Back at work, looking ahead

A month goes by fast. I'm back at work now, and busy on an assignment for The Walrus, Canada's leading magazine. I'm writing and doing media to support my book as well, and generally returning to the world of freelance journalism. I am also very keen about my Chinese and Korean editions of The Price of a Bargain, currently under translation. 

Turns out there are a lot more freelancers in the world these days, thanks to epic newspaper layoffs and general all-round underemployment. Plus, there are fewer quality magazine gigs available, as compared to when I began full-time freelance in the mid-1990s. So it is with great interest that I will be attending Stanford University this June for a short conference on redefining journalism, The Future of Freelancing, which features editors from Esquire, Mother Jones, and The New Yorker. (Registration now closed, BTW, capped at 125 "experienced journalists.") I doubt that we'll solve journalism's many challenges, but I think there are new models of writing and publishing possible that are more inspired and more gainful than non-stop Twittering and low-wage blogging. New media is great, and social media has been mildly revolutionary, but if we can't add value to the craft of journalism, it isn't going to survive in a meaningful way.  

And if you can't reach me by cellphone or email this summer, I'm probably in the mountains with my family, or in meditation retreat at Clear Sky Center. So I'm back at work, yes, and lucky to have some good projects underway, plus a mountain of material from my book still to explore.