The Renegade Writer Blog

Earlier this year I interviewed a wonderful woman on a sensitive topic for a national health magazine. The article came out a few months ago and all was well. Then, I received an e-mail from the source: the article had been picked up by a national news service’s website, and it’s the first thing that […]

“I dread days where I have interviews scheduled.” “I’d rather give myself a root canal than call an editor.” “I’m so much better on paper than I am on the phone.” I’ve heard this, and variations thereof, from dozens of freelancers, many of whom are extremely successful professionals with hundreds of clips to their names.
I […]

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 […]

In the last few months, I’ve been having all kinds of trouble securing interviews — and when I do land interviews, about half the time the person isn’t there at the appointed time. As I was thinking (read: ranting) about this, I realized that my troubles started about the same time that I stopped sending […]

Recently, I spent hours calling podiatrists looking for a quote. After I finally found someone and finished my article, I remembered that I had interviewed a well-known podiatrist the year before who would have made a perfect source. I made a plan to organize my sources so when I needed quotes, I could find just […]

For a rush assignment for a national health magazine, I’m looking for a woman between the ages of 42 and 48 (though this is flexible) who is a bit more than a social drinker–someone who drinks just enough that she wonders if she may have a drinking problem. This article will answer all the woman’s […]

by Diana Burrell and Linda Formichelli
(Diana) Writers love to talk trash about crazy sources. Most experts I interview are smart, funny, well-spoken, and interesting. There’s always the expert source that defies reason, though. Like the renowned negotiation expert who expected me to negotiate with him — hard — for a 15-minute interview. Or the PR […]

Rachel writes, “I have a problem that I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now. I freelance for a MAJOR pub– the type people jump through hoops to try to get in to. I worked on a story for awhile, doing the interviews and such. Then, I decided, along with the editor, that there […]

A student in my 8-week e-course on getting published in magazines gave me permission to tell her story as a lesson in the importance of using a professional-sounding e-mail address when approaching editors and sources.
My student wanted to pitch an article on how alcoholism affects a particular segment of society. As part of the assignment […]

Dinsa asks, “Before I get to my main question, here’s a basic one: Do you have to send all your interview transcripts (phone and e-mail) with the completed assignment?
On to the next one: I do most of my expert interviews over e-mail. Of course, the written transcript is not a real proof that the expert […]