The Importance of Fact Checking

As an advocate for breast cancer awareness and issues I've been featured quite a bit in some notable publications -- this month alone I'm in SHAPE and Beyond Breast Cancer.

I'm proud and honored and flattered, of course. Especially with the former piece. But I'm also a little disappointed with the latter. It's hard to see your life in print when the details of your life aren't reflected accurately.

The thing is, a fact checker emailed me an excerpt with my quotes, asked me if it was accurate, and I emailed her back accurate information. And they still misprinted the information.

On the one hand, it's not that critical to get the facts straight -- so I have three children, not two, nobody will be hurt by that error. On the other hand, the TRAM flap surgery is one that must be completely understood before agreeing to it, and calling it a trans flap is downright mis informative. Not to mention a double mastectomy with said TRAM flap reconstruction would be an extreme surgery for someone with a diagnosis of DCIS and no family history to speak of. But after a recurrence of breast cancer, a recurrence of invasive cancer no less, a more advanced stage than the first time ... well, that's a different story altogether.

I'm just shocked the facts were overlooked in a magazine dedicated to breast cancer.

Anyway, as a writer, I take away this message: never again will I allow myself to overlook the details during my interviews. If I have to go over things again and again until I get them right, I will.

If you're a writer, you should to0.

1. Always double check your facts.
2. Never underestimate the importance of details.
3. Make sure changes are made when incorrect information is clarified.

A FOB Assignment

There appear to be a few schools of thought when it comes to FOBs (front of book pieces). Some swear they're the gateway to 'bigger and better' features in a publication worth writing for -- so you should suck it up and write one up if it's offered. Others think they are a whole lot of work (research wise) for a fraction of the price a higher word count article would allow so you ought to bow out of them gracefully.

I'm somewhere in the middle on this one. If I've not written for a publication before, why not show them what I've got with a lower risk assignment -- especially if it opens the door to a future feature? Yes, they are a lot of effort for the per word payment ... but the work is fun (at least for me) and the paycheck some publications pay for a short doesn't suck. But sometimes a shorter, snippier 150 word piece is more gratifying to write than a grueling 1,200 word feature.

That's why I'm happy to take on the FOB assignment I just landed from an editor at Woman's Day!

Waaahoooo!