While being a professional writer requires extensive knowledge on message crafting, being a prolific professional writer can stem from one’s own passions. Author and the College of New Jersey alumnus Pete Croatto can attest to this. In a “Conversations with Creatives” interview with TCNJ Professor Kim Pearson, Croatto explains that he searched places like freelancewritinggigs.com to find writing jobs after losing his job as a freelance writer. 

Croatto notes that this was a bad idea as everyone was going to the same places to apply for jobs. “Your resume, no matter how sparkling it is…is getting buried,” he adds. 

However, Croatto found success by writing a book about the NBA’s history. Titled “From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA,” Croatto realized that he could write about the things that have given him joy “for the past 35 years.”

Croatto’s epiphany reflects what authors Scott Kuehn and Andrew Lingwall have noted in “The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach.” In it, Kuehn and Lingwall note that “[u]nderstanding your writing skills and perceptions of your own writing abilities are the keys to becoming a better writer and a media professional.” As demonstrated with Croatto, one conveying their knowledge of a passion in writing can be one of these abilities, as extensive knowledge of a communicator’s interests can captivate and engage an audience.

“Your interests can be material” notes Croatto. “[My] pivot to writing in major markets happened because of that.”