Wednesday, June 5, 2013

1 Month at D. News

Tomorrow is my one month mark at Deseret News. My thoughts: me gusta. I'm kept busy all day, the girl in the cubicle next to me is a bud, and I feel competient and useful. Allow me to break down a typical day for ya:

  • 8:30-8:45 - arrive at work, start browsing the news to see if there's anything I noteworthy
  • 10:15 - editorial meeting on the Deseret News side (I actually work with Deseret Digital Media, so I hang out on the web side). The meetings consist of Emily (my editor), Sarah (my work buddy), Emilie (a BYU–I grad and the "RM Hipster"), Kate (BYU grad and friend of Katie Fred), Katie (not to be confused with Kate), Aaron (D. News main-man), Trent (big time sports guy, served in Chile, and all-around hilarious), and Joe Walker (a phenominal writer and that kind of man that mades one feel happier with his mere presence). In the meeting we talk about what's going up on the web that day as well as pitch possible story idea. 
    • I'm working on my annoying habbit of saying "Oh! I saw that too!" when people talk about an article I saw earlier. It's irritating, and I've started to bug myself.
  • 10:50 - story time. I either have a left-over piece from the day before, one of those long-term features to work on, or start on a new piece. Sometimes it's something I brought up, and sometimes it's a piece Emily asked me to do. How long it takes me to write an article varies on how much research is involved, how much commentary there already is on the topic, and how juicy I think it should be. 
    • link off - a link of is simply a brief synopsis of an article that already says it all. My job is to say, "this website said this, take a look.
    • round up - this is when multiple sites are saying similar things. I take the most important information and put it into a faith or family perspective.
  • 1:30 - Well into my snacks that constitute my lunch at this point. With slight variations, I usually have: apple, crackers & cheese, sandwich (PBJ, PBH, tomato, swiss, and mayo), granola bar, veggies (carrots, snap peas, and cherry tomatos).
  • 4:00 - ah, still writing
  • 5:30ish - go home, and that's a wrap
  • throughout the day - checking Facebook, Twitter, and even Google News for fresh story ideas. I don't feel super up on my hard news, but as far as everything else goes, you'd better believe that I know about it!

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