I have been banging on about the importance of reading for the last two weeks, and thought it might be useful to list the books that I have been reading myself, over the last month or so. I try to read as much as possible, but sometimes life gets in the way. Still, here’s what’s been keeping me busy: The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain Much-loved travel writer Bill Bryson…
Reading is a major part of mastering a language. But where to begin? Here are some suggestions for easing yourself into the process – and trashy magazines are a good place to start!
I ate breakfast at my desk today, as I have done on most work days for the last 20 years or more. This is because of the odd hours dictated by work in online news (and, where they still exist, by afternoon newspapers). And these odd hours are one of the things that most people don’t grasp about journalism… that in order for there to be something to read, someone has to have been up…
To non-journalists, the word newsroom is probably only mildly meaningful. A room where news is written about and edited is the thought that probably comes to mind. To journalists, a newsroom is the centre of life. It is where your desk is, where your computer is, where your friends are – the place you spend many, many hours of your working life. Traditionally a newsroom comprises the reporters (people who write articles) and their management…
I have a very modest little Twitter account – but I am fond of it, no matter how small it is. Lately, I’ve been using it to focus on something I call the Story Of The Day. It’s a concept that dates back to my days in full-time employment, when I was part of the team running Independent Online – or sometimes the only person running one of its subsidiary channels.
I’m a member the South African Freelancer’s Association, and the current acting chair of the Western Cape committee. In that capacity, I was asked to talk to a group of film-making interns at Reel Partners about freelancing and entrepreneurship. I duly sat down and made a list of my five top tips for freelancers – you can read them here. The talk went down well, I hope, and it got me thinking about what I…
Captions are everywhere. And so many of them could do with more thought. For example, I saw this on Twitter: The fundamental thing about a caption is that it goes together with a picture! So the caption only needs to contain details that the reader cannot see, or infer. No need then to say that so-and-so laughs as she meets her friends. If she is visibly laughing,…
