"I" and "Me" in column writing

The "I/me" debate often goes the same way, and it's often not fruitful for the young writer.

Because nobody wants to say never use "I" or "me" in a column -- and with good reason -- they bend over backwards to say it can be a useful tool. But what that comes across as is that it's a preferable tool. And usually, it's NOT a preferable tool. Usually, you want to avoid writing in first person in a journalistic piece.

 

Don't ever use it until you're awesome enough at writing to not sound like a jackass when you use I/me?

 

Well put.

 

The Grantland writers tend to use "I" a lot but then again they are all top shelf and can get away with it.

I remember this tweet from WSJ's Mike Sielski in the infancy of Grantland:

'IIII liiiike to thiiiink IIII know and liiiiike good wriiiitiiiing, but IIII'm fiiiindiiiing iiiit hard to get iiiinto Grantland.com.'

Here an example by Chris Jones where he uses "I " over 100 times in piece:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6629015/back-belly-beast

As a reader I am not a big fan of seeing it but to each his own. Not using the "I"
seems like it would be a lot more work to write a story.

Here is an example of story by Dave Eggers where he uses "I" less than 10 times.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6635057/wrigley-wrigley-else-is

 

Appreciate the feedback, y'all. Really found the comments of Precious Roy and Mystery Meat II helpful in terms of the context I was asking the original question. Again, I'd never had the concept explained outright. Fortunately, I've seen that I'm not some great sinner when it comes to this topic, after all.

 

Let me give you an example of frivolous use, something that any decent editor would cut, but Grantland does not:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8024944/some-advice-world-no-4-men-tennis-player-andy-murrray

<i>I can't imagine, and I have tried to do so at length, how it must feel to be Andy Murray at a major tennis tournament. To be, in terms of pure ability, one of the 30 or so best tennis players ever to pick up a racket, but to be permanently perceived as kind of a loser because most people only ever watch you against the three unclassifiably great players who happen to be roughly your age … I mean, is there anything more unfair than sports?</i>

That could easily read, with the same (and perhaps more) authority:

<i>How it must feel to be Andy Murray? To be, in terms of pure ability, one of the 30 or so best tennis players ever to pick up a racket, but to be permanently perceived as kind of a loser because most people only ever watch you against the three unclassifiably great players who happen to be roughly your age. Is there anything more unfair than sports?</i>

Who is else is asking the questions but the author? And what else would one "mean" by what they mean, which is what they write? In blog posts, of course I write "I mean." It's a conversation. It is not a piece of writing or journalism, meant to stand for something or convey it.

 

Man, Alma that's quality work. Do you think it's harder to write something without using "I" ?