Shall We Talk About Journalism? Part 1: How To Start Writing

You've never done it before but want to write? Here's a few tips to help you along the way in the first of a series about the challenges, joys and pitfalls of a career in the written media

As I explained in this piece, I came to journalism with no experience of the industry and no training. I did not have the slightest idea about what it would take to become successful in the media business. 

My first job was as a stringer – essentially a regular freelancer – for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a newspaper based some 20 miles east of Los A…