What was your first job as a journalist?
Associate Editor for Hemmings Motor News
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes!
How is social media changing news?
It's very hard to do in-depth pieces that aren't immediately sound-biteable.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Clark Kent
What does it mean to be a journalist?
My job is to get under the skin of things to figure out how they do and do not work, and tell those stories.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Who remembers hashtags?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Briefly
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Word. Google. Cameras.
What's your favorite social network?
Used to be Twitter, now I'm better off shouting at gravel.
Who do you wish followed you?
People who love my work.
Why did you become a journalist?
It was a calling, it wasn't a choice. I tried to get into the business for a decade before my first paying job.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I did, it was called Pravda. I wrote a serialized story.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I wrote a two-part story on a forgotten pioneer, it took months of in-depth research.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Be first and foremost a good writer. Editors don't have time to be correcting your run-on sentences.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any time is great.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I don't remember.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I forget those immediately
What's your favorite drink?
Green tea
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Cooking
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Consumer Reports
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That we're jetsetters living in luxury.
