Sweat the Small Stuff

I was trading messages with a newsthinking.com reader named William Hatch from California and he kept stunning me with his evocative comparisons between writing and music. ("…drumming gives heart [...]

I'd like you to compare the Los Angeles Times and New York Times stories of June 20 on the Supreme Court's ruling that held the execution of mentally retarded murderers was unconstitutional.

Yo, beat reporters. Tired? Feeling like your beat sucks the life out of you with its obligatory nature? Wonder what happened to that annual promise to develop more enterprise off your beat?

The best way to write with authority is to make an extra phone call every hour. Authority is not a matter of style, it's not even primarily a matter of writing. It's a matter of reporting, of [...]

I can remember it as though it were yesterday: A good reporter, confronted with a story that had certain mathematical issues, confessed to me: "I'm not good at math." She had no shame in her [...]

Your final self-edit should hurt. If it doesn't, you need to do one more. The writers you admire, like great athletes, push themselves to the point of breaking. They don't have to say "ouch" [...]

How one masterful feature writer psyches himself for battle Well-crafted disaster stories remind us how exhaustive reporting provides more real drama than dramatic language. The density of detail [...]

One of the most rewarding qualities of good writing is its sense of urgency. That's more than a feeling-it's the determination of the writer to increase the m.p.h.--to cut down the time it takes [...]

While you were making your New Year’s resolutions, did you pledge to improve at your job? Was it a big, fuzzy promise? (“I will be in the paper more often with more dailies…” “I will be in the [...]