benjamingold:

Hey it’s the end of 2010, publishers are still trying to figure out how to make money off their online content, and here are my favorite pieces of long form journalism that was published this year (plus one from the 90s)!

Richard Morgan, “Seven Years as a Freelance Writer, or, How To Make Vitamin Soup,” (The Awl, August 2010)

As an struggling freelance writer, this article was, for me, especially meaningful. Morgan shows how success is totally ephemeral and relative (legions of freelancers would love for the career he describes), but also how the work can be its own reward.  

Keith Gessen, “Stuck,” (New Yorker, August 2010)

One way to tell if you really loved a story is when you bring it up all the time. Now, whenever I’m stuck in traffic with someone, I talk about what it’s like to drive in Moscow.

Michael Tedder, “Q&A: Ted Leo on Middle Class Indie-Rock Life, His Dissatisfaction With Your Karaoke Preparation, And Five-Dollar Words,” (Sound of The City, April 2010)

Thanks, in part, to this interview (and this one too) 2010 was the year I learned to love Ted Leo again. His great new album, The Brutalist Bricks, helped too.

Jason Aaron, “Where The Hell Am I?,” (Comic Book Resources, September 2010)

For his uncompromisingly close look at the life of a comic book creator, and the process it took him to get there, Jason Aaron’s series of columns is the best writing on comics I’ve read all year.

Mike McGonigal, “Temperature’s Rising: Galaxie 500,” (Pitchfork, May 2010)

I’m a big fan of Galaxie 500, and I knew the band members didn’t get along, but wow—they really don’t like each other! Beyond that, any band who manages to grab hold onto any semblance of success needs to reed this insider account of rock n’roll death.

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