Readers!
It’s too humid, and I’m cranky, so here’s some things bugging me, work wise, right now.
- PR person offers a source they can’t deliver. A public relations (PR) person pitched their client as a possible interview to my editor, specifically for that publication, after which she handed over the assignment to me. I emailed that PR person and said great let’s set it up and then…crickets. I had to press three times to get an answer of whether or not he’d talk to me, and in the end? As of this newsletter, I still haven’t heard back. Why pitch that person as a source to that publication in the first place? I realize that clients can be difficult, but it’s on the PR person to manage their sources so they don’t embarrass themselves and burn the relationship they have with a journalist. I had to go out and find another story to write this month. Absolute waste of my time.
- Outlets charging freelancers to get paid. I recently went half way through a process to sign up for direct deposit with a new client, and stopped when I saw that, if I wanted to get paid that way, I had to pay a 1.5% fee. This is asinine. You paying freelancers is your cost of business, not mine. I shouldn’t have to pay to get my money! I stopped the process, told the company to delete all of my information, and will get a paper check instead. I did it because I despise stuff like this, and not just in client checks. I will never park at the 30th Street Station garage in Philadelphia again because you are forced to scan a QR code to pay to park, to which they tack on a fee for…forcing you into a potential a security nightmare. It’s all consultants telling companies they’ll save them soooo much money doing this, and then of course, they just push the cost of normal business operations onto everyone else. Nuts to them. I’ll opt out at every opportunity (I complained so much that I got my whole parking cost refunded for that day. You can get through to AI chat bots if you’re angry enough!)
- Sources insisting they’ll only answer questions by email. I try to get people on the phone (or video call or, in some cases, do a live chat) when I interview them for a story. That’s because emailed answers (or worse long statements that I didn’t ask for, which yes sometimes PR people send me) are often stilted, and I can rarely ask follow ups. Another, newer problem: people are using the lying plagiarism machine to do this, and as we should all know by now, it makes shit up. I don’t care if someone else who writes for the same publication will take emailed stuff. Except in rare instances, I don’t. Don’t fight me on it.
- Readers asking me to defend an action taken by a client. One of my formerly frequent clients was in the news itself lately, and not for a good reason. Some stranger demanded I explain their actions, and why I ever wrote for them. First of all, the publication is massive, and while this controversy is Not Good, I never wrote in any area near that section. Second, I haven’t written for this publication in more than a year, and I haven’t been a weekly contributor since 2021. And even if I did write something, what power do you assume I have over over the decisions of one of the largest publications in the world? Do you think I have the ability to change anything from my dining room table in South Jersey as an infrequent contributor who hasn’t had a byline there since July of last year? I am not a wizard. Knock it off.
Harumph.
Recent Bylines
“How IT leaders infuse cyber hygiene into daily work,” CIO Dive
“John Kuhner ’98 Builds Community with a Secondhand Bookstore in Ohio,” Princeton Alumni Weekly
“Beyond academia: exploring career pathways for clinical chemists in the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry,” Clinical Laboratory News
What I’m Reading
- Woodworking by Emily St. James. As a cisgender person, I’m never going to understand what it’s like to be a transgender person, but this book sure did help me get a better grasp on it. The novel focuses mostly on two transgender women in the same town in South Dakota: a 17-year-old who has been out and was kicked out by her parents for it; and her English teacher, who is just starting to confront that she is transgender. It’s both an uplifting and heartbreaking book, including because it’s set in the run up to the 2016 election, and we know it’ll get worse. But the novel also focuses on the importance of community and found family, and what a profound difference they can make in a person’s life. I’ve already recommended it to three people. Pick it up, and spread the word.
What I’m Watching
- Murdoch Mysteries (season 18). Another season of my favorite historical Canadian detective show has come to a close. I admire how they have managed to keep things fresh, in part by expanding the cast, which brings in new story lines while also letting some of the original regulars do other projects by not being on the show all the time. This season also dealt with my favorite question to ask people because it startles them: are Italians white? A lot of people think not!
- The Bookshop. A widow opens a bookshop in a small, British seaside town in 1959, which is apparently the worst thing she can do per a rich woman also in that town, played in a villain turn by Patricia Clarkson. Despite the heavy story, it’s about books and community and how the two are often intertwined — and how no one ever feels alone in a bookshop. I’m relatively sure that I’ve seen this before, but who cares. I enjoyed it (again, maybe).
- Poker Face (season 2). This case-of-the-week lost a bit of its punch when one plot wasn’t running through the entire season, but it’s still fun, with almost too many guest stars (Jason Ritter and Method Man squaring off in one episode; and Melanie Lynskey and John Cho in another?!), but it came together in the end.
- Superman. It’s good, go see it! It’s making all the worst people on the planet angry, which is a very good sign indeed, including Dean Cain, who played Superman on the Lois & Clark TV show. It’s a damn shame he went down into the right wing pipeline. He’s not worthy of the cape.
Nail Polish of the Week
Around the Bend by Essie. I haven’t been buying nail polish much lately since I realized I had too many, but eh, things happen. This is a pink on the yellow side of things, and I’m glad I picked it up.
Until next time,
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
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