The Renegade Writer Blog

Today both Gawker and GalleyCat have links to a YouTube video of disgraced memoir writer Margaret Seltzer talking about her childhood spent running with (cough) LA’s most brutal gangs. Obviously this was taped before her real-life sister blew the whistle on her. It’s fascinating to watch: the accent, the stories, the emotion — the chutzpah! [...]

There was a good post on health insurance options for freelancers posted yesterday at FreelanceSwitch. Some information that wasn’t included: if you’re in the U.S., check with your state’s insurance commission on programs for insuring a small business/sole proprietorship . Don’t just assume because you’re an independent contractor you can’t buy a group plan on [...]

When I get an article assignment, I typically call potential sources, ask if they’d be available for interviews between X and Y dates, have a back-and-forth via e-mail about good dates and times, and then call at the appointed time.
Lately my husband Eric has been taking on rush assignments — articles with deadlines of a [...]

Over at the Freelance Writing Jobs blog, Deborah Ng wrote about the importance of keeping good records. Apropos for me this month as I continue to recover from the frenzied weeks leading up to April 15, spent analyzing parking receipts and checking deposits. Every year I promise myself I’ll balance my checking statement the day [...]

I just started teaching the spring session of my class yesterday, and I decided I wanted students to be able to communicate with each other and also to share their work, if they choose to. I thought I’d try out Ning, a service that I’d been hearing about. It lets you create social networks (sort [...]

My blog post from last June about the hoopla surrounding the self-help movie/book and ensuing media phenomenon, The Secret, generated some commentary here. While I do believe in the Law of Attraction, I was critical of the film I’d seen, which actually dared to suggest that people became seriously ill or encountered misfortune because they [...]

Recently one of my editors assigned me two features based on pitches I’d sent to her over the last year. She asked me to get back to her with some recipe ideas to go along with them by the end of the week. I looked the pitches over; one of them was very familiar to [...]

We’ve let our blogroll get out of date, so I’m curious: who here blogs and what do you blog about? And what is your favorite blog about blogging? Mine is Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.net — it’s a good mix of posts about blog writing and the tech/marketing side of blogging.
Give us your answers in the comments [...]

You could say I’m a slow learner. I’ve been writing and editing professionally for more than 20 years, and only this year did I realize that I’ve been approaching my freelance career backwards. The conventional wisdom suggests that success comes to the freelancer who studies the markets and pitches stories that she thinks editors are [...]

Wordwych won this week’s Wednesday Fun prize with her Barry Manilow mondegreen from “Looks Like We Made It.” Please contact me off board so I can send you a $10 iTunes gift card. Oh my gosh, these were all so funny. Thanks to everyone for participating. Have a great weekend! [db]