Hailing from Kyle, TX, I recently caught up with Sam Jackson – freelance writer extraordinaire and outspoken English major.
What do you do St. Eds?
I am a music review columnist and frequent contributor to the newspaper, and I also like hanging with the Asian Pop club and at the gym.
What do you do for fun?
For fun, I enjoy playing music, video games, television, film, pretty much anything with an artistic connotation. I also enjoy going to bookstores, concerts, and guitar shops. I always make time for friends, regardless of whatever I’m working on.
You’re a regular contributor to Cracked. How’d that happen?
I did an assignment for Beth Eakman’s class where I had to write a piece in Cracked’s voice. Beth liked it so much that she practically demanded I take it to them. So I signed up for their workshop in May of last year.
Even though my first couple of pitches failed, I was looking at the forums and the responses to Cracked, and realized that this was a bigger opportunity than I thought.
They give aspiring writers, screenwriters, and photo experts a paid chance to reach huge mainstream audiences regardless of experience. Celebrities and influential organizations read Cracked and praise it publicly. Many of the writers have lifted themselves out of terrible situations and gotten to places that had seemed unthinkable before.
No place on the internet has the combination of influence and open submission policy that they do. I wanted that, so I kept going until March of 2013, when I finally got a pitch accepted. After that, I was doing at least an article a month for the rest of the year, and I’m finishing up my twelfth piece for them right now. I can’t describe how it’s changed things for me. That first article I wrote was tweeted by a multi-platinum record producer (mostly because I said he was insane), and that’s still pretty crazy.
What’s next?
I’m graduating in May. I don’t know what’s next, and I suppose that’s part of the thrill. I have an internship with AW Media, and maybe something will come of that. Really, what I want is too be able to support myself and my family independently through creative means.