Excellent column. You are an anthropologist/sociologist/journalist in the making. Your next step is short interviews. Do them on your phone and upload them. Or, use Google Pinpoint or some other program to transcribe them. Always honor everyone you interview both in person AND in your column. If they have different ideas from you, try to understand why. Say little. Listen lots. Let people talk. If they pause as a cue for you to speak, skip a beat and they will likely say more. That's often is where the best stuff comes from. The very best interviewers are those who shut up and listen. Let me say that again. Shut up and listen! Make people comfortable and try to speak with them at their level so they will be comfortable. You are tall. Try to sit to do an interview with someone shorter than you. If you speak to a small child, hunker down, maybe get to your knees. Always be respectful and kind. Learn. The interview isn't about you. It's about them and how you treat people is your responsibility. Ask "blue sky" questions that are open ended and that will let them open up. If possible, get to the emotions at hand. "How does that make you feel?" is maybe the best question ever to draw out emotions. Emotions are at the center of great stories. There are different issues to consider when you interview politicians. Your responsibility is to your readers and yourself. Be respectful, but ask them the tough questions. If they evade answering, ask again, and again, and again until you are satisfied. If you don't understand an answer to your question, keep asking until you do. If you don't understand, your readers likely won't either. You now have an excellent body of work. Now we need to change things up to grow your audience. Tell everyone you are a writer. Go to VistaPrint and on good card stock make a business card. The only thing it should have on it is the name of your Substack and the general url. No other personal information. Give the cards to your friends, your teachers, hand them out everywhere because every writer needs an audience. We are keyboarding into a void without our readers. Honor your readers and respect them. Engage with them, elevate them, and they will elevate you as you build your community. They will be part of it. Let's go great places in your writing--together...
Your observational assessments and analysis of your surroundings are so clearly demonstrated in your writing. You take the reader there. I enjoyed the ride.
Excellent column. You are an anthropologist/sociologist/journalist in the making. Your next step is short interviews. Do them on your phone and upload them. Or, use Google Pinpoint or some other program to transcribe them. Always honor everyone you interview both in person AND in your column. If they have different ideas from you, try to understand why. Say little. Listen lots. Let people talk. If they pause as a cue for you to speak, skip a beat and they will likely say more. That's often is where the best stuff comes from. The very best interviewers are those who shut up and listen. Let me say that again. Shut up and listen! Make people comfortable and try to speak with them at their level so they will be comfortable. You are tall. Try to sit to do an interview with someone shorter than you. If you speak to a small child, hunker down, maybe get to your knees. Always be respectful and kind. Learn. The interview isn't about you. It's about them and how you treat people is your responsibility. Ask "blue sky" questions that are open ended and that will let them open up. If possible, get to the emotions at hand. "How does that make you feel?" is maybe the best question ever to draw out emotions. Emotions are at the center of great stories. There are different issues to consider when you interview politicians. Your responsibility is to your readers and yourself. Be respectful, but ask them the tough questions. If they evade answering, ask again, and again, and again until you are satisfied. If you don't understand an answer to your question, keep asking until you do. If you don't understand, your readers likely won't either. You now have an excellent body of work. Now we need to change things up to grow your audience. Tell everyone you are a writer. Go to VistaPrint and on good card stock make a business card. The only thing it should have on it is the name of your Substack and the general url. No other personal information. Give the cards to your friends, your teachers, hand them out everywhere because every writer needs an audience. We are keyboarding into a void without our readers. Honor your readers and respect them. Engage with them, elevate them, and they will elevate you as you build your community. They will be part of it. Let's go great places in your writing--together...
Thank you for the wonderful advice! There's lots there that will come in handy going forward.
Your observational assessments and analysis of your surroundings are so clearly demonstrated in your writing. You take the reader there. I enjoyed the ride.