is difficult to image any conglomeration of newspapers embracing individual voices and local reporting. Once it becomes unprofitable enough, however, I predict that as newspapers begin to fold and be sold, passionate local people will return to print. Until then, I’ll continue to get my news online.

Screenwriting is perhaps one of the strangest and most counter-intuitive careers in all of writing. Learning the ropes of that industry can be a challenge for anyone. John August, the screenwriter behind, Go, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish and Charlie’s Angels writes an excellent blog about screenwriting and the film industry. This week he gives advice to a relative newcomer who wants to know whether or not to direct his own script.
Should I direct my Spec?

Why can’t people follow the instructions?

The good folks over at Freelance Switch have put together a nice set of advice for people applying for freelance gigs. Their central pint is that most people don’t get the job because they don’t follow the rules. I’m not talking about the “unwritten rules” I’m talking about the guidelines the potential client has clearly laid out. As someone who has hired freelancers in the past, I completely agree. My requirements were relatively straightforward, about a half dozen clearly stated requirements, and inevitably the applicants would fail to follow these rules. This is one of the reasons there are so many unsuccessful; freelancers in the world, and the reason why anyone with a little common sense can succeed.
How NOT to Apply for a Freelance Position

The Ferris Effect

Marketer Alex Goad hasn’t Read The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich week yet, but he is seeing the effects. Two of his business partners abandoned a new project to stick to their more low-maintenance income, and one of them decided to live abroad. They’ve even put autoresponders on their email. If none of this makes any sense to you, then you should probably read the book. Paradigm Shift: Work Smart, Play Often

One of the mistakes many beginners make is that they try to emulate someone else’s voice. It is fine to love a certain poet or style, but when it comes to writing poetry, you have to realize that the only voice that will work for you is your own voice. Don’t worry, all of those poets who have influenced you will still be there in the back of your mind when you write, just don’t waste your time wondering how they would write a line. What matters is how you write.

“Into the garbage chute, flyboy.”

One of the great joys of writing poetry is that moment when you have a sudden breakthrough. Your can spend hours sitting around trying to get one poem to work, then all of a sudden inspiration strikes and another, better poem emerges, seemingly without effort. You are going to write a lot of bad poetry in your time, while you are looking for those inspired poems. Sometimes, you’ll even write a great poem without ever feeling inspired. The point is that you have to keep working in order to get to those good poems. Don’t give up just because you feel like you’re surrounded in garbage. Success might be waiting behind the very next door.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

Another easy mistake to make is avoiding a topic because it feels too personal, too uninteresting or not “poetic” enough. A well-written poem can be about any subject that matters to you. The important thing is that it does matter to you. Embrace the topics that you think you want to avoid. Challenge yourself to write about anything and everything that has meaning to you.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Poetry and self-doubt go hand in hand. Don’t dwell on the shortcomings of your poetry. If you are worried that your poetry isn’t good enough, then keep writing and keep studying other poets. Training and experience do matter, even in the realm of poetry. Life is a very long road. Don’t expect to master everything the first time. As long as you keep working and believing, you will keep improving.

“Let go”

Inspiration is a fleeting creature. When you finally get inspired, you need to allow yourself the time and the space to keep writing. You may have had other things planned. The phone may ring. There might be a knock at the door. When you are inspired, you need to ignore all of that, because once the inspiration leaves it may not return again easily. Embrace the inspiration you get and follow it for as long as you can.

Create Specific Times in your Schedule for Writing

One of the differences between an amateur writer and a professional is the way they treat their writing time. If writing is something you do in your spare, unscheduled time, then your productivity will always suffer because most people never really allow themselves to have spare, unscheduled time. When they do, they plop down in front of the television set because they are “tired” and they need to “unwind”. Productive writers set aside specific times to write and they use that time.

Divide Your Project into Manageable Parts

Sitting down to write a novel is a daunting task. Sitting down to write a chapter is a little better and sitting down to write a scene seems much easier. Large projects aren’t finished in one session or even a dozen. Setting daily goals with specific targets makes it easier for you to keep control over what you are writing and gives you a greater sense of accomplishment.

Increase Your Accountability

If you set a specific date for completion of a project, or even a project phase, it will motivate you to work harder in order to meet that deadline. Making that deadline public is an even greater motivational tool. When it comes to writing, peer pressure can be an excellent motivator. If you join a writer’s group in which you need to present and discuss what you have been writing on a regular basis, it gives you a reason to keep working even when the project gets tougher.

Relocate

When your work space is the same as your living space, it can create problems. People like to associate home with relaxation. When you add an element of work to your home life, it blurs the lines between work and relaxation, which generally results in less work AND less relaxation. You may want to find a space outside the home to write. If you can’t afford an office, you can try your local library or a restaurant / coffee shop with a wireless Internet hotspot.

Consider Other Types of Writing

In many cases, people choose projects that aren’t suitable for the amount of time they have to devote. For example, a person who only has three hours a week set aside for writing, and who has to divide that amount of time into two or three sessions, is probably going to have trouble writing a novel. Novels are extended, time-consuming efforts and the delay between beginning a novel and completing it can make the entire effort seem wasted if something goes wrong. That same person may do quite well writing poetry, short stories or personal essays, all of which are much more manageable on a tight schedule.

Write about yourself honestly

I can’t really explain it, but I feel as long as I tell them my dark sides there is nothing they can dig up. – H.R.

Rollins’ spoken word performances mostly take the form of a personal memoir. He tells stories of unflinching honesty about his life, whether it portrays him in a good or bad light. The ability to look at yourself and the world around you with absolute honesty can come with a price. Allowing the world to see the true you is not only difficult, it can be downright painful, but it allows you to connect with your audience in a way that few poets ever manage.

Be open to change

I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone. – H.R.

One of the qualities that has kept Rollins in the public eye since 1981 is his ability to move on to new projects. Rollins spent the first five years of his career as the front man for the band Black Flag. When it broke up, he went out and formed his own band. He also began to tour alone as a spoken work artist. He then began a film career with minor movie rolls. This eventually led to his becoming both a radio and television host. Over this stretch of time, he has also written numerous books. While his career has varied, Rollins personality and voice has remained remarkably steady.

Hard work will be rewarded

I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don’t go out and party. I don’t smoke, drink or do drugs and I’m not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work. – H.R.

One of the reasons Rollins has had such a long career is because he has worked so hard. He is constantly releasing new material, touring and performing. He stays in the public eye because he always has something new to show people. The world can’t forget you if you never go away.

Self publish if you have to

If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you. – H.R.

Rollins began writing books while he was front man for the band Black Flag. Like many beginning poets, his first efforts at self publishing amounted to photocopied sheets of paper. He later moved up to publishing chapbooks and eventually started his own publishing company. Rollins did what it took to get his voice heard. Today, self publishing is a much easier task. You can publish on the web for free or next to it. Printers are cheap and powerful now, so publishing chapbooks is not an expensive challenge either. Print-on-demand services like Lulu it now make it fairly easy to release full-sized books of poetry and even sell them on Amazon.com. There are no more excuses. If you aren’t publishing, you should be.

Don’t be afraid to fail

Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on. – H.R.

Not every poem you write is going to be great. It is hard to please yourself, and it is even harder to please others. Letting other people into the world of your work opens you up to their criticisms. No poet, no matter how good, is perfect. You can find fault with anyone’s work, and people will find fault in yours. Writing in general, and poetry in particular, is such a subjective means of expression. No matter how the good poetry you write is, if you become well known, someone out there is going to hate it. Accept that there is no perfect poem, and no perfect poet. Write what you can write and accept what comes.

Would you rather be writing articles or query letters? The process of querying publishers can take months and there is no guarantee that it will lead to a sale. With blogging, you spend your time writing actual articles (or stories or poems). You don’t spend your time trying to convince other people to publish you.

You can write about whatever you want

The beauty of blogging is that you are your own publisher. You determine what you write about and then you go and write it. You don’t have to tailor your writing to a certain magazine’s style, space or content rules. You can write in your own voice and develop your own style.

You don’t have to answer to an editor

While an editor can add value to your work with good suggestions and revisions, just as often you can find yourself the victim of arbitrary cuts determined by either an incompetent editor’s ideas or the publication’s space limitations. These are not problems bloggers have to deal with. Bloggers have the freedom to determine the length and style of their work.

You get published faster

The beauty of blogging is that you determine your own publishing schedule. You can publish an article as soon as you finish it or push it back to whenever you want it to appear. The decision is yours. You’ll never get that kind of freedom as a freelancer. In many freelancing cases you have to wait as long as a year to see your work in print. The reverse works as well. If an article is taking you longer than you expected, you don’t have to worry about an editor or client calling to wonder what happened, you simply keep working on it until you get it right.

You can connect with your readers

When you write for traditional print publications or business clients, the best you can hope for is one or two sets of comments. In many cases, you will receive no feedback from your readers at all. With a blog, it is possible to develop long-term relationships with your readers. Not only will they comment on one article, in many cases they will come back again and again with their own ideas and opinions.

Stop the Interruptions

It is very difficult to accomplish anything of value when your work environment is chaotic. Multitasking is not conducive to quality work, especially for writers. Find ways to work uninterrupted: modify your work hours, get out of the office, stand up to people who plan useless meetings, send your phone to voice mail, don’t be a slave to your email. The important point is to put a value on your time, and don’t let others take away that value.

Not Every Job is Worth Taking

One of the problems you can face, especially as a freelance writer, is bad clients. It is amazing how the worst paying clients generally turn out to be the hardest clients to please, but even a pain in the ass client who pays well may not be worth it. The best paying client I ever had was one that treated me badly and didn’t respect or even understand the work I did. I put up with it for several months, but in the end I had to say goodbye to the good money and move on. I missed the money (a little) but I didn’t miss the job.

Eliminate, Delegate, Automate

Ferris is a big believer in virtual assistants. Virtual assistants are people who work remotely, often from foreign countries where the pay scale is lower, to perform tasks and solve problems for you. These tasks may be professional or personal. A virtual assistant can do anything from perform research and create charts and graphs to schedule interviews or enter data. If you are out of work, they can even conduct a job search for you. While the thought of a virtual assistant may or may not appeal to you, it is important to take a look at the tasks that take the most time and generate the least progress toward your goals. Determine whether or not they can be eliminated, delegated or automated.

See the World

Writers, especially creative writers, need an occasional change of scenery. This starts with a day spent writing from the nearest coffee shop with a hot spot and can grow until you are spending weeks or months working from a foreign country, living in a place you’d only hoped to visit. The beauty of the Internet and cellular revolutions is that you can work from just about anywhere in the world and as far as your clients know, you’ve never left your office. Those of us who live in some of the richest countries in the world (citizens of the United States, Great Britain and Australia make up the bulk of my readers) will find that the money you make in your home country goes much farther in many other countries. While a permanent move may be more than you want, a few weeks spent on foreign soil (and not as part of some rushed tour group) may be just what you need to recharge your batteries.

Try the Impossible

Everyone says its impossible for an unknown writer to get an article in Esquire, Vanity Fair or Playboy. They also say that Fortune 500 companies never farm out high-paying contracts to individuals. They may or may not be right, but how many of them are actually trying to land these assignments? If you are making a fairly good living from your low-level or mid-level clients or job, maybe it is time to reach for something higher. If you are having trouble generating any work at all, then you truly have nothing to lose by chasing the biggest and the best. The beauty of reaching for the near impossible is that it forces you to step up and try harder, to put together the kind of presentation or cover letter or resume that you never bothered with before because it didn’t seem worth it. Take the big risks, at least once in a while.