Tag-Archive for ◊ journalist ◊
Me: Okay, now that I’ve submitted my story, tell me honestly, did you even like it?
Him: Well . . .
Me: Well, did you?
Him: I liked it after I edited it.
**
Thankfully, the thick skin continues to serve me well.
People sometimes ask me the purpose of this blog. I tell them it’s about my life as a female freelance journalist in India (or wherever work takes me), the focus being female, freelance, and journalist, usually a combination of the three.
People ask me how I came up with this blog, and I tell them I didn’t really. I came up with a newsletter for international writers, in which I wrote a weekly editorial about my life as an Indian freelancer, and when I gave that up to focus on my own work, hundreds of my 7,000+ subscribers said they missed the editorials and kept pestering me to give updates on my life and work. (Many of you still remain. Thank you!)
The goal of this blog has never been to teach anything, but to share my experiences, as I stumble, succeed, and stumble once more. Clearly, the stumbling happens frequently.
But there’s another thing that I’m quite passionate about and that’s women’s issues in India. I don’t identify as a feminist; I believe as much in male empowerment as I do in female empowerment. But we all know that in countries like India, women are sometimes treated like second-class citizens. And I’m always interested in challenging that, while raising a few eyebrows.
I could ramble about social injustice all day (and I do; I’m great fun to be around), but this blog is not the space for that. Which is why the nice folks over at True/Slant recognized my need for ranting and offered me a space on the website to start a blog about women’s issues in India.
It’s titled Panties and Principles (hop on over to find out the origins of that name) and I’ll be posting frequently. I’ll take a sometimes-humorous-sometimes-serious look at the lives, challenges, and successes of the Indian woman.
Come talk to me.
Recent posts:
Welcome to “Panties and Principles”
Delhi High Court Legalizes Homosexuality
After much complaining, e-mailing, arm-twisting, and whining, three payments finally arrived, making my day a little bit brighter, my bank account a little less intimidating.
In all the years that I’ve been freelancing, this is one thing I’ve found to be the most true: no matter how you time your assignments, your publications, your payments, there will be several weeks, even months, when you go without seeing a paycheck. And then they’ll all arrive at once, turning you from pauper to princess all in the matter of twenty-four hours.
It’s like winning the lottery. Except that by the time you’ve won it, the bills are piled so high, it only lasts a few hours, if that.
Every time a writer e-mails me about advice on freelancing, I want to hold his or her hand, and ask, “Do you like Maggi/Ramen noodles? Do you know that chopped veggies can make it healthier? How much will you cry if you’re owed thousands of dollars but only have about ten in your bank account?”
The answers to those questions are really what make you a freelance journalist. Writing well is just a bonus.
A lot of the writing I’ve done in the past few days hasn’t really been, uh, writing. Sure I’ve written the occasional query letter, I write dozens of e-mails per day, I’ve been making notes for projects that are in the works, and I write a daily journal.
But while a lot of it is, technically, work, none of it is actual place-your-butt-in-the-chair writing.
The writing life, unfortunately, isn’t all that romantic. When most full-timers think of quitting their jobs and working from home, they focus on the “from home” part, but they forget the work. When they think about dumping those corporate suits and walking around the house in their pajamas all day, they forget that more often than not, they’ll be sitting in those pajamas in front of a computer screen for hours on end. When wannabe freelancers talk about the freedom of working on their own clock, they forget that the only freedom they’re awarded is in choosing which 18 hours of the 24 they’d like to work. Writers who love the idea of working on their own, don’t realize how isolated the lifestyle can be.
I’ve encountered those family members and roommates who think it’s okay to ask the cable guy to come at 10 in the morning to fix something, because, you know, I work from home, and I have all the time in the world to take care of such annoyances. That despite the fact that anyone who’s known me for more than seven minutes knows that I work all night and sleep through the day, only get up during days when I have appointments and interviews (read: have to leave the house), and oh, actually do have to work to make a living. There’s a reason I call myself a journalist. No, really.
Fortunately, I’m good at dealing with such issues, so I haven’t really had much of them. The cable guy rings the bell, is asked to come back at family member’s day off, and the message is made clear. No more cable guys show up at 10 in the morning.
When most freelancers start their careers as at-home workers, their biggest problem and their biggest failure is to set boundaries: for others and for themselves.
Writing is very much a job. A sometimes frustrating, sometimes demanding, sometimes unstable job.
The only difference is, it’s a job you love.
Here’s a discovery: a PR guy who doesn’t bombard you with off-target pitches. A PR guy who actually wants to help reporters by providing a much-needed service. A PR guy who provides this service for free.
Such a PR guy exists? Yeah, who knew?
I wouldn’t have believed it either, except that I know of Peter Shankman (http://shankman.com) and have been a fan of his service ever since it started. (I was among the first hundred on Facebook.)
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is a free service for reporters that started off as a Facebook group, but now has grown into an e-mail list with thousands of subscribers. The purpose is to help reporters find case studies, experts and people on the street for their stories.
How it works is this:
1. Go to www.helpareporter.com
2. If you’re a PR person, sign up for the main list. You get three e-mails a day letting you know which reporter wants what.
3. If you’re a journalist, fill in this form here: http://www.helpareporter.com/press
That’s it. Easy.
Best reactions:
“Oh my God! They have the best football team ever!” (Yeah, only a guy could say this.)
“Noooo! Africa is so dangerous. All African countries are. I have a friend in Laos who says he can’t leave his home after 5 p.m.” (We know who didn’t attend geography classes.)
“Why not America?” (Because they don’t give visas to lowly journos like me dah-ling.)
“What, now there’s no child trafficking in India for you to write about?” (I’m still thinking of an answer for that one.)
“… the only nice girl I know in Delhi is sodding off to Africa though, damn it. Life sucks!” (I really really like this person :D)
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