Tonight I went to listen to Robert Draper, a successful freelance writer, speak at the Newhouse School. Robert Draper is a freelance writer who has made many contributions to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and National Geographic. He has written for many different publications and he has written a few books, including Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History, Hadrian’s Walls, and Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives. He claims the reasons he started writing was because it was something he was always really good at and his was encouraged to write by some of his teachers. Starting out as a freelance writer, he was only making around 5500 to 7000 dollars a year.
Draper was asked during the discussion if it ever bothered him to have to switch writing styles for the different magazines he wrote for. He said that he really enjoys writing for different magazines and working for different editors because this way he can mix things up. He mentioned that if he were to write only about politics, he would not enjoy his career as much as he does. Throughout Draper’s discussion he also talked a lot about writing about politics and writing for National Geographic, which includes traveling. For The New York Times Magazine he writes a lot about politics. It was brought up in the discussion that he usually writes about republicans, which he claims he is able to do this because he has many sources and he is not judgmental. For National Geographic, Draper usually travels for his stories.
I really enjoyed when Draper discussed his travels to Somalia for an article for National Geographic. He traveled with a photographer who had been to Somalia many times to work. He shared with the audience some of his experiences, which were very interesting to learn about. While the two were on their way to Somalia, they were warned that it was too dangerous and they should not even bother going. They spent fifteen days there and were the only two westerners there when they arrived. Draper was given the opportunity to interview someone from Al Shabaab, but it took a while to convince them that they were not spies. I am really glad that I was given the opportunity to hear him speak about his experiences with his travels. In November, Draper will be traveling to the Congo and spending three weeks there to work on a new piece for National Geographic.