Write More Listicles

By |August 12th, 2021|Journalism & Reporting|

As journalists, we need to write for our readers. By this, I don’t mean that you should pander. Good reporting should challenge its readers. We are in the business of reporting things exciting, interesting, [...]

Find The Hard Interview

By |July 28th, 2021|Journalism & Reporting|

Interviews are the heart of what we do as journalists, but some people are harder to find than others. Despite our best intentions this can slant our stories in favor of the businesses and [...]

Using Your Voice

By |August 22nd, 2018|Blog|

More on journalism and writing. This time the subject is voice. Specifically, when do you use your own? The issue occurred to me while reading a piece by New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait. Discussing the [...]

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Spotting A Bad Argument

By |August 9th, 2018|Blog|

The Week has a columnist named Matthew Walther. He fills the role that many news sites increasingly reach for: that of the smart, conservative millennial [...]

Anatomy of a Pitch

By |August 7th, 2018|Blog|

What makes a good pitch? It's probably the single hardest question in freelance journalism. Before we can report a story, before we can meet people [...]

When You’re Stuck On A Pitch

By |August 4th, 2018|Blog|

I'm finalizing another post about the anatomy of a freelance pitch, but while writing it I had a thought. What do you do when pitch [...]

Is Puerto Rico Ready for Tourists?

By |June 6th, 2018|Travel|

Originally published in slightly edited form on The Street. I’m writing this to the white noise of Atlantic Ocean surf crashing against the beach. Down [...]

The Day I Decided To Do Better

By |February 14th, 2018|Blog|

For the first few years of my freelancing career my business practices were a little bit of a mess. That's not quite right. My business [...]

Stories From A Shithole

By |January 17th, 2018|News|

People aren't props. I had planned to post a different story today, but the news has caught up with me. Writing about tax collectors will [...]

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What I’m Writing

While by no means a complete list, here are a few of the projects I'm working on at the moment:

Cambodia's Climate Catastrophe
Status: Pitching

When the Victims Come Home
Status: Pitching

Not Your Father's Bangkok
Status: Pitching

A Smarter Approach To Gun Control
Status: Purchased by The Street

What I’m Reading:

Why Nations Fail
By: Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson

Why does one town thrive while another dies out? What makes one country wealthy while its neighbor struggles? In a book with ambitions reminiscent of Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel, Profs. Acemoglu and Robinson try to answer the question that nags at virtually anyone who works in this space long enough.