@journalism
Talking shop. Words matter.
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:28
We’re In Conversation with Lauren Rowello
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And I want to talk with you about the thing that you do so well, which is you not only right and you have by lines in a million different great publications. You could tell us more about that, but that you really love the craft of teaching and that you want to help people. You want to edit them and you want to teach them
Lauren Rowello
@LaurenRowello · 4:26
I think we're all storytellers actually all people. And I guess that means that we can all be writers if we have the right folks supporting us in that effort. So I guess that's what I've done. Historically, I've helped give people the tools to do what they wanted in that way
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:53
So when people write articles and they have to deal with topics that are really either complicated or unknown, the decision to start with a place that's known like you did with recycling, where you bonded with all of us because everybody has complications around what goes and what's been. And there's a humor there. And there's just this weak and nod. We all get it. That was a decision to kind of comfort us, to kind of be in a space with you that we all connect
Lauren Rowello
@LaurenRowello · 2:03
So I think it's really funny that you've asked this question about this essay because it actually started in a very different space than where it ended. It was originally an op Ed, and the theme was very similar. It kind of pointed in the same direction and had the same intention. But the tone was very different. So the scenes that I included and especially that opening were very different as well. The original was much more negative and underlined some well negative encounters
Lauren Rowello
@LaurenRowello · 3:55
But we have to think about, like the verticals that we're writing for and the specific, like the holistic publication that we're writing for. And then in the broader sense, just what kinds of things the reader needs to see or feel to receive the message. And really soak it in. So what are they going to best respond to, including tone and what kind of journey do we want to take them on?
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:58
Lorne. You have such a masterful way of expressing your craft, and it's also so inclusive, and it reminds me of how you write it's. You're an excellent expressor in in the verbal sense as well, just really listening to you. And I'm really enjoying how you're thinking out loud. And I just want to note that as we speak because it's just been wonderful. You talk about authenticity, of voice in the same breath. You talk about reaching your reader
Lauren Rowello
@LaurenRowello · 4:54
I mean, somebody wrote all of that, and the reader benefits from all of that. And so without any of those things, even if it's not our dream publication or a dream topic we wanted to write about or a personal story we've been dying to tell. It's still making the world a better place, and that sounds sort of silly to think about training manuals, maybe or directions making the world a better place
Lauren Rowello
@LaurenRowello · 1:40
The other thing that your last comments made me think of was just how much freelancers really need to balance trying to pursue the work that we feel most strongly about and needing to earn an income and get a paycheck pay the bills. I think for so many of us, those two things can be in conflict sometimes, and it's so disappointing to recognize how frequently that happens throughout the industry. But I really love to hear the kinds of formulas people put together to make it work for themselves
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