EVERY WRITER NEEDS AN EDITOR. Some are fortunate to have good ones; others have bad ones, and many have none at all. If you are in the latter two categories, Dick Weiss can help.
Dick offers workshops and provides one-on-one coaching in person or by e-mail for journalists, freelance writers, students, communications professionals, and those who have simply got a story to tell.
Dick has 30 years experience as an award winning reporter, editor and writing coach, most of them at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Visit "About WeissWrite" for a bio and writing samples.
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #37
From the Charlotte Observer:
A community of mothers is grieving for Jennifer Bunich.
Though many of them never met her, she was like a friend. She shared the kind of intimacies friends share -- confiding about her 2-year-old daughter, Claire, and her husband, Boris, and the demands of being a working mom.
She offered these glimpses of herself, and more, in an online journal she and her friend Jennifer Plym took turns writing, with advice about diapers, doctors, day care. Jen B and Jen P, they called themselves.
Around their Web site, mothers in Charlotte gathered. Then on Feb. 4, Jennifer Bunich died...
Click the link above to read the story.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
A Turn In The Race?
Obama -mania may be coming to an end
Now that Barack Obama has achieved front-runner status, the media will turn on him Dick Weiss predicts. And there's plenty of ammunition. Also, a PD reporter wins a big prize and his bosses get big bonuses -- not that the two are related. Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss this and other issues on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #36
This piece is lol funny and not as predictable in tone and content as you might think, given that it was written by a self-described ultra-liberal novelist, Ann Hood.
Click the link above to read the story.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
Fly Him To The Moon
After his over-the-top, racially-tinged, hate-filled rant, talk show host J.C. Corcoran ought to take his act to satellite radio. Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss this and other issues on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
Nancy Miller: Celebrating Her Life
More than 250 friends, colleagues and readers gathered at the Ethical Society to celebrate the life of journalist Nancy Miller. It was a remarkable event full of the humor and grace that Nancy shared with with us over decades of service at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can listen to the service by clicking the link above. (Be patient. It may take some time for this one-hour service to load depending on your internet connection.) Click on "read more" below for links to Nancy stories and to eulogies from her friends and colleagues.
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #35
Many worthy stories have been written in the aftermath of the horrific killings of two Kirkwood police officers and three city officials, but I found none as insightful, honest and refreshing as Deb Peterson's column.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
Beneath The Campaign Radar
Why aren't the pundits talking about THESE stories...?
Great journalists zig when others zag. Recently three reporters pointed out important flaws in the candidacies of John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that have gotten little attention from the pundits. Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss this and other issues on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #34
Aaron McCown was the kind of coach and role model that many parents dream about. His work as a football coach with pre-adolescents in his East Baltimore inner city neighborhood was so profound that he was recognized with a community service award from Johns Hopkins University. What many people didn't know was that McCown had a record, convictions for drug possession and robbery. He has since lost both his day job and his coaching job. He was back in jail recently stemming from an altercation at a football game. Still many parents would like to see McCown return to coaching their kids.
To learn why click on the link above to read the story by Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun..
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
Dewey Defeats Truman Again
P-D owes readers an explanation
In a note to readers, the Post-Dispatch editor asserted his newspaper's right to print the name of a nurse who plays a role in executions. Well-taken. But he offered neither an explanation nor an apology for an incredible election day gaffe when his editorial cartoonist referenced Hillary Clinton's crushing defeat in the New Hampshire primary. Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss this and other issues on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #33
That cricket hiding in your basement may be the next Pavarotti... or a beauty pageant winner. Of course, you'd have to travel to China for anyone to appreciate your insect's fine qualities. There crickets are all the rage among hobbyists. They enter them in contests, buy china and furniture for them. On the downside, some Chinese breed crickets as fighters and gamble on them. Others have been doping them up so they sing better. Read Barbara Demick's story in the Los Angeles Times.
Click on the link above to read the story.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
