Post consistently. Once you get going, tell your friends. I personally wait with bated breath for Sundays and "I Like to Watch."

The world needs more good writing!

Heather Havrilesky, one of my favorite writers (yay rabbitblog!), lied to get her job with suck.com. See below.

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When Heather Havrilesky heard about a copy-editing position open at a new San Francisco-based e-zine called Suck.com, she jumped at the chance to apply, doing what any honest, hardworking young Red Herring intern would have done.

"I lied," the 29-year-old recalls, grinning. "I told them I was a copy editor."

So where is it that lying gets you? If you're Havrilesky, a Duke University graduate with a degree in psychology but a rather short publishing resume, it speeds your way to the sort of life many Web writers only dream of.

After an amended stint copy editing Suck's articles and essays ("We learned very quickly that her copy-editing expertise left something to be desired," recalls Suck.com Publisher Joey Anuff), Havrilesky was offered a shot at a weekly column.

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So take Cary's advice and lie your little butt off.

Look at the local papers. They can probably use stringers to cover the boring stuff like zoning boards. I used to do that, years back. Pretty dull, but it got me a by-line and some basic credibility that someone would publish something I wrote. I did it while working full time at an unrelated job, and the pay was crap, but it gave me some clips. I was always surprised that they made an impression on people, because I had no real experience when I was doing it, and it was not a prestigious paper, just a local weekly.

So find your local weeklies, freebies, etc. and see if you can start something there on nights and weekends while you continue to work and look for that big break.

For other types of writing jobs, consulting firms and think tanks need writers. It's not journalism, but it is closer. Just a thought.

I'm dubious about launching someone on a journalism career with advice that boils down to 'be sassy and lie,' though of course it works for some people.

i would say, stop expecting to get "a writing job" handed to you and instead start pestering editors with story ideas. accept the idea that no one is ever, ever, ever going to call you back, for the next 5-7 years, and keep trying to get editors on the phone and suggest ideas to them. maybe they'll discuss or tell you to contact them by email and your foot is in the door. admit that you don't have clips but say you'll do it "on spec" (that means they owe you nothing if they don't like it.)

go after editors every way you can. go through your friends in the business if you have them, make some if you don't. persisting and being forward are traits of a good reporter, and while 14 out of 15 editors will be as mean as can be in rejecting you, one may give you a chance, and all you'll need is a few before you start getting somewhere, and THEN you get the writing job.

also, this might be a good time to accept that you probably aren't 'a pretty decent' writer yet, in terms of what editors are looking for, which is generally a very specific and formulaic product that doesn't have a lot of literary flexibility. you don't have to be good at this yet, no one will really expect it, but you do have to be humble about being rewritten and accepting edits and trying to understand not what it is that YOU want to do, but what it is your editor needs.

if you are fast and reliable and willing to do anything at the last minute without being a pain in the ass, you will get work.

and oh, your 'ideas' don't have to be breaking news. start noticing stuff. anytime you find something annoying or weird, ask yourself some more questions about it and it might be news. what do YOU wonder about your favorite celebrity or politician or whomever. that might very well lead to news.

There are a lot of people who've wanted to write from way back when who just won't become conventional writers. For a lot of reasons.

But that doesn't mean you can't have a life without writing. Did you know that some academics write books? That are published as popular nonfiction? And, if they do well, allow them to write more books? I wouldn't recommend academia for everyone (or really, for anyone), but it's a fact.

My point is, there's more than one way to parse a sentence.

I mean this kindly, but LW you are making a lot of excuses. Of course you can afford an internship. Everyone I know who gets paid to write started out writing for free to get clips.

If you really want this, you have to chart a course and follow it. And you have to accept that in the short term, you have to give some things up to get those clips, starting with your full-time admin job.

In my 20's I worked as a waitress, a line cook, an office temp and a part-time office assistant. The reason I took these jobs is they allowed me to work at a part-time unpaid internship, which was the only job furthering my actual career. Internships are like school, you need to work odd jobs to make them work.

Another thing: you claim you can't get hired to write due to lack of experience. So another option is to get a job copy editing, which you have experience doing. Then lobby for opportunities to write at that publication. Or get any kind of job for any kind of publication, and then beg and schmooze your way into writing.

I could go on with options, but I sense you'll resist them. Your letter makes it sound as if you are only open to the possibility of immediate work getting paid for writing despite your lack of experience. You need to clarify your priorities. There's no practical reason anyone would pay you to write without seeing clips.

You may consider asking yourself why you are only open to the least likely scenario. Are you sure you want to be a writer?