Welcome to WriteLane!
In 2017, my editor at the Tampa Bay Times and I approached our friends at the Poynter Institute for advice about making a podcast. We wanted to record a single episode focused on my Pulitzer Prize-winning story, “The Girl in the Window.” The idea was that I would turn the 10-year follow-up story into an audio presentation.
But the people at Poynter had another idea. There aren’t many podcasts on the craft of journalism, they said. “We need that.”
So my editor, Maria Carrillo, and I set out to record episodes on various pieces of the writing process, from coming up with ideas to interviewing, reporting, taking notes, editing. Combined, we have close to 70 years of journalism experience.
The podcasts are informal conversations between Maria and me, and sometimes include guests: award-winning writers, editors, photographers, teachers and judges of journalism contests. Others are deep dives into stories, dissecting how writers got access, chose details, found a voice, and decided on frame and structure.
We hope journalism students, teachers and practitioners will find episodes that speak to them or illuminate new ways of pursuing and seeing stories.
To make it easier to find topics you’re interested in, we organized the podcasts under subject headings. Writing, interviewing, editing, individual stories and others are grouped in their own sections. Links to the articles we reference are included, as are some tip sheets.
Please listen while you’re driving, doing laundry, walking your dog. Let us know what you think. And what else we should talk about. We’d love to get inside your head and heart.
Thanks for listening!
