Posted on 01/05/2014 6:14:42 AM PST by Kaslin
Its been officially ten years since I started writing my weekly screeds for the online mega-beast called, TownHall.com. Im glad Jon Garthwaite gave me the opportunity back in 04 to go public with my brutal musings. I believe I will gift him with a nice box of my Safari Cigars for being kind to this redeemed doper from West Texas. Gracias, Juan. Youre a brave man.
Being the gracious, humble and successful man that I am, I thought Id leave a bread trail for other writers whod like to wade into the cultural quagmire via their laptop.
Heres my advice for wannabe writers of opinion pieces.
1. Dont expect to get paid. I have writers ask me all the time how much Ill pay them to write for my website ClashDaily.com. Im like, Uh how about nothing.
Look, when I started writing I never asked to be paid for my stuff. I saw being on a substantial news portal as an opportunity, so I put my boots on and started kickin crap so to speak.
Heres an FYI to the wannabe columnist: Unless youre Krauthammer -- and youre not you need to know that columns dont fetch that much money; and unless you live in a Public Storage unit youre probably gonna need a substantial day job, Narcissi.
2. Stay consistent. Heres a shocker: No ones going to beg you for your column. Its all on you, baby. One of the things that Ive noticed about impactful writers is they write. Duh. In this ADHD age as soon as you cease to make a noise you cease to bleep on the national radar. Dont believe me? Go ahead and skip a few weeks or be sporadic with your writings and watch your page views drop like Paris Hiltons latest EP. Oh, and rest assured, someone else is ready and willing to take your spot.
And please, dont tell us about writers block or that you dont feel inspired. What are you? A moody teenaged girl? No offense, ladies. If you are truly experiencing writers block, and arent just lazy, remember this maxim: read til youre full, write til youre empty.
3. Grow pair of balls. The world of the opinion piece is a brutal place. If youre overly sensitive when someone shreds your ideas, then you might ought to take up another line of work -- like a sales job at Hello Kitty. Note to the new writer: friends and foes will attack you. Its the nature of the beast. The writers demesne is realm of the masochist. Wussies need not apply.
4. Get pissed. Martin Luther said he did his best preaching when he was angry. If, as a writer, youre not enraged regarding how this nation is being hijacked by progressives, then youre clearly not paying attention and/or youre high on the north slope trip weed you just bought at Skeeters Weed Emporium in Denver. I wish anger wasnt the writers fuel, but in our day everything smells, so attitude sells.
5. But not too pissed. Even though Im a big proponent of tapping the anger vein when writing, my advice is to dial back a skooch with the rhetoric. Which means dispensing with exclamation points, CAPS LOCK and end-of-the-world zaniness. Thats yelling to the eyeballs. Try to inject humor into the mix to lighten the load. If Mary Poppins taught us anything, it was just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. Break on through, Mary. Do note that theres a big difference between being serious and delirious.
6. Be brief. Call me nutty, but I aint got time for anything over 1000 words. If you cant say it succinctly then more than likely you dont get it yet.
7. Understand that the pen is mightier than the sword. That little metonymic adage means that communication can be a more effective tool than direct violence.
And with that Im done. May God bless your writing ventures in steering this country back to its original roots and on to future greatness.
Peace out.
There’s no reason our side can’t overwhelm the MSM and the left with the tools we have now. Every FReeper should have their own newsblog that follows the pattern noted here.
Thems can, do.
Thems can’t, teach.
“Every FReeper should have their own newsblog that follows the pattern noted here.”
Excellent point.
Some say there are too many of these blogs and the Internet is flooded with low quality. So what? Make it your goal to stand out and inspire.
Have you been to DemUnderground or the DailyKOS? Those sites are crap on ice.
Jim does a tremendous job and performs a truly valuable service.
FR is a beacon in the wilderness.
Yay blogs.
bump
Then there would be no books.
This may be true of expository writing, but not either investigative or synthetic writing.
Naw, I just copy and paste with the credit giving to those who write the blogs
FRee Republic is a valuable resource, no doubt. But it is obvious more has to be done to combat the MSM.
This is an amazing site. So many good writers here. Compare that to the DUmmies who start out every sentence with a vile curse or epithet.
An interesting thing would be underground social media using cyber cafe. Something far more attractive than facebook for meeting buddies without Uber ZUckerberg breathing down the necks with the liberal Obama NSA robot army.
And, thems can’t teach, teach gym.
just sayin’
Or: ...and thems can’t teach, teach teachers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.