“I like the spirit of this great London which I feel around me. Who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity?”
-Charlotte Brontë
Alas, my (truly excellent) work experience ends today, but it’s been an incredible run. I’ve been very lucky in that it’s been a hectic week and the writers and editors I worked with gave me a lot of assignments and opportunities to help out. I’ve written lots of different kinds of copy and interviewed some really interesting people on some equally interesting pieces. Plus I asked the editor about pitching pieces for her in the future and she told me to go right ahead and stay in regular contact. I’ve been on a high all week.
Now, how can I turn this into a regular job somewhere? Any British weekly publications (which are fun to work on in a completely different way than monthlies, and I’ve found it slightly addictive) need a plucky junior features writer?
While I scheme along those lines, here’s an extra long list of links for you to enjoy this weekend. As always, minions are encouraged to weigh in in the comments and link to other worthy of notice and note. Have a good weekend, and let me know what you’re getting up to!
Playing this (admittedly charming) game for real.
I unabashedly adored the Little House books as a child, but yikes! I’ve known for years that they walk the blurred, heavily edited line of fiction and nonfiction, but some pretty serious stuff was ruthlessly cut by Wilder’s daughter, who was the driving force in getting the stories written. I confess, I’d love to read the unedited manuscripts and get another POV of pioneer and prairie life.
The science behind clickbait. More interesting than you’d think. (See what I did there?)
Answering the age old question, or at least the one much of the Western press has been asking since Prince George was taken on his first tour and his baby cheeks became a meme.
Worth reading and considering, is irony ruining our culture?
Great and interesting piece on the importance of storytelling and narrative!
I’ve worked on a crowd funding campaign for a freelance client that was a really great and interesting project with a lot of future work planned, but it’s opened my eyes a lot to what that sort of funding can do. This fashion line, for instance, is making some waves and I think it might be an interesting way to open it and other traditionally closed and hard to break into industries in new ways.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that I know a lot of amazingly talented writers. I first met Ellie when our plays were being produced by Theatre Virginia as teenagers, she now works for Marvel comics and just released her second novel via ebook. Go check it out!
Leila, yet another awesome writer friend (of the sci-fi/fantasy variety) posted this useful guide the vernacularly fraught world of “yeah” and associates.
3D printing is a mesmerizing, weird, cool, intimidating (hi, guy who printed a gun), and totally innovative technology, but I think this 3D printing pen might be the most interesting design tool I’ve seen all month.
I’ve decided that being like Baroness Trumpington in my old age would be a worthy goal. I also want to read her new memoir.
The recent lawsuit surrounding AirBnB is sort of strange to me. Thoughts? Everybody I know sings its praises. Thoughts?
I found this art project interesting (and the link the rest of the artist’s work is well worth following).
Though I thought the now-famed Atlantic Piece, The Confidence Gap addressed some good points, I think this response, filled with suggestions, is pretty much spot on.
Emma Stone is my girlcrush of the week for this performance alone. (Confession, she is frequently my girlcrush for lots of reasons, not the least of which because she seems down right hilarious.)
Oh, Idaho. Having lived nearby I can totally see this happening.
Speaking of crushes, I’m personally and politically loving this initiative and PSA against sexual assault. Victim blaming, check. Speaking up when you see something wrong, check. Consent, check.
Small Dog Syndrome 
That LA Times game is hilarious — but feels pretty spot-on. I think anyone who wants to be a writer, whether of fiction or journalism, knows pretty early on that they have a facility with words (awards and prizes help to to concretize that, for sure) and that gives them/us the confidence to keep forging ahead despite insane amounts of competition. I won prizes for my writing in grade school and high school, and that was pleasant and when I began freelancing while still in college felt ever surer of my decision.
But the rejections and “pit of despair” are also very true/realistic indeed and people need to be less naive and more (financially and emotionally) prepared for them. Virtually no one emerges from that world/industry with their ego or bank account unscathed.
All true. (And I had a brief, slightly nervous giggle at that line thinking of the Princess Bride film, “The Pit of Despair. Don’t even think about your escape, and no hope of rescue neither.”)