The Renegade Writer Blog

Katrina asks, “Recently, an interviewee requested an interview be conducted via instant messenger. Ultimately, we conducted a phone interview, but I was left wondering: How would quotes from an instant messenger interview be attributed? Can they be enclosed in quotation marks or should they be paraphrased? For that matter, what about email interviews? The only […]

Carol asks, “Over the years, much of my freelance work has come from a non-profit organization that is somewhat controversial due to its conservative views and religious affiliation. As a result, I’m hesitant to include this organization in my queries. My question: Is this fear warranted? I wonder if I’m doing myself in by […]

Last week I was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, waiting for my name to be called. After an interminable wait (I was feverish and in a lot of pain), the door opened and the nurse called, “Diane?” Not me. I turned back to my copy of People. No one else in the waiting room […]

A couple of weeks ago, in a comment on my post about finding travel writing inspiration from your vacation, Chris asked a very good question about travel writing. (Chris, I can’t tell from your name whether you’re male or female, but I’ll roll the dice and assume you’re female!) She and her fiance love […]

Kate asks, “I’ve been trying to break a certain section of a particular national magazine for a few months now, and have been considering re-packaging a nutrition article I did for [Magazine X] over the summer. When my subscription of the other national mag [Magazine Y] arrived in the mail yesterday, I saw that […]

Denise asks: I’m a full time mommy trying to turn my “hobby” of writing into a real profession. I’ve been stringing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, covering school districts and city halls for the Metro Briefs section. The trouble is that I don’t get a byline unless they deem the subject worth more […]

In my last episode here on RW blog, I encouraged you to think about your vacation plans, and how you might use them as story fodder. I just noticed that there were a couple of comments on that post that I didn’t see, and I didn’t want to let them evaporate into the void!
So, Tiffany […]

This morning one of my editors let me know that a project I had pitched them had been reshaped and she invited me to work on part of it. Suffice it to say that the part she offered was the least compelling part of the project, the recipe development. I was also annoyed because she’d […]

Writer (and former editor) Liz Strauss guest-blogged this week on the Freelance Writing Jobs blog about the three qualities that made freelancers stand out when she was sitting on the other side of the desk. Strauss admits that these traits were uncommon. Sad, isn’t it, because they’re such basic business 101 qualities. Unfortunately, I have […]

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 […]