Selected articles from the NSNC newsletter; only members get the entire contents of the monthly newsletter
By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President During this season of flying caps and tassels, I’ve been a soupy, sentimental mess. In the last month, I’ve watched my son graduate from college and my daughter graduate from high school. My eyes are swollen and puffy, I’m tired of entertaining visiting family members, and I’ve gained ten pounds…
You, the Columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist Isn’t it amazing what you do? Isn’t it amazing that you can… – Get an idea about something interesting and after you write about it, thousands of people know what’s on your mind. – Get paid for that. – Easily take high-quality photos to go…
By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley has a long and varied history with the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. When Riley worked for the Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal two decades ago, she was asked by fellow CJ writer and NSNC co-founder Bob Hill to help Hill plan our organization’s 1999…
By Robert L. Haught An Oklahoma writer who turned the spotlight on charitable activities in her community has been selected to receive this year’s Will Rogers Humanitarian Award. Ginnie Graham of the Tulsa World will be presented the award on Friday, June 8, at the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in…
By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President As my time as NSNC’s President grows short, I’m looking back at the eight years since I joined this unique group of journalists and realizing how NSNC has enriched my life not only professionally but personally . Of course, I learned the tricks of the trade by taking copious…
Dear Alex: I have been working hard on my book. It’s a compilation of about 80 of my columns from the last seven years. However, when I uploaded the completed manuscript to my preferred self-publishing software, it was flagged because the content “is freely available on the web” and they were “unable to verify your…
By Curtis Honeycutt NSNC Member Welcome to the golden age of outrage. If you’re just finishing a three-year social media cleanse, I’ve got some bad news for you: people are ticked off. People are royally ticked about pretty much everything: guns, kneeling, not kneeling, walls, refugees, Starbucks (in general), and anything that remotely resembles a…
By Suzette Martinez Standring NSNC Executive Director Putting a human face to a controversial issue is more difficult when that face is your own. NSNC keynote speaker José Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American, will share his story and the power of narrative at the NSNC’s Will Rogers Humanitarian Award banquet on Friday, June 8,…
You, the Columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist My newspaper added a new tag word for stories. Joining “courts,” “crime,” and “education” is this one: #UpliftingNews. These two words are the key to big stories in 2018. The American audience is so burned out by the brutal news of late that anything that…
By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist “Fame is relative. Only my relatives are famous,” Nick Clooney quipped when I interviewed him for this story. But that’s a bit of self-deprecation, because the father of actor/director George Clooney and brother of late singer/actress Rosemary Clooney has been – among other things – a well-known TV news director/anchor,…
By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President As writers, we’ve all fantasized about swanky lunches with agents, book deals offered by publishers headquartered in Manhattan, huge advance checks, round-the-block lines at book signings, charming cottage retreats to escape the flashbulbs of the paparazzi, and steady streams of royalties. *Sigh* Alas, ever since writers have been cast…
Interview was conducted by Lisa Molinari as part of her March, 2018 President’s Message. First, I’d like a little more background on you other than what is in your bio. How did you come to be the marketing director at Smashwords? My background is in high-tech marketing and PR, where I spent the first 20…
Dear Alex, I bought a weight-loss gadget and then ended up writing about my experience for my lifestyle column. Can I write off the cost of the gadget as a business expense even though it wasn’t purchased with that intent? Sincerely, Hoping for a Tax Break This Month, NSNC Vice President Chris Carosa…
By James A. Haught NSNC Member Newspaper collapse is a sickening reality. More than half of U.S. newspaper jobs vanished rather quickly as advertising revenue eroded. Back in 2001, the industry employed 411,800, but by late 2016 the total had dropped to 173,700. Scores of papers died or went online-only. My own paper, The Charleston…
By Dave Astor NSNC Archivist The last time Clarence Page spoke at a National Society of Newspaper Columnists conference, the syndicated Chicago Tribune writer was honored with our 2007 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award in Philadelphia. This year, Page will return as a June 9 keynoter at the 2018 NSNC conference in Cincinnati – not…
By Lisa Smith Molinari NSNC President There was once a folksy columnist and distinguished wartime chronicler who left such an indelible mark on journalism that NSNC gives its most prestigious award in his name, and celebrates National Columnists Day in his honor. That journalist was Ernie Pyle, and today NSNC is proud to announce a…
You, the columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist On my 2018 to-do list for column writing: “Need scenes for leads. Need dialogue.” How do the masters do it? I run to my bookshelf and start pulling classic lead scenes for inspiration. What do you think of these? * Ellen Goodman: The man…
