If Your Mother Says She Loves You...Rick Kogan

Listen to the Rick Kogan interview at www.waukegan.org.

There’s a saying in journalism that if your mother says she loves you, check it out. The idea, of course, is to be prepared to ask questions and do the legwork if you want to end up with a solid story.

Rick Kogan stressed the importance of research in our recent interview and said it means more than a quick Google search. From a journalistic standpoint, research will make sure to get facts correct. It also lets all writers, fiction and non-fiction, write with confidence since they have a wealth of material to select from. Rick explained his research procedure and used his recent article on entertainer Tom Dreesen as an example. By going back to Tom’s old neighborhood in Harvey, IL, Rick explained how he gathered enough information for the lead in the article to practically write itself. You can read Rick’s Pulitzer-nominated article on Tom at www.tomdreesen.com. Tom Dreesen toured with Frank Sinatra and often appears on the David Letterman Show. Tom will be a future guest on Writer’s Webcast to talk about writing comedy and his new one-man show.

Rick's book A Chicago Tavern was recently published by Lake Claremont Press . This fall, Rick’s tenth book, Sidewalks, Portraits of Chicago will be published by Northwestern University Press.