He Scouts Out the Stories You’ll Find Only in New York

He Scouts Out the Stories You’ll Find Only in New York

  • Post category:New York

What makes for a newsletter story?

I’m writing for an audience that prides itself on knowing everything. Sometimes, that means finding things they won’t get anywhere else that make them feel like they’re in the know. Sometimes, it means doing something a little different that will say, “However many stories the Metro desk publishes in a day, there’s always more you can say about New York.”

How far in advance do you plan pieces?

The one I did the other day about mushrooms grown from food waste I had heard about last fall and had had it on my list since. The people who grow them were moving to a new space, so we’d put it off until now. That may be the one that had been on my list the longest.

How often are you reporting and writing the newsletter all in one day?

Every week is different. Today, as I often am, I’m writing the newsletter entirely live, in one day. I’m writing one off something I heard about yesterday afternoon and decided, “This is so good, I’m going to do it.” I can do that because earlier in my career, I put in time on rewrite — essentially, in-office reporting via phone — and from that, I learned how to write quickly.

When is your daily deadline?

I try to have the written elements ready by about 6 p.m. We have a news assistant on the Metro desk, Melissa Guerrero, who compiles the latest New York news, which I read over and adjust as need be. Then it goes through two rounds of editing and gets scheduled to go out at 5 a.m. Mercifully, I don’t have to be up at 5, unless I am.

Are you someone who writes quickly or someone who will go back and endlessly edit yourself?

Both. [laughs] Some stories I write smoothly from beginning to end, while others you have to tease out.

by NYTimes