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Advice Columnist?
The Crowing One
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I know I tend to make a lot of "I don't know what to do with my life! I want to become a lawyer/poet/lion-tamer/astrologist/firefighter" posts, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice for starting out writing an advice column. I also think that this may be the most meta thread I've ever made.
The short story is that I've always been a "helper". From leading my high school's Peer Mediation program, various mentoring programs, being highly involved in Residential Life for all four years of college and then finally ending up in a job that relies heavily on counseling, I've become interested in the idea of being an advice columnist. Couple that with a degree in English composition and it makes a lot of personal sense to me, as well as being something that, conceptually, would be very fulfilling.
Now, I'm no sparkle-eyed chap, here. I can't imagine that it is realistic to 1) make a living and 2) jump into something "professional" as an advice columnist, but I'm sure that there are things I could do to pad my resume and actually get something going without it being a paying job.
Currently, I'm considering that a blog with some sort of readership would be the best bet. I have a few friends on board with the "project" as a part of a multi-contributor blog that is being planned to do things like SEO and design, etc.
Is there anything that anyone would suggest? I've considered that getting some sort of start in general journalism could help (I had a brief stint last summer as a beat reporter, it wasn't bad), but I also don't really have the time or interest in journalism as a current job (I'm comfortable where I am, right now).
Is that really just it? make a blog and go for broke and hope that enough people write in letters?
This is really just something I'm playing about with, right now, and that strikes me as fulfilling. Even if it's just a "hobby" it still excites me more than most of my real work.
The short story is that I've always been a "helper". From leading my high school's Peer Mediation program, various mentoring programs, being highly involved in Residential Life for all four years of college and then finally ending up in a job that relies heavily on counseling, I've become interested in the idea of being an advice columnist. Couple that with a degree in English composition and it makes a lot of personal sense to me, as well as being something that, conceptually, would be very fulfilling.
Now, I'm no sparkle-eyed chap, here. I can't imagine that it is realistic to 1) make a living and 2) jump into something "professional" as an advice columnist, but I'm sure that there are things I could do to pad my resume and actually get something going without it being a paying job.
Currently, I'm considering that a blog with some sort of readership would be the best bet. I have a few friends on board with the "project" as a part of a multi-contributor blog that is being planned to do things like SEO and design, etc.
Is there anything that anyone would suggest? I've considered that getting some sort of start in general journalism could help (I had a brief stint last summer as a beat reporter, it wasn't bad), but I also don't really have the time or interest in journalism as a current job (I'm comfortable where I am, right now).
Is that really just it? make a blog and go for broke and hope that enough people write in letters?
This is really just something I'm playing about with, right now, and that strikes me as fulfilling. Even if it's just a "hobby" it still excites me more than most of my real work.
The Crowing One on
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Not sure why you'd want to tie it to an SEO/Design blog, unless the advice you plan on doling out is related to that.
Ack. Sorry if my syntax was off. It's just a blog in the like of something like BoingBoing or the Awl. The design/SEO is for the blog, not the focus.
My advice is to not rely right away on other people doing too much. It's free and easy to get started, even if your SEO is great (or existent) and the design is pedestrian. Start writing, and work on the rest as you go. If you give yourself too many todos and try and rely on other people for stuff that really doesn't matter right away, you're just giving yourself more possible roadblocks.
Start writing.