I love reading obituaries. (discussed in one of my previous posts). I find them to be a goldmine of characters.
There was an interview on NPR yesterday with a woman who founded the International Association of Obituarists.
She's known as the "Obit Lady."
It was fascinating to hear her talk about the art of writing obituaries.
She said that at some newspapers, the obit writers are on the low end of the heap - but at newspapers that know what they're doing (i.e., the better newspapers), the obit writers are the cream of the writers crop.
Her organization just had a big conference. (Ninth Great Obituary Writers Conference).
There's a whole world of obit writers out there!
There is even an obituary writers blog.
Who knew?
1 comment:
One of my very first jobs was writing obits. I wrote them the summer after my freshman year in college for the Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan. I made $20.00 an obit, and the editor stressed to me how important it was to get everything right because it was the last thing that would be said about the person in the paper.
My mother loved me writing obits, and always asked, "Did you write any today?" when I came home from stringing at the paper, because that was a definite paycheck.
Thanks for this post, Barbara!
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