Margaret Littman

Nashville, TN USA
Website: littmanwrites.com
Contact

Professional Experience

Curiosity, skill and luck have allowed me to spend decades exploring eclectic topics ranging from the nutritional habits of female winter Olympians to the lawsuits intended to stop the building of Rio de Janeiro’s Guggenheim Rio museum. I am the author of several successful guidebooks, and have contributed to many others, including three essay anthologies. I love the variety of work I am able to do as a freelance journalist, but I particularly enjoy off-beat business stories, unexpected service features and travel journalism that shows people the gems in their own backyards. I enjoy writing short as much as (or more) writing long, a quality I think serves both my readers and editors well. I seek freelance editing assignments as well as writing assignments.

Expertise

Editor
27 Years
Writer
27 Years
Book Author
15 Years

Specialty

Business (general)
27 Years
Travel
24 Years
Women's Issues
20 Years

Industries


Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines
24 Years
Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B)
27 Years
Online/new media
18 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

27 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Telegraph Travel (UK) (10+), Nashville Lifestyles magazine (10+), Nashville Scene (10+), Orbitz (3-5), Wine Enthusiast (10+), Scalawag magazine (1-2), WHERE magazine (1-2)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

WeWork (3-5)

Other Work History

Executive editor, Club Management. Developed, assigned and edited retooled quarterly CMAA association magazine for more than three years. Served as liaison between publishing company and association client. 10 Things to do This Weekend Columnist, Crain’s Chicago Business. Wrote weekly online column for more than a decade. Promoted on social media. Wrote breaking news and in-depth features; compiled annual “Who’s Who in Chicago Business” directory for three years. Contributing Editor, Chain Leader, magazine for restaurant industry executives. Wrote marketing section for 10 years, assited in conference planning. Chicago Correspondent, Art & Antiques. Generated ideas, reported and wrote for national monthly magazine. Managing Editor, Chicago SHOPS. Reported, assigned and edited Chicago magazine’s 2006 annual shopping guide. Editorial Consultant, MapQuest Publishing. Created line of hybrid atlases for newsstand distribution. Senior Editor, Integration Quarterly. Developed DBIA association magazine.

Foreign Language Skills

Enough French to find peanut butter in Togo, West Africa and buy a backpack at Porte de Clignancourt in Paris

Computer Skills

Mac (OS X)-platform Word, Excel, InDesign, InCopy, Snapseed, and others as needed.

Equipment

Up-to-date Mac (OS X) laptops, scanner software, digital recorders, digital cameras, and others as needed.

References

On request

Awards

2002 Dog Writers Association of America award for general interest magazine article. Finalist for 2001 and 2000 Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism. 2000 American Society of Business Publication Editors Midwest Regional Award for Regular Department.

Associations

American Society of Journalists and Authors, Society of Professional Journalists, Society of American Travel Writers

Showcase

General

Visit, Don't Fear, the Deep Red States
(LA Times 12/5/2018)
Op-Ed: Travel enlarges us. It humanizes those and that which we fear. And it works not just for those of us who make the journey, but those who stay home and meet travelers. So, go to Mississippi.
One Comic Tries to Make the Alcohol Permit Process Less Mind-Numbing
(Nashville Scene 11/7/2018)
Profile: It’s a funny story. Not funny strange, but funny ha ha. At least Mickey McConnell hopes it is. McConnell spent most of his adult life — or, he jokes, what might pass as “adulting” these days — working in restaurants, particularly in restaurant management. It’s a gig he describes as “not a hard job, but a long job.” The late nights kept him from having much of a social life, and eventually he decided enough was enough.
Review of the Dwell Hotel
(Telegraph Travel 5/7/2018)
Review: Chattanooga, Tennessee is far from California but The Dwell Hotel makes you feel like you are in the centre of Hollywood. The brick exterior dates back to 1909 but the interior is all 1950-meets-2010s. The retro vibe is ushered with bright colours, an aesthetic attitude and an eye for detail.
A Video Game Launched This Singer’s Career
(Creator 10/7/2018)
Profile: Melanie Faye grew up in Nashville, but she doesn’t credit Music City with her success. She credits Guitar Hero. Yes, that Guitar Hero, the video game that allows players to mimic the sounds and moves of their favorite stars. For Faye, it was Michael Jackson. “I don’t think growing up in Nashville introduced me to guitar players,” Faye says. “My parents were chemists. I was not able to go to bars and see local shows. Guitar Hero introduced me to all this music I was not exposed to. Guitar Hero looked really cool. It made me feel empowered.”
A Night at the Door With Three Nashville Bouncers
(PUNCH 1/2/2019)
The eyes and ears of Tootsies Orchid Lounge, Attaboy Nashville and Duke's tell us about their normal—and not-so-normal—nights on the job.
H*t Chicken Sh**t Addresses Gentrification in North Nashville
(Nashville Scene 10/7/2018)
Feature: The room fell silent as Tunde Wey talked about his vision to have folks who own property in the area transfer it to the community, where it can be used to address the kinds of issues that had been discussed all night. “I think this is the brilliance of [Wey] ... that he is able to make these things tangible,” says Caroline Vincent, interim director of Metro Arts. “He is getting people interested and thinking about ways they can help.”
Weekend Getaway to Bristol, Tennessee
(Nashville Lifestyles Magazine 8/7/2017)
Travel feature: If you've given Bristol any thought, it may be as the home to the Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR track and site of last year's record-setting Battle at Bristol football game (156,000 people watched Tennessee beat Virginia Tech). Or, perhaps you recognize the Geico Insurance animated gecko who stands on the border that splits Bristol's Main Street down the middle, half in Tennessee and half in Virginia. But you should know the city for the 1927 Bristol Sessions, the recordings that people consider the 'Big Bang” of country music: where hillbilly music morphed into commercial success.
Stumped? Ways 3 Companies Boost Creativity
(Entrepreneur Magazine 6/7/2016)
Keeping teams thinking creatively is no easy task. To keep employees from getting stuck in a rut, these businesses took out-of-the-box approaches to challenge staff to think in new ways. Learn their strategies -- and soak in their lessons learned.