Thread: Not sure what to do...

Hi everyone,
Recently I put up an early version of a short story I worked on, called "The Message", a supernatural thriller. I tried self-publishing it and it got nowhere, so I decided to remove it from publication. I have struggled for a very long time to try to get anywhere as a writer, be it in creative writing (short stories, screenplays), or as a journalist. I have tried seeking out freelance writing opportunities and so far, aside from the local paper, where I have no idea what to pitch them aside from stories involving the community college I attend and write sometimes for their paper (and even when something I write gets published, it is massively re-written to the point where my style is unrecognizable), there is absolutely nothing for me.

I want to write about either sports or music, and once, when I tried to contact a specialty magazine run by a college radio station, I was turned down because of my lack of knowledge of "indie" music, even though I do listen to some of it from time to time. I offered to cover sports for the local paper but so far I have not heard back from the editor, and I just don't know if any opportunities will ever come up. There is no journalism course at the college I attend, because no one seems remotely interested, so it's never offered. I don't know what to do, and I don't want to take a chance on questionable places like "content mills" or things like that. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please let me know. Thanks.

Keep it up with the local paper. And don't wait for the editor to get back to you. Go see him again and carry some stories and photos. You do have a camera, don't you? In local papers words and pictures work together. My first item was published largely because it had a photo attached. That was in 1954 and a lot has changed but the idea that local faces sell local news is as good now as ever.

Yes they will edit your stories. Go sit with the copy editor and have him explain why he is making the changes. It took me a year of making a nuisance of myself before my copy was accepted and printed without changes. The old guy who was the publisher and managing editor would say 'don't you have homework?' When he would change that to 'don't you have a home?' I knew it was time to go for that day, but there was always tomorrow. The old man was stubborn as a goat on the railroad tracks but he admired stubbornness in others if that stubbornness was based on something real. He recognised my sincere desire to learn to write, so he put up with me being a nuisance.

One afternoon I was sitting next to the copy editor's desk talking with him about a story I'd brought in when I heard the old man shout 'is that damned kid still in there?' and I figured I was about to be kicked out. When the copy editor affirmed that I was there, the old man said for him to send me to City Hall to pick up a press release and see if I was smart enough to get some extra comment from the mayor. I had just turned 15.

Be thankful there are no journalism courses at your college. That means you will have fewer wrong ideas that you have to forget later on. Your teachers should be the editors at the local papers, the news director at the local radio station, the reporters who are working the street, and the street itself.

You don't learn to be a journalist in a classroom. You learn to be a journalist in the street. You learn how to write news by writing. There is no other way. At college take all the English and history courses you can, along with a couple of philosophy courses and business courses. Your core curriculum will require some science and probably one foreign language. Get a good, well rounded, liberal arts education. Then go be a nuisance at the local newspaper office and learn how to be a journalist. Everything you learn in language, social studies, business, and science classes will be useful to you as a journalist. Nothing useful that you learn in a journalism course will be of enough value to justify the time and money spent, and about three-fourths of what you learn will be wrong.

You like sports? Don't interview the basketball coach or the football coach. Everybody interviews them. At this stage in your career you probably won't even be able to get in to see them, and if you do all the good stuff will already be in print or on the air. Find the coach for the girls' badminton team and interview her. She'll be thrilled anyone even knows the school has a girls' badminton team and will be happy to give you an interview and pose for pictures with the team. Write it up, straightforward, concise, not too long, and take it to the newspaper on a Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be something they haven't seen before. If the newspaper dosen't want it, rewrite it for radio and take it to the local station.

In other words, keep pushing your face and your copy in front of editors. And just remember always that a writer writes, and a journalist must write more than anyone, so stay in practise daily.