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 #58
The Girl in the Window -- St. Petersburg Times
This is a hard-to-believe tale of a seven-year-old girl who, according to a caseworker, had been so profoundly abused and neglected that she had never been to school and never seen a doctor. She didn't know how to hold a doll, didn't understand peek-a-boo. "Due to the severe neglect," a doctor would write, "the child will be disabled for the rest of her life." The girl, known as Dani, is now nine and her recovery has been halting but remarkable thanks to the efforts of a wonderful adoptive family.
Click the link above to read this moving piece by Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times. We're proud to claim Lane as a member of the WeissWrite speakers bureau. Read more about Lane here.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #57
Hospital Errors: What the Patient Doesn't Know Might Hurt -- St. Louis Beacon
Although 26 states now require hospitals to report serious medical errors, the state of Missouri does not -- not even to the Department of Health.
"We really lag in terms of public reporting," says Louise Probst , director of the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition. It's a situation that she calls "shameful."
Click the link above to read Joan Little's story in the St. Louis Beacon..
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #56
Literacy Debate Online: R U Really Reading?-- New York Times
The picture that goes with this story says it all. Mom reading a book. Dad with the paper. And the kids on their laptops. We are raising children with different reading habits. But at least they are reading. Right?
Click the link above to read this piece from the New York Times.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #55
Me and My Girls -- New York Times
In a gripping memoir, New York Times media writer David Carr tells the story of his life raising twin girls born prematurely in the midst of his crack binge. Carr says the girls turned his life around. “If that all sounds like some after-school special," he writes, "with the fat ex-junkie dad singing to his misbegotten daughters, well, it is what it is." This selection from the Times Magazine is excerpted from his book, "Night of the Gun," published by Simon & Schuster.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
A Really Big Show For The Summer TV Season
Looking ahead to the political conventions
The Democratic Convention promises to be quite a show and a tough act for the Republicans to follow.
Dick Weiss talks it over 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 #54
A Girl's Life -- New York Times
I dedicate this link to may daughter, Katharine, who grew up with American Girl dolls. Reviewer A.O. Scott tries to put the dolls and a new movie in their proper perspective.
Click the link above to read this piece from the New York Times.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
A No-Newspaper Town?
Analysts say newspapers face bankruptcy
The New York Times says newspapers are facing their worst year for ad revenue on record and there are serious questions about whether some will survive. Dick Weiss talks it over with McGraw Milhaven 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 #53
A Father's Day Gift of Letters -- Weekend America
Facing the prospect of an empty nest, I asked my three girls last November if they would start writing me a series of e-mails each month in which they would share memories of their childhood and their dad. Weekend America's Marc Sanchez learned of this and asked if I would share some of the correspondence. He turned it into a Father's Day feature that ran nationwide on Saturday, June 14. It was quite a gift.
Click the link above to read and/or listen to this piece from Weekend America
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
Entrapment
Citizen blogger scores two political exclusives with questionable tactics
Bill Clinton made some unkind remarks about a Vanity Fair writer to a person who he thought was a party of one. Instead it was Mayhill Fowler, a citizen blogger who shared her audio tape with the world. Who makes the rules for people like Ms. Fowler? Dick Weiss talks it over with McGraw Milhaven 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 #52
Sex for a married couple every day of the year -- New York Times
I can't sell this story any better than New York Times scribe Ralph Gardner did with this opener:
"Let's say you and your spouse haven’t had sex in so long that you can’t remember the last time you did. Not the day. Not the month. Maybe not even the season. Would you look for gratification elsewhere? Would you file for divorce? Or would you turn to your mate and say, 'Honey, you know, I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we do it for the next 365 days in a row?'"
Click the link above to read this piece from the Times.
Click here to see the complete collection of Best Stories You've nEver Read.
-- Dick Weiss
