Tag Archives: writing advice
Back Your Opinion with Facts – Reported Columns and Essays Pay More and the Experts are Free
As part of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists Virtual Conference April 16 and 17 Bonnie Jean Feldkamp and Dr. Adam Earnheardt will talk about backing your opinion with facts.
Facts inform your opinions so why not cite sources in your columns and essays? Expert advice, studies, research and new trends cited in columns/blogs make them much more marketable. Find out how to work with universities to provide experts and data, cite them in your work and bolster your credibility. Quoting expert resources is a mutual win-win. Most columns – health, parenting, lifestyle, religion, environmental, how-to, even nostalgia and humor – can benefit the writer with a possible pay boost.
Learn More and Register HERE
Interview With Biographer David Maraniss
I had the absolute honor of interviewing David Maraniss the two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner and award-winning biographer about his writing process.
You can watch the 30-second end clip before you commit to watching the whole hour-long video (posted at the end of this blog).
David shared his writing experiences for writing his most recent book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father (2019). For this book he researched his own father with a biographer’s eye. David’s father Elliott Maraniss was a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-Black company in the Pacific. He was spied on by the FBI, named as a Communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet his father never lost faith in America and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact.
In our conversation, David gives great writing and research advice when dealing with personal and painful memories, especially when it focuses on family. Watch the full hour interview at the link below:
For upcoming interviews and workshops visit my Events Page.
If you like this interview you may also like my interview with John Avlon and Mary C. Curtis on the Art of the Interview:
Craft The Perfect Freelance Pitch: Articles, columns, essays
Presented in partnership between The National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the Greater Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalists.
More writers are turning to freelance work in this gig economy making the art of the pitch so important. In this workshop, award-winning freelancer and NSNC Communications Director Bonnie Jean Feldkamp will show you how to research a publication for publication and how to craft the perfect pitch that lands you the assignment.
Bonnie will share real pitches that worked and point attendees to publications that pay well for freelance opinion articles.
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is an award-winning freelance writer and columnist. She is the Communications Director for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, member of the Cincinnati Enquirer Editorial Board, and a board member for the Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She lives with her family in Northern Kentucky. Find her on social media @WriterBonnie or at WriterBonnie.com.
$15 Register HERE
Interview with David Maraniss
Join Bonnie Jean Feldkamp as she talks to Biographer David Maraniss for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Discover valuable insights into the search for truth, especially as it applies to personal stories. David Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, best-selling author, and Washington Post associate editor will share his writing experiences. His book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father (2019) is about his father, Elliott Maraniss, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-Black company in the Pacific. He was spied on by the FBI, named as a Communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet his father never lost faith in America and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact.
How does one navigate writing about personal and painful memories, especially when it focuses on family? Get your questions answered. Mr. Maraniss won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and has authored books about President Barack Obama, the 1960 Summer Olympics, Vince Lombardi, The Vietnam War, Newt Gingrich, President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Roberto Clemente and more.
A Good American Family is available on Amazon
This event event is FREE for NSNC members. Nonmembers are $45. Register HERE
WoodHall Press Interview

Grateful to talk to David LëGere of Woodhall Press about writing, inspiration, and process as well as the upcoming book to which I’ve contributed – Fast Funny Women edited by Gina Barreca. I hope you’ll take 20 minutes and watch the interview.
I’ve written more about my contribution to this book here. Learn more about me here.