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My wonderful editor @TimHerrera asked me to do a thread explaining my process for coming up with ideas he tends to commission. So here we go! (1/8)
I frequently talk to my friends to see what they're struggling with. I try to identify patterns. If a few people are complaining about the same thing, it makes me think I'm on to something interesting! That helped me come up with this piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/smarter-living/coronavirus-fears-empathy.html (2/8)
I look to my own life –– anything messy or confusing is fertile ground. I came up with the idea for this piece about people-pleasing after I reluctantly agreed to go to a friend's house even though it made me nervous to do it. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/smarter-living/people-pleaser-coronavirus.html (3/8)
I'd written about rekindling friendships before but something felt different with COVID. We *all* were thinking about rekindling friendships at the same time. I learned about mortality salience & it helped me make sense of why we do this. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/smarter-living/should-you-reach-out-to-a-former-friend-right-now.html (4/8)
I'm very organized! I keep track of every story idea I have. I regularly review and refine them. When @TimHerrera asks me if I have any story ideas I want to explore, I consult my list and see if I can update the angle to make it fit for Smarter Living. (5/8)
I ask my experts lots of questions when I conduct an interview. You never know when an offhand comment will inspire you! One source I used, Dr. Don Cole, told me: "Memory isn’t a digital recording; it’s an emotional encoding of an event." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/18/smarter-living/what-to-do-when-youve-said-the-wrong-thing.html (6/8)
That quote intrigued me. I'm the kind of person who feels BIG EMOTIONS and I never know how to handle them. So *I* wanted to know how to put my emotions in check. You can see ripples of that thinking in this piece: (7/8) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/smarter-living/coronavirus-roommate-fight-home.html
To sum up: I'm obsessed with my friends' problems. I'm curious with my own failings and missteps. I'm organized because you never know when an idea will be a good fit for the news cycle. And I keep an open mind when talking to experts. Thank you for reading this! (8/8)
