Generating and Pitching Story Ideas

Generating and Pitching Story Ideas With the ubiquitous presence of the Internet, coming up with story pitches and finding out where to pitch them has never been easier. There are publications for just about any hobby, industry, quirk, fetish, subculture and subject you could possibly think of. And resources abound for reaching them.Unlike assignments, with pitches you get to propose writing about something you choose. So think about what you would like to write about- stamp collecting? Minorities in the construction industry? Your personal experience with heartbreak? Whatever the subject is, you should be ready to research it, interview people about it and spend a lot of time thinking about it.Nothing new under the sunOf course, whatever it is youve thought of pitching, chances are its been written about before. So you have to find out where and how. Lexis-Nexis, usually available at the local library, is an excellent way to research articles on a certain subject. Google searches on the Web or archive searches on regi stered websites for major publications (which is usually free, although pulling up the archived stories in full may not be) can also give you a reasonable body of material. And plenty of websites with articles on that subject will pop up for free. Also check for organizations that relate to that topic, because they often list articles as well.Shape your pitch with a new angleYou dont have to search for every story written on the subject since the dawn of time. Lets say its a pitch about women in the construction industry. Dont worry about the articles written on this subject that date back more than five years ago. Thats ancient history in the world of publications. Youll probably find a good selection of stories written in major dailies and small weeklies within the past five years, but thats where the next tip comes in.Lets say you find that the New York Times has published a story about the struggles of women to succeed in the construction industry. Does that mean your pitch is a lready taken? Absolutely not. What it means is that you read the story, get a sense of what it did cover, and shape your pitch so that it will cover a whole new angle or idea that the Times story didnt. Did the Times story talk about women who faced discrimination and went on to own their own firms? Then think about interviewing women who dont own their own firms, but who operate cranes or weld iron. Youll look for women whose stories werent told by the Times. Even if the issue of discrimination is the same, every individuals story is different. Just as good literature offers new twists to old plots, so you can offer new twists to subjects of articles.Also, consider localizing a story for a local publication. Journalists for smaller hometown newspapers often take a story of national interest and apply it to their hometown readers. For example, the Atkins Diet is a nation-wide trend, but you could interview local bakeries about whether theyre losing business, and pitch the story to t he editor of a local publication.Now you have to find publications to pitch your great idea to. Fortunately, its not nearly as tough as pitching your book to publishers. I pitched several stories successfully to the New York Times Money Business section via e-mail. This was made possible by nothing more than having the right name and e-mail address. A colleague had the email and name of the Money Business editor. I sent the guy an email with a story proposal that he accepted.Editors, especially at dailies, will be typically harried and easily distracted from strange e-mails. So you have to get straight to the point, while still being polite. Make it clear in the header that you are pitching a story about thus-and-so. Dont ramble on in the body; if the editor wants to know more about your credentials or history, he or she will ask for it. Just pitch the story, emphasizing why it would be something the publications audience will eat up with their coffee or lunch. I believe this topi c/angle/knowledge would be of great interest to your readers because†¦. Attaching your resume wouldnt hurt, and you can offer to send examples of your writing if the editor wants to follow up.You can also, of course, use snail mail. Be aware, though, that particularly busy editors may take more time to plow through stacks of envelopes than to browse their email inboxes.If there is a particular publication you want to work for, call their main number and ask for editorial. You should be able to find out fairly quickly whether they are accepting freelance articles or not. Checking the website for that publication may also answer the question.An excellent online resource for insider tips on pitching to specific publications is at mediabistro.com. It does require a paid membership, though registration to access job listings that may include freelance opportunities is free. The pitch tips feature a specific publication each day and tell you what the deal is.Take the time to read thr ough a particular publication to get a sense of what kind of stories it wants. Editors find it very irritating to receive unsolicited pitches that arent appropriate for their publication. Dont assume! For example, I edit transportation stories for a weekly construction magazine. I look for stories about building major highways, bridges, rail systems and airports. If somebody sends me a pitch about manufacturing the next generation of clean-air buses, that means they didnt take them to glance through the magazine and realize that we dont cover that industry. The pitcher only saw the title transportation editor and made an assumption.That writer, however, could probably do a bit more research and find out that there are indeed several magazines that cater to the suppliers, builders and users of clean-air buses. The writer could also check out publications whose main audiences consists of concerned users- i.e. environmentalists- and pitch the story with emissions in mind. It will be a slightly different pitch to the publication who caters to transit agency officials who buy the buses.When you show that youve taken the time to find out a little bit about a given publication and thus pitch it a story that would work for its readership, youre inherently advertising that youre a good journalist and writer who does your homework.

How Ballast Water Systems Work

How Ballast Water Systems Work A ballast water system is essential for the safe operation of a ship, but the operation of these systems causes significant threats to the environment and local economy. What Is a Ballast Water System? A ballast water system allows a ship to pump water in and out of very large tanks to compensate for a change in cargo load, shallow draft conditions, or weather. The capacity of ballast water tanks might be millions of gallons on a large vessel. This allows vessels to carry a light or heavy load while maintaining ideal buoyancy and handling conditions in all situations.A ship might discharge all ballast water tanks to pass a shallow area or forward tanks only to raise the bow in rough open seas.Physical components of the system include; raw water intakes, large and small strainers, pumps, distribution pipes, ballast water tanks, treatment system, discharge system, and all the valves, sensors, and controls to run the equipment. Invasive Species in Ballast Water Invasive species are a significant threat to ecosystems and the economies of the affected areas. Researchers think that about one-third of all documented invasive plants and animals are able to travel in the ballast water tanks of ships. Zebra Mussels were introduced into Lake Saint Clair in 1988 when a ship emptied ballast water into the Great Lakes System. The Great Lakes hold nearly twenty percent of the earth’s fresh surface water in a watershed system. The non-native mussels eliminated native varieties once used by industry and have caused an estimated 7 billion dollars (US) in damage by encrusting or clogging underwater equipment essential to industrial and recreational activities.Sea Lamprey and ​Spiny Water Fleas are organisms which feed off of host fish or compete with young fish for food. Many species of fish impacted by these invasive species have significant commercial or sporting value. These animals and others can live in fresh or salt water and may spread into inland waterways from saline ports and harbors.Plants can also travel long distances in ballast water. Eurasian Milfoil is a surface plant which can clog equipment and deter recreation where it forms thick mats. Eurasian Milfoil was introduced to the United States in the 1940s. Because the plant can produce large colonies from only one small fragment it is likely the plant was introduced in the ballast water of a ship. Resolving Ballast Water Issues For years amateurs and professional researchers have experimented with a huge array of weapons to combat invasive species in a ship’s ballast water. Most of the difficulty is due to the fact that huge volumes of water must be treated in a reasonably short period of time. Many land-based systems for treating public supplies takes many hours or days to pass water through their treatment systems. A ship, on the other hand, must be able to discharge ballast water as quickly as cargo is loaded. In emergency situations, ballast tanks need to empty as quickly as possible. A quick pass through most ballast water treatment systems is not enough to kill all the organisms that may be present. Ballast Water Treatment Solutions and Shortcomings No Discharge or Ballast Exchange Rules: International, National, and Local law govern ballast water discharge. Some areas require ballast tanks to be sealed while others allow ballast to be exchanged. Ballast exchange allows tanks to be filled with local waters. Sealed ballast tanks may need to be emptied in an emergency situation and exchange is hindered by the fact that foreign waters must be discharged in close proximity to ​the sensitive area for vessels to operate safely.Mechanical Filters: Filters which are fine enough to remove the small immature young and eggs of invasive species clog quickly and require constant maintenance.Thermal Treatment: The idea is to heat ballast water to kill any unwanted organisms. Unfortunately heating such a huge volume of water is impractical due to time and energy constraints.Other Energy Treatments: Ultraviolet, sonic, and other radiation have all been tried but have similar problems to a thermal treatment; limits on time and energy.Chem ical Treatments: One of the earliest and most dangerous of all the methods used to control invasive species in ballast water. Chlorine bleach and other toxic chemicals will kill existing organisms but the release of these chemicals on the scale necessary to treat every ship would reach toxic levels for all aquatic life near the discharge points. The Future of Ballast Water Treatment Researchers are pursuing this difficult and financially lucrative goal at institutions around the world. In 2011, a team announced their successful small-scale test of a two-phase ballast treatment system which eliminates unwanted organisms and produces sodium bicarbonate as a byproduct. The system is undergoing full-size tests in the Great Lakes. The test for a scalable system is expected to perform well. It is not clear how regulatory agencies around the world will respond to the potential discharge of industrial amounts of sodium bicarbonate into their waters. Sodium bicarbonate is a common and safe chemical in small amounts, but studies must be conducted to assure this method is safe for long term use.