Comments on: Don’t Panic: What to do when you’re in over your head

By: Feed Me! A five-course RSS meal for the hungry writer « Write Livelihood

Feed Me! A five-course RSS meal for the hungry writer « Write Livelihood — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:19:16 +0000

[...] what she’s learned from her own experiences, as she did earlier this year when she posted about getting in over her head by taking on a difficult writing assignment at a trade [...]

By: Buck

Buck — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:13:39 +0000

This is an excellent piece. I had a similar experience recently after being unemployed for months and starting to panic. Somone who worked for me years ago and who I mentored is now a VP in a company and contacted to do some work. At that point, I’d have taken a job butchering armadillos, so I agreed to take it on. In lean times, I’m sure we’ve all faced this at least once.

Once I got into it I realized that my background in the technology was at grade 6 and they needed grad level. I shoved everything off my desk, put on my headphones with work music (for me, Philip Glass) and started at the beginning. It has horrid for a day or two, but I emerged with new skills and survived the experience. Unlike college, however, I didn’t order pizza at 4:00 a.m. for fear of needing to call the paramedics a couple hours later.

By: Jennifer Roland

Jennifer Roland — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:03:08 +0000

Great tips!

@Elaine: I love your specific tips to use with interviewees.

@Melanthia: The book Writer Mama might be a good resource. The author is doing a blog tour and giving away one copy each day to a commenter. Find out more at http://thewritermama.wordpress.com/

By: Melanthia

Melanthia — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:44:22 +0000

Freelancing recently became my way to continue writing while staying home with my son. He’s now 18 months old and I often feel lost with each assignment because there’s only an hour or two a day that I can work on reporting and writing. It’s difficult to bone up on a subject in bits and pieces.

By: Kara Gebhart Uhl

Kara Gebhart Uhl — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:00:38 +0000

Ha ha, totally going through this, too. Great post, Maria.

By: Michelle Rafter

Michelle Rafter — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:59:46 +0000

Good post Maria. I’m a contributing editor at a trade magazine and often am called on to cover technical topics that I’m unfamiliar with. In addition to some of the techniques you use I’ll also:

1. Ask the company’s PR dept/firm to send me background materials in advance of an interview.

2. Find market research and/or white papers on the company and/or industry, or interview industry analysts – I have no qualms about asking “dumb” questions to analysts, they’re used to dealing with people who aren’t familiar with the topic. Then once I interview the primary sources for my story I sound like I know what I’m talking about.

3. Ask my source questions like “If you were giving a talk at an industry convention, what advice would you give on XYZ” – it’s a great way to get them to open up on a subject & if you’re looking for bullet point items for a sidebar you’re set!

Michelle Rafter
WordCount – Freelancing in the Digital Age
http://michellerafter.wordpress.com

By: Susan Johnston

Susan Johnston — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:34:43 +0000

Maria,

This is a great post! I’ve definitely been there more than a few times, but I think it’s OK to admit to a source when you don’t understand something. I’ll sometimes say at the beginning, “thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. My background is in writing, so please bare with me if I ask you to clarify or rephrase something.” Usually I will start to understand what they’re saying based on context (and a google search for an obscure term), but this also reminds them to minimize the jargon for a more general audience. I think being upfront about this lets me relax for the rest of the interview because I feel like I don’t have to maintain a false facade that I’m an expert on widgets/investments/whatever.

Susan

By: Elaine Grant

Elaine Grant — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:48:33 +0000

Great post, Maria – It’s happened to all of us who have freelanced for a long time. One other way I elicit information from sources without, I think, sounding ignorant — I ask them to tell me about the subject “for my readers who may not be familiar with it.” I use this technique a lot in radio as well — I’m a public radio reporter. In that venue, I say, “hey, my listeners are not experts in this subject, and also they’re washing dishes, driving, whatever — they’re not focusing completely on this story. Can you describe this process for them?” Focusing on readers and listeners takes the burden off of you, the writer. Also (as a long-time technology writer) if a source is stuck talking in jargon, I ask them to explain their subject to me as if they’re at breakfast with their mother or their long-lost cousin. It almost always works. FYI, I teach tips like these in my Magazine Writing Basics class, (www.therenegadewriter.com) which starts in a week.

By: The Renegade Writer Blog » Blog Archive » What to Do When You’re in Over Your Head from Editor Unleashed

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:01:28 +0000

[...] my former editor at Writer’s Digest and current owner of the Editor Unleashed blog, has tips for getting through a tough assignment. First step: Don’t panic. [...]

By: JohnOBX

JohnOBX — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:35:40 +0000

Ummm…can you subcontract the work?