Articles

John Prine would want us to feel real life today, and write it with feeling every day

John Prine would want us to feel real life today, and write it with feeling every day

It’s 4:08 a.m. EST on Wednesday, April 8,  as I type this, and John Prine has been dead for too long.Like many of you, I went to bed a few…
April 8, 2020
Wade Livingston
How knowing the full story process informs a writer's work

How knowing the full story process informs a writer’s work

The anecdote is packed. Daniel Riley was writing a profile for GQ of Brooks Koepka, one of the world’s elite golfers, and he knew immediately that this would be a…
April 8, 2020
Greg Bowers
How to wed personal experience and journalistic discipline

How to wed personal experience and journalistic discipline

Some journalistic tenets are almost sacred, among them: The story is not about us.But sometimes, the story is. Or at least the journalist is living the same story as his…
April 3, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski
Six core questions to spark fresh ideas

Six core questions to spark fresh ideas

Journalism is, at core, a reactive profession. Something happens; journalists react. Then they cover the counter-reaction to the reaction, and track any consequences as they dribble out.I used to think…
April 1, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski
A writer channels her own life of fear to report about science and psychology

A writer channels her own life of fear to report about science and psychology

Award-winning freelancer and outdoorswoman Eva Holland weaves memoir and research in her debut book "Nerve"
March 31, 2020
Kim Cross
"... America was postoned."

“… America was postoned.”

The story begins with a short sentence: “Routine left us suddenly” — a succinct summarization of what Floridians were feeling after those first two weeks of March. It ran on…
March 27, 2020
Lane DeGregory
What we can learn about writing and life in a graduation speech sent from a distance

What we can learn about writing and life in a graduation speech sent from a distance

Do you remember your college commencement speaker, or anything s/he said? I had it in my head that a state legislator spoke at my high school graduation in 1970, but…
March 26, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski
Writing the character, contradictions and soul of a place

Writing the character, contradictions and soul of a place

Dan Zak of the Washington Post toured 800 miles of Iowa in five days to explore the real place behind the political headlines and cultural cliches
March 24, 2020
Tom Warhover
Calling out Olympic officials' past failures as coronavirus threatens the 2020 Games

Calling out Olympic officials’ past failures as coronavirus threatens the 2020 Games

Sally Jenkins has been writing for the sports section of the Washington Post going on 20 years. The Associated Press and the Society for Professional Journalists have named her the…
March 18, 2020
Dale Keiger
A war correspondent and mom faces new fears in the early days of coronavirus

A war correspondent and mom faces new fears in the early days of coronavirus

Coronavirus is no longer something happening somewhere else — no matter where you are — or something that will soon become yesterday’s news. As of this week, cases have been…
March 17, 2020
Katharine Gammon