Keeping Old Writing Clips: Super smart, sweetly nostalgic or just plain old hoarding?

Maybe I should make a clip book like this.

Throwback Thursday

Do you have a massive stack of old clips sitting lonely in a box? I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I do. The frail newspaper could-set-your-house-on-fire kind. Okay, even the xeroxed almost as flammable paper kind, from junior high. The problem is figuring out whether they've outgrown their usefulness, professionally and personally.

It started out innocently enough, even naturally. I wanted to be a journalist growing up, so I saved the yellow copies of my junior high paper and the newspapers from high school. Making a spiffy neon clip book, I proudly showed my work to my college newspaper adviser. It's what I had read writers do.

Writer's Resumes: Do You Have More Than One?

Having recently spiffed up my sports writer/editor resume to apply for AOL's FanHouse.com NFL gig brought to mind all the resumes I've tweaked throughout my writing career. I have crafted separate resumes that concentrate on news reporting, feature writing, newspaper experience, online content, sports, health and more. It's a necessary part of landing many writing gigs - showing each company how well a position fits.

The facts are all the same, it's what I choose to emphasize on each that varies. Does a sports site care that I'm a crafting maven, passionate about fashion, obsessed with politics, versed in geriatric diets or a DIY home renovator? Probably not. My years spent making deadline, covering games and interviewing athletes and coaches? That's the meat they're looking for.

Don't make an editor/client have to wonder if you have any experience or strengths that qualify you for the job. Emphasize that you do. Address in your resume how you meet all the qualifications or risk being filed away for good.

Even if you have periods of employment doing something other than writing, think how that position uses a skill needed for the job you are applying for. Did you meet constant deadlines? In charge of gathering information? An expert on that subject? You never know which bit of employment history will make you stand out and get the gig.

Photo by a curious queen / flickr.com