Attendees Share Best Tips from Conference Day 3
To recap the third and final day of the ASJA 2025 conference, I’m turning things…
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ASJACon2025 Day 2 Recap: Improve Your Writing and Storytelling Skills
In challenging times, writers play an important role, and honing your skills makes you a…
ASJACon2025 Day One Recap: Stay Optimistic in an Era of Uncertainty
It’s always been hard to be a freelancer, but in 2025 it’s getting even harder….
Pulitzer Winner Lane DeGregory and NY Times Editor Mike Wilson on Making Writing Come Alive
Lane DeGregory wants you to forget everything you ever learned about the inverted pyramid. The…
Author Wil Haygood On Topics, Process, and Telling Stories That Address ‘Black and White' America
In honor of Black History Month, we’re re-running this Q&A between ASJA lifetime member and…
Meet the Member: Darcy Lewis, “Accidental” ASJA President
When Darcy Lewis said yes to an invitation to help ASJA develop and launch a…
Navigate the Path to Publish at ASJA 2025 Conference Book Sessions
ASJA’s mission is to help independent writers survive and thrive, and we’re dedicated to being…
ASJA Offers 5 Scholarships to 2025 NYC Conference
ASJA will offer five scholarships to the 2025 conference, ASJA: Always in Fashion, NYC 2025,…
ASJA Offers Emergency Funds for Freelance Writers in L.A. and Beyond
Established nonfiction freelance writers affected by the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles can apply…
Update: 28 Freelance Outlets Are Coming to Client Connections 2025
As of Jan. 8, more than two dozen editors, agents, and content outlets have signed up for ASJA’s signature ‘speed dating for freelancers’ event at the conference.
On Fear, Freelance Writing, and What I Learned Serving as ASJA President
On Jan. 1, I will join an illustrious club: ASJA past presidents. It’s something I…
WSJ Custom Content Head, FIT Professor to Keynote ASJA 2025 Conference
It’s hard to predict exactly what 2025 might have in store for freelancers and other…
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Losing an Anchor Client: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
It’s a mantra that experienced entrepreneurs pass on to newbies: “Market, market, and market some…
As ASJA Evolves, a New Focus on Intelligent Design
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are inevitable. Just like those lazy writers who can’t help mentioning David Bowie lyrics when they write…
Collaborating With an Expert: What to Expect
Many years ago here in Boulder, a local writer was working on a book about…
A little sleuthing = Big results
It’s the bane of every freelance writer’s existence: tracking down the correct section editor/marketing manager/hiring…
Scene, Heard, Laced and Loved: Trends in Long Form
On a Saturday morning last November, 85 writers and editors ascended the stairs of a…
Authors and Libraries: A Match Made in Book Marketing Heaven
These days, authors should be loving libraries, and if not loving them, at least courting…
Why shouldn’t you (or your concept) be on TV?
As writers, we’re used to seeing our bylines on articles; after the novelty wears off…
5 Ways that ASJA Membership has Helped My Freelance Writing Career
I love the freedom of being a freelancer. I only have to work with people…
Media Training for Writers
As a writer, you’re used to being in the interviewer seat. But once you write…
Stand By While I Find My PomPoms
Back when I worked at a newspaper, we’d talk about those “Hey, Mabel!” headlines, the…
Press releases: Mailbox junk or idea goldmine?
If your inbox looks anything like mine, it’s overflowing with messages from a range of…
What Is the John Newbery Medal?
If you’re a children’s book writer, I bet you’ve fantasized that your book will one…
From Manuscripts to Musicals
People who work with words occasionally decide that if they can do one kind of…
The ASJA Conference: Why It’s a Must for Me
My family knows not to schedule anything for the last weekend in April each year….
The Anniversary Edition
It’s a good thing that I don’t have to make my living writing books. Nonetheless,…
Those Pesky Ghosts of Journalism's Past
Quiz time! Think, for a second, about San Francisco, which played host to an ASJA…
Communicators and Customer Engagement: Why It Matters
Customers rule and it would be hard to deny that the continued quest for new…
Readers Hate Clichés. Except When They Don’t.
Clichés weren’t always clichés. Once they were creative images or poignant observations that became clichés…
Should You Find a Publisher or an Agent?
Should you pitch a project to publishers, agents, or both? While having an agent who…
Transformative writing, how to teach it
If we go deep within to the spaces we are scared to go, we defeat…
Pushing Your Limits
In 2010, I was told that my 29 assignments for the “Leaders & Success” column…
The Top 5 Mistakes Even Smart Essayists Make
Essay is a popular genre. Trouble is, the number of viable markets is shrinking while…
Five Ways to Put Your Heart on the Page: Putting Words to the Caregiver’s Journey
My mother’s Alzheimer’s drove me to write. My writing inspired me to speak. Over the…
‘Freelancing Sucks’: A Texas-Sized Whopper
Independent writers are used to being disrespected. It goes with the territory, along with all…
Writing Rituals that Make Things Work
I’ve always been fascinated by how creative people balance their work and personal lives. Recently…
The Trade of Trade Magazine Writing
I’ve taught “Succeeding As a Magazine Writer” for many years. Usually, my students’ main goal…
Speaking (and Signing) for the Work
What I’ve always liked about writing: it isn’t talking. But even in my earliest years…
Take a Hike!
I make this suggestion for two reasons. First, it removes you from your writing space…
Businesses are hiring writers who specialize
Recently I asked a technology executive if businesses value writers as much as lawyers or…