By Kim Cross s a writer of meticulously reported narratives, I geek out about process. A big part of my writing process is an evolving organizational “system” that supports the repetitive tasks that complicated writing projects entail. These tasks can feel tedious and grunty, so … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski toryboard does not indulge in easy click bait. But I would be foolish to ignore a legitimate opportunity to tap the drawing power of Taylor Swift. There’s this week’s news that she was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. You can read all about how Time … | Continue reading
By Tom Warhover here’s a war on words and images out there. Book banning in schools is trending these days, supercharged with the twin engines of social media and political extremism. Banning has reached historic highs. Book challenges are local, school district by school distric … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski he gratitude essay I wrote recentlyhas given back in multiples — which is how gratitude is supposed to work. I’ve received several lovely notes in response, including one from a non-writer who said “Hey, a list of words. I can do that!” I shouldn’t say this … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski he primary New York Times obit of Henry Kissinger listed it as a “38 MIN READ.” I checked the clock, my to-do list and my energy level. Then I bookmarked the obit for a later read. I came into journalism just as President Richard Nixon was facing the heat of … | Continue reading
By Carly Stern s a journalist who has covered disability issues, I’ve long been interested in nuanced and in-depth narratives surrounding the vast range of experiences with disability. That includes the lived experiences of people with disabilities as well as those of the people … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski ratitude is hot. Researchers study its benefits on health, happiness and longevity. Therapists teach it as a grounding activity that puts anxiety in perspective. Philosophers write all manner of homages to its value throughout human history. And in recent ye … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski On Wednesday last week, I had a plan for the newsletter: All manner of tidbits were collecting in a file and it was time to use the best of them in an “items” column. On Thursday morning, I read the Poynter.org morning report, by Tom Jones, featuring his int … | Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of two posts featuring Kim Cross on the successful pitch-and-proposal process that led to her new book, ‘In Light of All Darkness.’ In this post, Cross annotates the proposal that landed her a contract after previous pitches fell short. In a companion p … | Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of two posts featuring Kim Cross on the successful pitch-and-proposal process that led to her new book, ‘In Light of All Darkness.’ In a companion post, Cross annotates the proposal that landed the book contract. By Carly Stern book project is no pursui … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski ccording to the adage, people don’t regret the things they did in life — only those they didn’t. I don’t buy it — anymore than I buy the assurance that if we do what we love, we’ll never work a day in our lives. I’ve loved my career in journalism and teachin … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski o future for narrative? No support for longer pieces? No value in for print? The folks at The Guardian bravely beg to differ — and bully to them for that. As our sister publication, Nieman Lab, reported this week, the U.K.-based “newspaper” is taking its pop … | Continue reading
By Mallary Tenore Tarpley p until I started writing my first book, I wasn’t a big outliner. I spent the earlier part of my career writing news and feature stories about the media industry, then transitioned into writing personal essays. Outlining struck me as another tedious and … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski lichés are to good writing as fill in your preferred cliché here. A student of mine once challenged that notion. She insisted that clichés are a good thing: They are a universal shorthand — a way to make stories shorter and more understandable. Yow! Rather t … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski henever someone asks if they could tap me as an editor to help them with a project, I start with a direct question: What do you mean by “editor?” Many seem baffled by that question. No doubt they are clear about their understanding of what an editor does — a … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski [T]he question has confronted me more frequently, its challenge heated by the contraction of newsrooms, rise of mis- and disinformation, indifference to facts, intransigence of opinion and a depressing distrust of the legitimate press. That question, at hear … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski et lag clawed at me for days after getting home from writing workshops in Romania. My return flights involved cancellations, delays, the demand to check a bag I have always carried on and a broken seat on the long haul overseas. The seat wasn’t broken badly … | Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is how Cristian Lupsa captured the key reporting/writing lessons from a workshop I led in the mountains of Romania the week of October 15, 2023. Lupsa (Nieman Fellow 2014) founded and ran a groundbreaking magazine in Romania for 10 years, was the visionary beh … | Continue reading
By Dale Keiger have known the writer Ann Finkbeiner for around 30 years now. She writes mostly about science, especially astronomy and cosmology, and possesses a deep and warm intelligence as well as formidable dexterity with the English language and a love of story. “Warm intell … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski have a tendency to notice odd juxtapositions in the news. Many baffle me to the point of annoyance, as when a major news site tells me, on the same day, that public school enrollments have fallen dramatically and, in a separate piece, that children will be s … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski have been weary with heartache, confusion and a deep sense of “should” since Hamas waged a vicious, surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7. The heartache and confusion need no explanation. The “should?” As a journalist hosting a community of other journalists, the … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski y fandom of American TV police/crime procedurals goes back to sharing Agatha Christie mysteries with my mother, then watching “Perry Mason” on a not-very-sharp black-and-white TV. I loved trying to ID the bad guy (spoiler: on TV, it’s always the most famous … | Continue reading
By Christian Wihtol ight years ago, the Oregon newspaper where I then worked hired a new publisher. One of his first acts was to start calling our journalism “content.” At news meetings he made declarations along the lines of: “We need to produce more content for our audiences,” … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski ast week brought the sad news of the deaths of more fine journalists I’ve been graced to know. One was Jim Caple, who was one of those sports reporters who saw sports through a wider and more creative lens. We overlapped for a time at the St. Paul Pioneer Pr … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski That phrase has stayed with me for years, since I read John Steinbeck’s last novel, which was cited when the iconic 20th century author was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is, according to publisher Penguin Random House, “a tale of degeneratio … | Continue reading
By Trevor Pyle he may not have faced dragons, but to tell the story of how Dungeons & Dragons has come to serve as an emotional release for death-row prisoners, Keri Blakinger embarked on another kind of epic journey. “When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row,” which was jointly p … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski t’s that season again — and I don’t mean the season of the pumpkin spice latte, which I consider a bad idea on several levels. I mean the season to watch for journalism contest entry due dates. Early alerts have been popping up in my inbox, notably for the T … | Continue reading
By AniaHull nless he’s at the keyboard, writing or editing his work, this is what Luke Mogelson takes with him to work: an old desert-camouflage bullet-proof vest, a Kevlar helmet, a GoPro clipped to the front of his vest, his iPhone and two medical pouches that he keeps permanen … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski he fall equinox takes the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere into official autumn tonight. There’s already been a dusting of snow in the high Cascades that rise just west of my cabin; the furnace, turned low during summer, kicks on overnight. Yet the sport of baseb … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski message popped up on my Facebook message box that captured, in short form, a not-infrequent lament I hear from reporters who long to stretch into deeper, more engaging stories but must write about specialty or technical subjects for niche publications, and/o … | Continue reading
By Herbert Lowe n my favorite moment of the 25-minute documentary, “Reporting From the U.S. Civil Rights Trail,” one of my students is descending church steps in Alabama to do a TV standup: All eyes were on Birmingham, here at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church 60 years ago, whe … | Continue reading
By Trevor Pyle reader’s comment, a trove of first-hand documentation and a patient, collaborative approach. Those were three elements among many that helped Washington Post reporter Peter Jamison report and write a powerful profile of a family that turned away from their communit … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski n the mood for an enduring romance? Mine came this week through the obituary of Marilyn Lovell, wife of Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. The couple were portrayed by Kathleen Quinlan and Tom Hanks in Ron Howard’s 1995 film, “Apollo 13,” which retold the story of … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski hopeful-news detour from a study of the art and craft of story work, to the shaky business that supports that work. In this case, To summarize it, I borrow from our sister publication, Nieman Reports: A nonpartisan group of 22 foundations today announced the … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski njoy an end-of-summer delight, courtesy of Ashley Lodato, a columnist for the Methow Valley News in the far north Cascades of Washington state. Lodato’s writing has caught our attention before; we featured a Why’s This So Good analysis of an essay she wrote … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski ne of the back-to-school things I looked forward to in grade school was the Weekly Reader, a tab-sized newspaper that was handed out in class. I suppose it carried some features and news stories. But I most loved two things: The catalog of recommended books … | Continue reading
By Talia Richman efore our first meeting about how to tackle a tick-tock of the mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, this spring, Kelley Benham French sent over an annotated copy of David Maraniss’ 9/11 Washington Post narrative, published five days after the attacks. … | Continue reading
By Trevor Pyle hen a former student killed 19 students and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school last year, the ache spread worldwide. One who felt the pain keenly was Kim Garza, a professor and novelist who grew up in Uvalde. The author of “The Last Karankawas” and … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski magine the directive in the image above is not an end game, but a prompt. What if you added something more descriptive? Read more broadly. Read more thoughtfully. Read more openly. Or, my mantra: Read more like a writer. I’ve no doubt mentioned that before — … | Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of two posts on the intimate interview with tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert by Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post. You can also read our analysis of what made the story so special. By Esther Landhuis barely follow women’s tennis. Yet … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski y heart goes out, along with favorite story moments, to all who knew, worked with and loved Bob Giles. It also goes out to those of you who were not so blessed. If you are part of the Storyboard community, you have been touched by Bob whether you knew it or … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski ccording to my pre-Wordle morning scans of social media in recent days, it’s back-to-school time. That seems awfully early to me (What happened to waiting until after Labor Day?), but my own teaching career found me in front of a classroom by mid-August. And … | Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of two posts analyzing the stand-out profile of tennis greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova by Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins. A Q&A with Jenkins about her relationship and interviews with the athletes will post next. By Dale Keige … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski t the many writing workshops I lead, the primary struggles reporters raise involve, duh, writing. But when six health-reporting fellows gathered recently, the challenges they brought to the fore centered around reporting. And these were not about exotic repo … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski eporter friends after swap tales about the stories and tips they picked up from cabbies when they travel on assignments. That’s seldom been successful for me. First, I’m not big on man-on-the-street type reporting; it usually feels superficial, like hearing … | Continue reading
By Michael Ollove couldn’t bring myself to speak to Stephen King. That Stephen King. The Titan of Terror. The Behemoth of the Bestseller List. Maine’s Master of the Macabre. I had him in my sights, and I let him get away. Over and over again. I was a Baltimore Sun reporter at t … | Continue reading
By Polly Basore Wenzl icture a sandy-haired Dennis the Menace, 11 years old. He wandered into News Connect, the Wichita Journalism Collaborative’s pop-up newsroom, in the downtown library on a recent day. Our collaborative – a partnership of 11 local news and community organizati … | Continue reading
By Jacqui Banaszynski rison stories are a special challenge for journalists. The gold standards of journalism are relevance and relatability. But it can be hard for many readers and listeners, if not most, to relate to people who have been incarcerated for things we like to think … | Continue reading