Strictly Q&A

Ditching "monkey mind" to find joy while writing

Ditching “monkey mind” to find joy while writing

Two days to deadline. You haven’t written a word — just scribbles and a few sad-faced glyphs in the margins of a skeletal outline. You’re surrounded by great raw material…
October 16, 2019
Hope McLeod
Stories that unfold — and pain that is measured — from the ground up

Stories that unfold — and pain that is measured — from the ground up

You can almost smell the cedar-hewn totem poles and see them rise from the soil, so evocative is “We Didn’t Stand A Chance,” Joshua Hunt’s personal essay about opioid abuse…
October 9, 2019
Trevor Pyle
"Life is too short to write something boring."

“Life is too short to write something boring.”

A conversation with Los Angeles native and magazine journalist Mary Melton, who profiled a famous photographer in 36 exposures, as in a roll of film
September 26, 2019
Kim Cross
When gun violence visits, a pastor finds faith and a reporter finds those not noticed

When gun violence visits, a pastor finds faith and a reporter finds those not noticed

“Pittsburgh. El Paso. San Bernardino. Las Vegas. Aurora. Orlando. Sandy Hook. Isla Vista. Gilroy. Colorado Springs.”David Montero’s voice trails off.  “I just feel like there are obvious ones I’m missing.…
September 19, 2019
Chip Scanlan
A bag of ashes, a research-loving reporter, the public library, and a three-hour hunt

A bag of ashes, a research-loving reporter, the public library, and a three-hour hunt

It was an intriguing bit of crowd-sourcing: Police in Portland, Oregon, said they had “exhausted all resources” in attempts to find relatives or friends of a dead WWII veteran, and…
September 6, 2019
Trevor Pyle
A self-made freelance career (with a little help along the way)

A self-made freelance career (with a little help along the way)

Barry Yeoman talks about a life of learning to report, write, listen, and keep up
August 29, 2019
Allison Kirkland
Reclaiming history with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up

Reclaiming history with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Alabama's memorial to slavery was conceived through the eyes of slavery's descendants
August 23, 2019
Kim Cross
14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline

14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline

Since 2015, Michael Kruse of Politico has written hundreds of thousands of words about Donald J. Trump, plumbing the President’s unorthodox campaign tactics, his dubious finances, his penchant for lawsuits,…
August 6, 2019
Chip Scanlan
A hitchhiker's guide to a galaxy of stories

A hitchhiker’s guide to a galaxy of stories

Michael Paterniti meditates on hitting the road as a way to discover the wonders of the world, and the intimacies and risks of human connections
July 5, 2019
Andrew Fedorov
An investigative journalist tries his hand at a true crime series for middle schoolers

An investigative journalist tries his hand at a true crime series for middle schoolers

As a reporter, Bryan Denson seems to have done it all — working the police beat, writing longform narratives, teaming up on big investigative features, and producing a nonfiction book.…
July 2, 2019
Jill U. Adams