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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
I didn't plan on keeping up this blog daily, but it has been a landmark day!
For the past two weeks, I have been tip-toeing around, trying to learn all sorts of different systems, filing procedures, computer programs, and formatting and style preferences. I always felt like one little slip-up would send me out the door with a boot in my ass.
Well, I am the only reporter in the newsroom on the weekends, and this past saturday and sunday were SUPER busy with three fires, a blood drive, a preparedness fair, upcoming st. patricks articles, a stabbing, a car wreck, and obituaries. I guess my editors we so impressed with the quality and speed of my work during such a hectic time that they now consider me a reporter and not an office clerk. I was asked to attend the weekly writers meeting!
Still riding the rush of having a feature article on the front page of back-to-back papers, I sat down with chin held high next to the other writers that wrapped around the table. Everyone had read my stories. I could tell they were impressed that little ol' non-assuming Dienosore, always slouching in his chair and dressed in a colorful hoodie and jeans, could bang out quality work with the rest of them.
I was involved in the discussion. People relied on me for leads and information. I was assigned more stories to work on and given more deadlines to meet. Today I was treated like a part of the team, as an equal. For the first time in my life, I don't feel like a liar when I tell people I'm a writer.
On an slightly unrelated note, I've started cutting out and scrapbooking everything that has made it into print, even dull stuff like obituaries and news briefs. I'm telling everyone I'm building my portfolio, but really I'm doing it because I want to remember this moment of my life forever.
K that's it for now. Later gaters. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them here. I love hearing from all of you!
  
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I'm a writer too!
Just a different kind. For me a good day is when I get 3000 words or more. If you're doing longer books, you learn to enjoy the day to day.
It helps to enjoy what you're writing about, too  .
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United States24579 Posts
I'm glad things have been working out, but you really wear a hoodie and jeans to work? I wouldn't expect a tuxedo but that seems a bit on the casual side.
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
It's a pretty casual business atmosphere in the newsroom. In one corner you have the sports guys watching basketball all day and cursing at each other about bad calls. In the other corner you have the formatting girls whose job is so easy and boring that they can spend all day gossiping about movies and sexy boys. Then you have the writers, and we are all pretty ... unstable. Throw us all in a room together and mix in a few random fire drills, chili cookoffs, and angry black ladies. All of a sudden no one is really looking at what you are wearing any more.
But I guess it ultimately depends on whats going on for that day. If it's a weekday and I have a town board meeting or something like that, of course I'm going to dress up a little, maybe even wear a tie who knows. On Saturdays, I am like 1 of 4 people in the entire building, and none of us really care what the other is wearing. On Sundays, I am alone for many hours. My editor eventually rolls in around 1 or 2.
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28079 Posts
Congrats on achieving this, as I am sure you worked very hard
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11589 Posts
Now I see why you play town the way you do, hah.
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
@TheEmulator: Thanks ^^
@Yamato: And which way is that? lol.
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How did you break into that field?
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Congratulations, sounds like you're doing something you love.
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Congrats man. Hoping to someday maybe be do something like this.
Done a bit in gaming and eSports but had to slow down due to studies this year.
Wanted to ask how do you get leads and that generally?
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Congratulations, that is fantastic! Are you willing to share some of your recent work?
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That's awesome, good luck
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
On March 12 2013 12:54 Qwyn wrote:I'm a writer too! Just a different kind. For me a good day is when I get 3000 words or more. If you're doing longer books, you learn to enjoy the day to day. It helps to enjoy what you're writing about, too .
I tried writing novels and stuff as a serious hobby, but I never got more than 30 pages deep before I'd throw it out the window. I have mad respect for anyone who is successful in that business.
On March 12 2013 14:49 EchOne wrote:
How did you break into that field?
I saw an ad in the paper that said "Looking for part time and full time reporters". I wrote a brief little paragraph expressing my interest, attached three examples of my previous work from my previous college internship and emailed it to the editor.
In two hours, I got a phone call back, and we scheduled a day to interview.
I interviewed, they were impressed. By pure chance, I knew the editors daughter from high school. We had crushes on each other then, so that probably helped. They also called the paper I interned at, and my editor there gave me a good recommendation. I was working within a week.
On March 12 2013 21:04 IRL_Sinister wrote:
Congratulations, sounds like you're doing something you love.
Thanks! It still doesn't feel like work to me. The hours fly by too fast every day.
On March 13 2013 02:21 phANT1m wrote:
Congrats man. Hoping to someday maybe be do something like this.
Done a bit in gaming and eSports but had to slow down due to studies this year.
Wanted to ask how do you get leads and that generally?
Well, we monitor the police radio and other news stations for breaking info. I also have clearance to check all the warrants at the magistrates office. For community events, they usually approach us with a lead. We also have a military section, and the reporter on that always has material about different events or deployments.
Otherwise, it just really comes down to knowing if anything is happening around town. You hear something on the radio, or maybe someone calls in with a tip. Then it becomes an investigation game and we have to snoop around for as much info as possible. I'm always checking the internet, facebook, twitter.
If the story is big, like a murder or a wildfire, sometimes we have to keep checking in to follow up, which means extra material for a few days.
On March 13 2013 03:02 ziggurat wrote:
Congratulations, that is fantastic! Are you willing to share some of your recent work?
Thank you! I suppose it will be alright to share, considering it's already online anyway.
Here is my strongest piece from the weekend:
+ Show Spoiler +
Swansboro — A Swansboro couple left their home Saturday morning to bring their son to take the SATs and returned to find their house was destroyed in a blaze.
At approximately 9:21 a.m., a call went out for all available units to respond to a structure fire at 604 Broad Street. Fire departments from Swansboro, Hubert, Western Carteretand Bear Creek soon arrived on the scene.
“There was a large amount of fire when we got here,” said Swansboro Fire Department Chief Bob Penrod. “We made the initial tap within three to five minutes and started an offensive operation. Conditions were bad though and I had to pull our people out and switch to a defensive operation.”
John and Linda Stavesky, who rent the home, were not home when the fire started. A planned power outage by Progress Energy had left the street without electricity from 6to 9 a.m., and the Staveskys used this time to bring their son to take his SATs.
Their black lab, however, was trapped inside and killed in the blaze.
“They had a little dog in there, medium sized, and he was scared to come out. The fireman tried so hard to get the dog to come but he wouldn’t. And the dog would cry, and they all heard him cry, and everyone felt so bad because they couldn’t save him,” said Broad Streetresident Jean Scaturro.
Scaturro said it was “amazing” how quickly the fire department responded.
“They just had a hard time getting the fire out. Thank God the lady and her son are okay. I feel so bad about her little dog. The people, they were all out there, all the neighbors, seeing what they could do. But of course there was nothing we could do but stand there.”
John Stavesky is a retired Marine who served 20 years and Linda Stavesky taught on base for 31 years.
“It's devastating. We lost everything, our birth certificates and everything,” said Linda Stavesky while sobbing and sitting in a car outside the home.
There was no damage to surrounding homes but the fire completely consumed the Stavesky’s 1,014 square foot house. According to OnslowCounty’s tax office, the structure was built in 1953 and had an assessed tax value of $123,690.
“It was a total loss,” said Penrod.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Penrod is referring those who would like to make donations to the family to Hem of His Garment in Swansboro.
It's good, but I feel my pure version of it was better. The editors who check all my stuff have a pretty heavy hand.
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Nice article. I love your opening sentence. That kind of little detail makes the story so much more interesting.
I always thought that newspaper writing would be tough because of the deadlines and the space constraints. But at the same time its probably about a million times more exciting than plugging away for months on a novel or something like that.
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On March 12 2013 13:44 micronesia wrote:
I'm glad things have been working out, but you really wear a hoodie and jeans to work? I wouldn't expect a tuxedo but that seems a bit on the casual side.
I'm a screenwriter and you can find me in the same attire too. ._.
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EPT
