On the blog The OPEN Notebook, New York Times Magazine contributor Robin Marantz Henig spoke frankly with Jeanne Erdmann about everything that went into her piece, “Understanding the Anxious Mind.” A few years have passed since the piece’s publication, which might help explain why the reporter was willing to give such a thorough postmortem.
Highlights include:
- The difference between a magazine article and a master’s thesis.
- How to trick your agent into letting you write a book about Valium.
- Dealing with a jumpy editor spooked by your previous false starts.
- This sentence: “It was difficult to get the right kind of anxious people to interview.”
- The difficulties that even a veteran writer has in pitching New York Times Magazine and the letters to prove it.
- 15-20 drafts, and that’s before the NYT demanded another three or four rewrites.