The Notebook

I love reporters’ notebooks. They make me feel like a real journalist. I like the way they fit in my back pocket and seem just big enough to keep a basketball running score. I normally keep all my notebooks so that, one day far in the future, I can look back and reminisce about everyone I’ve interviewed. I came to SJI with a brand-new red pocket notebook. At Detroit Mercy, I usually go through one per semester. I’ve only been at SJI for a week, and my red notebook is nearly full. I’ve written about every bit of advice I’ve received from all of our speakers and instructors. To be honest, this week has gone by in a blur. I don’t remember details from a lot of things, but I have those details in my notebook. I know this is one of the most important weeks of my journalism career, but I don’t think the full impact of what I learned will hit me until I go through my notebook. Its contents will help shape and guide my career for the foreseeable future. I love my reporters’ notebooks, but I don’ think I’ve ever had one so important.

Closing time

Not to say that I’ve never been challenged, but this week has been the most stressful and most intense week I think I’ve ever experienced. I know it’s only been a week, but I feel like I’ve really learned a lot here and have a better sense of the answer to my question. I came here trying to figure out if sports journalism was for me. I can’t give a direct answer as to exactly what I want to do or what sport I want to cover, but I can say that I am still confident that I can be an exceptional journalist. This program has made me question my abilities, has shaken up my confidence and has given me a sturdy backbone and the tools to becoming a better writer and researcher, and simply a much more well-rounded professional. I still have a lot to learn and need a lot more practice, but I know that leaving this program, I have the right mindset to be successful. I’ve learned that there are people like me, who are different, who are ambitious, who do struggle, and yet, can still be successful. The speakers and students have been so influential in their discussions about minorities in journalism, journalism being a business, paving your path into a job, technological advances, what to expect from your editors, etc. But we're not done yet.

Just Shootin' the Breeze

We had a little free time today and had a chance to pick David Squires’ brain. We discussed scoring different sports events, talking to important people when covering high school sports, and I even got a story idea for when I start my internship. It was a good impromptu lesson in how to be a man or woman on the street. Sometimes just shooting the breeze with someone can get you more information than you could’ve imagined. It went along with Stephen Buckley’s session earlier today on preparing for the real world. Buckley, dean of the faculty at Poynter, told us we should not just wait until we need a story to contact people--we should build relationships. He also said it’s imperative we tell people things they don’t already know. Talking to as many people as you can will get you many different angles and help you tell a complete story.

The Home Stretch

With less than 48 hours left in our SJI Week at Poynter, time is slowly winding down. The late nights, game stories, blogs, sleep deprived days, and echoes of "PRINT" will all be over soon. As this week comes to a close there is one lesson that stuck with me the most. B Matter, the idea of using that along with running a story, makes writing a game story that much easier. The days of fast typing and rapid thoughts might not be over, but they are much easier to manage.

Flexibility

Stephen Buckley, dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute, spoke with us today about the top four things we should think about as we head into our internships. What struck me was his advice on being flexible with what we write. If there's no position open on the sports desk, he suggested taking other news beats for experience. At my last internship, I was supposed to be a general assignment writer. I ended up specializing in business, a topic I have always been scared to write about. I assumed, wrongly, that business writing was all numbers, stats, calculations, etc. But in reality, some of my business stories were my best clips.

Lesson learned. Something I was afraid of was something I actually came to enjoy and learn the most from. This summer, I'm specializing in sports. What this means is that next year when I apply for jobs after graduation, I have several specialities that I'm more than familiar with.

Just Keep Shooting--and Writing

In basketball, it’s often said that if a player’s shot isn’t falling, the player needs to “just keep shooting.” I’ll never play a second of professional basketball, but this week at SJI has taught me the meaning of that phrase more than any NBA Finals game could. As an aspiring journalist, I want every piece of my work to be worthy of a Pulitzer. When I look at an article printed with a mistake or omission, I become angry with myself. David Squires, urban affairs columnist for the Daily Press, told our class today that we shouldn’t do that. Instead of basketball, Squires used a baseball analogy, saying that “sometimes you have hits and misses but you have to keep swinging through the slumps.” I’d love to work for a daily newspaper someday. That would mean that, even if I have a not-so-great article, I could redeem myself the very next day. That thought makes the pressures of deadline writing less scary.

Read 3x, Write 3x, Edit 3x

After today, I have a completely different view of the process of editing. I have always considered myself a competent and skilled editor, but Dave Squires, columnist and blogger for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., took me to school. After delivering his spiel and after lunch (the burgers were good), Squires gave us an editing exercise. Man was it hard! Of course, I did not figure this out until we started correcting the papers. The exercise included several sentences that needed proofreading. I thought I did really well, but the results had me doubting my editing skills. I am aware that this is a process and the session really opened my eyes to pay attention to more detail and literally look at every word on a story.

READ, READ, READ!

WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT!

I'm taking these words to heart because editing is one of the positions I am greatly interested in and I want to be prepared.