Comments on: Question: What Do I Say About My (Lack of) Credentials?

By: denniscass

denniscass — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:39:30 +0000

Glad it helped. As long as people don’t feel like you’re wasting their time I’ve found that for the most part they’re pretty generous.

By: Dennis Lang

Dennis Lang — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:32:20 +0000

Actually, this is fabulous advice and encouragement. I’m messing with an article now that has in fact taken me to the most prominent experts in the world on the subject I’m exploring. I’ve amazed myself at how communcative people are without any duplicity–or guarantees the big-time national publication will run with the piece. I just try to think like a seasoned journalist might think before making the fateful call, although sometimes it takes a little extra effort to push the self-confidence button.

By: JES

JES — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:00:55 +0000

I cannot imagine how heady an experience a Gingrich interview must have been.

I’ve always called those little strings “tickies.” (Onomatopoeia, for the sound it makes when you hold one next to your ear and flick it with a finger.) I wrote my piece in 1990, so some of this may have changed, but: the manufacturer was Dennison, HQ’d in Framingham MA; the product they sold to most retail outlets was called the — wait for it — Swiftachment; the “guns” used to attach the Swiftachment went by various names, including “Secur-a-tach”; the US patent was #3,103,666, granted in 1963 (!); and the inventor — the guy I interviewed — was Arnold R. Bone. (Obviously, I just revisited the dust-covered MS after you asked. )

By: denniscass

denniscass — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:33:09 +0000

There’s nothing like being able to say “I’m calling on assignment for MAJOR PUBLICATION.” I was able to get Newt Gingrich on the phone in less than 24 hours for a piece I did for the NYT.

But you’d be amazed at what you can make happen even with a little interest.

There are also going to be times when people simply won’t talk and you have to move on.

Finally, what IS the name of those little strings?

By: JES

JES — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:30:09 +0000

Years ago I wrote a goofy sort of essay about those white- or translucent-plastic "strings" used to hold price tags (etc.) to clothing in stores. This was just a few years after they'd been introduced, but they were already ubiquitous. The essay whined that no one seemed to know where they'd come from or what they were called. On a whim, I submitted it to The Atlantic. I was flabbergasted to hear from the editor there, who said he couldn't believe no one knew anything about them and sort of dared me to recast the piece with more info. Well, I learned what they were called, and I visited the company which first made them and interviewed the inventor (who was a retired part-time materials engineer in his 70s). The company HQ was in the Boston area, where The Atlantic is/was also based. So it didn't hurt at all that I could wave the latter's name around some, even though I didn't have a real assignment (and was up-front about that, too). No, the magazine never ran the piece. But I derived a lot of benefit from the experience, which had to do with the sheer pleasure of learning, and then writing about what I'd learned. That sense of fun came through in my meetings with the company execs and the inventor, I think, and helped quite a bit in drawing them out.