I hate giving advice, but sometimes I do it anyway

Why do I hate giving advice? Because what worked for me might not work for you. Because I don't know everything, and sometimes feel like I know very little. So I usually try my best, whether in my sex columns or when giving quotes, to speak only to my personal experience. Here, Claire Zulkey offers some advice about writing for alt weeklies.

In general, I would just say exploit (in a good way) every resource you have. Network. Be friendly. Be interested. Don't make enemies. Write about what you're interested in. Lately people have been contacted me about issues I've blogged about or shown an interest in, and that's great. Be willing to write for free. I know that's contrary to popular wisdom, but I find that some of the work I'm most proud of, I've done for free. Not that it's an ideal state or what I want to keep doing far into the future, but you have to balance why you're doing it and what you need out of any given piece. Money? A byline? A place to gain readers and have your say? Etc. But again, I'm just one person who's still figuring this all out. I don't have a gargantuan book deal, I don't really know what I'm doing beyond taking things day by day. So there you go, for what that's worth.