HOW-TO TUESDAY: Diving Into Topics that Matter to You: Writing & Publishing Op-Eds With Kelly Caldwell

We’re living through an era when other people’s opinions are on blast, all the time, everywhere we go. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t voice your own —  it just means you might want to do so effectively, and with style.

In this session, we’ll discuss how to go beyond downloading our thoughts to crafting a good op-ed, one where writers share their expertise and weigh-in on the most critical issues of the day.

In this session, together we’ll explore:

• Blending the art of creative writing with the tools of logic, both of which are key to writing an op-ed that works;
• Finding the right audience for your work, preferably in an outlet that pays;
• Generating ideas for and outlining a few op-eds of your own.

Op-eds are a good way for new writers to break into publishing and for established ones to expand their brand or promote forthcoming books. And in the fever swamp of our current public life, you don’t want to write something sloppy that, three news cycles later, you’re apologizing for on social media.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kelly Caldwell’s essays, articles, and op-eds have appeared in Vox, House Beautiful, The Writer, sugarsugarsalt, Pacific Standard, the Huffington Post, and Newsday, among others. She teaches creative nonfiction and is dean of faculty for Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City. So far, she hasn’t published anything that’s prompted Neil DeGrasse Tyson to mock her on social media.

All of our speakers have a connection to Hippocampus Magazine. Her work also appears in our craft anthology, Getting to the Truth: The Craft and Practice of Creative Nonfiction (Hippocampus Books).