Readers!
Let’s start with two points:
- I have been freelancing for the New York Times since 2006. I may not work with them much as I used to, but it’s still an ongoing relationship. As a New York Times freelancer, I agree to follow their Ethics Journalism Handbook. A lot of people think this is unfair, that one publication shouldn’t throw their ethics cloak on people who might write for them occasionally. I usually hear this from travel writers who go on all-expenses-paid press junkets; and more recently fitness influencers who take money from brands and then swear they can be totally impartial in writing for a newspaper on the same topic (no you can’t). It’s their publication, their rules, and if you don’t want to follow those rules, write somewhere else. I’m not saying the New York Times is perfect — I signed the letter, after all — but they and other publications like them don’t owe anyone a spot in their pages. I’ve always lived my freelance life in a way that I’m not publicly denounced by their Standards Team. And so far, I’ve stayed on the right side of the line.
- In 2021, I wrote my first piece for The New York Times Book Review. Despite having bylines in the paper for 15 years at that point, I was thrilled. I had a mailed subscription to just the Book Review in college, and cut out my favorite headlines to keep in an inspiration binder. Writing a review (and then another!) was a career highlight. The Book Review doesn’t pay well compared to other sections at the paper, but that didn’t matter to me, and I certainly didn’t see it as an invitation to cut corners. It’s a prestigious spot, and one of the hardest for writers to get.
So do you really need my commentary on how I feel about a freelancer getting caught using the lying plagiarism machine to “write” a book review, after which he was publicly banished from the paper? Probably not. But let this be a lesson to those people telling you that writers should generative AI, or who are spreading the lie all writers do it and hide it. They are wrong. Even if you think I’m out of step with all this (I’m not but OK), almost every one of my contracts forbids me from using AI. Deciding to do so anyway means you risk being marked as a cheat and a plagiarist, and maybe never write for anyone ever again.*
*With the caveat that white men, especially in journalism, tend to fail up, so that’s TBD in this case. But for me? And probably most of you? Forget it.
I was going to link to some of those failing up white journalism bros, but I’m running through a bunch of assignments due this week, then headed out on vacation, and they don’t deserve another minute of my time or attention. I probably won’t write a newsletter while I’m away, though who knows. If I don’t, I’ll be back when I’ll be back. As always, you can follow along with my travels on Instagram.
Also, my March Marketing Sprint has produced more results. The value of new work assigned is now up to $20,605. Just in case you need inspiration!
Recent Bylines
“Nurturing the next generation of leaders,” Independent Banker
What I’m Reading
- Two books I can’t talk about because I’m writing about the author, and my contract with the outlet says I can’t say more. See? Reading your contract and following it — amazing! Too many freelancers share work they have in process when I know they shouldn’t unless they got a different contract than I did. Be careful!
- Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy by Eilene Zimmerman. When Zimmerman finds her ex-husband dead on his bathroom floor, she think he’s died of a heart attack. He hadn’t been well for months: lost a lot of weight, had what seemed like a constant flu, and was acting in ways that alarmed her, their children and his colleagues. But when she’s told he died of a drug overdose, she thinks that’s not possible. He’s a rich, high powered lawyer. She (incorrectly) thought that drug addition was a disease of the poor. In Smacked, she recounts her troubled marriage with someone who turned out to be a troubled man. I sped through the first two-thirds of the book in one sitting. But then the last third reads like a long “drugs are bad!” article that, in tone and tenor, is entirely out of step with the rest of the book. I think I figured out why. Her husband Peter died on July 11, 2015. She published a long piece about it in The New York Times on July 15, 2017 (and in the acknowledgements she said it was supposed to come out in 2016). The book was published in 2020, meaning she most likely immediately got a book contract. She is clearly in a lot of pain, and I don’t think two or three years (essentially) was enough time for her to work through what happened, including her own PTSD at seeing his dead body, and then write about it fully. The book is short (only 219 pages before acknowledgements and citations), so it reads like that last third was tossed in there to make up word count. If she’d been given more time, perhaps she used the notebooks she found in Peter’s house that outlined his drug use, and his phone that she had access to, to try to piece together the timeline of his descent into addiction and how it matched up with what she saw from her point of view. This is probably not her fault, because just as book publishing is cruel to writers it’s discarded, it can also be cruel to writers they see as ATMs, and pressure them to write a story they think will sell — whether that’s something good or something that should have been worked through in therapy or in the group chat. I’m not going to pile onto the discourse about a recent memoir where I think this happened because I haven’t read it and don’t plan to. But let this be a warning if you want to write books, make sure you’re keeping yourself, your health, and your sanity as priority to protect yourself from being pushed in either direction.
What I’m Watching
- Neighbors. Same note as for the books above. Thought it’s not the same story. I’m busy!
- Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. This movie opens with Ben Schwartz singing a Billy Joel song from Oliver & Company, and it only gets better from there. The main thrust of the story is that James Marsden and Vince Vaughn play gangsters, except Vaughn does double duty as both the current and future versions of himself. Don’t worry, it’ll make sense if you watch it. It’s a bit silly and violent, but a movie for grown ups and an enjoyable experience. Also, whoever was picking the needle drops cooked on this one.
- A Friend of Dorothy. This is a lovely short film with Dorothy (Miriam Marygolyes), a rich widow, who befriends her young neighbor JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu), who become friends after he kicks a soccer ball into her yard — a true friend compared to her ass wipe grandson (Oscar Lloyd). It’s on Kanopy, library friends.
- Monuments Men. Not the movie! An episode of the Raiders of the Lost Art documentary series (though it’s presented solo on Kanopy). It’s fine — low budget, but fine! Let’s be honest my bar for “thing to put on when I’m working” is not that high. I recommend the movie instead, or if you want a documentary, The Rape of Europa.
Nail Polish of the Week
Nailed it by a Royal Mile by OPI. Purple for Easter even though I don’t go to Mass? Sure (I will if Pope Leo excommunicates someone in Trump’s inner circle). As an FYI, it has a matte finish. I almost always use Zoya’s Ultra Glossy Seal Topcoat, so it doesn’t matter, but I don’t want you to be surprised if you manage to find a bottle since the color’s been discontinued.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
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