In the Bay Area, I had dinner with a well-connected Indian journalist who was passing through, who after looking through my portfolio, said, “You do good work. Why have I never heard of you before?”

“You don’t read the magazines I write for,” I said.

“Yes, but why have I not seen you or met you? You don’t network much, do you?”

I really liked this guy, so I decided to go for it.

“I don’t like journalists,” I said. When he raised an eyebrow, I continued, “Most of them are full of themselves.”

It took me completely by surprise, but he laughed so hard that people at the other tables started staring at us.

“An honest woman,” he said. “I like that. But my dear, if you don’t network, how will you ever get to know the who’s who of the industry?”

It was clear to him that I wasn’t interested in knowing the who’s who, but he explained.

“Beneath the layer of the screaming self-congratulatory notice-me journalists, are the hundreds who’re quietly going about their work. And some damn fine work that is. Those are the people you want to meet. They have much to teach, but you don’t hear much about them because they’re not demanding attention like the journalists you dislike.”

He was right, of course. I mean, he’s an example of someone who goes out of his way to have dinner with someone he’s never even heard of.

An well-known and very respected editor here in Delhi responded to my LOI the other day. He didn’t have the budget for freelancers but offered to take me out to lunch and give me career advice. He also offered to introduce me to some of his friends.

I’ve never had a mentor, but the best advice about writing and freelancing I’ve received has been from an editor at one of my dream publications. Last week, an award-winning journalist with a career spanning thirty years e-mailed me to tell me she liked my work and that she would love to see me the next time she’s in Delhi.

And how can I forget that the only reason I even ended up in Berkeley was because of a female Indian journalist who had been there and thought to share information about the program.

I admit it, I was wrong. Very wrong. Maybe it was just the journalists I knew in Delhi two years ago, but right now, I like journalists very much.