Britt Julious has been been writing professionally since her junior year of college, when she penned a feature on artist Quisqueya Henriquez for Venus Zine as an editorial intern. Since then, she has published visual and performing art criticism, music criticism, cultural reporting, and essays in The Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, ALARM magazine, Death and Taxes magazine, Beyond Race magazine, Dossier Journal, This Recording, ARTWRIT, Newcity, Gapers Block, and the Studio Museum.

After graduating from DePaul University in 2009 with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy, Britt, like a lot of young writers, got a full-time day job to supplement her freelance income and now lives in the Chicago area with her parents. Here she talks about the not-so-glam side of music journalism, editors with egos, and the advantages of an English degree.

How did you get started writing professionally?

I began writing for some of these clients (The Chicago Tribune, Time Out) through internships. Others, I started working for when I submitted a pitch email or someone from the publication or organization approached me. I’ve focused on music since the beginning.

What does it take for a young writer to earn the street cred for that niche?

I always knew that I was largely interested in feature writing and wanted to focus on the arts. I’ve also been a huge music fan of different genres, especially electronic music, and my passion for music led me to writing. My knowledge of a variety of genres also helped me in establishing a niche that publishers didn’t necessarily have filled. Because of my personal background in the arts as a performer, I found that the subject matter came more naturally than if I were covering a topic like sports. My obsession with aesthetics (from my studies in philosophy) has also been a driving force in what sort of writing I pursue.

A lot of people would give up a limb for the opportunity to cover the music industry and mingle with rock stars, but dealing with celebrities often isn’t very glamorous when you have to do it for work. Any experiences with that?

A couple of years ago, I interviewed a Brazilian band named Telepathique. They make this aggressive, abrasive synth-pop that sounds like what the second album by Antena would have sounded like if that band actually made a second album. Telepathique is comprised of two members, and for this interview, they both wanted to be interviewed at the same time, even though one member was currently in Sao Paolo while the other was in Lisbon (and I live in Chicago). We tried to conduct this interview over Skype, despite the time differences and general lack of reliability of the available technology, but I could barely understand what was being said over the poor reception and I had to do both interviews over again, separately.

I was also once assigned to interview Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields. A lot of those rumors you might read about him are true and, long story short, after three weeks of trying to get a good, complete interview, the story was cut. I didn’t interview another musician for months.

And journalism itself isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be either! Did you get any illusions shattered after you started the job?

Before I began freelancing, I didn’t realize how much of what I do write is structured by other people. Many times, my ideas have been whittled down so much that they’re no longer my ideas, but me writing about what an editor wants me to write about (without them explicitly asking me to do so). Also, editors can be very sensitive. I was banned from writing concert reviews for one online magazine after the editor was pissed that I wouldn’t talk to her on Gchat. It was 11:30PM, I was working on a final, and I agreed with all of the edits that she made. But she just wanted to shoot the shit, and frankly, I didn’t have time to talk. I’ve since learned that people have extremely sensitive egos.

A lot of young writers intern to break into the industry. Can you talk a little bit about your internship experience?

Venus Zine is primarily a women’s music magazine, so that was a natural fit. As interns, we were provided a number of opportunities to pursue writing through the magazine online and in print. At Venus Zine, I was able to dabble in a variety of different areas (music criticism, visual arts, fashion) and find out which area I enjoyed best. Venus Zine also gave me a large amount of clips that I could use while applying for future freelance positions.

As the holder of an English degree, do you think that aspiring writers necessarily need to study English if they want to do this kind of work professionally?

I don’t know if I’d say that it is generally beneficial, but for me, it certainly helped more than it hurt. I did not take traditional journalism classes but I did take creative writing, poetry writing, and memoir writing classes. I learned how to think critically, write concisely, and communicate effectively a number of different topics that aligned with many of my literature studies and continue to affect the writing I do today (race and culture, sexuality, the influence of current events on an artist’s work). More than anything, the constant assignments taught me how to write clearly and on time. I’ve found it to be extremely helpful in my career.

Have you found it possible to work as a full-time freelance writer?

It is very hard to freelance full-time in Chicago. Although the city is significantly cheaper than other major cities in the U.S., the number of paid writing opportunities available are minimal. Most people I know who freelance in the city have other jobs. For example, I freelance and also work full-time at Groupon (like a lot of writers).

What’s your favorite freelance project of the moment?

I enjoy writing for ARTWRIT. Art criticism is a rapidly dying field and Daniel (the editor of ARTWRIT) allows me to dive even further in to the aesthetics and philosophical aspects of the work of many contemporary artists. I’ve written smaller art reviews for larger publications, but this is the site that allows me to explore true “criticism” compared to just a review. I feel engaged in a way that I haven’t felt since college.

And your proudest accomplishment so far?

“And the Divine”, a piece I wrote for This Recording, led to one of my biggest writing opportunities. A woman from the Studio Museum in Harlem read that essay (one of my favorite and most personal things I’ve ever written) and asked me to write a piece for the museum’s magazine about the intersection of contemporary Black visual art and the internet. It allowed me to combine a variety of different interests of mine (visual art, technology, communities, memoir) and for that I am grateful.

Where do you want to be in the next five or ten years?

I hope that in the next five to ten years, I will publish some sort of book of my writing (preferably before book publishing/reading becomes a thing of the past). I’d also like to write full-time as a freelancer and to be able to completely support myself in this career.

Britt can be found online at Britticisms, a music, art, and culture blog she curates; The Leanover, her essay blog; and I Love My Wife, the show she co-hosts on Brooklyn Radio. You can also see her full portfolio and follow her Twitter.

If you enjoyed this interview, check out the full archives for Freelance Friday.