Every Wednesday I share a link that I consider “Google Reader Worthy,” meaning that every single post, article, picture, fact, etc. is so great that it deserves to be in your Google Reader* so that you don’t miss a thing.

Today’s Worthy Wednesday Pick: Your Local Newspaper

No, this isn’t a website. It’s actually the newspaper that serves your local area. Sorry, I hope that wasn’t a letdown.  But the fact is that keeping up with current events is extremely important for a freelance writer.  We writers tend to get caught up writing and forget the world around us. That can be a good thing when we’re on a creative kick, but a bad thing when tornados are bearing down on the tri-county area or that bag of frozen spinach we have festering in our freezers has been recalled.

But, for a freelance writer, keeping track of your local paper is more than just ensuring your well-being. It can be gold for story and job ideas. New company opened up in your area of expertise? They may need a freelancer. Send your marketing materials out, stat. Or, is a big trend developing? For example, I live in Atlanta and until recently we were in a drought. A drought, while bad for the environment, is mana from heaven for a freelance writer in a number of specialties.  With a little tweaking, this timely current event can become an article for you to publish on the web, in a local magazine, or even, if the issue is large-scale, a national publication. Here are just a few examples of the articles than can come out of a drought:

Green and Sustainability Writer – What environmental factors caused the drought?  How likely are similar droughts in the future? What are scientists saying about the drought? What can we do to prevent droughts in the future?

Gardening Writer – How to Water Plants in a Drought, What plants should stay and what plants should go in a prolonged drought? Tips and Tricks for Surviving the Drought

Landscaping Company Blogger – How to maintain your landscaping in a drought, What new plantings/landscaping elements are allowed in a drought

Legal Blogger – An article explaining any new laws or ordinances put into effect by the drought

See? All those articles were inspired by one little news item. Even if you simply blog about life, the universe and everything, you could still use the drought as fodder for a post about global warming, people’s reactions in the face of adversity, the merits of drinking fruit juice instead of water, or just about anything else you can think of.  (Not to mention, keeping topics timely is good for SEO. If you are writing for the web, think about your keywords when writing and titling articles and posts and maybe, just maybe, you will see a spike in traffic.)

One last note – not all newspapers are RSS friendly, though most major city newspapers are.

Good luck keeping up with the world! Try not to let rampaging swine flu, border town hit men, and Pakistan’s eminent collapse ruin your day!

*For the approximately 75% of you that do not embrace your Google Reader or other RSS feed reader, these things basically allow you to plug in a web address (not all addresses, but many) and then, while you are off writing, or working, or playing, they collect all the new posts that cropped up on that site while you were gone. This makes it a breeze to come back and read all your regular blogs, news outlets and even Craigslist categories without missing a thing.  One again, I will shamelessly suggest that you try it now by plugging the address http://blog.jennescalona.com into your Google reader or other RSS feed reader of choice.