Looking for Ways to Recognize the 75th Anniversary of Providence College’s Student Newspaper, The Cowl

Wednesday nights used to be “put the paper to bed and forget about sleep” nights.  As editor-in-chief of Providence College’s student newspaper, The Cowl, I’d often stay up until 4 a.m. or 5  a.m. editing final versions of stories, re-reading headlines and making sure the paper didn’t contain any glaring errors. Perfectionism often kept me [...]

Learning How Editing Can Make You a Better Writer

I’ve been getting to write more stories for work, which has been great in terms of developing my reporting and writing skills. I’ve found that line and copy editing stories for Poynter Online throughout the past year has made me a better writer.
It’s taught me to write tighter sentences, triple-check my facts and cut out [...]

How Do You Motivate Yourself to Write Personal Essays?

I have a lot of ideas for personal essays that I’ve been wanting to write about lately, but a busy work and social life have led to weeks of procrastination. When I do have free time, distractions get in the way, and I’m left thinking, “Tomorrow. I’ll write tomorrow.”
I have no problem churning out stories [...]

How Newspaper Reporting Helped Jennifer Weiner Become a Better Novelist

As a follow-up to my earlier blog post about Jennifer Weiner’s talk at The Poynter Institute, you can read a related piece I put together for Poynter Online.
Weiner’s latest book, “Best Friends Forever,” just made it to the number one spot on The New York Times‘ best-seller list this week. Pretty exciting!
From Poynter Online piece:
Best-selling [...]

St. Petersburg a ‘City of Writers’; Provincetown Should Be Too

St. Petersburg, Fla., was declared “City of Writers” a couple of months ago, shortly after local poet Peter Meinke was named a poet laureate. The city has been home at one point or another to some notable writers — Jack Kerouac and Pulitzer prize winning journalists Tom French, Lane DeGregory to name a few.
I won’t [...]

Jennifer Weiner’s Tips for Writing, Succeeding as an Author

When best-selling author Jennifer Weiner told her mother about her first book, “Good in Bed,” her mom started to cry.
“Darling, what’s it called?” Mom asked.
“Hm, ‘Good in Bed.’”
“What was that? ‘Good and Bad?’”
“No. ‘Good in Bed.’”
“‘Good in Bed’?! How much research did you do?!”
Weiner, who was  at The Poynter Institute last weekend for a conversation [...]

Finding a Place to Call Home

It took a while for my family to get used to the idea of me calling Florida “home.”
“But this is your home,” my dad would say, referring to the house in my tiny hometown of Holliston, Mass.
“Well, that’ll always be home,” I’d say. “It’s just not home right now.”
Home. Is it the place where you [...]

Combating Loneliness and Its Myths

I was surprised to open my mailbox Tuesday night and see a New York Magazine cover story with the headline: “The Loneliness Myth.” The word “loneliness” stuck out at me because it’s a word that I’m forever trying to understand. New York Magazine provides some background on the history of loneliness, saying that it “evolved [...]

Dude, What Does ‘Dude’ Mean?

I often think about words and how they relate to the way we express ourselves. Sometimes, we’re at a loss for words, either because we can’t find the words to articulate what we mean or because the word just doesn’t exist. Other times, we say a word but don’t really know what it means.
I’m thinking [...]

In One Word: Finding a Focus for Stories

When I write a story, I try to sum it up in one word. It’s a strategy that helps me stay focused on what’s important. What is this story really about? I ask myself. After I pick a word, I write toward that word. When I wrote about adults playing kickball, for instance, I decided [...]