Annotation Tuesday!

An annotated project that “breaks the ‘rules’ in all the right ways”

How a ProPublica Illinois team used private records and an innovative collaboration with their sources to produce an investigative narrative

Short Takes

Newsroom Ode #2: Reporter on deadline

A dead-tree dinosaur writes from the edge of extinction

Story Craft

The Sixth Cactus: When green becomes so much more than green

A writer learns to see beyond the obvious to the creative

Story Craft

Five life hacks for beating writer’s block

When you're stuck as deadline looms, here are ways to get on with it

Short Takes

Newsroom Ode #1: Friday night on the city desk

A dead-tree dinosaur writes from the edge of extinction

5 Questions

A writer Instagrams his way back to love … or something close to it

Conversation with Tyrone Beason: How a Seattle Times reporter chronicled his relationship with the streets, and learned to tell a story with his phone

One Great Sentence

“Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.”

From "The Three-Body Problem" by Cixin Liu

Why's This So Good?

Yes, everyone, there is a reason to believe …

From one crusty newspaperman in 19th century to another in the 21st, the "Yes, Virginia" letter endures, transcending time and cynicism

Short Takes

An “Advent Manifesto” written in 100 short bursts becomes a study in deep writing

Story Craft

Roy Peter Clark: A red-nosed reindeer lights the way to better writing

A holiday share from our friends at the Poynter Institute

5 Questions

A “final” phone call from the wildfires inspires an unusual, intimate story written under the fire of deadline

A conversation with Corina Knoll of The Los Angeles Times: She broke with convention and just wrote it "how I felt it should be told"

Annotation Tuesday!

THE PITCH: How to crack the code of live storytelling with Pop-Up Magazine

"Ephemeral" true stories that inform, surprise and delight