What was your first job as a journalist?
Working for the Sims News Bureau on Capitol Hill. Wrote for newspapers in several states and also did daily radio broadcasts.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
How is social media changing news?
Social media provides a democratic platform where individuals without a printing press or TV network can reach large audiences.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Clark Kent....
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It's the opportunity to help others by providing usable, accurate and actionable information.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
E-mail.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter
Why did you become a journalist?
To meet interesting people, travel, and do interesting things.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I'm proud of the 300,000+ books I've sold as well as any number of newspaper and magazine articles.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
You have to write every day and speak with as many people as possible., especially if their views differ from yours.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Anytime -- via email. Please remember that I write for national audiences.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
From Harper & Row: Can we send you a check for your book....
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Promoters who think I work for them....
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
At the beach near our home.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
New York Magazine
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That nothing is new....
