Local Pages Good News For This Writer

by Phyllis Edgerly

Newspaper freelancing a stepping stone to many things

             I had no idea how lucky I was 12 years ago when a friend who freelanced for our local newspaper got sick one day and gave me a call.  She was desperate -- her deadline just three days away and she couldn't get out of bed to interview her source, the owner of a local soft-drink company. She'd convinced her editor to let me give it a try and promised back-up assistance if I needed it.

             I'd been writing for about three years, publishing pieces only very occasionally in places no one I knew had ever heard of, in exchange for unremarkable sums of money. And because I’d been writing first and marketing later, a three-day deadline seemed very intimidating.

             Lesson number one in what was to become a newspaper-writing career: Be well-prepared to work as efficiently as possible on tight deadlines. The gift, I would learn, is that it can make you a better writer. Nothing forces you to organize -- and prioritize -- like a do-or-die deadline.

             I brought my friend some sickbed reading and picked up every scrap and photocopy of background she had about her source. Then I sat down and nearly memorized most of it, after I’d called to set up the interview.

             I knew nothing about the soft-drink bottling business, but the owner was more than happy to educate me about the company his family has kept alive for three generations. I realized quickly what would make newspaper writing different from my earlier freelance efforts: Writing about what you know is good, but being a person with writing skills means you can also be the eyes and ears that help the reader learn. You simply have to approach the work with your eyes and ears open – and the right questions.

             I was lucky again—my interview subject gave me great quotes and was a wonderful storyteller. Still, when it came time to write the story, I held to rules that have never failed me: Keep the writing succinct (in this case, absolutely nothing over the 800-word maximum); make it clear and accurate; and keep the tone conversational, even friendly.

             After the interview, conscious of how little time I had, I did something that has served me well ever since: I came home and drafted out whatever I could remember from the interview in rough form, looking for places where things linked naturally, where transitions were obvious.

             In the hundreds of articles I’ve written for magazines and newspapers, I’ve seldom included much more than what I capture in these "first thoughts,” even when faced with multiple tapes of complex interviews. It is within this process that I usually "discover" the lead, if I haven’t already heard it during the interview, and often intuit how the story will wrap, as well.

             After I finished that first story, I ran the manuscript past my friend's critical eye before taking it in to the editor, though she told me I needn't have bothered. The editor's phone call two days later alerted me to the lucrative prospects of freelancing for newspapers: Show you can do the job, make yourself available, and there may be a nearly inexhaustible supply of story ideas for you to take on assignment. The editor offered three in this first call. Eventually, the stories I wrote were developed more from ideas of my own.

             I quickly learned that ideas are currency in this business, and a lifeline to future work. Although

             I was a features writer, I watched the success reporters had making friends on their beats (the only way to know that a major decision was made seconds after you left that board meeting you thought had adjourned, because your deadline was two hours away). Icultivated similar friendships in the community and the best stories I’ve published are the ones that prompt reader-friends to call and pitch other ideas my article has brought to their minds.

             One assignment has led consistently to another in this work. The pace of this kind of writing keeps me well-stocked with ideas, many of which find their way into successful magazine queries. Almost as many have also found homes as resales. Newspaper writing may not always pay as well as other markets, but those paychecks arrive like clockwork within a week of publication. I’ve never had to chase anyone for payment.

             Developing a nose for ideas brought me from those early writing efforts to an eight-year newspaper writing and editing career in which I moved (quickly) from freelancer to in-house staff writer and was finally made features editor—the same desk to which I had delivered my soft-drink story.

             Maybe the universe sent me that distress call from my friend to get me moving on what I could have done myself without waiting for an invitation. The features section of that newspaper had an enormous need for stories. As I would come to learn firsthand from behind an editor’s desk, it positively CONSUMED copy.

             Equipped with the clips I already had, I could easily have approached that editor (by query or phone call to set up an appointment) to let her know that I was available to take freelance assignments. Even without clips, a carefully crafted manuscript sample or two, along with at least one compelling story idea which showed I read the paper and knew my community, would have gotten me in the door.

             It’s also valuable to get to learn an editor’s schedule, to know a newspaper’s editorial and advertising deadlines, and what impact they have on the life of the editor whom you want to buy your work. That way, you’ll never call her at a bad time, or, if you do, you’ll have done your homework so thoroughly you’ll know you’ve got a time-driven idea that can’t wait—and you’ll know how to keep it brief, focused, and interesting as you tell her—just like the best newspaper writing

                                                       *****

-- PER
©2000 Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Phyllis Edgerly Ring has published 400+ articles in such markets as Yankee, Arizona Parent, Bay Area Parent, Business NH, and New Hampshire Home. Her first children's picture book will be published by Brilliant Books in 2001 and she is working on a book for parents about gender equality in families. She currently serves as program coordinator for Green Acre Bahá'í School in Eliot, Maine.