Steven Ward interviews freelance writer Jonathan Miles over at Popmatters (where I used to write book reviews.) Miles, 35, has worked as a contributing editor at Men's Journal since 2001, where he writes features and book columns. Miles also writes a monthly cooking column for Field and Stream, as well as a column about drinking for The New York Times "Sunday Styles" section. His nonfiction has been published in the 1997, 1999 and 2000 editions of The Best American Sports Writing and he has a piece coming out in the forthcoming 2006 edition of the popular anthology. Miles' Men's Journal feature on bar fights appears in the 2005 edition of The Best American Crime Writing anthology. Miles shares insights from his exhaustive career to date:

Do you have to live in New York City to be a bigshot magazine freelancer?
No and maybe. (Disclosure: I do live in New York now. I have for the last five years.) No, because I think that, early on, it could actually be a hindrance. It's a difficult place to develop a singular voice, the kind of yawp that can be heard over the roar of the crowd. It's intensely competitive and often distressingly insular. And it's so fucking expensive! I can't imagine trying to cook up a freelance career from scratch with New York City rent hanging over your head every month. That said, I have no idea if I would be making the same living if I hadn't moved here. I got offered my first annual magazine contract (with Men's Journal, where I remain on contract) while I was driving the moving truck up north. Would that editor, who knew I was headed his way, have made the same offer had I still been planted in Mississippi? I dunno. I should ask. Living in New York puts you close to the heart of the beast, and I guess there's something to be said for that proximity. Hence my "maybe" up front. I know some folks who manage to do it tremendously well from points afar but most if not all of them spent some portion of their lives in the city.

More here.