What was your first job as a journalist?
I've never had one, I'm a freelancer with a respectable day job.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
As a paperweight.
How is social media changing news?
Social media IS news; there are no "events", only "engagements", and those newsworthy enough are multiplied and disseminated by social media.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Bob Woodward.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To embrace amorality.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I don't use Twitter.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
I prefer an email with 2-3 paragraphs explaining, in some degree of depth, the project or piece.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
I use a free open-source Word knockoff which, oddly enough, has a far better UI than word.
What's your favorite social network?
4chan.
Who do you wish followed you?
Ideally, everyone.
Why did you become a journalist?
I'm a raging narcissist intent on converting others to my point of view.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My "Plot Against the Small Business" piece.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Write more, submit more, edit more, read more, tweet less.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Evenings, the gnawing desperation is at its fever pitch then.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Again, only been pitched once.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I've only been pitched once, it was an ask for a write-up on a mask efficacy study. My best and worst.
What's your favorite drink?
Eggnog.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On a hike.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I'll pick two, Chronicles and American Greatness.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's difficult.
