What to say in a meeting with an editor

Good luck Ronan! Sorry i dont have any advice!

tell him about what's missing from much of the writing out there blah blah (ideally which you intend to correct)

(ie not "dancewriting is full of lame errors and i intend to continue in this vital tradition")

You'll be fine, 909.

Mind you could always nip out and buy a t-shirt if you feel scummy.

Turn the tables. Ask the editor something to get him/her talking about him/herself.

Ask what takes up most of their time, or how they became an editor. It will break the ice, relax you both and you'll learn something about them.

don't tempt me suzy, i did the same yesterday and i went to urban outfitters, so broke now.

orbit's advice is very solid--people love to hear themselves talk about how wonderfully they do their jobs. maybe get it started by mentioning you've noticed a shift in the editorial direction/quality of writing, and how it's really terrific.

calmly tell them you like what they do, that you can help them, and that you're ready to go. don't answer questions that aren't asked or try to impress them with everything you know about dance music. before you go in, think about how you want them to feel after the interview is over. (you want them to feel like you're a pleasant enough kid who's going to make their life easier.)

orbit's advice is very solid--people love to hear themselves talk ....
good advice for dealing with any particular gatekeeper to employment. in general, ppl don't care about anybody else. They want to feel safe and loved.
Hug the editor at the end of the meeting and whisper "PLUR" in his ear. Then he/she will know just how committed you are to dance music.

Horace has officially made my day side-splittlingly funny!!!!

I did mean the very first sentence of that post. I just have a real hard time maintaining sincerity these days.

It went ok I guess, I felt I wasn't really getting through to him because he had his pep talk planned and that was that. He basically said I shouldn't have been given indie reviews cos he felt I wasn't able to distance my own personal feelings enough to praise them or something. I don't think he had much comprehension of the anti-indie axe grinder side of some critics, not that I ruined the review either, I just felt he thought I could give good reviews solely because I wasn't a fan of the genre in question and therefore couldn't give bad ones.

I was too polite to point out that every dance album they don't like isn't even documented, good or bad.

Either way the dance seems to be locked down a bit but he was very interested in me doing pop/hiphop which I like enough of to do. It's weird really, I couldn't explain to him why someone would like pop/hiphop/dance and not like indie rock, he still had that old thing of assuming I'd always liked pop/hiphop/dance and never listened to indie, ie you only dislike cos your eyes have not been opened. A bit annoying.

He was a decent enough guy generally I suppose, the biggest plus point was that he pointed out he wouldn't have called a meeting if he didn't think I was a good writer. I guess it's par for the course to feel the editor has no idea what your schtick is or where you're coming from. He did enjoy talking, I felt everytime I replied he assumed I was on the defensive when I was just trying to explain myself.

I guess it's a form of progress in that he now can tell the PR person what to commission me with. We'll see. More fuel to the anger/frustration with career/new found lack of confidence in ability fire really.

As an ex-editor, I generally recommend offering sexual favours and drugs.

When I used to have meetings with my editor--my old editor, now I just submit stuff and he runs it, and occasionally sends back an email "Great stuff as usual." He's the easiest guy in the whole world to please--I would always account for an extra 30-45 minutes of me listening to him tell me his ignorant opinions. I would nod my head, uh-huh, and then throw my pitches at him that basically refuted everything he had just posited. But in allowing him to, uh, unburden himself upon me, I gave him the impression that I was on his side.

Next time, try this: "so, unless you book yourself in, on this appointment, shut yer cunting face because you will be, to me, what you always were, an ineffectual meandering go nowhere loud mobile talking about nothing balding cunt. and a joke."

that sounds like something a bona fide accomplished genius writer might say

fuck, i just emailed a personal note to the wrong editor, one that i'm trying to get freelance work out of, mentioning me talking to the other detroit weeklies. fuck and double fuck.

that's like calling yr gf by another woman's name.

"mom!"