About Editing and Writing

From The Writer’s Almanac:

It’s the birthday of Jewish historian Lucy Dawidowicz, born in 1915 in New York City. Her parents were Polish immigrants and they raised their daughters as secular Jews; Dawidowicz didn’t attend a Jewish service until she was in her 20s. She went to Columbia to earn her master’s degree in literature, but as the Nazis gained power in Germany she couldn’t concentrate on poetry — she discovered that she was more interested in political events in Europe. She talked it over with a professor, and he convinced her to switch her focus to Jewish history….

From a post on robertfeder.com by Robert Feder headlined “Eric Zorn adds his name to Chicago Tribune’s tremendous loss of talent”:

Eric Zorn, a mainstay of the Chicago Tribune for more than 40 years and one of its most prominent progressive columnists, just became the latest to join the exodus of top talent from the newspaper.

“I’ve decided to put in for the latest buyout offer, one that will have me leaving at the end of next week,” Zorn, 63, announced. It will mark the end of an exemplary run for a true Chicago media treasure — and one of the most decent fellows you’d ever want to know. 

From a Washingtonian story by Jane Recker headlined “Carrie Budoff Brown Is Leaving Politico for Meet the Press”:

Longtime Politico editor Carrie Budoff Brown is leaving Politico to go to NBC. As Senior Vice President of “Meet the Press,” she will “be responsible for MTP’s editorial programming on television, digital and streaming and will work to expand the iconic brand’s reach and impact even further,” NBC News president Noah Oppenheim said in a memo to staff.

From a story in the Wall Street Journal Magazine by Lane Florsheim headlined “Stephen King’s Daily Routine Involves Four Hours of Writing and a Nap in the Afternoon.”:

Before Stephen King gets out of bed at 6 a.m., he makes a mental inventory of the things he’s grateful for. “It’s a nice way to start the day because you get a chance to almost do a review of your current life, your current status,” says King, 73. His family, friends and dog—a corgi named Molly, whom he also refers to as the Thing of Evil—are mainstays of his list. “I try to remember to be grateful for not being in pain, you know? Because everybody has some of that in their life.” Next, he gets up and does a round of sit-ups and push-ups, shaves and eats breakfast before sitting down to write.

From a story on poynter.org by Angela Fu headlined “The Pulitzers didn’t name a winner in editorial cartooning. That’s unusual but not unprecedented.”:

For the first time in 48 years, the Pulitzer Prize Board chose not to name a winner in Editorial Cartooning — a decision some are calling an insult to all cartoonists.

The Pulitzer Prizes announced Friday that Ken Fisher, drawing as Ruben Bolling; Lalo Alcaraz; and Marty Two Bulls Sr. were finalists in Editorial Cartooning. Winners were named in all 14 other journalism categories.

A New York Times story today by Jodi Kantor, Kanen Weise, and Grace Ashford was headlined “The Amazon That Customers Don’t See.” It was featured on page one and then jumped to five full pages of story inside. Much of the story was about what Amazon workers went through over the past year. The story’s deck said “Profits Soared, But Pandemic Exposed Flaws in Its Employment Machine.”

Here are some of the explanatory parts that went with the people stories:

From a post on niemanstoryboard.org by Madeline Bodin headlined “Sage writing advice from the editor of Column One: Steve Padilla of the Los Angeles Times urges writers to tune up their writing with a song”:

“If you know what you want to say, you’ll figure out how to say it.”

That’s what Steve Padilla, editor of Column One at the Los Angeles Times, told the San Diego Press Club. I watched a recording of his talk, from my home in Vermont, and you can, too, on YouTube….

I realized it wasn’t words, but a tune that captured Padilla’s wisdom for me.

From a post on pewresearch.org by John Gramlich headlined “What makes a news story trustworthy?”

Americans see a variety of factors as important when it comes to deciding whether a news story is trustworthy or not, but their attitudes vary by party affiliation, demographic characteristics and news consumption habits, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

From a New York Times By the Book interview headlined “Bill Bratton Doesn’t Root for the Bad Guys”:

A fan of crime novels, the former police commissioner and the author, with Peter Knobler, of a new memoir, “The Profession,” loves Michael Connelly’s hero Harry Bosch — but adds, “I don’t have a favorite villain.”

What books are on your night stand?

At any given time I’m reading three or four books: one in the living room and one on my Kindle for travel. Usually a history, a mystery, a biography, a book on leadership and one on current political issues.

From a Wall Street Journal review  by Moira Hodgson of the book by Alexander Lobrano titled “My Place at the Table”:

In 1986, Alexander Lobrano was offered a job writing for Women’s Wear Daily and W magazine in Paris. He accepted at once. No matter that he didn’t know a thing about his assigned beat, men’s fashion. John Fairchild, the much-feared publisher, told him not to worry. “If it doesn’t work out, that’s easy. I’ll fire you.”