Help Wanted on The Pond

At the end of January, Twinkie Talk was relaunched as Puckett’s Pond. At the same time I came on board as the site’s Lead Writer/Senior Editor. Three and a half months later we have a completely rebuilt staff and have things moving in the right direction. In fact, we set new records for posts, visits, and pageviews on this site just last month.

I’d love to be the one to continue to lead this site, but that’s just not feasible given the demands on my time going forward. One of those demands is to spend more time working for FanSided in an “administrative” capacity as it relates to my role as the network’s MLB Director of Content, but others involve my wife, children and their respective activities.

That’s not to say I’m leaving the site. I’m remain dedicated to Puckett’s Pond and remain a writer at heart. As a result, I will still publish at least once a week here as a Staff Writer. I’ve also decided to return to my previous “haunts” on Kings of Kauffman and Call to the Pen in a similar role as well. That puts me “on the hook” for 3 articles per week, but it is still far less of a time commitment than the 7-10 articles I tried to publish each week.

All of the above is just a long winded way of saying that we are now looking for someone to join our network and become the new Lead Writer of Puckett’s Pond. If you are interested, but want to know the specifics all you have to do is just keep reading.

Previous writing experience is not a requirement. Some of the most talented writers we have on our network never wrote formally anywhere before joining FanSided and I am a believer that true talent can come from basically anywhere. What is a requirement is that you love the game of baseball and have a passion for the Minnesota Twins.

So, if you’re interested in becoming a Lead Writer for Puckett’s Pond – proud member of the Fansided.com Sports Network – here’s what to do:

• Write a 500+ word article about the Minnesota Twins. This can be about any topic you choose but it should represent your best work and be fully edited. Writing is one part ideas and one part presentation, and both carry a lot of weight.
  • If you have other work published elsewhere, you are welcome and encouraged to provide links to some of those articles. The more work I have to evaluate the better feel I can get for you as a writer and how you may or may not fit in with the direction of the site.
• This follows in line with the first bullet point but deserves it’s own due to its importance: your work should be fully proofread and edited. Nobody’s perfect and clearly I am included in that, but your submission will be the first impression you provide to us as a writer. You should take the time to read, re-read and perhaps have a picky friend or family member read your submission before sending it.
• Email your article (in MS Word, Adobe PDF or cut and pasted into the body of an email) to me at the following address (puckettspond@gmail.com). In the subject line please put Puckett’s Pond submission or something similar so it will stand out in my inbox. I’m almost always online (unless I’m sleeping) so I should review and get back to you within a few hours.
• This should be obvious, but there shouldn’t be any profanity. A “hell”, a “damn” – no problem. If they can say it on the radio, you can say it here. Strong opinions are wonderful, but please be classy with them.

As far as what is expected of our Lead Writers, it is pretty straight forward:

• You’d be expected to post – on average – one (1) article or more per day.
• You’d be expected to coordinate the site’s staff and help shape any collaborative efforts as necessary.
• You’d be expected to carry on regular communication with myself and the rest of the staff (and network) as needed.
• Finally, Lead Writers are free to produce work for other team or general baseball sites in addition to the articles they publish on Puckett’s Pond. However their Twins related content should only appear only on this site.

If you are interested, but have questions on any of the above (or on anything not covered in the above) please don’t hesitate to email me: puckettspond@gmail.com.

If you’d rather complete an application online, you can do so by clicking here.