Here is what I learned while researching how one can score their first TV writing clips: it's hard to find advice from the pros on how to do it. Most people I spoke with said "I dunno: I kind of lucked into it!" Which is how it usually goes, but not very helpful for the rest of us. Fortunately, there are some extremely good television criticism websites out there right now for you to cut your teeth on if you're just dying to critique the latest episode of "Lost" (and then get eviscerated for it in the comments section.)

Here are the tips I did get:

Margaret Lyons, Time In editor at Time Out Chicago, recommends thinking creatively. " If you like writing about television, 1. F#^* you! That's my job, go away!, and 2. Think about pitching places that don't have a regular TV section/editor/etc. Lots of smaller papers or super-ultra-alterna papers and magazines don't publish TV content all that regularly, but I don't think it's an unwillingness to-I just don't think people pitch good TV stories very often. There's no one, right way to cover TV right now, and that's tremendous blessing for anyone who likes writing about it. It means there's a viable TV story for any publication. Branch out."

Mindy Spar, who has written television criticism for Charleston SC's The Post and Courier recommends working on cultural criticism. Any kind. "I had done critical writing before, book reviews and movie reviews and I wrote and opinion column. So to break into TV criticdom, it's a good idea to show that you can think critically, regardless of the topic. If it seems too hard to get right into TV then write film and book reviews for local publication and blogs. Just to give potential employers an idea that you know how to think and write with a critical eye."

Finally, Janet Steen, writer, editor and MB instructor, had a few more tips. "I think websites are a great way for freelancers who don't have a lot of clips to break into writing. For TV, they can go to places like Televisionwithoutpity or more general ones like Popmatters. As for print publications, I'd suggest general pop-culture magazines that have specific TV sections, like Time Out or Entertainment Weekly. Their reviews tend to be short and they run a lot of them, so that opens up the field for freelancers.